20 Best Nintendo Games Of The Decade

From 3D Lands to Skyward Swords and back again.

Nintendo games decade
Nintendo

It's been quite a decade for Nintendo, hasn't it?

The first half of the 2010's was... hectic, to say the least. From the Wii U under performing, to Satoru Iwata, one of the men who helped to build Nintendo as it is today, suddenly passing away, up until 2016, Nintendo was not doing great. And then, of course, the Switch happened.

But even before Nintendo's new golden boy hit shelves, they were still doing what they do best: making fantastic games. Even beyond the old favorites, Nintendo surprisingly took a lot of risks this decade, with a lot of experimental titles and new IP's hitting the scene and reinvigorating excitement for the company among gamers.

It's safe to say that Nintendo is back on top of the world. But what are the games that put it there this decade?

After all, Nintendo has always been known for its games, seeing as how they intentionally limit themselves when it comes to the tech used in their consoles.

Nintendo knows more about making video games than anyone else in the business. So what were the 20 games they made this decade that cemented that reputation?

20. Super Mario 3D Land

Nintendo games decade
Nintendo

The 3DS took the acclaim gained by the original DS and somehow managed to amplify it even further until it basically kicked every other portable console off the market. And of course no Nintendo console, big or small, is complete without its own Mario title. Enter the simplistic but enjoyable Super Mario 3D land.

It isn't the most unique Mario game out there. In fact, beyond bringing back old favorites like the Tanooki suit, it does remarkably little actually new. But then, does it need to? Mario games are a weird lot. As long as they're consistently fun, most Nintendo fans will buy it and let it do its thing, because Mario has been in VERY few actually legit bad games. And even then, there's very little consensus on what the bad ones are.

3D Land is just simple fun, and with Mario, there is NOTHING wrong with that. This game can best be described as happiness in a cartridge, and while it's nowhere near the best Mario game on this list, that doesn't stop it from being an addictive and fun time in its own right.

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John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?