What was Nintendo's golden decade?

[Vipershark]

Shamelessly stolen from NeoGAF.

Super Mario Bros, the first massive home console blockbuster, came out in 1985. It started a chain of outstanding games that Nintendo continues to release to the present day.

I thought it would be interesting to look at each of the three decades (well, two and a half) that have passed since SMB1 came out, and discuss which could be truly described as Nintendo's Golden Decade.

(note: the games are grouped into the decade in which they were first released in any part of the world)











































The Question: What is Nintendo's Golden Decade since the moment Super Mario Bros came out?

Which if these three decades would you consider to have the greatest library? This is entirely your opinion, but if you can elaborate as to why then that would be appreciated. I find it a challenging question, as each decade contains games that are often described as being amongst the greatest ever.

After choosing the Golden Decade, do you have Silver and Bronze?

Do you find it an easy or challenging choice?

[DioShiba]

Well I can tell you right now it isn't decade 3.

Far as I care the golden years of nintendo started with the Super Nintendo and ended with the Gamecube.

[Gwen]

I think all three decades have been completely magical, each filled with many of my favorite games, 2 was a part of my childhood, so I have the most nostalgia with it.

[Garamonde]

I can't be bothered to say much of anything about this atm but basically what Flannel said. Definitely #2. All three have had some great games though, no denying that.

[Chaoxys]

Yeah, they all have something special about them so I can't really pick just one. I'd have to say gen 2 was my favorite if only because games like Paper Mario and what not that I still enjoy playing today.

[Mutsukki]

I indeed love all of them, maybe almost equally, but going by the purpose of the thread, I would pick Decade #2 as my gold decade, it has most of my favorite games ever in those years, also the most memorable. For silver I would get decade #3, mainly because we had such great sequels and improvments on this one (also Mother 3 is there). So bronze goes to decade #1, which isn't bad, but it's maybe because I didn't grow with it? Maybe because it was just starting, idk, I get some weird vibes when playing games from this time (not bad vibes though)

[Saltonara]

Decade 2 was definitely the golden decade for me. Not only is it what I grew up with, but there were many highly treasured and unique games that came out at the time.

Decade 1 would be silver for me. I enjoy a lot of those games much more than most of the Decade 3 games, namely games such as Earthbound and Super Mario World. Granted Decade 3 does have a few really good games that I liked a lot (Bowser's Inside Story and of course SSBB) but honestly I prefer Decade 1 over it.

[Woppet*]

Decade 2 contains:
Luigi's Mansion
Minish Cap
Majora's Mask
Wind Wanker
Pokemon RBY
Pikmin
Pikmin 2
Paper Mario TTYD
Animal Crossing
Mario 64
Banjo Kazooie
Oracle of Ages
Oracle of Seasons
Pokemon GSC
Mario Sunshine
Pokemon RSE

Does any more need to be said?

[Garamonde]

Wind Wanker

I see

[Ton]

I think it's a little more rigid. We can move the decade a bit. It has to encompass the late end of the NES (Mario 3, etc.) with the start of the N64 (Mario 64, etc.)
So I'd say about 1987-1997, maybe?

[Vipershark]

Decade 2 is by far the best with Decade 3 being the worst.
I didn't grow up with Decade 1 (and still don't have an NES) so I don't have much (if any) nostalgia for decade 1, earlier than the SNES.

Decade 2 had the GBC and the GBA and the N64 and the Gamecube.

[Garamonde]

Decade 3 wasn't the worst, it just wasn't the root of gaming. There are plenty of amazing games in #3 just as there are in #1.

[Gaia]

I didin't COMPLETELY skip out on decade 2 while transitioning to the sony playstation from the Dreamcast. I still had handhelds, the n64, and such.

Then again, the second decade brought about hapless sprite edits and such, and decade 1 didin't have design as first priority before the console wars went into full-swing.

[puggsoy]

I've had fun with all three decades, can't choose a favourite one though.

Decade 1 is almost pure nostalgia, my experiences consisting pretty much solely of Metroid II, Tetris and Link's Awakening. Whether they're nostalgic or not though, they are all really good games.

Decade 2 was pretty revolutionary. A bunch of new consoles, not to mention the flood of memorable games. Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, the Oracles, Super Mario 64, Banjo-Tooie, Super Smash Bros, and heaps of Pokemon games, including the unforgettable Yellow version. It was also the start of Paper Mario, WarioWare, Advance Wars and the infinitely good Mario & Luigi RPGs.

Decade 3 continued with these games I just mentioned. PiT and BiS, Super Paper Mario, the DS Advance War games, WarioWare Smooth Moves. And even with the Wii, 3DS, and the Wii U now coming along, the DS is still strong. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, Super Princess Peach, New Super Mario Bros, and the new Pokemon games. Even Pokemon Black and White 2, the latest ones, are still compatible with regular DS consoles unless I'm much mistaken.

So yeah, I can't really choose, each decade has its highlights. If I had to choose, it would probably be 2 due to its significance. But hey, decade 3 isn't even over yet, and who knows, it might blow the other two right off of their feet.

EDIT: Yawackhary just reminded me of Professor Layton. Which pretty much puts decade 3 on-par with 2 now, making me not being able to choose at all.

[Yawackhary]

A bit of a tricky one but choosing Decade 2 has not only that it had the most games that Nintendo published/developed meaning that it was a balance of a large quantity but with quality output with also the Rare stuff sneaking in at their prime, also the fact that I grew up playing many of the games and that Nintendo pushed themselves with interesting ideas. Also they were back porting games that missed out first time around (SMA series) and remakes (the Game & Watch Gallery series, Gallery Advance personally an bit of a under the radar game). Second place is Decade 1 that even though it has less games than 2, many of the games are highly influential and are still playable today. While personally SMB1 and LOZ1 have been aged quite a bit plus the fact that SMB3 had that scrolling thing that bothered me a tiny little bit (still a great game though), I felt that Nintendo was getting the hang of making console games improving year by year. In fact some from that decade are some of my favourite games like Super Mario Land 2, Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and Donkey Kong Country.

As for Decade 3, well I didn't play much of the games to make a proper judgement (out of that list it is pretty much Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros., Mario & Luigi 2, Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2/Mini-Land Mayhem even though I do have Punch-Out!! Oh and Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour is in the wrong place), I feel well the quality/quantity isn't as high as the second decade or indeed for some games as imaginitive as the first 2 decades even though the Mario Galaxy games shows that Nintendo does have the spark still plus many of the games currently are genres that I don't really like or not into. While it is true that Decades 1 and 2 did have a fair amount of RPGs (2 even more due to the Pokemon/Paper Mario/localised "Advance Wars"/localised Fire Emblem series), there was also some games from other genres that I liked to balance it out plus with the GBA ports but on Decade 3 there was more focus on Zelda/Pokemon/Professor Layton games, DS programs and the Wii(blank) series. It's perfectly fine if you are a Zelda/Pokemon/Professor Layton fan since you get some good games out of it however if you aren't into them series its a bit harder. Nintendo are still focused on the platformers (Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Wario Land, NSMB series, Donkey Kong Country Returns) but they weren't I feel as popular as there once were, racing games however was just more or less Mario Kart [the ones up to and including DS I like but from the sounds of the Wii version...] with a couple of Excite games for good measure (the lack of decent racing games was also the reason why I have a PS3, still getting some selected Wii games so I can play on them for the Wii U though). It's a bit of a funny one is this one that's for sure.

No love from pre-Decade 1 games? (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Mario Bros., Punch-Out & Super Punch-Out arcade, Game & Watch games or if you want to go really far back Sheriff and the original Wild Gunman)