The Current State of Every Nintendo Franchise

Nintendo has a ton of franchises. Some have survived the test of time, where as others have fallen and become forgotten. In this video we will be discussing and reviewing the current state of every Nintendo franchise. Which franchises have grown and become some of the most iconic series to this day, and which have been abandoned and desperately need a revival? Today, we will find out exactly that.
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Time Stamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:24 - Donkey Kong
2:22 - Super Mario
3:43 - NES Sports
4:01 - Punch - Out!!
4:36 - ExciteBike
5:09 - Legend of Zelda
5:38 - Metroid
6:20 - Kid Icarus
7:28 - Advance Wars (Nintendo Wars)
8:05 - Mother/Earthbound
9:00 - Fire Emblem
9:59 - Play Action Football
10:24 - Startropics
10:53 - F-ZERO
11:37 - Pilotwings
12:05 - Dr Mario
12:35 - Yoshi
13:00 - Kirby
13:35 - Mario Kart
14:35 - Battleclash
14:58 - Wave Race
15:37 - Star Fox
16:37 - Wario
17:52 - Picross
18:35 - Puzzle League/Panel de Pon
19:03 - Mario Sports Games (Tennis/Baseball/Strikers/Golf)
20:27 - Pokemon
21:20 - Pokemon Sub-Series (Mystery Dungeon/Snap/Stadium/Ranger/Pokken Tourney)
22:05 - 1080 Snowboarding
22:50 - Mario Party
23:38 - Super Smash Bros.
24:34 - Paper Mario
25:12 - Sin & Punishment
26:03 - Animal Crossing
26:53 - Luigi
27:36 - Golden Sun
28:32 - Pikmin
29:13 - Mario & Luigi
29:57 - Nintendogs
30:42 - Clubhouse Games
31:16 - Chibi-robo
32:07 - Wii Sports
32:54 - Rhythm Heaven
33:57 - Brain Age
34:30 - Mario & Sonic
34:52 - Endless Ocean
35:28 - Hotel Dusk
35:59 - Style Savvy
36:38 - Fossil Fighters
37:17 - Xenoblade Chronicles
38:05 - Fluidity
38:36 - Steel Diver
39:17 - Pushmo
39:43 - Bayonetta
40:40 - BoxBoy
41:34 - Splatoon
41:42 - Final List
42:55 - Outro (Pls Sub ^-^)
All music rights go to the copyright owners.

[@saogtgaming]

This will be pinned

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Congrats

[@angeles_yt]

How is this 1 day ago

[@saogtgaming]

@@angeles_yt he answered in 3 minutes

[@Cye_Pie]

Confidence is important

[@SebastianGMSFB]

​@@Legend-of-KaiFYI, F-Zero belongs on the LifeSupport-Tier now! :)

[@Nonjola]

If you did the same thing with SEGA's franchises, the category "DEAD" would be overfilled.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

LOL man I was actually thinking of Sega while producing this video and the exact same thought came to my mind. Would be depressing to work through if I ever did it

[@T-Dawg75]

Literally the only exceptions are Sonic and monkey ball

[@Nonjola]

@@Legend-of-Kai Besides Sonic they only have Yakuza, Puyo Puyo, Super Monkey Ball, and Phantasy Star. Skies or Arcadia - dead, Space Channel 5 - dead, Billy Hatcher - dead, Nights into Dreams - dead, Jet Set Radio - dead, Toejam & Earl - dead, Panzer Dragoon - dead, Ristar - dead... heck, even the Allstar game, the only game series where we could see all of the old characters, is dead...

[@Legend-of-Kai]

@@Nonjola So sad man...Would you consider Atlus franchises like Persona/Shin Megami part of Sega? I believe Sega owns Atlus now or are they just Atlus exclusive franchises

[@Nonjola]

@@Legend-of-Kai Since they bought Atlus, Persona is now also a franchise of SEGA. I always forget that. But at least SEGA has some franchises left. Rare is really dead. They only have Sea of Thieves. If a franchise comes back, it needs to go to another developer.

[@mubzytv]

Mario Kart and smash bros should both be flagships. Both games the most popular for each console it releases on

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Definitely a strong argument for both of them to be mainstays for sure. Even non nintendo fans know of those franchises as well.

[@lucasarnold6783]

​@@Legend-of-KaiEveryone knows Mariokart

[@TinyLordCthulhu]

​@@Legend-of-Kai"Even non nentendo fans know of those franchises as well" Hence why they should be flagships plus their massive sales

[@jacobhdz127]

Mario Kart and Smash need to be flagships because people will literally buy a Nintendo console for those games. There’s nothing more flagship than that.

[@TMS-Oddbot]

I agree well enough. I think Splatoon will easily be marked as one by the next console as well

[@SpicyInk]

Franchises like Mario Kart, splatoon and Kirby should definitely be in flagships. They're some of the most recognisable nintendo franchises and sell pretty well everytime.

[@created3612]

I agree

[@created3612]

I’d also bump up Xenoblade to mainstay.

[@SpicyInk]

@@created3612 for now maybe not but since it's getting new amiibos for the game instead of having them just cuz of smash so it could maybe be considered that

[@Fox_Mccloud11]

Splatoon isn’t established enough yet to be a mainstay but it might be in 10 years

[@tim..indeed]

Especially Mario Kart, where just the last 3 released sold 100M copies among themself and are always the best seller on their console.

[@chrisbook7938]

I feel like if it's a big system seller, it deserves a spot as a flagship, and it can't be understated the amount of people that buy consoles just to play smash. Especially considering the success of Ultimate, it really should be a flagship by now

[@jorgen728]

Same with Mariokart honestly

[@takingbackgames]

I feel like Kirby might be a flagship franchise at this point. Kirby gets SO many games on like all of the consoles.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Yeah it's actually crazy the amount of games Kirby has. And the sales on the latest are good. Could probably become a flagship very soon if it keeps this up

[@froggo2675]

​@@Legend-of-Kai I wish the best for the chunky boi

[@jesstar119]

agreed, poyo poyo supremacy

[@sophiefilo16]

Yeah, Kirby had a low period, but it's consistently been at its highest point ever since Planet Robobot in 2015. At this point, Nintendo would feel like it's missing something if the Kirby franchise disappeared. And the fact that it has so many games across so many consoles shows how much support it has from both Nintendo and fans...

[@avanelletheclockfriend2515]

I feel like Kirby *is* a flagship franchise. Besides the aforementioned fact that it has plenty of games on a bunch of different Nintendo consoles, there’s the amount of merch the series has(plushes, figurines, clothing, accessories, kitchenware, various toys, etc), multiple different mangas and light novels (including essentially a steampunk AU), live events that have been held(Pupupu Train and Kirby Music Fest come to mind), and expansion beyond the usual media in the form of the Kirby Café. Kirby was even one of the originals of the Smash roster, and routinely wins the Nintendo character popularity poll. There’s also the fact that the franchise has also regularly been tied to others through more than just Smash Bros. in the form of various Easter Eggs and cameos from various characters(or a cameo of Kirby in a Zelda game in one instance); in fact it’s actually impossible to get the good ending in Kirby’s Dreamland 3 without seeing Samus and ROB. No I am totally not biased or anything why would anyone think that

[@themediaangel7413]

I really think Smash and Mariokart belong in the Flagship status, considering their huge sales and popularity with more casual audiences.

