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What game best exemplifies that so-called "Nintendo Magic?"

S

ScOULaris

Member
I think Nintendo done enough over the last few decades for me to not feel like a douche for using the phrase "Nintendo Magic." Whether or not you're a diehard fan of Nintendo's franchises, I think by now everyone can understand the concept to which I'm referring. For some people, that "magic" is little more than the feeling of having one's nostalgia strings expertly plucked by a particular game. For others, it's more about the level of polish and care that goes into most of Nintendo's first-party offerings. Whatever your interpretation may be, I'd like to know which game in Nintendo's history you feel best exemplifies this trademark "magic."

I'll start us off with my vote, which I have little doubt will be a common answer in this thread:

Mario Galaxy

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*Emulator shots used to better showcase the beauty of Mario Galaxy
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Mario Galaxy is a masterpiece and a showcase of EAD Tokyo's raw talent and creative drive, and I don't think any other game better exemplifies "Nintendo Magic." The jaw-dropping visuals and orchestral score combine with the never-ending onslaught of inventive levels/planets and new gameplay mechanics to create an experience that invokes a feeling of almost childlike wonder. Nintendo is often compared to Disney, and when I first played Mario Galaxy I felt like I was witnessing Mario given the full Disney treatment. The grandiosity of Galaxy (and its sequel) has yet to be matched by subsequent games in the series. I really felt like I was on this epic space opera, exploring distant worlds with clever callbacks to classic characters, levels, and music tracks.

Mario Galaxy is just a stunning, complete package that I feel gets damn near everything right and makes it look effortless. While newer games like 3D World still showcase that trademark Nintendo polish, Galaxy is remains the pinnacle in my eyes because it was Mario at his most daring. More than any other game I've played, Mario Galaxy makes me feel like a kid experiencing Disney World for the first time. For a cynical, working adult like me... that's magical.

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galaxy is a great choice

and honestly both MK8 and Smash for Wii U knock that shit out of the park.


as does 3D World

but as far as 'magical' goes, galaxy for sure
 
Yeah Galaxy is definitely one. That intro was great, and so many levels are just so fun and polished.
There is a beach level where there is a vine hanging there, for no other reason than just to swing around on and have Mario jump off and yell in pure joy.

Mario Kart has some as well: Rainbow Road 64..the music, even in the late 90's made me nostalgic for the NES for some reason. Recently, seeing Link, drive the blue falcon, on an excitebike track made me smile so wide

and then Smash, putting together all these characters I have played in multiple games throughout my life, with the stages, the music etc... pretty magical.
 
Yep. The one and only, Mario Galaxy 1. That Magical (Mushroom) Kingdom atmosphere; it's also why I prefer it over 2.
 
Mario Galaxy is undoubtedly the game that most conveys 'magic' where aesthetics are concerned.

But better examples of gameplay magic can be found in their other games imo, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time particularly.
 
A recent example...

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
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The gameplay. The level of polish. The varied environments. So much care was put into the game, and it shows. I feel like this is one of the more underlooked Wii U games, so I felt like highlighting it.

A big part of the "magic" for me is also the soundtrack. Another aspect Tropical Freeze totally excels at.
 
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The first game I really played on the Wii U. Something about the miiverse stickers and implementation in the game brought me great joy. I think I was just coming off of a binge of non-stop M-rated games so when I got my Wii U I smiled for days.

So many fart jokes too. Kids love them some fart jokes.
 
I'll name two recent ones, so there is no chance I could mix it up with nostalgia, which would be the case with older titles frome the 80s/90s.

Pikmin 3 and SM3DW!

The level of excelence of these two when it comes to the design of the mechanics, the controls, the presentation/music is on such a high level, that it's sometimes hard to comprehend while playing - The enjoyment I'm getting out of this combination is unmatched by any other game developer and therefor truly seems magical.

Zalman said:
A recent example...

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

The gameplay. The level of polish. The varied environments. So much care was put into the game, and it shows. I feel like this is one of the more underlooked Wii U games, so I felt like highlighting it.

A big part of the "magic" for me is also the soundtrack. Another aspect Tropical Freeze totally excels at.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have to add this. I often forget this game. I havent't even beaten it and play a couple of stages every other week. It's so good, it feels like something inside my head melts sometimes.
 
NES - Super Mario Bros. 3
Took the Wonderland adventure vibes of the original SMB and amped them to infinity, pushed them to new horizons and new landscapes, and was just all-around imaginative and fun.

SNES - Super Mario World
Really great follow-up to SMB3. It's not an accident that this is a defining game for so many people, with its wacky world map, new enemies (and friends!), and iconic locales like the Forest of Illusion and Star Road.

N64 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
While past Zelda games were great arcade-like hero's quest experiences, this one managed to send us on an adventure in a fantasy world that really felt like a living, breathing place. Most 3D worlds owe a lot to this game for defining how a game world can be.

GCN - Super Smash Bros. Melee
There's a reason this was the best-selling game on GameCube. Really crystallized the way an entire generation of kids experienced Nintendo.

