Golden Sun
Nintendo has made multiple forays into the RPG genre, with the most well known of those being the Mother Series (Earthbound) and Super Mario RPG. Another of the companies attempts tends to be more of a cult classic though, and that’s the Golden Sun series.
The first Golden Sun game came out in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance, during the golden age of JRPGs. For being on the Game Boy it had impressive graphical power and gameplay depth, and was one of the earliest JRPGs on the system. One of the most notable features of Golden Sun was an elemental “Djinnn” system that you used to power your party members in the game. These were living being that you could collect that would empower characters with elemental power.
Elements were something that featured heavily in all facets of the game, including the story and puzzle solving which oftentimes revolved around using a certain element via characters abilities called Psynergy. Golden Sun received a sequel called The Lost Age one year later and would then lie dormant for eight years until Golden Sun: Dark Dawn came out in 2010.
Golden Sun’s unique world and battle system helped cement it as a Nintendo classic, and we’d even see the main character of the series Isaac featured as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Seeing as the Nintendo 3DS is a hotbed for JRPGs, a new Golden Sun would be a perfect title to release for the system this year. It gave Nintendo a true role-playing series of their own, and developer Camelot Software Planning is still alive and well, recently having developed Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash.
As one of the greatest game developers of all time, with a huge stable of legendary series, it would be great to see Nintendo taking advantage of other anniversaries. The original games had an interesting world and cast of characters, with a deep and rewarding combat system. Not to mention the fantastic soundtrack. It’s time for this series to get its day in the sun once again on its 15th anniversary.
Kid Icarus
In the face of Nintendo’s other gargantuan series it’s easy to forget the 30th anniversary of another charming game, Kid Icarus. The angel Pit has to battle the forces of evil and vanquish Medusa in order to protect the goddess Palutena, in this classic platforming game on the NES.
After getting a sequel in 1991 we went decades without hearing a word from Kid Icarus, until Nintendo gave Pit and the series a facelift in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and later with the brand new game Kid Icarus: Uprising. This reboot of the series gave Pit a fresh new design, and gave us a fun rail shooter and action game. Kid Icarus was not a series anyone expected to return, but we ended up getting a fast paced hilarious fourth-wall breaking 3DS title that can be considered one of the best games on the system.
Pit’s newfound popularity managed to pull in over 1 million copies sold for Uprising, but unfortunately Masahiro Sakurai- the mind behind the game – has officially said he is not working on a sequel. Sakurai moved on to develop Super Smash. Bros on Wii U and 3DS, which is soon coming to an end with its post launch DLC support. We have to wonder what Sakurai is doing next, and even though he’s said he wasn’t working on a sequel, you have to imagine that Nintendo didn’t reboot the series for nothing.
Fan reception to Uprising was pretty positive, with minor complaints about the difficult control scheme. Pit is one of Nintendo’s oldest mascots, and the company found a great space for the series in terms of storytelling, humor and gameplay when they released Uprising in 2012.
Four years later may be the perfect time for Pit and his friends to get the full-fledged console game they deserve, and who knows maybe the NX is the place for that to happen. Of course a sequel on the 3DS is welcome too, we just want more Kid Icarus.
Metroid
Nintendo’s most famous bounty hunter has one of the company’s biggest anniversaries this year. Even if the series may be living in the shadow of Zelda and Mario, Metroid is also celebrating 30 years in 2016. By far one of the most criminally underlooked Nintendo series, Metroid’s influence on video games is huge. There’s a reason the term Metroidvania exists.
Samus has always had trouble getting attention in light of the bigger series, but Metroid has some of the best Nintendo games ever made. Super Metroid, Fusion, Zero Mission, and the 2D series got turned on its head when Metroid Prime took it to a first person shooter, but the themes of the series remained.
After the Prime trilogy, Nintendo partnered with Team Ninja to put out Metroid: Other M in 2010, which was met with less than enthusiastic reception. The game received some negative feedback from fans mostly because of the way that it handled Samus as a character. Since then we’ve heard nothing but silence from the series.
Now a new Metroid game is actually coming out this year called Metroid Prime: Federation Force. We don’t know anything about the game besides that it has four player co-op and Samus hasn’t been seen anywhere in it. Federation Force could definitely surprise us and turn out to be a fantastic game but one things certain, it’s not the game we were asking for.
With such a milestone of an anniversary we can only hope Nintendo has a full-blown Metroid title up their sleeve. Either a new Prime entry, or a return to form with a 2D Metroid. Samus is one of the most important video game characters of all time, and she’s spent too long on the sidelines. 2016 is the perfect time to don the Varia Suit and Arm Cannon once again.
F-Zero
There’s not a game that’s come out that can quite match the adrenaline rush and speed that the F-Zero has. This futuristic racing series lets you choose from a variety of crazy alien and human characters while they take place in the F-Zero Grand Prix.
The weird characters featured are incredibly memorable, with the poster boy Captain Falcon being immediately recognizalbe. At this point Captain Falcon has been in just about as many Smash Bros. games as F-Zero.
You can really feel the rush of this racer as you blaze over futuristic racetracks. The games ended up being incredibly difficult, as players only have a split second to react to an obstacle or turn in the track.
The series debuted on the Super Nintendo and received a few other iterations on other Nintendo consoles. F-Zero GX was the last big title in the series on Gamecube, with a couple Game Boy Advance games following. Since 2004 Captain Falcon hasn’t gotten back in the cockpit of his racer. Something happened last year though, that showed us we still want F-Zero.
Shin’ en Multimedia released a game called Face Racing Neo on the Wii U. This game emulated everything that was great about F-Zero. The speed, adrenaline rush, crazy tracks, everything but the wacky characters.
With a talented developer Nintendo can partner with, who clearly knows what it’s doing, the time seems ripe for the return of F-Zero.
Advance Wars
Everyone may know Intelligent Systems for the now smash hit Nintendo series Fire Emblem. In the days of the Game Boy Advance though, the development team made another isometric strategy series that could arguably be even better than Fire Emblem. That series is Advance Wars, which is actually part of the larger “Wars” series that includes Famicom Wars and Battalion Wars.
By far one of the most memorable series on the Advance and DS, Advance Wars takes the same formula that Fire Emblem employs with a modern warfare twist. You build units at factories that range from foot soldiers to bombing planes, tanks, artillery, and anti-aircraft. Each side also had a commanding officer that had strengths and weaknesses with certain units, as well as a powerful special ability they could use in battle.
The depth of the strategy gameplay in Advance Wars was where the series shined. Each new iteration added on interesting mechanics, like Dual Strike which gave you two different battlefields to control, one on each screen. It didn’t hurt that the games cast of characters and COs were each unique with colorful designs that really fleshed out their personality.
Days of Ruin was the last game to be released in 2008 and took the story to a decidedly darker tone than before, but still provided all of the depth and strategic planning.
Fire Emblem Awakening was a phenomenal success on the 3DS and the next entry Fates is right around the corner. Intelligent Systems has proved that they can expand on their formulas in meaningful ways, and the 3DS is a great spot for handheld strategy games. With the extra processing power and 3D capabilities a new Advance Wars could really be a sight to behold.
There’s certainly some big anniversaries for Nintendo series in 2016, and the company has great character and worlds we’d love to see again. With the NX on the horizon and the 3DS still going strong, it seems likely that Nintendo could bring some of their iconic characters back. Would you like to see these series make a return in 2016? Do you have any other favorite Nintendo series you’d like to see come back? Let us know what you think down in the comments.
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