Yet, despite their strong end to the decade, we can’t let that streak of quality cloud our memories. Yes, a good ending can save a rather middling story, but we still have to suffer through the middling story to get there—and Nintendo released some true tripe this decade, let us tell you. These are the ten worst Nintendo games of the decade, according to Metacritic.
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10 Pokemon Shuffle - 56
This freemium game was actually published by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, and, to that, we can only ask—what on Earth were you thinking!? This is a puzzle game similar to Pokemon Battle Trozei which saw players matching various Pokemon of the same type. As with most freemium titles, the game was absolutely ruined by its over-reliance on microtransactions and shady gameplay mechanics. It could have been fun if not for the shameless greed.
9 Mario & Sonic At The Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games - 55
As you can probably parse from its title, this fourth entry in the Mario & Sonic series served as the official video game of the 2014 Olympic Games. They deserved better. The game consisted of a group of smaller minigames, none of which were any fun. Like most minigame compilations, none were given much time or attention, and the result is a boring menagerie of mediocre gameplay types. Add in some wonky Gamepad controls and a lot of recycled gameplay elements, and you have yourself a truly mediocre title not worth the dedication.
8 Pokemon Dream Radar - 54
Here we have another highly questionable Pokemon release. This is a downloadable title released for the Nintendo 3DS that allows players to “shoot” various Pokemon through augmented reality. It was like Pokemon Go before Pokemon Go was a thing! It was nothing but a shameless tie-in to Black and White 2, as it allowed you to transfer the Pokemon you “caught” in real life into the game. It was a cute little add-on for fans and owners of that game, but, as a standalone piece of work, it was pointless and utterly tedious.
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7 Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir - 54
Released back in 2012 for the 3DS, Spirit Camera served as a spin-off title from the iconic Fatal Frame series. It’s nice to know that the Fatal Frame franchise is still alive and well, but it deserves much better than the turgid Spirit Camera. Critics agreed that the game had a ton of potential but that something got lost in production. Most of the criticism stemmed from the disappointingly shallow gameplay and the painfully brief playtime, as the whole thing could be completed in about three hours.
6 Flip Wars - 53
Published by Nintendo, Flip Wars is a cute little arcade game that sees you matching tiles with up to three different players (or CPU opponents, if you don’t feel like socializing). The game isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just hopelessly empty and shallow. It contains a pitiful lack of gameplay modes, and the ones that are there didn’t seem to be fully thought out or complete.
It’s fun enough for ten minutes, but you will inevitably (and quickly) get bored and do something else. The game had some potential, but it desperately needed more content and more substantial gameplay elements. As it stands, it’s just a cheap little arcade game not worth thinking twice about.
5 Pokemon Rumble U - 49
Hey look, another crappy Pokemon game! This really wasn’t the greatest decade for the franchise, was it? Well, aside from maybe Pokemon Go, but even that fizzled out after ten minutes. Granted, this isn’t a fully-fledged Pokemon title, but a battle arena fighter released through the eShop. But that’s no excuse!
There was absolutely no variety or stimulating gameplay mechanics behind this game—you just bashed the A button a bunch of times until your opponent was defeated. It was borderline insulting, perfectly willing to coast on the Pokemon name to sustain itself.
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4 One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP - 46
This crappy little thing was a 3DS adaptation of the Wii game One Piece: Unlimited Cruise, a game obviously based on the wildly popular manga One Piece. Your money was far better spent actually buying the manga because this game was a laughable affair.
Not only was it a horrible adaptation from the core Wii game, but it contained a ton of laborious and patience-testing exploring that was meant solely to artificially pad out the playing time with endless fetch quests. Fetch quests do not a good game make, and Unlimited Cruise SP was not a good game.
3 Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - 46
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival shares a lot in common with the iconic Mario Party series, as it too contains numerous characters duking it out through a board game and its various minigames. There wasn’t anything especially memorable or original about this game—it was just Mario Party in the Animal Crossing universe. But to make matters worse, the minigames were far less fun than the ones found in Mario Party. This is basic party game 101 and it belongs in a bargain bin.
2 Devil’s Third - 43
It’s hard to imagine that this abysmal hack and slash game came from Tomonobu Itagaki, the same developer behind the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series. His new IP was met with vicious reviews upon release, with many calling it the worst game available on the Wii U.
Where to even start with this game? Nearly every facet of its development and production was heavily criticized, and few critics found anything to actually enjoy. It was an unpolished disaster that had no right releasing under the Nintendo banner.
1 3D Classics: Urban Champion - 37
Serving as Nintendo’s very first 2D fighting game, Urban Champion was released to a very mixed reception back in 1986, with many unfavorably comparing it to Punch-Out! For some bizarre reason, Nintendo decided to resurrect the game for its 3D Classic Games series, which contained autostereoscopic 3D remasters of some old NES and SNES titles.
As you can see, the game didn’t exactly age like a fine wine. Critics were baffled at its very existence but were left certifiably angry after experiencing what it had to offer… which was nothing. It was a bad game then, and it’s an even worse game now.
NEXT: 10 Games to Play on Switch for 2019
