After the Super Nintendo, Nintendo's home consoles had a tendency to struggle with going out gracefully. Whether that be Nintendo shifting development resources to the next gen system very early, leaving the last few years pretty dry. The lack of substantial third party support that amplifies the problem. Or declining sales and user interest in these platforms compared to other consoles during their time. Nintendo's home gaming platforms have had pretty barren final years.

But, which one had the absolute driest twilight years?...

While the Nintendo 64 was notorious for its lengthy game droughts that seemed to get worse as they went on, the console still had some notable bangers in 2000, such as Perfect Dark, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Banjo Tooie, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. 2001 meanwhile had Paper Mario, Conker's Bad Fur Day and... uh... Dr. Mario 64? Yeah the N64 kind of faded out anti-climactically in 2001.

The Nintendo GameCube was at its lowest point in 2005. It's only real third party exclusive of the year, Resident Evil 4, was now only a timed exclusive (coming to PlayStation 2 later that Fall). Many big third party games that were comming to rival consoles, were now just skiping the GameCube, and Microsoft had kickstarted the next generation early with the launch of the Xbox 360. Meanwhile, besides some cult hits like Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, and Super Mario Strikers, Nintendo didn't really have much noteworthy for its troubled square. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was once again delayed, now comming to the then codenamed Revolution, and other Nintendo games that year were pretty mid (Star Fox Assault and Geist being the most notable examples). The only Nintendo games that came out in 2006 for the GameCube were Chibi-Robo, And Baiten Kaitos Origins... Yup.

The Wii in 2011 had seen much of its core audience flee to rival platforms including Xbox 360 thanks to Kinect, and especially smartphones and tablets. And besides The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Nintendo offered pretty much nothing of interest to the remaining "core gamer" Wii owners. Especially frustraiting when there were games they could've released in North America. Operation Rainfall, the fabled fan-campain to preasure Nintendo of America to release three high quality Wii RPGs in the US. Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower. Thankfully 2012 saw the first two games release here, which also had Rhythm Heaven Fever and... That's basically it.

The Wii U was gasping for air in 2015. Some of Nintendo's worst games of all time headlined the Fall lineup with Mario Tennis Ultra Smash, Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival, and Devil's Third. Splatoon and Super Mario Maker finally showed the Wii U GamePad's potential, but by that point, it was too little, too late. Despite that, 2015 still had some solid games including Yoshi's Wooly World, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, and Xenoblade Chronicles X. 2016 however... Well, you had Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE... and The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD... and Star Fox Zero...

Fortunately, it seems like the Nintendo Switch is looking to break this curse thanks to inhereting Nintendo's handheld DNA. 2023 will go down as one of the Switch's greatest years. With games like Fire Emblem Engage, Pikmin 4, Advance Wars 1+2 ReBoot Camp, Metroid Prime Remastered, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder among others. And while the first half of 2024 was fairly heavy on the remake/remaster/DLC variety with games like Another Code Recollections, Splatoon 3 Side Order, Mario Vs. Donkey Kong, and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, it's still preferable to the months of nothing that defined Nintendo consoles of the past, with Fall housing Emio The Smiling Man - Famicom Detective Club, Mario & Luigi Brothership, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and more to come in 2025 headlined by the long-delayed Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.