5 Nintendo Games You Need to Play at Least Once
Polygon has published a list highlighting five Nintendo titles it considers essential playing, focusing not on universally acclaimed classics like Super Mario Bros. 3 but on games that marked pivotal turning points in the company's creative or commercial history. The selections are chosen either for the risk Nintendo took in making them or for setting a design template that influenced its later output, and all remain accessible today via remakes, Nintendo Switch Online or modern ports.
– Metroid Prime (Switch remaster) — revived a dormant franchise by moving into first-person shooters, blending combat with storytelling and puzzles; later informed Nintendo's approach to Donkey Kong Bananza and Breath of the Wild
– Pikmin (GameCube, NSO) — a real-time strategy game about a stranded astronaut commanding sentient plant creatures, noted for its inventive level design
– Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance, NSO) — the first entry in the series released internationally, paving the way for later hits like Three Houses
- Polygon lists five historically pivotal, must-play Nintendo games.
- Metroid Prime and Pikmin took big creative risks that paid off.
- Fire Emblem's GBA entry was the series' first Western release.
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Nintendo has built its reputation partly on well-known hits, but this list looks instead at titles that pushed the company in new creative or commercial directions, even when doing so was a gamble. It covers games spanning several console generations, all still playable today thanks to remasters, remakes or Nintendo's online subscription service.
Among the examples are Metroid Prime, which took a dormant series into first-person action and shaped later Nintendo design choices; Pikmin, a strategy game about directing small creatures that stood out for its unconventional structure; and the original Fire Emblem, the first in its series to reach international audiences and a forerunner to more recent entries.
The broader point is about legacy and influence rather than nostalgia alone: these games are presented as significant because of what they changed within Nintendo, not simply because they were popular at release.