[@PeterParker-ff7ub]

mari kart is mario

[@Eventualmoss315]

@@PeterParker-ff7ub At this point Mario kart is its own series.

[@rpgfanatic9719]

​@@Eventualmoss315 but it's under the super Mario brand.

[@rpgfanatic9719]

Pokemon is more popular than both of them in sales but they're not flagship material. I'm down with smash which represents Nintendo as a whole to be a flagship though.

[@raskolnikov6443]

@@rpgfanatic9719 Mario kart is a huge franchise and MK8 is the most sold game on the switch.

[@Marcomanexists]

As a Kirby fan I love all the attention that adorable pink ball of fluff gets. It’s one of their only franchises that constantly feels full of love with every release.

[@wingedbunny6211]

Honestly I would argue its a flagship, just not a very loud one

[@bmwjourdandunngoddess6024]

@@wingedbunny6211 Same

[@bakedpotato111]

Kirby also has (this is canon) ynlimited power, so it is super powerful

[@anothertakenname]

i LOVE kirby (especially lore) and was sad to not see it as a flagship. ah well.

[@octolockg5059]

I wonder what makes something flagship because Kirby and Mario Kart definitely should've been flagship. The severe amount of games of those two franchises are too popular.

[@ladyofrandom8616]

I think Fire Emblem made the biggest leaps ever, from pushing itself into being published in the west via Smash to the Awakening clapback. Awakening was supposed to be a love letter to the series in a similar vein to Final Fantasy, a send off to such a long living series, and then it sold so much that Nintendo started scrambling to make another and ride the wave, Fates, then the Warriors spinoff appeared, Echoes and Three Houses being such bangers, and Heroes being THE Nintendo mobile game that rakes in the big numbers, the lucky hits just started coming in one after the other and they still haven't stopped, there are rumors of another Fire Emblem game being announced soon, that's just how big it became xD There are even sub franchises to this, the original creator Shozou Kaga went off after FE5 to make his own games similar to it, Tearring Saga: Utna Heroes Saga and Tearring Saga: Berwick Saga being published on the Playstation and Playstation 2, never getting out of japan but fan translations are easily available online, and then Vestaria Saga: War of Scions and Vestaria Saga: The Sacred Sword being officially translated and published on Steam, along with inspiring other games by other people like Dark Deity, for a fan, Fire Emblem now feels larger than life Brings a tear to your eye doesn't it

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Definitely a series that deserves all its recent love. And as someone who first learnt of marth Roy from melee I'm so glad it was enough to bring the series over to the west. Goated games

[@LunalynDragon]

It's sooo refreshing to see Metroid in as good of a spot as it is now. After Dread and especially Prime Remastered doing better than expected, there's a nonzero chance that Prime 4 could really blow the gates open. Here's hoping!

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Definitely, Metroid is only going up at this point. Also super excited to see where it goes after Prime 4 is released. Maybe one day we'll have the whole prime trilogy remastered as well

[@andrewzaharias1858]

Chance of getting prime 4 next Nintendo direct: 1%

[@plutoplexus8656]

Agreeeddd I’m so excited for what’s next to come

[@killerzillavolt2655]

Is there a possibility to put a link for us to use your tier list to make our own tier list based on your criteria?

[@Legend-of-Kai]

@@killerzillavolt2655 Hey! I'll see what I can do, only problem was the list wasn't made on tiermaker like usual as I couldn't get the logos all the same size to fit. I'll see if I can grab a link somehow somewhere

[@LayeredGamer]

Mario Kart not being a flagship is insane 💀

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Lmao if there was one thing I could change about this list it'd be moving Mario Kart up 😅

[@lukers9819]

I agree that Mario Kart moving up would be the one change I'd make. But this was an absolutely fantastic and thorough video, dude. Great job! I stayed through the whole video and gave it a like even though I only accidentally clicked on it in the first place lol

[@PeterParker-ff7ub]

mario is mario kart

[@lukers9819]

@@PeterParker-ff7ub The Mario Kart franchise on its own has sold more than pretty much every other franchise on this entire list. Again, Mario Kart games alone have sold over 150 million copies, without adding any other mainline or other Mario Spin off to its sales. The only franchises that are in the same league in sales is mainline Mario, Pokémon, and the Legend of Zelda.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

@@lukers9819 Haha I appreciate you watching it through even if it was by accident! Much love. Also does the Rs in your name stand for Runescape by any chance? Was a pretty hardcore player even just a few years back

[@knowledgeseeker4614]

I think F-Zero might be upgraded from ‘Dead’ to ‘It Exists’.

[@austinreed7343]

Life Support; it seems to use assets from the SNES original heavily.

[@ricksmithtahliasmith4121]

Yes

[@badlatency9979]

Xeno is definitely mainstay. It has gotten consistent releases every couple years. The biggest gap was 2010-2015 but if you count U.S. release only, then 2012-2015 isn't bad. And since 2015 onward there has been a either new mainline entries, remakes, or side games on average every 2 years. With sales higher than some mainstay franchises.

[@kylewoodowens4488]

Series is basically considered complete though just like Earthbound despite 3 still being Japan exclusive. Heard that Monolithsoft is working on a new series. Can't wait to see what they make next.

[@badlatency9979]

@@kylewoodowens4488 incorrect, Xenoblade is not complete. One arc of it is.

[@crunchyblend8809]

Smash bros should be a flagship with the massive sales and hype it generates

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Definitely could be a flagship!

[@markellhawthorne2921]

@@Legend-of-Kai Smash Ultimate is currently the best selling fighting game of all time.

[@line4169]

@@Legend-of-Kai then why didn't you? That's like saying Avengers is not that much of a big franchise considering spiderman is iconic

[@Legend-of-Kai]

@@line4169 Because smash has been 'concluded' at least somewhat. I couldn't put it in flagships due to the franchise seemingly being finished. Although I'm sure Nintendo won't let it die out.

[@rpgfanatic9719]

​​@@markellhawthorne2921 I'm pretty sure Nintendo is best selling of every genre they're involved with. Mario kart is the best selling racing game, Mario is the best selling platformer, Pokemon is the best selling RPG, Zelda is the best selling action adventure game (maybe).

[@ScribbleSpirit]

The Mario & Luigi spinoffs are a really interesting case since relevancy-wise I totally agree with its placement, however the main company that produced the games Alphadream went bankrupt after the latest M&L release in 2019, making it more realistically in one of the bottom tiers unless Nintendo decided to revive the franchise on its own, which currently shows no signs of happening 😭 RIP Alphadream and (most likely) the M&L games

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Yeah it's sad, currently if you just looked at the most recent gamed you'd consider it in an alright state, but it's future definitely leaves more to be desired. I'm always hopeful though, please nintendo let someone else work on the franchise 😅

[@tolstartheking]

@@stevenedwards8353 In order for it to be a series it has to have at least 2 games. Super Mario RPG is a standalone title.

[@JordanMccaff]

​@@tolstartheking technically Paper Mario began as Mario RPG 2 😉

[@julienbronsch5039]

​​​​@@tolstarthekingWelp... Is it now a series? xD

[@melee_fox4954]

​@@tolstarthekingremake announced lol :D

[@benmalsky9834]

I would consider Kirby a flagship series. Nintendo even went all out celebrating it’s 30th anniversary last year!

