Who isn't aware of Nintendo? the video game giant that's been going for over 20 years creating some fine memorable games. Everyone who grew up in the 80's onwards knows Mario. Everyone who had a Nintendo 64 knows The Legend Of Zelda, even in the modern age, gamers are getting re-acquainted with Metroid or the Mii series. But sometimes games made by them (or companies owned by them) get critically praised but then commercially flop. Today, we're taking a look at 10 of the best.

Everyone knows it's sequels, Melee and Brawl. But a surprsingly few people are aware of the series first incarnation. There are only 12 playable characters (8 starter, 4 unlockable) and only one hidden level, but the simplicity of the game adds real charm, as does the character roster. It relies on multiplayer, which can be fast, furious and down right unfair at times, but like the sequels, once you've found your perfect character (i'm a Ness guy) and get really good, the game gets even more fun. The game quickly picked up a cult audience (and obviously made enough money for a sequel) but i feel because a lot of people haven't heard of or played the original, it deserves a place here.

Rareware have made some memorable games, I'm pretty sure your aware of the genre defying Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, or Mario 64 beating Banjo series, but in 1999, after briefly showing off a cutesy looking platformer called Twleve tails - Conker 64, starring a Squirrel called Conker. they were worried it would be lost in the crowd with their other platformers (BK, BT and DK64), so they re-vamped the game. 3 years later, it emerged, completely different. The cutesy animals were still there, but served a different purpose. Conker, after getting drunk at pub the night before, is trying to get home, unfortunately doesn't know where he is, so he ends up in Windy, a bizarre area ruled by a milk obsessed Panther King including a mountain made out of poo, cat and dogfish (that look like cats and dogs) beetles from Liverpool, cavemen and various other creatures that swear, vomit, fart and explode. The game never sold well, perhaps because of it's british sense of humour or the fact the N64 was dead by the time it came out. It was re-made for the Xbox, but the sold even worse, ironically for a console aimed at 18-30, it was censored even more than the N64 version.

Made by Sega AV, although this does very much push the 1st/2nd party rule, it was originally a Gamecube exclusive.Super Monkey Ball has a real simple premise. You play as a Monkey trapped in a ball and have to get to the goal. Obviously that's not that straight forward as most levels have traps to stop you from reaching it. Be it bumpers, holes in the ground, ramps, really thin platforms, and sometimes even moving goals, the game will try and not let you win (which on the 50 level expert mode is a nightmare) The game is also an excellent multi-player title, with sports including Golf, Bowling and Billiards, plus a race mode that almost rivals Mario Kart. (Super Monkey Ball 2 improved on this, with football (soccer to you Americans) and Tennis, but isn't as fun) The game was released as a launch title in all three regions, but obviously being released alongside a first party title is useless, as everyone bought Luigi's Mansion with their Gamecube.

Wow, who'd have thought there'd be a Mario game here? Super Mario Land 2 is the sequel to the Game Boy launch title Super Mario Land, the game doesn't make that much sense continuity wise (Mario owns his own castle and his own Island...ok) but it is still 2D platforming goodness. It should also be noted that this is the first appearance of Wario, Mario's jerk of a Nemesis. The plot is Wario has taken over Mario's castle and Mario must take it back. Annoyingly Wario has barricaded himself in and Mario must collect 6 Golden Coins to open the gate, to obtain this coins, he must visit different worlds and then defeat the boss. Of course Mario has help from mushrooms and carrots....HANG ON, Carrots? Yes Mario when eaten a carrot turns into Bunny Mario, who can use his big ears to float. With the exception of Wario, most of the elements of Mario Land 2 were forgotten, which is why it's on this list.

Another Mario game?? WHAT? This one has good reason to be on this list. After Super Mario bros became the legendary game it is, Nintendo made a sequel, but not the one we all know. Instead of the Subcon dream story the US and Europe got, Japan had a game that ran on the same engine has the original, but was insanely tougher. It's basically the same format (get through 4 levels, beat bowser, oh noez, princess is in another castle, repeat 8 times) Nintendo thought the game was too tough for American gamers, so they quickly re-made Doki Doki Panic characters into Mario characters and shoved it out in time for Christmas. It's since been released in the west through the GBC port or the original and on the Virtual console, so i recommend you pick it up if you want a challenge.

