100 Best Nintendo Games: Part One

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So we begin our countdown of the greatest Nintendo games ever. This list was months in the making and caused endless arguments but we managed to whittle down over 20 years of phenomenal gaming experiences into a nice round 100. Over the next few weeks we'll be revealing our top 100 games of all time on the website in a series of special features but if you can't wait you can read the full list in the new issue of Official Nintendo Magazine. Our celebration of the 100 greatest Nintendo games ever is available now as a special bonus magazine that's free with Issue 40 of Official Nintendo Magazine.

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100: Star Wars: Rogue Leader
Format: GameCube. Released: 2002
It's funny it should be next to Luigi's Mansion as together, they were the essential 'Cube launch games. Especially memorable for the amazing opening Death Star level where you fly the X-Wing. Stunning.

99: Luigi's Mansion
Format: GameCube. Released 2002
The best short game ever! Seriously, had Luigi's ghost gobbling adventure been longer, this could have been right up there with some of Mario's finest moments. As it is, it's six hours of pure Nintendo brilliance.

98: Bomberman Blast
Format: WiiWare. Released: 2008
It might be one of the simplest gaming concepts ever conceived but Bomberman remains an undeniable multiplayer party game classic. With online play and every imaginable feature, the recent WiiWare release is our definitive version.

97: Conker's Bad Fur Day
Format: N64, Released: 2001
The N64 went out with a bang thanks to a foul mouthed squirrel. The fact that Rare's cute Conker had let himself go made for a hilarious and original adventure.

96: Kirby: Power Paintbrush
Format: DS. Released: 2005
After a few years in the doldrums, Nintendo's pink blob returned for this early DS classic that has you painting paths with the stylus for our Kirby to roll along. Simple and beautiful.

95: Killer Instinct
Format: SNES. Released: 1995
Rare took the best bits of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat and put them together for this ace fighting game. The stars aren't particularly memorable but it plays great and has a good soundtrack.

Metroid Zero Mission

94: Metroid Zero Mission
Format: GBA. Released: 2004
A remake of the original
NES game, the revamped missions brought it in line with Fusion and added some great new power -ups. It's classic 2D Metroid from start to finish.






93: Jet Force Gemini
Format: N64. Released: 1999
With Perfect Dark suffering from delays, this was Rare's big hope in 1999. Although it features cuddly characters, this is a surprisingly dark sci-fi adventure with a brilliant co-op mode.

92: F-Zero GX
Format: GameCube. Released: 2003
With 30 racers speeding around loopy courses at speeds of over 200 kph, finishing first is tough. GX may have alienated some F-Zero fans but this challenging racer was a treate for hardcore fans.

91. Beyond Good & Evil
Format: GameCube. Released: 2004
A game starring a photographer and a talking humanoid pig was a bit too far out for some people but this world where humans, aliens, animals and robots co-exist is a wonderful place to explore.

90: Super Monkey Ball
Format: GameCube, Released: 2003
Along with the bum-clenchingly tricky puzzle stages, you get some great mini-games in this brilliant arcade game. And who doesn't like the idea of rolling a monkey around in a ball? Genius.

89: Donkey Kong 94
Format: Game Boy. Released: 1994
At first this just seems like a remake of the original arcade game, but once you get past those four levels you realise it's so much more, with around 100 levels of top puzzle platforming. A forgotten classic.

88: Chibi-Robo
Format: GameCube. Released: 2006
Thankfully being re-released for Wii in 2009 as so few people had the pleasure of this housekeeping robot's company first time around. Charming and original, this is GameCube's last classic.

1080 Snowboarding

87: 1080 Snowboarding
Format: N64. Released: 1998
Before SSX arrived armed with a pack of tricks, Nintendo created arguably the most realistic snowboarding game ever. Fewer stunts and a high difficulty mean that this is for serious sports fans. Lovely snow, too!





86: Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time
Format: GameCube. Released: 2004
Along with the likes of Mario and Zelda, the Persian prince made the transformation from 2D to 3D brilliantly in this fast moving acrobatic adventure. This is very stylish, hugely satisfying platforming.

85: Duck Tales
Format: NES. Released: 1990
A personal favourite of many NES owners, this Capcom gem can best be described as 'Mega Man with a pogo stick'. Not many games let you play as a Scottish duck, so it's a good job this is a cracker.

84: Blast Corps
Format: N64. Released: 1997
Rare's lost N64 game. While everyone remembers Banjo and GoldenEye this clever and puzzling action game is overlooked. Shame, because clearing a path for your truck to drive through is great fun.

83: World Of Goo
Format: WiiWare. Released: 2008
It was only released recently but World Of Goo is the best game on WiiWare by a long shot. Charming visuals, great music and fiendishly compulsive gameplay.

82: Secret Of Mana
Format: SNES. Released: 1994
The reason why we got so excited about the disappointing Children Of Mana on DS. It's up there with Square's early Final Fantasy games and, thanks to the real time battles, non-RPG fans can enjoy it too.

ISS 64

81: Interanational Superstar Soccer 64
Format: N64. Released: 1991
Before PES, Konami created this arcade classic. These days football games can be pretty dour but scores of 32-29 weren't rare in this fun kickabout.








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