There seems to be this widespread belief that Nintendo is the only dev that pushes the limits of their own consoles, and that their games are always the best looking.

I would instead argue that with every one of their consoles, there are third/second party efforts that technically exceed any of Nintendo's own game for that system.

NES: Batman: Return of the Joker, Battletoads

SNES: Donkey Kong Country 1-3, Doom

N64: Conker's Bad Fur Day, DK 64, Banjo Tooie

Gamecube: Rogue Squadron 2 and 3, Resident Evil 4

Wii: Jett Rocket, Conduit 1 & 2, Modern Warfare 3

Wii U: Trine 2: Director's Cut

What do you guys reckon?

For the Wii its Xenoblade Chronicles by far.

Xenoblade almost certainly pushes its RAM the furthest, but I think other games push its CPU/GPU harder.

I agree for the most part.. I see a lot of Rareware Entertainment in those lists... that company should have stayed with Nintendo... who knows where Nintendo would be.

Right now Nintendo is just surviving off their artistic flare.

Wouldn't having the best game on the console make up for this though?

Most of these are widely considered the best by most.

NES - SMB3
SNES - ALTTP,SMW (debatable)
N64 - OoT,SM64
GC - SSBM,WW,TP
Wii - SMG, SMG2, SSBB
Wii U - SM3DW

I agree, I was just talking from a technical angle. Doesn't mean I think that's more important, just that I thought it'd make a fun thread. ;)

I dunno, Rare are a shadow of what they once were, their brilliance seemed to die with the 5th gen.

Yeah, but do you know why? Rare and Nintendo started together they meshed well together.. in fact they didnt produce a single bad game when working with ninteno.... clearly they are a bit lost and confused working with Microsoft... People underestimate the connection between companies and how much the morale of a company affects what they produce.

Agreed; games like Mario 3D World and Tropical Freeze look lovely thanks to their art direction, even if they're not technical juggernaughts.

I'd go so far as to say the last Nintendo game that pushed its console at all was Donkey Kong Country Returns, in 2010.