[@ludwigkoopa3343]

I think Pikmin and Xenoblade belongs to mainstays, simply because I would assume that Nintendo considers those games as mainstays for themselfes. That fact is very obvious if you consider how those games are treated in Nintendo Directs, as they are always shown as the directs highlights. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was also the last game to be shown, and the spot is meant to be the Highlight of the Direct. As Nintendo considers those "franchises" as Highlights, its fair to assume that they think of those games as mainstays for sure.

[@BinglesP]

Pikmin has gotten a ton of new attention by Nintendo recently because of its Smash Ultimate appearance, 1 2 and 3's Switch releases, Pikmin Bloom(AKA the one my dad plays), and arguably most importantly Pikmin 4 But all is Pikmin fans who have been since 3 released all know how dead it was before that, all too well

[@dockingwater1713]

I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Splatoon ever since I really got into Splatoon 2 in 2018, so I’m so happy that how fast it’s grown

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Funny you say that. It's what my next video is on 😅

[@FTChomp9980]

Nintendo should make a Spinoff games of Splatoon now do to how popular it is.

[@dockingwater1713]

@@FTChomp9980 Honestly a solely single player Splatoon game during the Great Turf War or something would be hype

[@RemiliasHusband]

Me too even though I only got into Splatoon very recently (I thought 2 wasn't worth it since the last fest had already happened when I bought my Switch, so instead I decided to wait until 3 came out)

[@mjdevlog]

@@Legend-of-Kai Subscribed so i can see it :)

[@ohyikes7104]

I think perhaps an 'emerging flagship' might have been handy for series like splatoon/animal crossing/metroid that are massive within the nintendo community but not as widely known throughout the gaming community like zelda/pokemon/mario.

[@xWoolfy]

splatoon

[@Nakamako1]

i think he adressed it kind of well for those titles i think metroid 4 is gonna be the next console seller

[@u2popmart]

And Pikmin

[@anonyme4881]

Fire Emblem kinda started being a Flagship at that point lol 2 switch game, many spin off, 3 3ds games..... Thats a lot

[@Zeldafan1ify]

"The Zelda franchise is here to stay forever" I actually remember a time when I feared for the future of my favorite video game series, right around pre-skyward sword. I wanted the series to last forever, and I was legitimately scared for a time that all of it would come to an end someday, that Zelda just wouldn't last as long as the mario franchise, if the og devs die or retire, or if Nintendo just moved on to another franchise. It wasn't because the games were any less great then, but because Zelda was still seriously underrated. That was such a different time. This series has grown a lot since then, with botw bringing in swaths of new fans. I'm so proud of what it's become, and it's still incredible to think that this series will likely last forever, that more new games will be unveiled for years to come. My only fear now is that my body won't be able to keep up with the newest Zelda game 40 years from now, I want to play them all forever

[@justinmuraya4381]

Breath of the Wild is the best open world game ive ever played its awesome

[@pippo1734]

I have been a big fan of Zelda since OoT and am so happy the franchise is healthy as it should be. I hope more people try the other games such as Link's Awakening that are so close to my heart and more games get available in the switch for people to enjoy (looking at you WW and TP)

[@LZMP60]

I hope Zelda will stick around forever. However I sincerely hope the next Zelda is not like Botw and Totk. I'm actively praying for it

[@Zeldafan1ify]

@@LZMP60 agreed!!

[@Thierce]

I'm not a fan of the new games (botw & totk) and to me it kinda feels like the Zelda franchise is dead. The new games are so different that they just dont feel like Zelda to me

[@reforgenarsil]

Xenoblade had 4* games released - counting Torna and DE - from 17 to 23, and they already sell as well as Fire Emblem games do despite being a much younger franchise. Deserves to be mainstay given they’ve confirmed more games are coming.

[@Maplewest]

I'd argue that Kirby is a flagship. Sure it's not as big as Mario and Zelda. However, it's got a pretty good following and Kirby fans have been eating good these last 5+ years.

[@alexandersveryown4760]

Kirby and Zelda are arguably similar in popularity.

[@FedoraKirb]

@@alexandersveryown4760 Popularity as a brand, maybe, but sales? Absolutely not. I love Kirby, it’s my favorite video game series, but let’s not pretend it’s bigger than it is. FWIW, I do think it’s Nintendo’s biggest mainstay.

[@alexandersveryown4760]

@Fedora Kirby yeah but having Animal crossing and Zelda up there and not Kirby? Mario and Pokemon are on a different level entirely too.

[@FedoraKirb]

@@alexandersveryown4760 The best-selling Kirby game has sold about 6 million units. Nothing to sneeze at, but Zelda and Animal Crossing beat that four times over.

[@jackronesto8182]

This was a fun video to watch, but you definitely missed some franchises: -Famicom Detective Club: This was Nintendo’s premier visual novel adventure game released back in 1988. It was hugely influential on the adventure game genre, and without it there wouldn’t be games like Ace Attorney, Professor Layton, or Danganronpa. It had a sequel called The Girl Who Stands Behind in 1989, and a Satellaview came called BS Famicom Detective Club: Lost Memories in the snow was released on the SNES in 1997. That game was so popular Nintendo remade The Girl Who Stands Behind for the SNES in 1998. The first two games in the series recently got remakes on the Switch in 2021 by Mages, the developers of Steins;Gate. While it’s great (play it now!) Mages declared bankruptcy so the series is on life support. -Another Code: This was also a mystery adventure series made by the same developers as Hotel Dusk. It had a sequel on the Wii called Another Code R: A Journey into Lost Memories. It’s a charming adventure game with a lot of heart and unique puzzles, but with the developer Cing’s bankruptcy it’s dead. -Baten Kaitos: This was an RPG on the GameCube in 2003 by MonolithSoft, who later made Xenoblade. It revolves around cards in combat and it’s quite unique. It was owned by Namco but it got a prequel in 2006 fully owned by Nintendo called Baten Kaitos Origins, which was the second to last Nintendo made game published on the GC. Both games are getting a remaster later this year, so depending on how that goes and if MonolithSoft wants to make a sequel, It Exists for now. -Custom Robo: Fun mecha combat games. Four in total, but only the latest two released overseas. The latest release was in 2007 for the DS, so the series is Dead. -Kururin: A series of games where Kururin the penguin must navigate his helicopter the Helirin through a maze without bumping the sides of the maze. The first game came out in Europe and Japan for the GBA but we’re Japan only for the next two. The last game was Kururin Squash for the GameCube in 2004. It’s safe to say the series is dead. -Magical Vacation: A series of two RPGs by Brownie Brown (now 1-Up Studios) that came out on the GBA and DS, the latter of which released in 2006. The series is Dead. -Starfy: A series of platformers for Nintendo’s handhelds. We only got the last game in the series on the DS in 2009. The series is dead. -Takt of Magic: An RTS RPG developed by Taito, Nintendo published and owns the rights to the sequel, but it was never released outside Japan. The series is dead at this point. -Art Academy: A series of drawing applications to teach you how to make art. The last releases were for the WiiU and 3DS in 2016, and since they require the touchpad the series is definitely on life support. -Fatal Frame: A legendary horror series by Koei Tecmo, Nintendo co-developed the latest two games in the series as well as a 3DS spinoff. However those last two games were recently released on all platforms in 2021 and this year. So the series is up in the air on the rights issues and on life support. -Tomodachi/Mii games: Tomodachi Collection, Tomodachi Life, and Miitopia. All games that use Miis. Miitopia was rereleased in 2021, sot the franchise exists. -Dillon’s Rolling Western: A series of tower defense/action games by Vanpool. It has three games on the 3DS with the latest whining releases in 2018. It exists but it’s anyone’s guess as to whether or not it’ll continue. -Culdcept: This is a series of strategy games that’s a mix between Monopoly and Magic the Gathering. Nintendo doesn’t own the franchise but they funded and own the latest two entries in the series, both of which were on the 3DS. The latest release was Culdcept Revolt in 2017, so the fate of the series is probably “It exists” for now. Looking forward to the next videos you make.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Wow! Thanks for taking the time out to write all this out. Super interesting. Some of those I did come across during my research, but there's definitely a few I didn't even see. Problem is a lot of these lists online are very incomplete and trying to piece together a bunch of different ones resulted in me missing quite a few it seems. But cool of you to follow up on all of them and even rank them where you'd think they'd place! I appreciate you.

