October is widely known to be the month
of evil and everything spooky. And because of that I think it's only
fitting that today we give the spotlight to Nintendos evil guys. A
Hero is nothing without a villain to vanquish and because of that I
wanted to give you my Top 5 Nintendo Villains.
As always it's only one pick per
franchise. Also the character has to be truly bad. No misunderstood
individual or mind controlled ally. But he doesn't need to be the
final boss of the game or games he appears in.
Now this list isn't about cool Boss
fights or general enemies like Goombas, etc., but only about the
presence, feel and threat level of the bad guys.
5: Bowser
I just couldn't do it. I had to mention
the arch nemesis of Mario. He may not be the most threatening bad
guy, in fact I think he couldn't even threaten a small child, but he
is still the first major villain of Video Games. Donkey Kong may have
the honor of being Marios first adversary, but instead of just
kidnapping one Girl Bowser took it to the next level on his first
appearance. Taking over a whole kingdom, transforming its inhabitants
into blocks and installing a reign of Terror demands some respect.
Even if he was easily bested by plumber, who just jumps really high.
But what also qualified Bowser for this
list is his resilience. No matter how many times he fails he always
gets up and tries again. He is the eternal underdog of videogame
villains. And games that give him a little more spotlight tend to end
up better because of it. Mario & Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story is
one of the most entertaining and great games on any Nintendo console.
Lastly Bowers design seals his spot on
this list. It's just great. Nintendo has managed to create an awesome
and threatening look, which still fits perfectly into the colorful
world of Mario and his friends. A giant, fire breathing Dragon
Turtle, with a spiky shell, horns and fiery red hair just looks cool.
It even makes you forget that he is beaten regularly by a 25 year
old, slightly overweight plumber. But only from time to time.
4: SA-X
The Metroid Series has many great
enemies, but only one has made me feel truly vulnerable and helpless.
That is no small task considering that you play Samus Aran. After all
she is the most successful bounty hunter in the universe, one of the
first badass women in games and and a general ass kicker. But SA-X
managed exactly that. There is hardly anything more scary than being
faced by a creature superior to you in every way. You just had no
chance of surviving against SA-X. At least until its Boss fight at
the end of the game.
SA-X, short for Samus Aran X, was
created by an X Virus infesting Samus Power Suit. Through that it
perfectly mimics Samus at full strength. A Samus Clone is nothing new
by this time. Dark Samus has done it too, but there is one thing that
differentiates SA-X from Dark Samus and also Mother Brain. While the
former two managed to defeat Samus this only happened during Cut
Scenes. Both the Battle with Dark Samus at the start of Corruption
and the fight against Mother Brain at the end of Super Metroid take
the reins away from the player. You can't do anything against the
scripted events and are forced to watch them unfold.
The Difference with SA-X is that you
still are absolutely helpless, but the game lets you feel that by
giving you the possibility to react. You can fight, jump around, etc.
but in the end the only chance you have once it has spotted you is to
run for your life. This creates situations where you pray that SA-X
doesn't spot you. Because you felt its power first hand and not
through some cut scene.
Sadly the encounters with SA-X are only
few and always happen at the same places. A system where the clone
could find you anytime would have been much more interesting. Also
SA-X is a pretty flat antagonist. Except for its threatening presence
it hasn't much going on. Still it is a enemy that still sends shivers
down my spine. And that is why it's number 4 on this list.
3: Lord Fredrik
Now please hear me out before you lynch
me for ignoring King K. Rool. I also like the reptilian pirate and
his personality shifts from King K. Rool to Kaptain K. Rool to Baron
K. Roolenstein are hilarious, but Fredrik was simply the more
successful of the two. Yes both have been defeated in the end, but
while K. Rool only managed to steal Donkey Kongs Bananas while he
slept, Fredrik managed to swiftly take control of the whole Island
and chase Donkey Kong and his friends away. That is some large scale
invasion followed by a complete climate change.
Fredrik is the boss of the Snowmads, a
group of island conquering Vikings from the frozen north. They take
over an island, start to freeze everything killing of most natural
inhabitants in the process and the move on to repeat the process with
the next island. Pretty dark if you ask me.
Also he is an amazing boss fight. I
know I said this list wasn't about boss fights, but if a bad guy puts
up an amazing fight it doesn't hurt. And Fredrik, especially on Hard
Mode, is one of the most intense gaming challenges I've ever faced.
As the threatening presence looming
over the frozen Donkey Kong Island he is a well deserving third spot
on this list.
2: Hades
If you haven't played Kid Icarus:
Uprising let me first say sorry for the Spoiler. And now let me ask
you what's wrong with you. After all you have missed one of the most
entertaining and great bad guys, not only in Nintendo, but general
gaming history. After dispatching Medusa as the main villain of the
game Hades takes over and blows you completely out of the water.
While Medusa was entertaining in her own right, she was still mostly
a standard evil doer. Hades however is charming as fuck, cracks you
up and is generally the most entertaining aspect of the game. His
countless interactions and back and forth with Pit are simply great.
He is also quite powerful and not even
the other gods dare to do anything against him. Without the grand
sacred treasure Pit would not stand a chance to harm even one hair on
Hades head. This guy even survives a fricking decapitation.
Hades manages something that only a few
bad guys can pull off successfully. He is a giant douce, asshole and
full on monster, but you still kinda like him. Hell I was genuinely
upset after I killed him. That's how entertaining he was. He manages
to make you laugh, while you still want to kill him, but a the same
time feel bad about it.
1: Ganon
Next to Bowser no other bad guy is as
well known as Ganon. Links arch nemesis and holder of the TriForce of
Power has time and time again tried to bring Hyrule and the other
parts of the TriForce under his control. But what does differentiate
him from the King of Koopas? He has succeeded once.
In Hyrule Historia it's revealed that
after Ocarina of Time the Zelda Timeline splits into three parts. And
one of these timelines, which is home to the original Zelda Game and
A Link for the Past amongst others, is created after Link failed to
defeat Ganondorf and his triumphant in fully conquering the sacred
realm. And this fact is canon. Ganondorf killed Link.
Of course he has been vanquished far
more often, but the fact remains that from all of Nintendos bad guys
he is the only one, who once scored a lasting win.
Another reason why he is my top pic is
his sheer power. Fueled with demonic energies he is the reincarnation
of the great Demon King Demise and reincarnates himself to haunt the
land of Hyrule for all eternity. He is not only a master of magic,
but can only transform into a fearful demonic monstrosity.
This all qualifies Ganon for the top
spot, but the last reason comes from my favorite game. I think this
game shows us the Ganondorf that is most human. He is driven by a
simple ambition that most of us can probably understand. I don't want
to say too much about it, instead I'll leave you with a quote from
him, which proves why Wind Wakers Ganondorf was the most fleshed out, human and relatable incarnation.
My
country lay within a vast desert. When the sun rose into the sky, a
burning wind punished my lands, searing the world. And when the moon
climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No
matter when it came, the wind carried the same thing... Death. But
the winds that blew across the green fields of Hyrule brought
something other than suffering and ruin. I coveted that wind, I
suppose.
Nintendo has created many villains over
the course of the years. What are your favourites and why? Tell me in
the comments.
And as always
thanks for reading
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