The Little Nintendo Things

Bringing you back to all your favorite Nintendo moments from throughout the companies 120+ years of history.

[littlenintendothings-blog]

I love brentalfloss. When it comes to putting lyrics to game music, nobody does it quite like him. However, he can be pretty hit or miss. Some of his songs, like Kirby with Lyrics and Sewer Surfin' with Lyrics are pretty lame but he made up for all of that with Mario Paint with Lyrics. Brentalfloss' best tunes always come from when he's really fond or emotional about a game and it definitely shows in this track. Every lyric in the song just bursts with memories and emotional fondness of the game. "It tugs my heart strings / And that's just the start screen." And it can be pretty funny too. "So make a bee / Make a Mii / Or make a symphony / Arf meow meow meow meow." It's very true to the original game and filled with a lot of heart, as much as heart as a song about Mario Paint can have anyway and it's certainly worth a look if you love Brentalfloss or Mario Paint.

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Can't forget about Oracle of Seasons! Happy 11th to you, too!

(The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons - Gameboy Color - 2001)

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Yes, 11 years ago today, Nintendo and Capcom decided to try something entirely new with the Zelda series, in the US at least. Instead of just one game, they made two, which could be connected together to get bonuses and a "true ending." Both games told different stories, had different locations and different villains. In fact, if you didn't connect the two games, Ganon was no where to be found. Instead, it was the evil witch Veran or the ruthless General Onox. I always like when Zelda games try to use a villain that isn't Ganon. Makes for some interesting story elements. Unfortunately, I've never invested much time into these games. Not because I don't want to, but because when they first came out, I wasn't much into Zelda, let alone the handheld titles. I've been meaning to go back to them because I do love Zelda and love the idea of these two games. There's so many cool ideas and concepts in place. The new villains, animal partners, cool returning item's like the Roc's Feather and new one's like the Seed Shooter. They just look like really awesome games. So Happy 11th Birthday, Oracle of Ages. Oh, and...

(The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages - Gameboy Color - 2001)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

User sparkylurkdragon requested this one. Good request!

Smashing...Live! was a CD that Nintendo sent out to subscribers of Nintendo Power a few months after Super Smash Bros. Melee's release. It featured many of the tracks from the game being performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. All the tracks are phenomenally done and just brings joy to my heart to hear them. Whether it's the Pokémon Medley or my personal favorite, Dr. Mario, the whole CD is just filled with fantastic renditions of already fantastic tracks. As sparkylurkdragon said in the suggestion "The final track, Rainbow Cruise. The audience clapping at the end just warms my heart so much. The fact that a concert of video game music was performed by a prestigious orchestra is awesome enough, but the fans joining in... beautiful. Just beautiful" Couldn't have said it better myself.

[littlenintendothings-blog]

To be fair, I don't know much about Freakforms other than the fact that it was the first downloadable game I remember Nintendo making commercials for. Granted, it was an incredibly dorky commercial with those four guys from that awful Star Fox 64 3D commercial but it was a step in the right direction. Basically, Freakyforms allows you to create your own monster/creature, then you use the touch screen to control the character through a number of platforming stages, collecting things or doing certain tasks within a time limit. It's a neat idea but it was also done before with 5th Cells Drawn to Life. Still, it's nice to see Nintendo trying new things on their 3DS eShop.

(Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive! - 3DS - 2011)

[joshrthefro-deactivated20120702]

More Pokemon Sprites!

So yeah, I know I said I’d try to do this more often…This isn’t as often as I’d want to, but hey, huge updates are better than no updates, am I right? Also, if I did it more often, I’d be spamming all of your Dashboards, so it’s kind of a win-win…I guess…

Read More

[littlenintendothings-blog]

So I'm not one to often whore out other blogs but I have to give a quick shout out to my good friend Josh. He's a very talented pixel artist who has been slowly making sprite sheets and animations of every single Pokémon over the last few years. He's about half way done and his work is absolutely amazing. Sometimes even better than the official stuff.

Click that "Read More" up there to see his latest animations and give him a reblog or a follow. He deserves it.

