Retro Studios revives the ape; hard, beautiful platforming.
Sudoku and mental arithmetic with a Dr Kawashima face; the DS as a daily habit.
Cartoon tanks on a grid with COs and their powers; Intelligent Systems' perfect handheld tactics.
Samus in first person on Tallon IV, scanning everything; Retro Studios' miracle.
Tennis, bowling and boxing swung with a remote; bundled with the console and sold 82 million copies.
Planetoids with their own gravity and an orchestra; the best 3D Mario.
Psynergy and Djinn on the Game Boy Advance; the handheld JRPG that looked impossible.
Permadeath tactics on the Game Boy Advance; the first Fire Emblem released in the West.
Twelve racers, bikes and the wheel; the best-selling racing game ever.
A bear and a bird collect jiggies; Rare's 3D platformer at its most joyful.
Yoshi, the cape and 96 exits on the SNES; the launch title that still plays perfectly.
Jumpman climbs girders to save Pauline; Mario's first appearance, 1981.
Three days until the moon falls, replayed until you have saved everyone in Termina.
Nintendo's mascots fight on a GameCube; still played in tournaments twenty years on.
Johto and then Kanto again, day and night; the biggest Pokemon game.
Breath of the Wild plus sky islands, the Depths and a build-anything Ultrahand.
The 1986 original: a gold cartridge, no map and "it's dangerous to go alone".
Do a barrel roll; Arwings, the Rumble Pak and branching routes.
Samus Aran on Zebes, and the reveal at the end; the first half of Metroidvania.
A cel-shaded Hyrule drowned under a sea, sailed island to island.
120 stars, the castle and the first analogue 3D playground.
The Facility, the watch menu and four-player split-screen; the N64 shooter that changed consoles.
Four players, the blue shell and Rainbow Road; the kart racer of every dorm.
The atmospheric map, the wall jump and the baby Metroid; the SNES masterpiece.
The SNES Hyrule with a Dark World mirror; the template every 2D Zelda follows.
Koholint Island, a Wind Fish and a Game Boy; the dream Zelda.
A boy with a baseball bat in a satirical America; Nintendo's cult RPG.
A hundred and fifty creatures, a Game Boy and a link cable; catch them all.
The raccoon suit, the world map and the airships; the best NES game.
Infobox
