It’s that magical time of year again. May 2023 has come round rather fast and while we eagerly await the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, May is special to us for another reason as well. Having founded Miketendo64 in May 2015, this year marks our humble little site’s eighth anniversary and as you might expect, we’re feeling rather nostalgic.
So nostalgic, in fact, that the original Miketendo64 bros. and founders of our outlet, have reflected on their three most favourite Nintendo published games of each year the site has been running. So, strap yourselves in for here are our three best Nintendo games of 2015:
M64 Retrospective | Our 3 Best Nintendo Games of 2015:
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo Wii U)
Jack: When Super Mario Maker launched on the Nintendo Wii U, we knew this game was going to be big but we couldn’t imagine how big it would become, or how creative gamers around the world would get with the creation of their courses.
Some were delightfully evil, full of instadeath moments meant to enrage the player, until they figured out the maker’s workaround, or developed the skills necessary to make it out to the end of the level.
There is much I would love to say about this epic game, but I do need to leave some subject matter for Mike to discuss, so instead, as much as I would like to talk about a certain show, which I enjoyed making, I will just say I loved how amiibo was utilized by Super Mario Maker and the level of creativity they brought to the game. It really was a formidable mechanic that was sadly missing in the game’s sequel, Super Mario Maker 2.
Mike: Ah, Super Mario Maker. This was the start of something special. I really got into making my very own Super Mario levels and using pixel art or block art in this case to give some of my stages a more artistic feel.
The game also inspired me to create the Super Mario Maker Bros. Show!, paying homage to the Super Mario Bros. Super Show of the late 80’s and early 90’s. The premise of the show, which we uploaded videos to our YouTube channel, was to record gameplay of us playing through other people’s created stages. We would even get people sending us course ID’s for their stages so we could play them and record them for our show.
I started with recording the videos on my own but I would eventually wrangle Jack in to join me with the intros and outtros for the videos. We would have a blast doing so and ended up with more outtakes than actual usable footage. We had so much fun doing it though and really did enjoy ourselves, almost as much as playing Super Mario Maker itself!
Splatoon (Nintendo Wii U)
Jack: Here’s something you might not have realized, but both Miketendo64 and Splatoon have something in coming and that’s we both owe our creation to May 2015. We didn’t launch the site on the same day that Splatoon released, as we launched a few weeks earlier, but just like the game, we were something new and we absolutely adored everything the original Splatoon game had to offer.
Nintendo tried something new with this shooter genre IP and it really did pay off for them big time as Splatoon swiftly became a fan-favourite that has gone on to recieve multiple sequels, but don’t you worry, we’ll be talking about Splatoon 3 at a later date.
Mike: Splatoon was the freshest game to hit the Wii U and what a game it was. A 3rd person shooter that was less about downing the opposing team and more about inking as much turf as possible. This sounded mad and yet the execution was brilliant and many communities were brought to life thanks to Splatoon.
In fact, many of the people I know today was because of the Splatoon community Nintenmau5 & Friends. The community may have been given a rebrand (now Together We Play) but they are still active to this day and have expanded to other games and of course, Splatoon 3, and are all a great bunch of people!
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (Nintendo 3DS)
Jack: During a time when the Nintendo Wii U was still getting a lot of unnecessary hate, despite being on the receiving end of some fantastic games, most of which would end up being ported to the Nintendo Switch, for the handheld market, Nintendo had the Nintendo 3DS.
Just like the Wii U, the 3DS would also get plenty of formidable titles and one of which was none other than The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D. Just like Ocarina of Time which got a 3D upgrade a few years prior, Majora’s Mask was giving the same treatment and it was a delight to be able to return to Termina in such a more detailed way.
Mike: Now, I have not played The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D and didn’t actually own a 3DS until sometime in 2020 (though technically it is a 2DS XL). Still, I had played the original game and was all for the game getting a port to 3DS so other players can get a chance to play this iconic Zelda game that was not afraid to embrace a much darker tone.
The game dealt with more negative topics like loss, sadness, and depression. The whole “three days to finish what you were doing or you would lose everything” scenario really filled me with anxiety too.
We would like to take this moment to thank all of you who have shared in our journey for the last eight years. It’s been a hell of a ride and if you’d like to know what other games made our best of list, we hope you’ll check out our other instalments of this mini-series.
Until next time, keep on gaming.
