10) Wave Race
System: Game Boy (1992)
It’s always weird thinking of the series that got their starts on a Nintendo handheld. Case in point: Wave Race! A top down racer similar to Rare’s RC Pro-Am on NES, Wave Race made its mark with the signature buoy wrapping mechanics that we all know and love. It’s nowhere near as realistic as its two subsequent sequels, but Wave Race has tight controls, fun gameplay, and some rich black and white graphics that do a miraculous job of making the player feel like they’re really cruising around on water. The only downside? No announcer. Sad face…
Great list, but I’d add Pokemon Pinball and Solar Striker, a couple of my own personal favorites.
Excellent list Robert.
Upon beginning to read, I was all set to log in and give the obligatory “but I would have included such & such.”
However you hit my personal top two (Bionic Commando: Elite Forces and Metal Gear Solid.) These two game are underrated in my opinion (especially MGS) and deserve to be played by another generation of gamers. All the rest are great too.
You nailed it. I would especially like to see the Donkey Kong Land trilogy and Metal Gear make it (in celebration of Tropical Freeze and Ground Zeroes hitting Wii U, right? ;^) but everything on that list absolutely belongs there.
A super-long-shot that I would be thrilled beyond all reason to see is Game Boy Camera. Granted, the awesome/awful camera sensor’s subtle distortion would have to be faked, and its crazy infrared allergies would be absent, but with cameras inside and out, the emulation layer could totally deal with turning the camera head around, and “printing” could (finally!) give us easily-accessed image files. I’m probably in the minority, but every time Nintendo dabbles in artistic stuff like this (Mario Paint, WarioWare DIY, Flipnote Studio) I’m convinced it’s the greatest thing ever. :^)
Being able to transfer Pokemon from Virtual Console games to X & Y would be great. Also… I miss being able to see Pikachu’s excited face from Yellow. I could never bring myself to store him away!
Luckily in Europe we are getting Super Mario Bros. Deluxe next week – and in fact got it for free by linking a Nintendo ID to the 3DS. I really need to give it a go!