[@jayblizzyyyyy]

Balloon fight, Excitebike and Mach Rider too. Balloon fight’s last game came out for gba, excitebike on Wii, and Mach Rider hasn’t had a game since NES/Arcade.

[@Pyropro27_YT]

What about Game and watch

[@jayblizzyyyyy]

@@Pyropro27_YT game and watch has appeared in wario ware games

[@Pyropro27_YT]

@@jayblizzyyyyy you're right I forgot about that

[@JL608.]

Great video. I also agree with almost everything on this list. The only things I would change are: -Move Kirby up to Flagship -Move Exitebike, Earthbound and Golden Sun to Dead -Move Pikmin, Picross and Xenoblade to Mainstay.

[@gavinfox7216]

I think the reason Punch-Out was put on pause was because of Next Level Games’ other projects. After Punch-Out Wii, Next Level went on to develop Metroid Federation Force, two Luigi’s Mansion games, and Strikers Battle League all a few years apart. No clue what their next game could be, but I hope it’s Punch-Out because the last one was amazing.

[@user-fi3fo2sg5x]

I think there should be another category for franchises that have concluded. Not every series needs to have dozens of sequels, Mother/Earthbound being a good example as 3 concludes the trilogy and Itoi has stated he doesn't intend to make a fourth.

[@killatobot2306]

I would aggree but he was basing it only on western release therefore the earthbound seiries was never finished

[@kazzykaioken8873]

Yep we actually dont need infinite sequels just because a game sells well

[@orangeslash1667]

@@killatobot2306 I recommend Eastward, Boot Hill Heroes and Bounties. They are Earthbound inspired. If you like games on Steam there is Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass and Weirdlands, which also have a Earthbound/Mother 3 feel.

[@kendrick5501]

EarthBound/Mother should have its own tier It's not dead It's complete Even though it stopped at Mother 3, the trilogy still lives on and already grew from a cult classic to a retro masterpiece. It helps when the EarthBound/Mother community is both passionate and honestly one of the rare places where it's very chill and wholesome to hang around in. To say it's on life support or dead is pretty insulting, especially it ain't something like F-Zero where literally it just stopped at F-Zero GX without any clear explanation as to why whereas the EarthBound/Mother trilogy is considered to be complete and understandably, making a new EarthBound/Mother game isn't like making a new Mario or Pokemon game.

[@kylewoodowens4488]

Still Mother 3 has never gotten a official English Localization.

[@rpgfanatic9719]

That's how I feel about Pokemon. Pokemon is just done and it doesn't need anymore games. It's in the state smash would be in if it continued.

[@earthbounder8329]

​@@kylewoodowens4488 but it's still finished even if the west has not gotten the game officially

[@DaniCrack758]

I was about to say that! 🎉

[@Gatorade69]

You could view it in various ways. Many of these franchises still have a majority of fans. When he says "Dead" he simply means that Nintendo just isn't focusing on it anymore, which is the truth. So yeah if the franchise is finished then It's dead (to Nintendo at least), simple as that. It's definitely not dead to fans though.

[@TheHypersonic55]

Hey man just wanted to say I really enjoyed this video. The algorithm suggested this to me and I'm glad it did as it was pretty comprehensive, funny and straightforward. As much as I love my regular Nintendo franchises and seeing some of them rise up out of obscurity, the state of F-Zero, Star Fox, Golden Sun and Kid Icarus will always make me sad.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed

[@orangeslash1667]

@@Legend-of-Kai F-zero is back!!!!!

[@imzeat4448]

I feel like Xenoblade should be in Mainstays, since it sells pretty well, is well known, and is even considered a big franchise by Nintendo deserving the "one more thing" spot in Nintendo’s E3 directs.

[@LunaPixu]

A little addendum to one of your entries: While the Style Savvy name is on life support / dead, the developers are releasing a spiritual successor called Fashion Dreamer this year. Given the new name and the fact Nintendo isn't publishing it, we can safely assume Nintendo owns the name Style Savvy and didn't want to do anything with it.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Someone else did mention this as well. I was unaware that it had been kind of rebranded. Whole Style Savvy in name might be dead, it's successor could fair better.

[@robofistsrevenge3288]

I didn't realize Fashion Dreamer was being developed by Syn Sophia! Dang, okay, I'm excited for it now. Bizarre that Nintendo doesn't seem to believe in the Style Savvy brand anymore, but I'll take what I can get.

[@magentafox1657]

That's so cool! I've never played it, but the series looks really fun to me

[@QueenofSilence101]

It's sad that Star Fox is effectively dead now. The series definitely has potential - it's got a developer world and solid characters.

[@thatguy-dh1qh]

All they need to do is give us star fox 64-2. It's so simple. Instead they keep trying to innovate the franchise. All I've ever wanted from star fox is an Action packed on rails shooter with fun levels, campy one liners and a fast pace story. Sometimes games don't need innovation. They just need to keep the formula going.

[@teko4752]

Am I the only one who thought that Assault was the peak of the Starfox series and should have been perfected during the years ?

[@Jermet]

I’m pretty sure that star fox played a part in the game star link for the switch tho

[@orangeslash1667]

@@thatguy-dh1qh The good news is that there are indie companies that love making short games. I recommend Exzodiac and Fur Squadron are based on the original Starfox.

[@thatguy-dh1qh]

@orangeslash1667 dude, thanks for the recommendation. Never heard of it but I'd love something to fill that star fox sized hole. Lol

[@SirStrangefolk]

Endless Ocean has risen from the dead.

[@Ymalky10]

Came back to say this myself lmao

[@RedMage8BT]

I'd personally count Battle Revolution as part of the Stadium series since it's functionally identical

[@MadMaxxed1224]

I'd say Kirby, Smash, and Mario Kart should be flagships And Dr. Mario was definitely made to cash-in on the Tetris puzzle style but it's still very different and very fun.

[@jimmy_os]

Yeah Kirby has been booming lately so it should at least count as the newest flagship

[@PeterParker-ff7ub]

mario is mario kart

[@MadMaxxed1224]

@@PeterParker-ff7ub watch the video. He separated Mario and Mario Kart. And plus, it alone has sold more than most of the franchises in this video he considered flagship.

[@AndroidHarris]

I 100% agree. If animal crossing was considered a flagship so should these 3.

[@turtleanton6539]

Yes and yes

[@FieryMeltman]

Fossil Fighters was an underrated franchise. A diamond in the rough. It's unfortunate that the third game was a disappointment.

