Smash Bros. 4 (Wii U). I actually like this game a little better than Ultimate, but Ultimate is also a very good game. I think the consensus among fans is that Brawl was a low point for the series. Smash Bros 4 was released on an unpopular console, but whenever I saw someone pull out a Wii U in a public area a giant crowd would form wanting to play Smash Bros.

Smash Wii U's bright colors look better to me than the gritty pee stain look of Brawl. Also, let's appreciate Wii U's visuals in this case.

Original - 320x240 

Melee and Brawl - 640x480

Smash 3DS - 400x240 on top screen, 320x240 on touch screen

Smash Wii U and Ultimate (docked) - 1920x1080

4K is going to be a big leap when Ultimate gets it patched/Switch 2 Edition or if it is saved for the next Smash. To the naked eye, nothing will likely ever beat the resolution leap from Brawl to Wii U. 

X's open world is often praised for its vast scale, verticality, how seamlessly you can move through it without loading screens, and the sense of exploration and discovery.

Based primarily on my personal experience, here's a rough tier list:

• S Tier - Mario Kart
• A Tier - Donkey Kong Country, Legend of Zelda, Pikmin
• B Tier - Fire Emblem, Metroid (2D), Super Mario Bros (2D AND 3D), Super Smash Bros
• C Tier - Kirby, Pokemon
• D Tier - Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Star Fox

Mario Kart 8 was easily the pinnacle of its series, and I won't be hearing any arguments.

DKC: Tropical Freeze, Breath of the Wild, and Pikmin 3 were steps above their immediate predecessors.

Fire Emblem, Metroid Dread, NSMBU, 3D World, and SSB 4 Wii U were roughly on par with their immediate predecessors.

Kirby: Star Allies and Pokemon Sword/Shield were a step down from their 3DS counterparts, but not truly disastrous.

Mario Party 10, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, and Star Fox Zero WERE truly disastrous.

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There are other Nintendo series I could've judged (Luigi's Mansion, Paper Mario, Metroid Prime, Xenoblade, etc), but I'm not qualified to judge.

I agree with Xenoblade Chronicles X. Open worlds were peaking around Witcher 3 level at this point, and then here comes Xenoblade Chronicles X which brought it all to a whole new level: larger, but (because of landmarks and terrain changes) a sense of where you are in the world; yet, it’s also a world you can get even more lost in than other games of its time. And it’s not a “am I in the right area?” Kind of lost, it’s like “whoah! I wonder what I’ll find in this area!” kind of pleasant lost.

You have your five big continents which are a sort of biome, but they all have different sub-biomes and wonders to discover. It was the first open world RPG/adventure game which had the whole “if you see it, you can go there” element, and some of those places were distant, and the peaks were high… this was the next level of the vertical exploration that Takahashi was exploring with the original Xenoblade.

Man, that poll is stacked with all-time great games :)

Is this about the greatest technological leap or simply the best game that happens to be HD? If it's the former, I will echo others and say Xenoblade Chronicles X. It remains a very impressive feat of design and engineering, considering the limitations of WiiU.

If it's the latter, I will go with Mario Kart 8, which in 2014 was the best Mario Kart game by a significant margin, despite the anemic battle mode. And that margin has only gotten more massive thanks to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + the Booster Course Pass.

Yeah I remenber people saying it was huge and I've seem a few things about it, but it being one of the most impressive open worlds in 2026 is an insane claim.

Didn't it come out the same year as The Witcher 3? Come on...

Why don’t you play it and see for yourself? It’s available on WiiU, Switch, and Switch 2. It’s an excellent example of the genre. One of the rare games I triple dipped on.

I own on it both for the Wii U and the Switch, as I do The Witcher 3 for the PS4. I'll get to them when I can, just as every other game.

But as I said, I've seem a few thing about both games. And I've played other open world games as well. I've seen it by myself already.

It looks like a pretty decent game for the Wii U, I'm not disputing that.

That being said, it's 2026, it's nowhere near still one of the most impressive open world games out there, that for sure it isn't.

You start the game walking on foot, and I can't overstate the great sense of exploration you have there, because the world is already fantastic to explore, but then halfway through the main story you unlock the Skells, and later you can unlock the flight module too and then you can just do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE0ZH_2NjPw

Places once unreachable are now reachable, monsters on a complete different scale both on land and on the air that looked unbeatable are now possible to beat, and simply flying through Mira is as incredible as running through for the first time. To this day I haven't found a game that could even match this feeling. The Witcher 3's world has nothing on Mira.