Wii - Super Mario Galaxy
Everything the OP said. Of all the post Mario 64 games, this one felt like it did the best job of grabbing the mind-bending worlds of past Mario games. There's a reason NSMB feels so stale to a large number of people, and it's because it doesn't aim for this kind of ambition.

WiiU - Every major first-party-developed release, really
It's really hard to point at any one Wii U game and say "this is the modern Nintendo magic." NSMBU is the most fun new 2D Mario game and even the minimal effort to make it feel fresh went a long way; 3D World is oozing with 64-era charm mixed with a much more refined Mario art direction; Mario Kart is one of the most polished, charming games ever made; DKC Tropical Freeze feels like Retro took off the training wheels and finally got the chance to make a full-fledged new entry; Pikmin 3 is a magnificent tour through nature from the eyes of an insect-sized spaceship crew; Smash 4 feels like the kind of game I found in Melee 13 years ago.
 
While I loved Galaxy and I can totally understand why people vote for it, mine goes to Super Mario 64.

Funny thing is, when first playing it, it didn't click with me like with most people. It took 3 levels until reaching Dire, Dire Docks before I found out I was playing one of the best games of all time. It still plays like pure magic to me.

Galaxy's levels in comparison are a bit too small for my taste. Love all the details (music that changes when you go underwater!) but it didn't match 64 for me.
 
It's always been Galaxy 1-2 for me.

Although Mario Kart DS, NintendoLand's multiplayer games, and especially 3D World harbor the same sentiment.
 
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

It's like Nintendo reincarnated Rare and even improved them.

And this was all done by a little developer in Austin, Texas.
 
Pikmin 3 + the Pikmin short movies. I actually think Pikmin is the most unique thing Miyamoto has ever created and the series brings me absolute joy.

I also feel that Captain Toad is about to give me a rather large helping of Nintendo Magic and I can't wait.
 
For me, it's the entirety of the Legend of Zelda series. Some are better than others, but Nintendo some how manages to capture the attention and imagination of fans new and old with ever entry.

If I had to pick a specific entry in the series, I'd say it's a tie between:


A Link to the Past

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Link's Awakening

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I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I'll go with Skyward Sword.

When you get the sword and start goofing around. I was blown away when even twisting your wrist has a correspondence with the game. All the combat of the game focused around that and the epic boss fights. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking during the whole thing, "the Wii was made for this game".

In top of that, the amazing presentation. Loved the visuals, loved the soundtrack, loved the plot. Nintendo magic at its best.
 
Pikmin 3 comes to mind most forcefully. So many games focus on big, but Pikmin focuses on the small. It shows something that's similar to our world through the lens of ant-sized creatures, a beautiful scene that's pretty much unmatched. Combined with superb gameplay when parsed into Mission Mode creates a sort of arcade-like feeling of wanting to beat your old high score. People don't often mention Pikmin 3 when they mention Wii U's coach co-op or Nintendo's new-found, and well-regarded, DLC practices, but Pikmin 3 was the start of that on the Wii U for me.
 
Pokemon Gold/Silver

Satoru Iwata managing to compress Gold/Silver data which filled the cart despite being half finished, into such a small size that they were able to fit the Kanto region of the first game with only two locations removed.
 
A Link to the Past. From the very first moments of the game, there's something magical about this game, there's always the feeling that you're immersed in a beautiful fairy tale. It's also one of the best examples of Nintendo's design philosophy, with exploration and freedom coexisting with tight level design.
 
Galaxy will still stand up ten years from now as the current gold standard in 3D platform games. So many ideas, played with for 5 mins then discarded.
 
Unless you're factoring nostalgia you can say this about several different devs and publishers considering there is great games on all platforms.
 
Every big game on WiiU has been insane for me. (I thought galaxy was cool, but i didnt get the hype at the time. Now that it's settled down i still need to pick up galaxy 2)

Pikmin 3 was the sequel I was waiting for since gamecube and every time I see the opening cutscene i internally scream with hype. Also the new cast was cool and the gameplay was solid as always

Mario 3D world was nuts. One step above 2-d environments, the four player, the music, the atmosphere, the Mario Bros 2 USA references: great game. made me re-love mario after the Wii gave me nintendo apathy.

Hyrule Warriors was something I played right after finishing Ocarina for the first time (still the only zelda game i've ever finished!) and it doubled my desire to play the rest of the series. Also, it's "noncanon" but takes place way after twilight princess, so it's totally canon in my head. Best Ganondorf.

Mario Kart 8: mario kart perfection.

Smash Bros 4: so great, cant wait for dlc, sort of wish I could do smash tour with turns instead of all-at-once but it's such a great game overall that I dont even care

Nintendoland made me love the WiiU, I was super apathetic towards nintendo as a whole after the Wii so I think that says a lot. It sold me on the concepts the console was introducing and I love it.

New Super Mario/Luigi are both rad platformers! I wouldnt say they have the nintendo "magic" though they do have a ton of potential and are the best "new" games.

DKC:TF is rad. I've always loved donkey kong, but not really his games, so this game was what sold me on the guy. I loved it so damn much.


Nintendo is on a winning streak lately.


for not-wiiu games, kirby and the amazing mirror is one of my top games ever, that menu music is way past great. pretty much anything during the GC/GBA era rules as well, actually.
 
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