[@benriopelle4568]

Fr, the first fossil fighters was my whole childhood. Easily one of my favourite games ever

[@FMT_Player]

The series may be “Dead” by the rules set by this video, but words cannot express how happy I was to see Endless Ocean mentioned here. Game defined my early childhood, and it’s only being older have I realized how blessed I truly was to have not one, but TWO extremely high quality games about the ocean and sea creatures (if my profile picture is anything to go by, lol)

[@snekings5778]

SAME my heart skipped a beat when he mentioned them

[@jameshonaker585]

EarthBound Beginnings was ultimately released on the Wii U Virtual Console and for the Switch Online NES service. And seeing as how Shigesato Itoi has said that Mother is completed, I don't think there's going to be a Mother 4.

[@dx90o0]

Punch-Out and Golden Sun need some love. I feel like there is so much potential for both of those franchises

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Most definitely do need a revival of some kind, both still have fans waiting for new releases to this day

[@josiea.3855]

I LOVE Punch Out! I would love a Punch Out game for the switch so much!

[@thatguy-dh1qh]

I've been waiting for golden sun revival for years. The ds game ended on a cliffhanger and was kinda lackluster

[@orangeslash1667]

@@thatguy-dh1qh The problem is that Camelot was able to make sports games and RPGs, back then. However they don't have enough people to due both in HD.

[@mariobroultimate1808]

I'd move Mario and Luigi to life support because of Alphadream shutting down. Though there still is a chance it could come back.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Yeah I think I just chucked it higher because it's had a lot more recent updates than a lot of life support ones. Even if it's future is looking bleak

[@RariettyC]

Yeah, especially with how much the Bowser's Inside Story remake bombed. That was the worst-performing Mario game (predictably, considering it was a 3DS remake of a DS game that was already playable on the 3DS. Plus, it was released when the Switch was well into its lifespan)

[@VOAN]

The last time they we got an entry, it was a crossover with Paper Mario (called Paper Jam) I believe. Maybe Nintendo will give the series to the Paper Mario dev hopefully for the better.

[@austinreed7343]

@@VOAN Given the abysmal quality of both, they can be considered “Zombie” tier

[@Loner098]

I would personally say there's only a 0.00000001% chance of AlphaDream ever coming back, as companies that have gone bankrupt have never recovered (unless there's even one exception I'm forgetting). And even if they could come back, they probably won't be the same we once knew.

[@huligani1231]

Hey man awesome video! Kinda sad to see that you don't have more subscribers, but I'm really looking forwards to more videos!

[@pinkie723]

As a huge Panel de Pon fan, I think that series should be in the life support tier. While it hasn't had a full new game since the DS game, Panel de Pon is making a slight comeback in recent years, with Animal Crossing New Leaf getting an entire Panel de Pon minigame that you can play with the in-game 3DS item, and for progressing in that minigame you'll actually get mailed pieces to Lip's outfit that you can wear! And Lip had a mii costume in Smash Ultimate, a costume you have by default no less. And most recently, the actual original Japanese Panel de Pon (not the Yoshi reskinned Tetris Attack!) was releases outside of Japan for the first time on Switch Online!! Although it sucks that they didn't translate it at all, but it does show that between that and the Lip costumes in Smash and Animal Crossing that Nintendo is still thinking of the series and becoming more and more willingly to show the original fairy characters to western audiences, which increases the chances the series has of being revived at a lot. Removing the fairy characters is what lead to the series's downfall in the first place, especially for the GBA and DS games where there was just no characters at all and it was just a generic puzzle game. While I still very much love the gameplay and mechanics, it's going to be hard to get others to feel the same with the generic lifeless presentation of "Puzzle League" with it's generic backgrounds and music (At least the GBA version had remixes of the SNES Panel de Pon themes, but without any characters to associate them with they don't really have the same impact. Lip's theme is still an amazing song though)

[@aozf05]

Small correction: Paper Mario is actually the spiritual successor of Super Mario RPG and was initially called Super Mario RPG 2 during development. The Mario & Luigi series is kind of an offshoot of RPG as well.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Thanks for sharing that!

[@aozf05]

@@stevenedwards8353 Yeah, I didn't say it was a proper sequel but a spiritual successor. It went in its own direction while retaining or taking inspiration from some elements of RPG. Same goes for Mario & Luigi.

[@rubrub5132]

A slight criticism. I think it is important for some of the franchises to talk about the development teams when considering their current state like you did with Starfox. Like i would argue mario and luigi is on life support because of the Death of Alpha dream. Or Xenoblade being Mainstay, because their developer, Monolith Soft is a major 1st party studio that mainly does Xenoblade and shows no signs of stopping.

[@chaosenforcerdhm969]

2nd party studio maybe 3rd

[@Zxanonblade]

@@chaosenforcerdhm969 No Monolith is owned by Nintendo, they are a first party studio

[@awakenedcrowl]

All in all an amazing video, great work! But I don't quite get the distinction of "mainstay" and "it exists". Like, I get that "Flagship" is a category where overall popularity plays a big part, but shouldn't "mainstay" just be about the franchise still "securely and somewhat regularly" receiving games - meaning that Picross, Mario Tennis and some of the other Golf titles certainly belong in there?

[@edwincorvera1156]

This makes me wonder about the amount of negotiations and contracts that go behind the scenes to make these games happen, which makes me love business

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Alright Alright, this video is blowing up a lot more than I ever expected. I'm struggling to get to all comments in all honesty. Yes there's things I screwed up and certain placements make no sense (Mario Kart/Smash/Kirby/FE/Splatoon could all be possible flagships) (Xeno/DK/Yoshi could all be mainstays) (F-Zero swaps with Mother) just to list some of the stronger vocal choices in the comments. I appreciate all the comments but if you have some criticism on how to make these types of videos better in the future feel free to reply to this comment. Or if you just want to roast me for some stuff can also do that as well. It will be easier to reply or take in your comments that way as I don't get notifications for every single comment. Thanks everyone, love you all.

[@YadamanTV1]

eeehhss the internet never forgets. you made your bed good sir now you must lay in it.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

@YadamanTV definitely just wanted to be able to reply to people easier haha. Currently overwhelmed with all the scrolling through so thought it would be easier this way.

[@nonotatalllol]

Waverace is 100% dead

[@AlexDayz]

Not sure if it counts but Style Dreamer, a game revealed in a Direct and coming out this year, is made by the same people behind Style Savvy (Syn Sophia) and many consider it the 5th entry to the series even if under a different name. The name change seems to be cause it’s been acquired by Marvelous so though I don’t believe it counts as a Nintendo franchise anymore the series still falls in “it exits” imo.

[@Scamander]

You also forgot to mention Famicom Detective Club and from my point of view Wario Land (on life-support) and WarioWare (exists) are two separate franchises. Still a cool video, though.^^

[@okraglinek9101]

While the Mother series commercially is dead I think it is so culturally influential that it deserves a category of its own. Mother 3 and especially Earthbound pretty much shaped most of what is the modern indie gaming scene. It is a shame that the series is stuck in a grey area due to legal issues and the creators moving unto other because I think it is the one series that I could see rival Zelda in critical acclaim had it continued

[@Legend-of-Kai]

That's pretty interesting to think about, where it would have been today should it have continued.

