Favorite Nintendo Universe?

[Koopaul]

This has little to do with the games themselves, instead the lore and universe within your favorite Nintendo series.

Talk about your favorite Nintendo Universe! Explain why and what you like about it.

Remember this isn't about the actual games. The difference is that while one may like the Mario series gameplay better than Zelda, they may like the Zelda characters and world more than Mario's (not me of course)



Anyway I'll go first. My favorite is Mario's obviously. That universe is extremely lighthearted unique and ever expansive. There are almost no boundaries!

The characters are fun and absolutely lovable! There's so many too and none of them are emo or Mary Sues!

I love the style and character design, its very toylike and rubbery. The world is very alive everything has eyes haha!

While the stories are a bit disappointing in the main series, the RPGs prove that they can be just as fun and clever as the world itself.

Yes I love the Mario Universe.



Now you guys.

[Manspeed]

The DKC universe. I love the pre-rendered backgrounds based on real-world locations, and I love the googly-eyed animals that live in it. If I could live on DK Isle I would.

[nocturnal YL]

Let's see.

1, Pupupu Land / Kirby (Anime)
because it is funny to see a childlike king. The jokes are recurring, but hey, I like those. And I like the character design there.

2, Tellius / Fire Emblem - Path of Radiance & Radiant Dawn
would be fun to see people of different races around, each doing different things. Some parts of the story is funny. My favourite part is where Laura calls the Dawn Brigade "bandits".

3, Magval / Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones
has a slightly different feel of other FE universes, I'd say... this one does not stick to the traditional FE formua too much.

4, Mushroom World / Super Mario
for the same reasons Koopaul pointed, although I must say Mario himself is just a real big Gary Stu. But then, discussions on this topic is likely to cause flame wars, so I'll spare the details.
The Mario universe is also rather versatile. You can give it any theme you like, from casual to serious.

5, Weyard / Golden Sun
with most of the world undiscovered and unexplored. Would be a good place for little children to play around. They can even fight monsters and grow stronger! And of course, those djinn.

[Hiker of Games]

My favorite is the Metroid universe. It's one of the most thought out and interesting of the Nintendo universes, mostly thanks to the Scan system in the Prime games.

I find the F-Zero intriguing just because of how screwball it is. Forget a racing game! I'd love to see all those guys in a wacky 2D Fighter.

[Fryguy64]

I guess my favourite would have to be the Mario universe. It's just wacky, anything goes, and fun. It's intentionally inconsistent, in order to focus on the gameplay.

Nintendo makes Mario games because Mario games sell. But at the same time I like the fact that Nintendo doesn't pander to the fans, often telling us to go screw ourselves because we've lost sight of the fun.

[Shrikeswind]

1. Hyrule / Legend of Zelda
Behind the gates of darkness lurks a deathless evil. When he crawls back to the light, he conquers all, only to be defeated by a new hero. A new hero, by the way, who always looks exactly the same. Seriously, no other series has had a villain as successful as Ganon or heroes as fallible as the Links. It makes for great story-telling (though, admittedly, Zelda's got a habit of messing the flow up. =/)

2. Mushroom World / Super Mario
For all of it's happy-sunshiny glory, the Mario series is a very gritty series. Metaphorically capable of numerous sexual overtones, yet at the same time totally clean, and with plots that are actually alot more in depth than people seem to realize, if anyone's more hilariously messed up than Mario they're probably ashamed to show their faces.

3. "Japan" - Pokemon
I say Japan only for the fact that Pokemon doesn't actually have an official name for the whole world yet acknowledges the existance of the other regions ANYWAYS. In what other world will you find a happy-go-lucky kid looking for electric squirrels taking on a megalomaniacal criminal enterprise looking to take over the world / intentionally screw up the environment / reshape the universe? Or what other game features an innocently pathetic fish that suddenly turns into a giant war-dragon that eats cities? I thought as much.


My top three.

[Boo Destroyer]

^ I think the overall world of Pokemon is referred to as simply the "Pokemon World" or "Poke-World".

Anyway, I'm all for the Mario universe myself. Anything can happen, charming atmosphere, and more.

Agreed on Metroid, the Scan function provides much more insight to things.

[Koopaul]

Living in a universe and liking it are two seperate things. I'd be terrified to live in the Metroid Universe!

Same goes for the Zelda Universe, its very dangerous! And its way to primitive...

But I still love them a lot.

