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There’s something about Nintendo that brings out the best in other developers. When Nintendo decides to handpick a development team to play ball with one of its storied franchises, the results are generally strong. With a bevy of new collaborations announced and sure to come, it felt like the perfect time to look at some of Nintendo’s best. Before we start, I just want to point out that I’m focusing on collaborations with studios and developers that weren’t owned or very tightly connected to Nintendo, so no Rare or Retro games. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the best titles that were crafted as a result of a collaboration with Nintendo!
Interesting choices, and mostly great games. But Other M will never stop filling me with rage.
I eagerly wait to spend my eShop money on a Wii U version of Mario RPG. I was tempted with that Club Nintendo reward last month, but ultimately didn’t want to buy a classic controller.
Great list. I enjoyed Minish Cap immensely and thought it was quite charming. However I felt the Oracle games were more challenging, which makes them the superior collaboration in my opinion. I was glad you mentioned them in your write-up.
Also, While it doesn’t fit your criteria for making this list since Silicon Knights was a second party developer at the time, I would give an honorable mention to “Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes” for Gamecube. While the bulk of the collaboration was between Silicon Knights and Konami, Nintendo was sure to emphasize Miyamoto’s overseeing of its development. The game turned out great and was an unexpected surprise-addition to Gamecube’s awesome (and underrated) library.
I was within millimeters of plugging in MGS, but it was in too much of a gray area to me as I was writing. In retrospect, I probably should have thrown it on the list. It’s one of my all time favorite games! So good.
Eternal Darkness as well, for that matter. That game led me to buy Twin Snakes, which in turn got me into what is now one of my favorite game series.
Silicon Knights was truly in their golden age when they were close with Nintendo, same as Rare. Damn it Nintendo, you better not ever loosen your ties with Retro! :^)
Glad to see the Silicon Knights games being mentioned in the comments. I understand why they weren’t on the list, but think they are fantastic games – clearly the best games that studio ever made by a large margin. Also some of my personal favorite games on GameCube.