2010s had some incredible games, no doubt. And some of Nintendo’s best ever years. I mean, look at 2013: Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, A Link Between Worlds, Fire Emblem Awakening, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, etc. And we all know how special 2017 was. That sort of explosion of must-have software will probably never happen again.
But there were also a bunch of lean years. The Wii software pipeline sort of collapsed after 2010. In 2012, in the Americas, we got Xenoblade Chronicles — the best game of the seventh gen, in my mind — but not a whole lot else. The WiiU years gave us a handful of amazing games, but the releases were so infrequent. And then that pipeline collapsed in 2016.
The 3DS was much more consistent, with a deeper, richer library, but it wasn’t enough to offset the WiiU.
As for the 2000s, they benefit from a few things. First, the tail end of N64, which was actually pretty darn good. I think 2000 was one of the system’s best years, in fact. Take a look: Perfect Dark, Majora’s Mask, Banjo-Tooie, Paper Mario, Mario Tennis, Excitebike 64, etc. Then you get the entire lifespan of the GCN and GBA, which covers 3D masterpieces like Metroid Prime and Wind Waker and 2D masterpieces like Aria of Sorrow and Zero Mission. And the best, most active years of Wii and DS.
I think the 2000s win this one. The WiiU, and its small, relatively meek library, really pull the 2010s down.
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