[Shrikeswind]

Yeah, I can't stand that name. "Pokemon World" is about as lame as if Hyrule were "Zelda's Fiefdom," though I have to say, someone using the word fiefdom to name a country in a game would automatically get the Internet Prize for Gaming Naming.

But my point is that "Pokemon World" sounds seriously unoffical. If it is, they really came up with a boring name for it.

On another note, I'd probably take to living in Hyrule. Yeah, it'd be dangerous at times, but only when Ganondorf's back, and that seems to happen after well over a lifetime of him not being there.

[Shadrio]

Ooh, hard to decide between Mario and Metroid. I love them both, and they both have one way or another influenced in my life.

Mario has the pure fun and happiness in life, just look at Mario in the first Super Mario Galaxy cinematic, before entering the gates to Toad Town, leading to Peach's Castle. He is running in a zig-zagged path like a child and then jumps and says Yahoo! or something similar. That is happiness, something people forget when they grow up. I always try to find a happy demeanor in life, and I always look at the simple things, trying to always be happy like Mario is (of course, I'll never be able to gain pyrokinesis by just eating a a tulip, but I think I'd go mad with power if I had Pyrokinetic abilities )

Metroid, ah, Metroid. When ever I daydream, I have an Arm Cannon in my dream. Why? *Boom Headshot* That's why. Just imagine what one could do with a armorsuit that allows you to walk in boiling lava with the right protection and the only module it is missing is one that allows unsuspended flight and access to nukes.
I kind of get my seriousness off of the Metroid Series, the isolation from the world, enjoying a beautiful landscape most people just pass by daily or just exploiting the weak points of any of those who annoy me to own them severely.
Example: I was once studying with a group of friends, and one friend who is typically serious and quiet when studying was "poked" in the right way and was laughing is head off, and everyone was studying pretty much hard like. I told him to stfu (never showing rage or anger) and he told me that this was typical in Chile (I lived most of my life in the US, so I was used to nice and quiet atmosphere when studying) during any time. So I said ok and asked him to say that once more so I could understand it clearly (I had taken my cellphone out, pretending to be looking at the time, but I had actually set it to record him). He says it clearly and nicely, and then we continue studying, and as time passes, the time for the test was approaching and I pretty much stopped studying and he started giving it more emphasis, so he was really quiet.
In one instance, one of my friends does a completely random commentary (we were talking about a university project, and one friend says all abruptly "Dude! I ate Lemon pie for breakfast!" We laughed, but my laugh was a bit louder). He tells me to sftu quite in an angry mood, so I look at him, chuckle, take out my cell phone and play the recording of him. Everyone laughs their arse off, and he, a normally strong minded person and hard to break, is owned and quiet in awe. Now, every time we all study, and I tell him to quiet down, he does and we all chuckle. Good times...

But if I had to choose, Mario would just barely win, even though my favorite game of all time is Metroid Prime, Mario's replay-ability is second to none and you always find a new way to enjoy a Mario game you've beaten time and time again.

And third place is without a doubt the whole Super Smash Bros. series, mainly Brawl. I just love grabbing any favorite character and being able to enjoy them. I normally have a Character week, in which I use a certain character as a main for a week, and I never decide when this happens or which character I choose, I just notice I'm having more fun using a certain character than others, so I use that character a lot for pretty much a week. I still weep Mewtwo's departure from the Smash games, though. *goes to bed to hug a pillow and cry* j/k

[TV Eye]

Definitely the Pokemon Universe. The fact that it's so realistic geographically combined with the surrealism of little battle monsters is an awesome mix. Also considering that the Pokemon affect everything around them is also pretty cool.

[8bitretroshit]

Hard to pick. Kirby maybe? King Dedede isn't really evil as much as he is a greedy bastard and Waddle Dee's aren't out to kill you, just moseying along in Kirby's way. It's just super light hearted.

Mario's and Earthbound's universes are pretty wacky and awesome aswell.

[wanderingshadow]

I have a soft spot for the games that take place in the "real world". The Mother series and StarTropics for instance. You could still live safely in modern convenience, but still know that there's adventure out there for those who seek it.

[Shrikeswind]

That's a good point, Eagle Land is a pretty normal society all things accounted for. It's a place where you can live in comfort if you wish, but if you want to have an adventure, you only need to open your front door.

[Manspeed]

Eagle Land seems pretty abnormal in Earthbound, mainly because they drove the "parody of America" aspect up a wall. Both MOTHER 1 and 2 contain this to a lesser degree. Heck, the unreleased English version of MOTHER 1 even refers to it as "rural America" in the opening narration.