[@jcompton3947]

Such a cool and informative video! Really enjoyed this one thanks bro

[@zoejrhyne]

i absolutely love the donkey kong games and they hold so much nostalgia for me so it’s sad to see that we probably won’t get a fully fledged release like donkey kong country for a while… if not ever

[@fluffcake]

Metroid being a mainstay again with Dread and Prime remastered is a good sign for other games and itself as it definitely deserves all the love it needs, let’s hope that Shiggy looks at his forgotten vulpine son and give him another chance to shine.

[@Zoroark_Master]

Just hoping prime 4 come… well any day now.

[@rpgfanatic9719]

Metroid is dead. Prime was succeeded by dead space long ago, and symphony of the night succeeded classic Metroid, metroidvanias have become much better since then, while Metroid just doesn't want to evolve at all.

[@Zoroark_Master]

Wow, so much salt

[@ExtremeAce]

@@rpgfanatic9719 You are right Metroid doesn't need to evolve. Because it already perfected level design a long time ago.

[@rpgfanatic9719]

@@ExtremeAce Any whack job can create random mazes with random breakable surfaces.

[@DrxBananaxSquid]

Smash Bros and Mario Kart are both flagships. In order for Splatoon to reach flagship it really should get published on multiple platforms.

[@Whatdaballllllllllio]

That Picross player is me. I’ve been playing them since I was a kid and have all the Switch releases. Something about them is so meditative and calming.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

They do certainly look relaxing and pretty interesting I may need to get into them

[@a11ergies48]

Kirby has never had problems with long game droughts, is consistently used in Nintendo marketing, and sells pretty well. I'd personally put it as a flagship

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in getting this video out. I severely underestimated how long it would take but I hope you guys enjoy regardless! Please do consider subscribing if you enjoyed the video, it would mean a lot to me. Time Stamps for each franchise are down below in this comment. There's a ton...you've been warned! Time Stamps: 0:00 - Intro 1:24 - Donkey Kong 2:22 - Super Mario 3:43 - NES Sports 4:01 - Punch - Out!! 4:36 - ExciteBike 5:09 - Legend of Zelda 5:38 - Metroid 6:20 - Kid Icarus 7:28 - Advance Wars (Nintendo Wars) 8:05 - Mother/Earthbound 9:00 - Fire Emblem 9:59 - Play Action Football 10:24 - Startropics 10:53 - F-ZERO 11:37 - Pilotwings 12:05 - Dr Mario 12:35 - Yoshi 13:00 - Kirby 13:35 - Mario Kart 14:35 - Battleclash 14:58 - Wave Race 15:37 - Star Fox 16:37 - Wario 17:52 - Picross 18:35 - Puzzle League/Panel de Pon 19:03 - Mario Sports Games (Tennis/Baseball/Strikers/Golf) 20:27 - Pokemon 21:20 - Pokemon Sub-Series (Mystery Dungeon/Snap/Stadium/Ranger/Pokken Tourney) 22:05 - 1080 Snowboarding 22:50 - Mario Party 23:38 - Super Smash Bros. 24:34 - Paper Mario 25:12 - Sin & Punishment 26:03 - Animal Crossing 26:53 - Luigi 27:36 - Golden Sun 28:32 - Pikmin 29:13 - Mario & Luigi 29:57 - Nintendogs 30:42 - Clubhouse Games 31:16 - Chibi-robo 32:07 - Wii Sports 32:54 - Rhythm Heaven 33:57 - Brain Age 34:30 - Mario & Sonic 34:52 - Endless Ocean 35:28 - Hotel Dusk 35:59 - Style Savvy 36:38 - Fossil Fighters 37:17 - Xenoblade Chronicles 38:05 - Fluidity 38:36 - Steel Diver 39:17 - Pushmo 39:43 - Bayonetta 40:40 - BoxBoy 41:34 - Splatoon 41:42 - Final List 42:55 - Outro (Pls Sub ^-^)

[@SittingShelf]

Add time stamps in description and it will be shown on video

[@Legend-of-Kai]

@@SittingShelf Oh! I'll do that right now, thanks for sharing that. I still have a lot to learn about youtube it seems.

[@SittingShelf]

​​@@Legend-of-Kai success, now more people will rewatch video or watch longer and it will be more in recommendations. But that's just my guess😏

[@Legend-of-Kai]

@@SittingShelf haha is that how it works 😅 as long as it makes it easier for viewers to enjoy the content that's good enough

[@goGothitaLOL]

The Pokemon Stadium sub-series did get successors in the GCN with Colosseum and XD Gale of Darkness and Wii with Battle Revolution, but either way it is dead now that GameFreak can do mainline console games (even if they should be better)

[@SandwitchZebra]

A decade ago, if you told me that Fire Emblem would be a Nintendo mainstay I wouldn’t have believed you. Fire Emblem was always a “it exists” Nintendo franchise, before Awakening the series was on a decline and Awakening was almost the last FE game. Then Awakening sold like hotcakes, very much helped by the fact that it released in other counties, and now the series is selling millions per game. It has very much become the big franchise it always deserved to be, and the fact that people are now paying attention to a consistently high-quality series is amazing.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

It's scary to think If awakenings never took off we may never have seen the fire emblem franchise as it is today. You're right though, fire emblem deserves all the recent love. It's a great series of games.

[@KevDu67]

Plus Fire Emblem Heroes is Nintendo's high grossing mobile game

[@gorilla1522]

I can't imagine the research and work that went into this video. It payed off though great video

[@cajunseasoning1846]

pls I cant have Golden Sun be mentioned once every blue moon, it makes me so sad that I'll probably never see a new game. I loved it so much

[@doublejmsu6745]

The only criticism I can offer this channel, is that there isn’t more content available. Well done Kai. I got notifications on and I’m eagerly awaiting the next drop.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Had me in the first half ngl! But even if you did have criticism I'd welcome it always looking to improve and get better. But thanks for the comment! And glad you enjoy the videos.

[@entryofemotion12]

That pain I felt when you said that Dr. Mario was just a tetris ripoff, especially with how massively different the series' are from each other. They basically match only being puzzle games.

[@GuiOmania]

With F-Zero 99 now it is back on life support !!!

[@Lissbirds]

I sunk so many hours into Pilotwings, particularly the jetpack levels, which were near impossible--I was happy to see it on the Switch! I still hold out hope for a new StarFox or F-Zero game. Those are underrated gems.

[@Fox_Mccloud11]

Agree with all!

[@orangeslash1667]

@@Fox_Mccloud11 The good news is that there are indie companies that love making short games. Here are some successors Exzodiac and Fur Squadron are based on the original Starfox. For F-Zero there are three options. Fast RMX on hero mode, Redout 2, and Victory Heat Rally. Although the last one isn't ready yet.

[@osramain]

Xenoblade’s a mainstay, it deserves to be recognized for it after all its been through…

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Also love seeing more Xenoblade love! And yes it definitely can be moved up! This is by no means a universal correct list

[@haroldnecmann7040]

Xenoblade 3 is kinda disappointing, but I love the new class mechanic. I was underwhelm by the story and the glacial pace of the end game boss.

[@osramain]

@@haroldnecmann7040 the story was just too safe, that DLC coming out tho 👀

[@jacobmonks3722]

​@OsRa Ironic. If you want to get meta-textual, the story itself exists as a critique of the idea of playing things safe and being afriad to move forward. I don't remember where I heard this, but supposedly Takahashi himself said he wants to move away from Perfect Works, and Xenoblade 3 is a goodbye to his old ideas. Unless you just mean on a gameplay level, in which case Xenoblade 3 doesn't really break new ground, just refines and reworks a bunch of stuff.