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Man do these guys give me the creeps. The Shadow Beasts are some of the creepiest enemies to ever appear in a Nintendo game. I guess it makes sense, considering Twilight Princess was meant to be a more serious, darker story. While I wouldn't say it's darker or scarier than Majora's Mask in tone, it was still a pretty grim game. The Twilight Realm is a pretty interesting idea, with parallels to the Dark World from A Link to the Past, and when you first enter it and have to take on the Shadow Beasts, it's one of the most memorable moments of the whole game. The intensity of fighting them for the first time is quite intimidating. You start by instantly being locked in to a certain area, unable to leave until you defeat them. They slink around and twitch all over the place, moving in unsettling manors. But perhaps the freakiest thing is the music that plays when you battle them. I wouldn't even call it music. It's more like anti-music. It's chilling, to say the least and it will likely never leave my head.

(The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Gamecube/Wii - 2006)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

It's always sad when a neighbor moves out of your town in Animal Crossing. When you play enough, you can grow a sort of attachment to them and it's never easy to learn they're just closing up shop and moving on. But, with every neighbor that leaves, a new one moves in and that's also a fun experience. The Animal Crossing games are full of so many different characters, it's also a surprise who you're going to have as a neighbor this time. Whether it's the gruff, but lovable Camofrog, the upbeat and cheery Tangy or the downright weird Coco, the neighbors in Animal Crossing make the game and I always look forward to meeting them.

(Animal Crossing: City Folk - Wii - 2008)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Since I did mention I was busy moving, why not make a Little Nintendo Thing about moving? Specifically, the Pokémon movers from the third generation of Pokémon games. I remember thinking it was really cool that you start your adventure in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald by moving into a new town rather than just deciding to start your adventure out of nowhere like in all the other games. It was a minor thing but a pretty interesting idea. I especially liked how you started in the back of a moving van and even more so, I liked that the movers were Pokémon. In Ruby and Sapphire, they were Machoke but in Emerald they were Vigoroth. I guess they figured by Emerald, everybody knew who the third gen monsters were so why hide them? It's a neat idea and glimpse into the other things people have Pokémon do other than battle. But if the Pokémon were the movers, were they also driving the truck? Huh...

(Pokémon: Emerald Version - Gameboy Advance - 2005)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Sorry for my absence!

Hey guys. Just want to apologies for my disappearance. My family has been in the middle of moving into a new house and I haven't had access to the internet or even my computer for almost a week.

I promise, I'm going to get a LNT up today. Maybe even more than one! So look forward to that in just a bit.

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Nintendo knows how to make a sequel bigger and better compared to the last entry and no series is a better example of that then Super Smash Bros. Just take a look at Melee. They added so much more content to that game, it's sometimes hard to go back to the original. Not only did they add a bunch of new characters, collectable trophies, new items, but also several new modes including Adventure Mode. Adventure Mode was interesting because it pit you against all the familiar characters from Classic Mode but with more structure and it included several platforming segments. You had to go through the Mushroom Kingdom, the dungeons of Hyrule, outrun F-Zero racers in Mute City and escape from Zebes before it exploded. It was pretty cool. While I wouldn't say it's better than Brawl's Subspace, the fact that it included familiar enemies and locations from Nintendo games does give it a little more character. Seriously, Nintendo. You have a million franchises, why was I fighting generic enemies in generic caves and jungles in Subspace? But I digress...

(Super Smash Bros. Melee - Gamecube - 2001)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

When it comes to characters and their relationships, Nintendo has always been sort of vague about them. Sure, we know Mario and Peach are an item but look at some of their other couples. Even big name relationships like Link and Zelda and Luigi and Daisy are often times only hinted at and never fully realize. Hell, sometimes it's not just romantically involved couples. Look at Wario and Waluigi, we still don't know what their deal is. But today, I'm focusing on Toad and Toadette. Why? Because Toad is my favorite Nintendo character and I find them absolutely adorable. As you know, Toadette was first introduced in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! as Toad's partner but we never really knew where she came from and what her relationship to Toad was. She'd later go on to appear in several other Mario games but nothing was ever developed there. It wasn't until Super Mario Galaxy where you can see them sitting awfully close to each other watching the stars in the storybook opening. Which is weird since neither of those characters appear again in that game. Then, on the congratulations screen of Mario Kart Wii, you can see them holding hands. Took a few years, but we finally had confirmation! Good for you, Toad. Yes, I am weird.

