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Has a Nintendo game's storyline ever made you feel anything?

Packy

Member
A lot of exclusive games on Nintendo systems have made me feel a variety of emotions.

Eternal Darkness was a great trip through insanity that was a highly suspenseful play. Also, the "Corrupt Data" moment freaked me all the way out.

The tragic but redeemed story for the champions in Breath of the Wild hit me in the feels, especially at the end of the game.

The final moments and ending to the Wonderful 101 was some truly touching stuff and honestly some pretty powerful storytelling.

The entire game of Kid Icarus Uprising had me smiling from ear to ear. It was such a treat with all of the voice acting, punchy dialogue, and plot twists.

Heck, even the father/son bonding between Bowser and Bowser Jr. in Super Mario Sunshine was fun and compelling.
 

Hilarion

Member
In almost three decades of playing Nintendo games I can't think of a single game that moved me emotionally (unless you count Other M making me feel extreme rage ).

Maybe I'm an outlier, but from my experience Nintendo has never been about emotional investment beyond nostalgia.

Fire Emblem 7, at several points.
 
Sure, Zelda games over the years did that to me.

Biggest emotional impact on me had Galaxy 1 though.

Not because of the story, but I was overwhelmed by how good the gameplay was so many years after 64, that I was literally in tears. Sounds a bit pathetic I guess...
 
...the hell would I play a game for if it invoked no emotional response?

Like I'm struggling not to say "literally every game I ever played for more than a few minutes," but I'm not sure what other answer there is.
 
Not gonna lie, but the game that sold me on great, happiness filled endings was the Link to the Past. The closure and how the music built up to the ending finale did it for me. It put me on the path to beating games because I felt like each game had a good ending...

Of course, that rarely seems to be the case anymore.

In terms of feels (although I haven't played it yet), Breath of the Wild definitely had me watch it's trailer again and again. It's executed so damn well.
 
Majora's Mask is still their high water mark for moving storytelling, but Xenoblade was pretty damn good by modern JRPG standards.

But let's face it, Nintendo are below average storytellers, and they don't try to be anything more. They're toy makers at heart, and 95% of their output is designed to be simple, straightforward games for kids to play that we weird adult fans of theirs also enjoy.

And that's fine.
 

PsionBolt

Member
In Pokemon Silver, I traded my Scizor to a pal, just as a favour, to fill in his dex. But the link cable was hungry that day... She didn't make it. I legitimately cried, not just from childish anger, but from the sadness of losing a companion who had traveled with me for nearly a year.

We met in the bug-catching contest, where she helped me take first prize. She was only a Scyther then, of course. We overcame countless trainers and wild Pokemon. We struggled against Clair for a week, too stubborn to admit the bad matchup, until we finally took out enough of the nearby Delibirds to win the day through sheer level advantage. We used that power to outmatch the League with ease. We rode the SS Aqua together, and found that fateful metal coat that would change her forever. It took some time before we used it; I had to be absolutely sure I could trust my pal to trade back. As a Scizor, we made short work of Kanto, and she lead my team in exploration of Mt. Silver. I'll never forget that sensation of dread overlapping anticipation when we challenged Red. I was ill-prepared, but with a bag full of Revives, we made it through the long, cruel battle on our first attempt. Our journey reached its resolution, but even as I trained new Pokemon to kill time and fill the dex, I never took Scizor out of my party... Until her death.

That's feeling something, OP. Not some B-movie narrative beat delivered by a cutscene.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
First thing I thought of was that KH meme

u07qoXM.jpg
 

redcrayon

Member
Links Awakening and the realisation that victory means the end of everyone on the island, combined with the sad music that plays in the shrine as more of the truth is revealed.

Various parts of the adult world in Ocarina of Time too, as Ganon's victory taints everything.

The boy with the flute in LTTP. Zelda games often have moments of tragedy amidst the whimsical comedy and the soaring heroics.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, and the opening chapters showing what victory in Path of Radiance meant for the citizens of the conquered nation once their mad king was removed. It put a human face on a country mostly seen as 'the bad guys' in PoR.