Made by Capcom and Suda51 (who've recently released No More Heroes on the Wii, which i don't fully understand, about political unrest between America and Japan and a group of assassins called the Killer7. The player must take out a bizarre mutant group called the Heaven Smile, by effectively blowing them to pieces with whatever weapons they may have. It was ported to the PS2, but still never quite sold as much as it could have. The game's legacy remains in Resident Evil 4, where a powerful Magnum is called the Killer7

Eternal Darkness was originally to be an Nintendo 64 game, but was brought on board for the Gamecube. The concept is very HP Lovecraft. A civilization of ancient beings (called the ancients) have waited for millenia to take over our universe from another dimension. A Roman centurion discovers an artifact belonging to them and after touching it is turned to an undead creature bound to the artifact and helps the ancients carry out their plans. In a story covering centuries, you must stop their plans from coming to fruition. The game has epic cinematic like moments, genuine moments of terror and what i believe the best gaming innovation i've seen. The Sanity Meter. When your character meets an enemy, their sanity meter drops a little. When the Sanity meter is empty and you walk in a room, odd things happen....your volume is turned down, your characters head could explode, blood drips from the walls, only to flash and you never entered the room. Spooky....

Imagine Rare in 1998 pitching their new idea to Nintendo. Ok, 2 kids and their dog are flying through space and they get a message from a forest planet, a civilization of bear-like creatures is being killed and held captive by human sized ants. You must rescue the bears situated throughout the universe and destroy the army. Also there's lots of blood when you blow the ants to pieces. That is the concept of Jet Force Gemini, it shouldn't work, but it does and it works amazingly. Everything about it is incredible in every way, the star wars-esque music (which i would love to hear Robin Beanland have orchestrated) the gameplay and the fact one of the characters is a dog with a machine gun. Unfortunatley, it sold poorly and Nintendo didn't like the game.

Pikmin is quite possibly the most beautiful game i've ever played. Shigeru Miyamoto (creator or Mario, Zelda) created this after being inspired by gardening. As Olimar, a spaceman from the planet hocotate, you have 30 days to collect 30 ship parts to get you off the planet. Olimar however isn't that strong, but on the bizarre earth like planet he's crashed on, he discovers creatures called Pikmin, there are 3 kinds of Pikmin in this game, each one with a paticular ability that comes in handy when getting ship parts. Organising your Pikmin for battles or getting parts is vital. After 30 days, the game ends. Succeed and Olimar flies off, leaving the Pikmin, who learn to fight their predators. Fail and Olimar crashes again and dies, but is taken to the Pikmin Onion's and turned into a Pikmin, it's beautiful either way.

Japan 1989. the RPG genre is (thanks to Dragon Quest) stuck in a rut of Medieval settings, magic and dragons. Pokemon was still a concept by this point and the Along came Mother, a game about a plucky young boy named Ninten, with extraordinary PSI powers saving the world from a creature from another world named Giygas. The game sold well in Japan and Nintendo turned it's attention to the USA, it took 2 years to translate and by that point, The SNES had already come out, so despite being fully translated, the game was never released. Mother 2 then took 5 years to make (and was nearly cancelled about 3 times) being released in 1994 in Japan, however it did get translated and was released in 1995 as Earthbound in the USA, the game is an amazing journey for a kid called Ness, who also has PSI powers and travels through Eagleland to obtain 8 Melodies, to defeat Giygas (and Ness' evil Neighbour Pokey) once and for all. However despite a long marketing campaign, the game sold poorly and so was never released in Europe (thanks America.....) Earthbound 64 was announced for the Nintendo 64, but after years of delays and problems, it was cancelled and then brought back on the GBA, finally released in Japan in 2006, it was never released anywhere else. The games are amazing to be frank. I imported Mother 1+2 port for the GBA from japan and are easily some of the best games i've ever played.

In conclusion, Earthbound/Mother is, in my opinion, the best Nintendo games that most people overlook. But there's hundreds of games out there, don't just buy games from popular franchises, Earthbound's a good example, buying little franchises helps...

List by althegeek