Summary
- Nintendo has remade 173 games, with Mario series being the most popular choice, making up almost 18 percent of total remakes.
- Kirby and Pokemon also have several remakes, each claiming a significant portion.
- Remakes, remasters, and re-releases all serve the same purpose: old games on new consoles for new and old players to enjoy.
Games are usually remade for a variety of reasons — sometimes they’re just not accessible anymore, sometimes they’re just a popular series that people like to have on newer systems, and sometimes it may just be a cash grab.
Whatever the case may be, remakes are fairly common in this day and age, and newer systems are chock full of them. Nintendo, especially, has been loving the trend of remaking games – though this isn’t exactly a new behavior for Nintendo to indulge in. You might just find, however, that the most amount of remakes and remasters, happen on the newest consoles.
173 Nintendo Games Have Been Remade
Give or take a handful, and there have been 173 different Nintendo-published games that have seen themselves resurface across different consoles. This includes remakes, remasters, and re-releases. Some of these games are lucky enough to get physical form (usually if they were popular enough, like the Legend of Zelda or Pokemon series), while others are confined to being online exclusives only.
An unfortunate handful of nostalgic games are further confined to needing a Nintendo Switch Online membership if you hope to gain access to them. Both the Wii (counting the Wii U separately) and the Nintendo Switch have seen an absurd number of remakes, remasters, and re-releases, though ultimately, the Nintendo Switch comes out on top with the highest number of previously released games gracing its console.
Yes, remakes, remasters, and re-releases are different – but ultimately they all achieve the same goal. An old game ends up on a new console for new players to experience and older players to revel in the nostalgia of.
The Most Popular Series To Remake
The most popular series to remake is going to be anything with Mario’s name in it. Super Mario, Mario Kart, Mario versus Donkey Kong; Mario is the poster boy for Nintendo, so it makes sense that games with his namesake would be the most popular to remake and remaster. With over 31 different “Mario” named entries, Mario games make up almost 18 percent of the total remakes and re-releases.
Taking second place is, also somewhat surprisingly, Kirby. Kirby games don’t seem all that popular today, but when the Gameboy and Wii were big, they saw quite a few different Kirby remakes, re-releases, and remasters. With 17 different remakes, the Kirby franchise can lay claim to just under ten percent of the 173 remakes.
Coming in an easy third place, with 14 different remakes is Pokemon. Pokemon received a resurgence with the Trading Card Game, but it’s also faced more popularity on the video game front, too.
Sitting at around eight percent of the total remakes, Pokemon is cheating just a little bit with games like Pokemon Red and Blue or Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond. Although these duos are released at the same time, together, for all intents and purposes, they are different entities that receive their own entry as a remake.
