It’s hard to have a conversation about the history and evolution of video games without bringing Nintendo into the conversation. Nintendo is a major player in the video game industry that’s helped perpetuate a family-friendly image for gaming and they’re responsible for some extremely popular franchises.
The gaming industry grows exponentially each year and it’s become common for popular series to get adapted into anime series or feature films. This experiment doesn’t always work, but some video games work even better as entertainment that’s watched rather than played and controlled. This process has helped some of Nintendo’s more beloved properties gain some extra attention from a totally new audience.
10 F-Zero Works As A Fast-Paced Racing Anime That Captures The Energy Of The Games
Nintendo has many cherished franchises and F-Zero is a racing series that seems to always come secondary to Mario Kart. Fans are hungry for more F-Zero content, but despite its absence in the video game world, it’s a property that received a satisfying anime adaptation.
F-Zero: GP Legend accurately translates the racing franchise into an action-adventure anime that expands on the unique characters’ backgrounds as well as the intergalactic setting where the series is set. Any individual that gets a kick out of Captain Falcon’s antics in the Super Smash Bros. series will love his representation in F-Zero: GP Legend.
9 Kirby’s Sense Of Humor & Adventure Comes To Life In His Anime Adaptation
Kirby is a beloved Nintendo mascot that’s always been present in some capacity as well as a major fixture of other Nintendo properties like Super Smash Bros. Kirby’s versatility and his well defined universe make him the perfect subject matter for an anime.
Kirby: Right Back At Ya’ is definitely geared more towards children and leans into a Saturday morning vibe, but it’s still a very fun take on the Kirby universe. The anime does an accurate job with Kirby’s character, but an unexpected highlight is just how entertaining King DeDeDe and his sidekick, Escargoon, turn out to be.
8 Super Mario Bros.' Early Anime Film Is Certainly Better Than That "Other" Mario Movie
Super Mario Bros. is Nintendo's flagship property and there have been a number of very disastrous, yet ambitious, attempts to translate Mario and his world into live-action and animation. One of the earliest projects is a Super Mario Bros. anime movie from 1986 that most people don't even know exists.
Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! is a 60-minute film that pulls from the original Super Mario Bros., yet features a strange plot where Peach, Bowser, and other characters escape through the television screen where a Famicom (the Japanese counterpart to the NES) is being played. The film has sadly never been officially released outside of Japan, but various fan translations do exist if you can find them.
7 Bayonetta Is The Perfect Series To Turn Into A Flashy Action Anime
Everything that Platinum Games works on is fairly extreme and sensational, but their Bayonetta series is one of the more surprising of their properties to adorn a Nintendo console, and even more surprising, it has become a Nintendo exclusive from the second game on. Bayonetta, the character as well as the franchise, exude coolness at every opportunity and it's a very natural fit for an anime.
Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is a feature-length anime movie that reinterprets the events of the first game in the series as well as functions as the character's origin story. The anime beautifully captures the games' explosive and kinetic combat, which culminates in Bayonetta's bloody showdown with Balder.
6 Ace Attorney Does Justice To The Series’ Engrossing Mysteries
The Ace Attorney series isn’t strictly contained to Nintendo consoles, but they made their debut with the company and have been a frequent presence with Nintendo, even more so in Japan. The Ace Attorney games all present mysteries that are quite intricate and full of surprises. The anime series breaks each of these cases down into several episodes and gives each of them the proper attention that they deserve.
It’s a very faithful anime adaptation that might be somewhat tedious for seasoned players of the games, but it’s a very satisfying way to get exposed to Ace Attorney’s stories.
5 Viewtiful Joe’s Colorful Style & Sense Of Humor Are A Natural Fit For An Anime
Capcom’s Viewtiful Joe games are some of the most enjoyable titles on Nintendo’s GameCube and fans are still eager for a new entry in the creative action series. Viewtiful Joe deconstructs both superheroes and the artifice of film with a unique twist on a conventional hero’s journey.
Viewtiful Joe’s cartoonish art style and self-aware tone already make it look and feel like an anime, but it also receives an actual anime series. Viewtiful Joe’s anime celebrates an impressive 51 episodes (although only 26 were released in English) that accentuate the weird and wild potential of this franchise.
4 Chrono Trigger Receives A Special Anime Installment That Expands On The Story
There’s still lots of debate on whether Chrono Trigger is superior to the Final Fantasy series as far as Super Nintendo RPGs are concerned. There have been a few sequels and expansions to Chrono Trigger’s time travelling universe, but there’s been a very “less is more” approach to the franchise.
That’s what makes Dimensional Adventure Numa Monjar such a surprising anomaly. Dimensional Adventure is a 16-minute Chrono Trigger anime short that’s produced by the impressive Production I.G. The anime takes place the night before the events of the game begin and it follows two monsters from Chrono Trigger.
3 Animal Crossing’s Anime Movie Is A Loving Tribute To Its Wild World
Animal Crossing started as a niche franchise for Nintendo, but it gradually has become more popular and the events of 2020 helped catapult it into an unprecedented level of acclaim.
Animal Crossing might seem difficult to adapt into an anime series or movie since each experience is so specific to the gamer, but 2006’s Animal Crossing: The Movie is a very fitting translation of what it’s like to create or visit an island in the game. Animal Crossing; The Movie features a new villager that experiences the wonders of the community as she makes friends and appreciates the simple pleasures.
2 Final Fantasy V Gets Its Own Specialty Anime OVA Series
Final Fantasy is one of the most popular video game properties of all time and it’s received a number of anime expansions. Final Fantasy V is one of the last Final Fantasy games to come out for the Super Nintendo and it’s such a hit that a two-episode anime OVA series went into production in 1994.
Curiously, rather than just adapt the events of the game, Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals is set 200 years after the events of Final Fantasy V and it examines the aftermath of the events within the SNES game.
1 Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem Attempts To Turn Fire Emblem Into An Anime Sensation
Fire Emblem is an important part of Nintendo’s history and it’s fascinating that the tactical RPG series really only connected outside of Japan due to the inclusion of characters like Marth and Roy in Nintendo’s crossover fighter series, Super Smash Bros.
Fire Emblem’s fanbase in Japan during the ‘90s was intense and this helped lead to Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, an anime that’s based upon the third entry in the franchise. Mystery of the Emblem is only a two-episode OVA, but the plans were for it to continue and presumably explore more of the early Fire Emblem mythos.