I don't think Nintendo's teams are particularly great at lengthy narrative over time, but some of the games have scenarios that balance Sorrow, humour, fear, sadness, drama etc quite well.
 

ozfunghi

Member
The end of Earthbound was catching. Xenoblade moved me a bit.

But the game that really caucht me off guard was
Super Mario Galaxy
... not kidding. It's been almost a decade since i played the game, but i remember the princess has a library or something where she tells stories. One of those stories was about losing someone, but not giving up searching. My memory is a bit hazy though.
 
Story really isn't Nintendo's strong suit, there maybe a few games with good story but they are pretty niche and old. None of their big titles have really deep and memorable story. Gameplay is king to Nintendo.

Last of us and the end of FF15

What the phuck are you talking about????

I have seen people who didn't read OP but I've never seen people who didn't even read the title.
 

Harmen

Member
No, the storylines never did, but that was never the focus of the Nintendo titles I have played. Some Nintendo titles do evoke a strong range of emotions to me, but it was never because of their stories or characters.
 

SuperSah

Banned
The end of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Time/Darkness was pretty sad and taught a valuable lesson about friendship and letting go.
 

Temp_User

Member
Just a huge mix of emotions: pride, regret, sadness, excitement, accomplishment etc. Videogames tease out emotions out of you in a really different, subtle way.

300px-Pokemon_GSC_GoldVSRed.jpg
 

Addi

Member
I don't think I have been moved much by the stories themselves, maybe Majora's Mask, but I have certainly been moved by music, atmospheres, moments in a lot of nintendo games.
 

LoneScone

Neo Member
Just a huge mix of emotions: pride, regret, sadness, excitement, accomplishment etc. Videogames tease out emotions out of you in a really different, subtle way.

300px-Pokemon_GSC_GoldVSRed.jpg

Going back to Kanto and this are still some of my favorite moments in video games.

Nintendo is good at making you feel strong emotions without over complicating things.
 

G.O.O.

Member
Metroid prime isn't mentioned enough in this thread.

Exploring abandoned worlds and decaying civilizations, then reading about what happened is a fantastic experience, and the feeling of waste doesn't leave you after saving them.

Edit : better explained here
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
I've laughed in many Nintendo games because of things that are related to the story, especially Mario RPGs. I think Majora's Mask an Pikmin are really creepy, but it is not directly tied to plot an more the general presentation of the games, so I do not know if this is what you are looking for.
 

tzare

Member
No and it is a pitty, since i enjoy games with story and interesting plots.
Zelda and Metroid could offer something here if they cared.
That's the main reason i am almost not interested in Nintendo ips
 

Dascu

Member
Y'all need to play the Hotel Dusk and Another Code series.

The idea that Nintendo games have no stories, depth or 'feels' is kind of weird. I don't quite understand why this thread is singling them out as compared to other publishers.
 

Peléo

Member
Maybe not through storyline but in Majora's Mask visiting
the moon
was one of the most emotional things I saw in games. That single moment brought me so many memories from my childhood, it perfectly encapsulates how it felt to be a kid. I remember staring at the tree for minutes before eventually moving Link. It's also probably my overall favourite moment in gaming.

I feel Nintendo is better at creating powerful emotional moments via gameplay mechanics (visiting Forsaken Fortress in Wind Waker, letting Pikmin die, Animal Crossing as a whole), subtle characters development (Deku Butler's son in Majora Mask) over complex overarching storylines, even though there are exceptions such as Xenoblade or Mother.
 

boiled goose

good with gravy
Paper Mario.
Majoras mask
Twilight princess
Mario galaxy
Xenoblade chronicles
Xenoblade chronicles x
Botw
Oot
Wind waker
Skyward sword
Metroid prime
Super metroid
Kid ikarus uprising
Smash brawl
Earthbound
Various Pokemon
Elite beat agents
 
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