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Forums - Nintendo - Rank Nintendo's systems by third party library

curl-6 on 27 April 2020
CarcharodonKraz said:
curl-6 said:

SNES's lineup is so strong that even if you don't like JRPGs (like me) and have to therefore cross off many of its third party big guns, it can still come out on top just through the sheer breadth of quality titles across multiple genres. Call me a heretic but Final Fantasy/Chrono Tigger/Secret of Mana aren't my cup of tea. R-Type or Demon's Crest on the other hand...

Did u play guardian legend? What did u think? (if so)

Nah never heard of it to be honest.

My third party SNES collection is most platformers and shooters.



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curl-6 on 27 April 2020
SpokenTruth said:

Switch would rate higher if more 3rd parties approached it as a platform for new games rather than just a home for ports.

THANK YOU.

I mean, I'm fine with current gen ports, but it's shameful how much of Switch's library is recycled from previous generations.



curl-6 on 27 April 2020
SpokenTruth said:
curl-6 said:

THANK YOU.

I mean, I'm fine with current gen ports, but it's shameful how much of Switch's library is recycled from previous generations.

Indeed.  And I don't think ports by themselves are a bad thing.  Those games get a new lease on life and a generation of Nintendo gamers gets to play them.  Fantastic.  But that shouldn't make up the bulk of 3rd party support.

Exactly. I wouldn't mind if it was also getting more new/original games, but when the vast majority of its content is positively ancient leftovers that I already either played or passed on years and years ago, that's a big problem, and the one thing that really drags the Switch down in my opinion.



The_Liquid_Laser on 01 May 2020
spurgeonryan said:
The_Liquid_Laser said:

NES is objectively the right answer.  It had all of the third party support.  SMS got shut out of support.  Hell, Atari technically had a competing system and was still releasing games on the NES via Tengen.  NES really had all of the games.  SNES had good games, but it split third party support with the Genesis with TG16 getting a bit as well.  Anyway, it's all a matter of taste, and most people didn't really experience the NES era.  Here is my list with some of my favorite third party games:

1. NES (Ultima 4, Mega Man 2, Castlevania 1&3, Blaster Master, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest 1&2, Duck Tales, Life Force, Contra, Double Dragon 2, Gauntlet, TMNT2, Bionic Commando, Ninja Gaiden 1&2)
2. Switch (Puyo Puyo Tetris, Octopath Traveler, DQ Builders, Axiom Verge, Untitled Goose Game, Wargroove, Cuphead)
3. SNES (Final Fantasy 4&6, Actraiser, Super Castlevania 4, Turtles in Time)
4. Wii (mostly Virtual Console, and some ok 3rd party titles)
5. Wii U (Minecraft)
6. Gamecube (basically nothing)

Handheld rankings are a little harder, because my #1 & #2 are close:

1. Switch (see above)
2. GBA (Astroy Boy, FF Tactics Advance, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, lots of great ports)
3. DS (Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Plants vs Zombies)
4. 3DS (Theatrhythm FF)

Wii was full to the brim of 3rd party games, same with DS. I have been trying to buy every crazy third party game for the DS for years and just have a pile of games that just never ends.

Now if you are going good games, then the Switch. They have a healthy line up. I just saw that they have Turok and Turok 2 as well which never would have happened in the past.

Wii and DS definitely had lots of third party games, but then again, so did their competitors.  NES had ALL the third party games.  Sega and Atari were basically shut out.  NES was more comparable to the PS2.  Go back to Generation 6 and look at the % of third party games that had a PS2 release.  Now make XBox and Gamecube lose every third party game that was also on PS2.  That is NES third party library.  It basically had all the games that were available, and the competitors had nothing.

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 02 May 2020

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Soundwave on 01 May 2020

double post. 

Last edited by Soundwave - on 01 May 2020

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Soundwave on 01 May 2020


1. SNES
2. NES
3. GameCube
4. Switch
5. Wii

6. 3DS
7. Wii U
8. DS
9. Game Boy Advance
10. N64
11. Game Boy

12. Virtual Boy

The NES is kinda underrated, you have to understand it had virtually every major 3rd party game of the day exclusive and that was a big deal. Contra, Castlevania, Ninja Turtles, Super C, Ninja Gaiden, Metal Gear, Ghouls N' Ghosts, Wizards & Warriors, Double Dragon II, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Megaman 1/2/3/4/5/6, Blaster Master, Blades of Steel, Tecmo Bowl, etc. etc. etc. all basically exclusive was huge. Capcom, Konami, Squaresoft, Enix, Rareware, Tecmo basically all exclusive. 

It would be having like Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, GTAV, Call of Duty, Monster Hunter, Metal Gear Solid, Red Dead Redemption, Overwatch, Dragon Quest, Minecraft, NBA 2K, Assassin's Creed etc. etc. franchises wholly exclusive to the Switch. That's what it was like. 

Even the idea of "3rd party" was kind of unknown back then because everything was just "Nintendo". Final Fantasy was a "Nintendo game". So was Metal Gear. So was Megaman. So was Double Dragon II. Video games were "Nintendo". Not even the Playstation 2 got that level of support. 

Last edited by Soundwave - on 01 May 2020

curl-6 on 01 May 2020

The Wii is actually the Nintendo system I own the most third party games for, at around 30.

Still, SNES undeniably had the heavier hitters. Wii had a bunch of really good ones but it also missed out on a lot. SNES had pretty much all the big franchises of the time; Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Mega Man, etc.

Still, I think Wii's third party catalog is badly underrated due to all the memes about it having nothing but shovelware, which just isn't true.