[@osramain]

@@jacobmonks3722 I guess “safe” was the wrong word, I more meant straightforward. While I really enjoyed 3 for everything it did (gameplay and story), a lot of the discourse I’ve had with friends and other Xenoblade fans was that the story wasn’t really bold as a standalone story compared to 1 and 2. 1 was pretty straightforward too, but it has the “first game” excuse. Ig what I’m saying is that there weren’t any super big moments within the story that completely shocked me or gave me chills like 2 did (I still loved the story), and I think the lack of Z’s presence throughout the story really hurt it for me. I love the idea of “The Endless Now” though as I thought it provided great commentary on the idea of wanting things to remain the same.

[@dugganater]

Kid Icarus: Uprising was so good. It would be epic to have a remake or sequel for the Nintendo Switch

[@jctherula]

YES

[@orangeslash1667]

@@jctherula Good news is there's an indie game called Owlboy, it's pacifically based on the original Kid Icarus.

[@DonovanGG__]

So much respect man. 2,000 comments and you have hearted most of them and commented on a ton of them. Great first impression, I’m subscribing

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Thanks so much! Means so much. For me I'm just glad there's people that enjoy my content. Even if they didn't or there's things they disagree on, I'm happy to engage and seek criticism because end of the day I want to be able to produce content people enjoy. I try my best to get around to most comments but there's probably a good few hundred I haven't even seen as youtube doesn't notify me for every single one haha. But thanks for saying this, certainly brightened up my day

[@BTG_gamer]

I legit got so scared when you put picross on flagship 😆

[@SnipingIsFun]

The fact that F-Zero is constantly brought up by Nintendo through cameos in other games (like the two tracks in Mario Kart 8) and it always getting games included in these digital formats (like the Switch Online service) I would say it is on life support. Especially since Miyamoto has been asked that question numerous times over the years and him saying they need to find something unique to do with it means someone at Nintendo has to be keeping it in mind.

[@Phoenix_The_Wolf]

Although that new idea is to just make a new f zero

[@rdowg]

Miyamoto was saying thay during the wii U era, where his "we need to do something new" schtick ruined star fox's return Really they could just remaster f-zero GX-A to gauge fan expectations, it very well could revive the AG racer genre in a way redout couldnt

[@Fox_Mccloud11]

I agree, declaring it dead is pretty ridiculous. Several of the categories in this video are off imo

[@vanillafella4893]

i deadass think the horrible hardware performance of the switch would make f zero either extremely ugly or unplayable, game needs 60fps minimum to play like f zero

[@Fox_Mccloud11]

@@vanillafella4893 understand your point but if it worked so well on SNES, N64 & Gamecube, I'm pretty sure they could figure it out on Switch if they had to but it doesn't seem a priority

[@chumplestiltskin7927]

This was a nice watch. I feel bad for all the Nintendogs that haven't been fed since 2008, but I guess it can't be helped.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

That is sad to think about...now knowing my Nintendogs haven't been fed in over a decade

[@mubzytv]

Nintendogs should be a mobile app game. Would work well on there

[@alphaaether597]

@@mubzytv I agree! Surprised Nintendo hasn't thought of this. Would be a hit with younger audiences and some OG Nintendo players.

[@glauberbispo8922]

man what a unique idea, i get really exicited when I see ya video in my youtube home cause I'm a huge nintendo fan

[@daniel8181]

Excite truck was great, letting you put your own music in was a great idea.

[@samwow123]

Good list, and I think Smash Bros and Mario Kart have a case to be flagships

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Definitely the two main ones just based on sales and consistency alone. Especially Mario Kart I feel like. They could easily be Flagships.

[@meee_5155]

@@Legend-of-Kai yeah Mario kart sells more copies but I’d say smash probably sells more systems tbh. Both are flagships. To clarify Mario Kart sells more copies but people dont buy consoles to play the game, they get the game because they already have the console (generally). On the other hand, people buy consoles specifically for smash bros even though the games sell less copies

[@MMKnight_1]

Holy shit! Your channel has skyrocketed! When you published the Metroid Fusion review, you had like 100 subs and now you're at 3k. Very well done!

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Haha yep got blessed by the youtube gods and got lucky 😅 but thanks a lot!!

[@gonzaurra1]

Great vid, particularly calm and relaxing experience accompanied with gentle editing and informative gaming history. I would personally swap Smash with Animal Crossing tho

[@ILVGwebmaster]

This is a very fun retrospective and I applaud your research. IMO though, I would probably determine based on consistency rather than total number. A new game every console generation is definitely a mainstay series, even if there are 5-6 years between releases, whereas a flagship would be a series that releases multiple games per-generation (which is why Kirby not being in flagship feels pretty inaccurate). That being said, I understand you were operating under different standards for your tier list so it really is just a matter of opinion!

[@NutterButter774]

I'd argue Mario & Luigi as Life Support or Dead since the main developers have gone under. The franchise might get picked up by another studio but I don't think Nintendo cares too much about it

[@The_Gabe]

Calling Mother a dead franchise wouldn’t be quite true if you consider all the recent merch that has been dropping for it. And the reason why its not getting any new mainline games is because Shigesato Itoi (its creator) said that the series is complete and doesn’t need to get milked (thats how I understood it). Though its placement on the list would probably still be the same.

[@MagillanicaLouM]

Yeah i feel folks always forget that part with Mother. People doomsday speak about it like it's some failure of a franchise with an abysmal reputation or that Nintendo themselves hate it and refuse to touch it when all is is that the guy who made the thing simply said "I told the stories and made the experiences I wanted to, I'm content at leaving it here" and I gotta give Nintendo props for not pushing for more without Itoi because it ain't Mother without that man.

[@CrimsonRoy-VI]

Hello yes I'm one of the 7 people who plays Puzzle League. Maybe I'm biased but I would put it in the Life Support category. You forgot the fact that Puzzle League was included as a mini game in Animal Crossing New Leaf as part of the welcome amiibo update in 2016. It was a nice little game in New Leaf and it was cool that Nintendo hadn't COMPLETELY forgotten it. It's such a good underrated series I wish more people had known/played it.

[@Zydeco.13]

Undderated channel! Literally a gold mine of A+ content. So happy I found this. Great job

[@GenesisJames]

Great list! It's really fun to see just how many series Nintendo has and how they've evolved, but also kinda sad to see some great ones end up in life support or dead (Kid Icarus, Pokemon Ranger, and Sin & Punishment just to name a few 🥲). The only things I think I'd change would be to move Kirby, Smash Bros., and Mario Kart up to flagship and Xenoblade up to mainstay. Other than that though, this was great! Really nice to go down memory lane with these!!

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Awesome! Glad you enjoyed. And those are definitely good movements that I can't disagree with.

[@marioizthebest]

Unironically, Picross 3D for the DS was one of my most played DS games and the only reason I didn't beat it 100% is because my cart stopped working. I actually bought another one, but I'd already completed like 75% of the puzzles on my original and lost interest after not being able to pick up where I left off

[@daniellewilliamson4215]

I'm personally offended by his picross ranking tbh. It's been around since forever and is successful enough to get multiple games per year. It's 100% a mainstay, even if it's not one of their Marketable Mascot Franchises.

[@sRtAoIrNm]

Picross 3D needs to come back on switch. Such a good game.

