9) NES Goes Meta
Animal Crossing (GameCube, 2002)
One of the coolest features of Animal Crossing that has sadly never been seen in the years since the series’ GameCube debut was the ability to play a variety of NES titles in-game. Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda were sadly absent, but other beloved games of the era made their way to the quirky life simulator, including Balloon Fight and Golf. It was surreal enough living in a village comprised exclusively of talking animal neighbors, selling fruit and random objects to make money, but Nintendo took the weirdness up a notch by inserting some of its classic games into the mix. A game within a game, a dream within a dream; maybe Christopher Nolan is a Nintendo fan?
Hmmm.. This list has me pondering the differences between “crossovers” and “cameo appearances” due to number 5.
That being said, thanks for the great read Robert!
Depending on what we’re talking about here, my own personal list might include NES Remix, as well as those bizarre Mario appearances on the Gamecube EA Sports games (“SSX On Tour” and “NBA Street V3”) Having Mario, Luigi and Princess play hoops against Carmelo Anthony and other NBA stars on an urban basketball court is just strange. Very unique and surreal.
In my defense, I will say that I did note that “key cameos” would be on the list, lolol. Glad you liked it! I thought about those appearances, too. I also weighed Mario and Sonic Olympics, but Smash felt like the better one to represent that intermingling.
My bad for not noticing your “key cameos” comment on your intro. That’s just sloppy on my part. Apologies! Again, Loved the list! Not sure how you manage to consistently churn out so many great features. Nintendojo is better for it.
Thanks OG! I’m just lucky I work with such great people here, I think we all feed off of each other’s energy and it makes us write better. Keep reading, and we’ll keep trying to do a great job for all of you.