It has to be a NINTENDO franchise?

Because if you liked Pikmin, you would love Little King's Story, its a great game inspired by pikmin.

hello mario hater, try fire emblem, I would actually recomend you to stick with mario & zelda but if you don't try fire emblem
you can laways wait for other m which seems more linear

I was going to say Kid Icarus, but that goes back to NES and old school Gameboy.
I'd also say Star Fox but the only one I played is the SNES and 64 one.

My final answer is Kirby. His games are simple, yet so much fun. They're on the easy side, and short as well, but like I said, so much fun. suggest starting with Kirby Super Star Ultra on the DS. My least favorite of the franchise is Canvas Cusre, but everything else I played is gold.

Fire emblem

Get Star Fox for GameCube, specially Star Fox Assault (Adventures isn't hard actually, it's pretty straight forward). Punch out is great too, Fire Emblem is awesome but it's hard as hell too...

Resident Pikmin.

Try F-Zero. It's hard but it's fun.

Kirby is pretty good, Also something like golden sun my be worth a look.

I would suggest Fire Emblem as well, it's a game that stands apart, even among SRPGs

Kirby (I suggest Kirby Air Ride for Gamecube, or any Kirby game for the GBA/DS), Pokemon.

If you don't have a DS, then get one. It will open up a whole new world.

I'd have to say Donkey Kong. Go back and get the DKC series on VC some of the best platforming action ever made. Then Donkey Konga was way before its time its just as fun as Guitar Hero and way more unique. Then Jungle Beat is an amazing game you control it with the Bongo's making the gameplay unique and inventive it gets sort of repetitive (Boss battles) but the game is definatly one of the best on the Cube.

If you don't like platformers then I suggest Pokemon. tied with Donkey Kong for my favorite Nintendo franchise. Collecting Pokemon can be a real ____ but its amazing how addictive and fun the gameplay is. Not to mention it has the most playable characters of any RPG with more battle customizability then any other turn based RPG. You can't beat Pokemon if you love RPG's then again if you have them then Pokemon may not be right for you.

I could go on naming great franchises for a few more paragraphs but fact is Donkey Kong and Pokemon are two of Nintendo's best. Go give em a try and you won't be dissapointed.