Nintendo is one of the biggest multinational companies that develop gaming consoles and video games. Nintendo has made quite the name for itself over the past few decades with its extremely accessible consoles like the Wii U, and the Switch and its multitude of first-party IPs. This company now serves as one of the leading giants in the gaming industry and has become a household name. More often than not Nintendo games are catered towards young children and quite family-friendly, examples include the likes of Pokemon and Mario Kart. Nintendo's mascots are also always quite cuddly and cartoony Pikachu and Kirby etc.
As a result of these tropes, many people have developed a perception that this company only develops games that are easy on both the eyes and the hearts. However, beneath the jolly looking surface of some games lies a very disturbing narrative that can often be quite unsettling. Here are five games developed by Nintendo that are actually quite dark and have a twisted narrative.
4 Luigi's Mansion 3
Nintendo finally put the second brother of the Mario franchise, Luigi, in the spotlight again with the release of his latest and long awaited spooky adventure, Luigi's Mansion 3. Mario games are typically light-hearted and fun platformers, revolved around saving Princess Peach from the clutches of the fearsome Bowser. But whenever Luigi is put to the front, the story always seems to take a darker turn. Luigi's Mansion 3 sees the heroes of the mushroom kingdom be invited to a once in a lifetime vacation at a place called "The Last Resort".
Excited, as anyone would be, the group decides to take up the invitation and hit for the resort. Soon upon their arrival however, everything starts to take a turn for the worse. After being shown their rooms at the new resort, Luigi and his friends decide to rest up for the night, but later, Luigi is woken up to the scream of Princess Peach. He wakes up to find the resort completely covered in darkness and ghosts roaming about everywhere. It is revealed that Luigi and his friends were actually lured into the hotel by a ghost working for Luigi's arch nemesis King Boo who has been set free from Dr. E Gadd's ghost containment unit.
3 Pokemon X and Y
Pokemon is one of the most iconic franchises that Nintendo owns. These games mostly have a wholesome setting, and star young children as their protagonists. Pokemon X and Y were the first time that the Pokemon franchise went fully 3D, bringing a whole new look to the Pokemon world. However, this was not the only interesting thing to come out of these games. Pokemon and X and Y are set in a region called Kalos, which is actually based off of France. The region is very stylish and vibrant with lots of Pokemon to encounter, but beneath the glittery surface of this region lies a dark past.
3000 years before the events of the game take place, there occurred a devastating war between Kalos and another region that resulted in severe casualties and destruction. Pokemon X and Y introduce a mysterious character named AZ who is revealed to be a survivor and a victim of the said war from 3000 years ago. AZ lost his partner Floette in the war and to revive his friend, he created the Ultimate Weapon. He used this weapon to end the war once and for all and revive his Floette, but this came at a very high cost. AZ had to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of Pokemon to revive his friend, and upon learning this, his Floette left him. These events still haunt thre region of Kalos, as a new evil tries to make use of the Ultimate Weapon once again.
2 Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a recently released 3D platformer released for the Nintendo Switch. This game sees the pink blob go on a fully 3D adventure for the first time. When an inter-dimensional rift lays havoc in Kirby's home world and sucks the Waddle Dees away into another world, Kirby takes it upon himself to rescue them. This time around Kirby travels to a mysterious new land known as the New World, which leaves behind remnants of a society quite similar to humanity. There is large evidence that this world is a post apocalyptic version of Planet earth but no conclusive statement is made in the game.
Leongar, one of the main antagonists of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, reveals that the inhabitants of the New World used the power of an alien creature to travel to a place called The Dreamland, and left their world behind. This alien creature was none other than Fecto Elfilin, the true villain of the game, that came to the Forgotten Land long ago and terrorized its inhabitants. He was eventually captured and experimented on for thirty years. Eventually the people there learned to harness Fecto Elfilin's power and used it to learn the secrets of inter-dimensional travel and left their home world in pursuit of a better place.
1 Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is an action-adventure game released on the Nintendo Wii. It is the seventh mainline Metroid game and the third installment in the Metroid Prime saga. This series has always been a darker one compared to rest of Nintendo owned IPs, however Metroid Prime 3 is specifically a more twisted game than the rest.The main conflict of Metroid Prime 3 follows Samus Aran on a mission to fight off the space pirates who have launched an attack on the Galactic Federation's Navel base on Norion.
In doing so however, she and her bounty hunter friends get infected by a mysterious ailment known as the Phazon Corruption; which is a sort of disease spreading across multiple planets. She ends up losing contact with her fellow hunters and goes on a quest to find out what happened to them, whilst simultaneously trying to eradicate the corruption and stop it from spreading. In the end Samus Aron is successful in stopping the corruption but many of her friends perish in the process, leaving a much darker ending than fans were initially expecting.