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Forums - Nintendo - Which do you feel is Nintendo's most revolutionary game, and why?

SMB, no matter what comes in future it'll always be SMB as it changed the way the industry approached game design in general and is a big inspiration for even other huge Nintendo IPs like Zelda and Metroid.

Honourable mention to SM64 and OOT.



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Donkey Kong. Platformers wouldn't exist without it.



Salnax said:

1080 Snowboarding, that's three Revolutions right in the name!

I'll see your 1080 and raise you Starfox; 100 or so "revolutions"/barrel rolls per run, easy.



CaptainExplosion said:

Donkey Kong. Platformers wouldn't exist without it.

I'm pretty sure, they would exist without Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong wasn't even the first platformer game. Space Panic (which was released 8 month earlier) already had a lot of Donkey Kong's game elements.

The character of Space Panic couldn't jump... but do you really think, that no game designer in the whole world would have added that jumping feature soon?

Already five months after the Donkey Kong release, Jump Bug gave its debut... with jumping on and over objects and with smooth side-scrolling (four years earlier than Super Mario Bros.).

 

Pitfall (released 9 months after Donkey Kong) is another platformer, which probably would have been developed without Donkey Kong's existence... at least David Crane claims, that his Pitfall idea is from 1979.

Last edited by Conina - on 19 April 2026

Conina said:
CaptainExplosion said:

Donkey Kong. Platformers wouldn't exist without it.

I'm pretty sure, they would exist without Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong wasn't even the first platformer game. Space Panic (which was released 8 month earlier) already had a lot of Donkey Kong's game elements.

The character of Space Panic couldn't jump... but do you really think, that no game designer in the whole world would have added that jumping feature soon?

Already five months after the Donkey Kong release, Jump Bug gave its debut... with jumping on and over objects and with smooth side-scrolling (four years earlier than Super Mario Bros.).

 

Pitfall (released 9 months after Donkey Kong) is another platformer, which probably would have been developed without Donkey Kong's existence... at least David Crane claims, that his Pitfall idea is from 1979.

Eh, neither of those were as impactful as Donkey Kong.



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CaptainExplosion said:
Conina said:

Already five months after the Donkey Kong release, Jump Bug gave its debut... with jumping on and over objects and with smooth side-scrolling (four years earlier than Super Mario Bros.).

Pitfall (released 9 months after Donkey Kong) is another platformer, which probably would have been developed without Donkey Kong's existence... at least David Crane claims, that his Pitfall idea is from 1979.

Eh, neither of those were as impactful as Donkey Kong.

Even if they weren't as impactful as Donkey Kong, the genre would still exist without Donkey Kong.

Both Space Panic and Jump Bug were commercially successful in Arcades.
And Pitfall was a huge hit for home consoles... it was holding the top spot on the Billboard Top Video Games chart for 64 consecutive weeks.

P.S.: I agree, that Donkey Kong is Nintendo's most revolutionary game.

Last edited by Conina - on 19 April 2026

TheRealSamusAran said:

This is a hard one, Super Mario Bros. basically created side scrollers...

Sure, if you ignore any other sidescrolling games on Arcades and home consoles before September 1985

My pre-SMB side scroller favorites are Defender (1980) and Jungle King (1982, later renamed to Jungle Hunt)

 



Conina said:
CaptainExplosion said:

Donkey Kong. Platformers wouldn't exist without it.

I'm pretty sure, they would exist without Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong wasn't even the first platformer game. Space Panic (which was released 8 month earlier) already had a lot of Donkey Kong's game elements.

The character of Space Panic couldn't jump... but do you really think, that no game designer in the whole world would have added that jumping feature soon?

Already five months after the Donkey Kong release, Jump Bug gave its debut... with jumping on and over objects and with smooth side-scrolling (four years earlier than Super Mario Bros.).

 

Pitfall (released 9 months after Donkey Kong) is another platformer, which probably would have been developed without Donkey Kong's existence... at least David Crane claims, that his Pitfall idea is from 1979.

I certainly wouldn't say that platformers would not exist without DK, but there's no denying that that particular platformer changed-up the industry.  

First off, I wouldn't call Space Panic a platformer.  Second, there's a difference between just making a character jump and repeated code iteration to get impressive physics.  e.g.  Pac-Land (1984) preceded Super Mario Bros but the difference in programming finesse is huge.

Also, Crane claiming his idea preceded DK is just that - a claim.  I pictured gaming eventually going into 3D (z-axis) when I was just a kid but I still wouldn't expect credit for the idea before anyone else unless I brought it to life first.

Last edited by archbrix - on 19 April 2026

I mean, you could argue with every innovation in history that "if they didn't do it, someone else would have", but that doesn't take away from them actually doing it.



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