Also, this post was made in conjecture with my girlfriend's new blog about love and romance. She reblogs a lot of my stuff on her other blog and asked me to link to this new one, so I agreed. It's all about romantic stuff so if you're into that kind of thing, give it a look. She'd appreciate it.

(Super Mario Galaxy - Wii - 2007)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Unfortunately, I don't own this game yet but I know enough about it to know that it's beyond ridiculous and has a great sense of humor. Apart from the constant fourth wall jokes, Pit singing about things and Palutena cracking wise, there's also, what I consider to be one of the best enemies in gaming history; The Tempura Wizard. The Tempura Wizard pretty much functions the same way the Eggplant Wizard (who also makes an appearance in this game) does. He shows up and if you get hit by him, you're temporarily turned into tempura shrimp and can't do much while under it's control. I think that's absolutely hilarious and completely absurd. From what I hear, the Tempura Wizard is stronger than the Eggplant Wizard but doesn't appear very often in the game. However, in multiplayer mode, there's an item known as a Tempura Bomb which has the same effect as being attacked by the Tempura Wizard, so at least there's that.

(Kid Icarus: Uprising - 3DS - 2012)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Wii Fit is sort of an ingenious idea. Mixing the fun of video games, the brand recognition of Nintendo and the Wii and the concept of losing weight via exercise, Wii Fit brought a quick and easy get-in-shape method to the masses and it brought a dorky peripheral with it. While work-out games have been around longer than you probably realize, the Balance Board is what really sets the games apart and made it such a smash hit. It actually makes you feel like what you're doing matters in the game and isn't just a glorified training video. Sure, it might be the best form of exercise out there but it's pretty fun regardless. However, my favorite thing about the series is the little in-game Balance Board that acts as your guide of sorts through the menus. This little thing is adorable with it's cute little voice and the way it waves at you. Only Nintendo can take inanimate objects and fill them with enough personality and make them fun characters. Bless you, Balance Board Guy, bless you.

(Wii Fit Plus - Wii - 2009)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Mario Kart 7 is a pretty cool game but it has a lot of flaws. Like that it doesn't have a single player Vs. mode or a mission mode. But something that really bugs me is the character selection. Metal Mario and Honey Queen may be two of the worst playable characters in any Mario game (Or video game, for that matter) and where the heck is Waluigi?! But at least some of the characters are cool. Playing as Shy Guy outside of multiplayer is great, Rosalina is always awesome and finally being able to play as Lakitu is certainly a treat. Still, I have to give it up to Wiggler. While he might not have been my first choice for a playable character, I do love that he's playable, mostly because he looks ridiculous driving. The way he only uses two of his hands to drive and the other two just sort of hang there, moving along with the kart. It's pretty funny to watch.

(Mario Kart 7 - 3DS - 2011)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

The joys of seeing a balloon carrying a present float by in Animal Crossing is one of the greatest feelings in those games. Why? Because it only happens every so often and you know that you're about to get a really nice piece of furniture for your troubles. Collecting furniture is a big part of the AC games and lots of pieces are exclusive to the balloons or just hard to get in general. So when you shoot down a balloon and pick up a NES game or the Flagpole from Super Mario Bros., you get pretty excited. I got almost every piece of Super Mario Bros. furniture just by shooting down balloons and it took forever to do it. Especially considering I'm no good at aiming those darn slingshots...

(Animal Crossing: City Folk - Wii - 2008)

[littlenintendothings-blog]

Admittedly, I never owned one of the Pokémon minis. I never really bought in to the whole digital pet thing. I did always think it was kind of an ingenious idea to mix them with Pokémon, though. Pokémon is all about catching and raising creatures so it makes sense to have a virtual pet simulator which allows you to do more than just battle. You had to feed Pikachu, walk him, keep him happy. Sounds like too much work to be fun to me but hey, people loved these things back in the day. Probably the coolest thing about Pokémon Pikachu 2 was that you could transfer stuff to Gold, Silver and Crystal Versions by way of the "mystery gift" option. Little added incentive to pick up more Pokémon merchandise.

(Pokémon Pikachu 2 - 2001)