Best and Worst Years for Nintendo Consoles
I'm going to be overly complicated and do a few categories: Console, Handheld, Nintendo developed/published, Third Party, and Overall. I'll start with just Consoles and add the others later. Also, I'm sticking to North American releases, just because that's when I played a lot of these games, if they came out in America at all. This means that some of my choices may seem odd to non-Americans at times, but there is a method to my madness.
Best Years
#1: 1995 - This might be because I'm biased towards Chrono Trigger, but it seems that every other great SNES game/series came out or had a solid iteration this year. In addition to the Crowning Achievement of the JRPG genre, 1995 had Yoshi's Island, one of the best 2D platformers ever made, and Earthbound, the RPG that both ridiculed certain elements of the genre and provided some of the best examples of those elements. Games like Donkey Kong Country 2 and Mega Man X2 lived up to their names, Killer Instinct was a great addition to a budding genre, Breath of Fire 2 is considered the best in the series, and even that Castlevania port was pretty great. This was a brief point in history, between the threat of the Genesis and rise of the PlayStation, where Nintendo seemed to be dominating a crowded market.
#2: 2010 - Though it wasn't necessarily the year all the best Wii games were released, the sheer number of worthwhile Wii games made 2010 the best year for owners of the platforms. First, some 2008 and 2009 Japanese games finally reached America, including Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Monster Hunter Tri, and Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. Nintendo themselves brought great games like Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and Wii Party. Third parties also surprised many by releasing solid games. The last round of "Guitar Hero era" Music games were released, Sonic and Mickey Mouse got worthwhile 3D platformers, shooters like Goldeneye, Red Steel 2, and Black Ops did well, some of the casual games like Just Dance 2 were better than they had any right to be, and EA was still supporting the Wii with games that made great use of Motion Plus. Plus, WiiWare actually had some solid hits, like Cave Story, Fluidity, Mega Man 10, and Sonic 4. The only thing holding 2010 back is that no single game breaks the ceiling, even though many reach upwards.
#3: 2001 - Though transitionary years are often hard for platform makers, 2001 is an exception. First, the Nintendo 64 had a great sendoff. Conker's Bad Fur Day ended an era of 3D platforming, Paper Mario finally gave the N64 a great RPG, Mario Party 3 still a fun experience for four players, and Pokemon Stadium 2 was a great addition to fans of the handheld games. The GameCube, meanwhile, made full use of its first few weeks on the market. Super Smash Bros Melee was a huge leap forward from the still recent first game, and became a sort of killer app for the GameCube and extra controllers. Pikmin was an innovative new series with great ideas and Luigi's Mansion proved the Mario franchise could extend into strange and unexpected areas. Third party support was also great. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II was a worthy successor to the N64 classic, Super Monkey Ball was a hidden gem, and mulitplatform games like Madden and Tony Hawk were solid in their own right. Between the N64 and GameCube, it was not a bad year for Nintendo fans.
#4: 1994 - The other great year for the SNES. 1994 was the year Super Metroid perfected a genre, Final Fantasy 6 determined the fate of a series, Donkey Kong was a big name for the first time since 1983 or so, and Mega Man X set the bar for the series too high for any sucessors to conceivably overcome. Mascot platformers like Earthworm Jim and Sparkster are still fondly remembered and replayed, Mortal Kombat II was a treat for fans of fighters in 1994, and some licensed games like Super Star Wars and Lion King were genuinely solid. 1994 gets this high mostly for a few outstanding games as well as a decent variety of lesser hits.
#5: 2004 -Like 2010 for the Wii, 2004 was a year where the GameCube enjoyed many great games that didn't necessarily break barriers. Star games from Nintendo included Metroid Prime 2, Pikmin 2, Paper Mario 2, Mario Tennis 2... I sense a pattern. In all seriousness, these were great games, regardless of their predecessors. Other great games included Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, a remake of Metal Gear Solid, Four Swords Adventure, and many of the 3rd party multiplatform games that GameCube owners enjoyed for a few years.
Honorable Mentions: 2014 (A few God Tier Games) and 2002 (More Games that were merely Good)
Worst
#1: 1999 - Simply put, the N64 didn't have much of note happening in 1999. Rayman 2 and Donkey Kong 64 were great, but considering the N64 already had Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, these games did not necessarily blow minds. Especially since Rayman 2 was soon ported to other systems and DK64 required the largely unused RAM pack. Besides that, there was Mario Golf, Pokemon Snap, and the original Super Smash Bros. Mario Golf was arguably inferior to its handheld counterpart, Pokemon Snap was not exactly what people were hoping from a console Pokemon game, and the original Super Smash Bros, though fun, was a bit anemic and simple, both for its time and in comparison to Melee a couple of years later.
#2: 2011 - Skyward Sword possibly saved this year from being the worst, even if it isn't the most liked Zelda. Besides that, there was a version of Rayman Origins with lower resolution, Mario Sports Mix, and Kirby. Kirby was pretty good, but still not THAT great.
#3: 2006 - Unlike the GameCube launch year, the Wii's was a bit of a dud. Unlike the N64, the GameCube left the building a few months early, with no exclusive swan song. The Wii launch had the acclaimed Twilight Princess and the promise of Wii Sports, but third party support was mediocre at best. Only the Rabbids game was really interesting. Zelda and Wii Sports was a great combo, but do not make for a great year by themselves.
#4: 2005 - Maybe I'm being harsh on the GameCube because 2004 was great, but 2005 was not much better than the year after. Resident Evil 4 was a great way to start off the year, but the fact that a PS2 version was announced and released by the end of the year with extra remixed levels, costumes, settings, and other features reduces the sparkle of that gem. Besides that one gem in January, 2005 had Fire Emblem, Pokemon XD, and a couple of Donkey Kong Bongo games. Yay.
#5: 2009 -Though 2008 had less good Wii games than 2009, at least 2008 had Super Smash Bros Brawl. 2009 had New Super Mario Bros Wii, which was not the best Super Mario platformer on the Wii, and IMO is one of the weaker entries of the NSMB series. Punch-Out was a solid reboot, and a few more niche games like Mad World, House of the Dead: Overkill, and Muramasa were fine. Otherwise, there was little of note, except for the umpteenth versions of Guitar Hero.
Dishonorable Mentions: 2012 (Xenoblade saved the day) and 1998 (Ocarina of Time led a tiny pack)
I'll make a handheld version of this in a bit.
