As one of the biggest software developers in the video game industry, Nintendo has no shortage of exclusive IPs. Due to crossover games likeSuper Smash Bros.even some of the company’s smallest series get their time to shine. However, aSmash Bros.cameo is not preferable to actual, worthwhile releases where characters get to star on their own.
Nintendo’s big names likeMarioandKirbyhave received plenty of main series games, but also a lot of fun, respectable spin-offs as well. However, just as some Nintendo games can’t seem to stick the landing with their core games, some can’t seem to manage an impressive spin-off library either.
7Animal Crossing
Now considered one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises,Animal Crossingis a wholesome series of games that focus on town building mechanics. The series’ slower release schedule, however, means that fans are often starved of new content for many years at a time. This is time that could be filled with quality spin-off titles, but the series seems to consistently have trouble on that front.
RELATED:Why Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley Fans Should Be Excited for Coral Island
The 7-year wait betweenAC New LeafandNew Horizonssaw the release ofAmiibo Festival,Happy Home Designer,andPocket Camp. While the latter two were decent attempts to scale down some of the series’ signature features,Amiibo Festivalwas a bizarre attempt at a party game, which was far too reliant on Amiibo to justify its own existence.
6Art Academy
Art Academyis a limited series of titles that could honestly be considered apps instead of games. As the name implies, they provide a way to use Nintendo’s various touch-controlled consoles to learn and practice drawing and painting.
As a result of their relatively niche use case, the only spin-offs the series has to speak of arePokémonand Disney variations, which focus the art tips and tools on producing fan art of the two massive IPs. While these are two of the most popular properties around, with no shortage of people looking to make fan art of the beloved characters, these games are pretty lackluster spin-offs.
5Pikmin
Back in the Gamecube era,Pikminwas able to come out with two whole games in quick succession, partly due to its success in showing off the Gamecube’s ability to have many independent models on screen at once. Since then, however, releases have staggered, withPikmin 4seeming more like a fantasy every day.
RELATED:Every Nintendo Game Currently in Development
The two attempts to shake up the series formula so far have beenHey! Pikminon the 3DS, andPikmin Bloomon mobile. The former floundered in its attempt to adaptPikmingameplay into the platforming genre, while the latter released to little fanfare, coming off like a misguided attempt to capitalize on the success ofPokemon GO.
4Yoshi
TheYoshiseries itself is a spin-off from theMarioseries of games. Everyone’s favorite green dinosaur was first seen as Mario’s disposable steed inSuper Mario World, but went on to earn himself a whole slew of titles. Games likeYoshi’s IslandandYoshi’s Wooly Worldare fun platformers, but the series’ spin-offs have been very lackluster so far.
For some bizarre reason, mostYoshispin-offs are puzzle games, likeYoshi’s CookieandTetris Attack, withYoshi’s Safaribeing a SNES super scope shooter instead. While theYoshipuzzle games aren’t terrible by any means, they’re very underwhelming spin-offs, as they don’t really shake up the main series’ gameplay in any fun or interesting ways.
3Wario
Like Yoshi, Wario is also a character who originally appeared as an understudy to Mario, before getting his own series of games. While theWario Landplatformers were where the series got its start, most fans know it best for theWariowaregames, which have become iconic in their own right for their unique‘micro-games.’
Also likeYoshi, theWarioseries has strangely only received puzzle and peripheral based spin-offs. Most these days don’t countWariowareas a spin-off. This means that the series' only small entries are theWario Woodsgames, which are decent puzzle games, andMario & Wario, a Japan-only game that relied on the very niche SNES mouse.
2Star Fox
Star Foxis one of the Nintendo franchises with the most unfortunate history. While it was once a big enough series for Fox McCloud to be a starting character in the originalSuper Smash Bros, nowadays, the series has been left to nostalgia, with its latest entryStar Fox Zerobeing ultimately forgettable.
RELATED:The Most Iconic Foxes In Video Games
Aside from a game watch released via Cornflakes cereal, the only spin-off the series has had isStar Fox Guard, a tower defense game released in tandem withStar Fox Zero. While a decent idea,Guardis held back by a player’s patience for the WiiU’s multiscreen control scheme. What’s more, by releasing withZero, comes off like an attempt to bolster the former’s already troubled quality, and lacks an identity of its own.
1Fatal Frame
Fatal Frameisn’t anywhere near Nintendo’s heavy hitters, butthe series has made a respectable name for itself. Getting an assist trophy inSmash Bros.requires at least some level of notoriety after all.
Due to its niche nature and small number of entries, however, it’s no surprise thatFatal Framelacks any quality spin-offs. The only one it has isSpirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, a 3DS entry which relies on the system’s AR camera to place ghosts within their real world surroundings. While some uses of AR in 3DS games are quite fun, the clunkiness of moving the whole 3DS around like a VR headset can be a pain, and overall changes the series’ core gameplay for the worse.