[@marioizthebest]

@@sRtAoIrNm I agree, but it'd really only work the same in handheld mode. I think if they could get the motion controls to work well docked it'd be playable, but then you have to have controllers with gyroscopes to play a puzzle game on your TV

[@sRtAoIrNm]

@@marioizthebest yeah, figuring out controls would be the toughest part. The Switch’s touch screen is very underutilized and I fear it wouldn’t even be used at all! My best thought would be right stick for rotating and perhaps the shoulder buttons could make fixed 90 degree turns horizontally and vertically.

[@cyndakill-sh4020]

I'm most certainly missing something here but I'm confused as to why Professor Layton wasn't included...? Also I feel like the SNES Mini release of Star Fox 2 could have been mentioned (maybe as latest game ?) even though it wouldn't have changed much to its rating ^^' Either way, awesome video ! As a relatively young guy not trying much new stuff outside of Pokémon and Mario there were a lot of games in there that I had no clue existed, and the Picross enthusiast in me was pleasantly surprised to see it here, the Picross games are kind of all over the place so it wouldn't have crossed my mind to consider it a franchise

[@justinwallace4688]

I agree with this for the most part. I only have a few changes I’d make -Animal Crossing as a mainstay. I only say this because I haven’t really heard much from it since COVID died down (I use COVID as a point of reference since it helped the sales of New Horizons) -Smash as a flagship. It is easily recognizable to Nintendo and non-Nintendo fans alike -I understand your reasoning for Kirby as a mainstay but I’d argue it’s a flagship due to how beloved Kirby is -DK as a mainstay. I might have some bias because I love this franchise. Since the port of Tropical Freeze was extremely successful and would have to have it in the same tier as Metroid or Paper Mario

[@MattKyleBullerthemattkylefiles]

What a concept! The second I saw the title it was an instant click , download, thumbs up, and subscribe. Hope this video doesn’t disappoint and frankly I hope to see many more “state of the franchise” videos.

[@mugen_master335]

Golden sun truly deserves a revival 😢 That game was the definition of my rpg childhood.. Its a shame we were left on a cliffhanger

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Time to hit up some developers and get them make a sequel if nintendo ain't up to it 😤

[@TheRationalPi]

Just a heads up that a new Style Savvy game (Fashion Dreamer) was announced last February with a tentative world release date of March 2024. It's definitely not dead, and as a styling game player I will say that there is a good amount of interest from the target demographic.

[@Nerdrakere]

Just a thing, Pokémon stadium is in the same category as Colosseum and XD which are simply just Pokémon battle simulators. I know we never got true sequels to those but going full 3D in general you don’t need a JUST battle game ya know? We have Pokémon stadium mechanics in every game now since all Stadium is is battling. But great video!

[@Damariobros]

Thank you for including the subfranchises like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. That game has a special place in so many people's hearts and imo it not only is criminally underrated but also, like other subfranchises, seems to be all too often left out entirely by content creators talking about the Pokemon franchise. To anyone reading this comment, I recommend giving it a play. If you give it a chance, and play to the end, you will cry guaranteed. …multiple times.

[@Eric-kf9vx]

Personally I really loved Fossil Fighters. Sure it was a “Pokémon clone” but it certainly had a charm to it and digging fossils was a blast, never knowing what you’re going to find

[@marsbolcan9311]

I'd argue the mechanics were different enough to not be considered a Pokémon clone. It was so fun.

[@oscie]

style savvy is having a new release for switch called fashion dreamer this year! it was announced in the february direct

[@Gonkers20XX]

I love Metroid its my favorite Nintendo series but the series could be in any of those tiers depending on the year.

[@zacjdavis]

I think Mario Kart, Smash bros, and now Splatoon belong in a special class of flagship multiplayer games. It appears that going forward, each console release will probably get one game from each franchise. Nintendo doesn’t release as many games in these series as their other flagships, but they are system sellers.

[@electricturbodata9368]

Great video! When I saw the title I immediately knew it was going to be interesting. Personally I would put Mario Kart into the flagship tier since Animal crossing is there too. The series has existed longer and sold more too (Mario Kart 8 being one of the best selling video games of all time, and having several entries in the top 50. According to Wikipedia anyway). Of course, this is your list. ; ) My personal favorite resurrection would be the Wario Land series. In a way I was surprised, but from what I've found online it has even sold more than the Wario Ware series! I'm guessing that the Wario Ware games are a bit easier to develop while selling almost as much. Also Nintendo already has "a few" platformers and I could imagine that the developers are probably having a really fun time developing those crude humor mini games.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Mario Kart was definitely one of two the other being Smash Bros. that I really considered being Flagships as well just based on sales and consistency alone. A new set of Wario Land games would be pretty neat...I'm actually surprised they kind of just let it go and focused in hard on WarioWare games. Maybe they were just easier to create? Or they had more fun making those minigames as you said. Nintendo as a whole is known for its platformers so adding more they probably feel like its not worth it, but hey, people loved the Wario Land games for a reason.

[@SebastianGMSFB]

Putting F-Zero BELOW Life-Support did not age well! Thank God! 😂❤🎉

[@vezro_yt]

This video deserves way more credit, you just got a new sub 🎉

[@videogamesruinedmylife3769]

what amazes me is how the majority of these games started of on the nes 8 bit system and evolved with technology almost 40 years later. One could even argue that the new mario bros series on the switch still play exactly like they did on their 8 bit counterpart which proves that if something isn't broken don't try to fix it

[@Legend-of-Kai]

That's the beauty of it, and why even to this day so many old Nintendo games hold up so well. Because apart form the graphics the core gameplay that makes it so ingenious and fun still remains.

[@pepeelghetto1231]

Xenoblade definitely goes into mainstays nowadays. Smash and Mario kart are flagships Other than that, great video! 😅

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Mhm definitely strong arguments for all those changes! Thanks

[@AndroidHarris]

Either xenoblade goes in mainstay or splatoon goes in it exists. They have a similar recent history and they both have 2 games on switch after starting on wii.

[@dearprudish]

@@AndroidHarris What? Both games had their third release come out last year with plenty of support and DLC on the way come this year. No way they aren't both mainstays.

[@DDKoD]

@@AndroidHarrisSplatoon 2&3 both sold over 10 Million copies while the first game almost sold 5 mil on “failure” of a system. If anything, that’s borderlining Flagship. Now I do agree that Xenoblade should be considered a Mainstay right now tho.

[@AndroidHarris]

@@dearprudish I agree they should both be in the same category though

[@JustCallMePaper]

I honestly just came on to look hear about the paper Mario Series (for some reason it is rarely included in Mario challenges) and because you included it I will like your video.

[@nonamedhuman5356]

27:35 I mean you're kinda right but the sales of Luigi's Mansion 3 tells me that there is opportunity for it to be a mainstay

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Definitely. I think with another game it easily makes a spot for itself

[@neilhodge1187]

What's amazing is how many of their franchises are the market leader in their particular genre or sub-genre

[@loganbuternowsky4634]

Even Rhythm Heaven is the leader of the rhythm genre

[@TreiskadekDevil]

To answer your question in the video, Sega is the IP/Franchise owner of Bayonetta, I think Nintendo only owns some of the rights to Bayo 2 and 3 but Sega is the overall owner, even on Bayo orgins with it being a spinoff you still see segas logo on the case.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Yeah I thought so. Even though they were the ones to abandon the series 😥

[@LimitedGif]

Fire emblem mainstay? It was maybe 10 years ago but currently a flagship title