10 Best Nintendo Heroes, Ranked

There’s a reason Nintendo has such a loyal fan base. Their games are wholesome, fun, and adventurous. However, it’s not just the gameplay that sucks fans in. Nintendo also has a knack for creating likable heroes that players love to embody. Mario and his circle of friends alone make up some of the most iconic characters in all of gaming.

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Their stable of heroes is so wide and popular that Nintendo has even been able to open up their own theme park with them, something that’s usually reserved for movie studios. Here’s a list of the best heroes Nintendo offers.

10 Samus

Samus is much different than most heroes on this list. As a family-friendly brand, Nintendo has developed a lot of fun and lovable characters that can be enjoyed by all ages. Samus goes in a different direction as she is a hardened soldier in power armor with an arm cannon.

While she might not have the name and face recognition that those in Mario’s circle have, she’s well-known in the gaming community. She also increased in popularity when she became one of the strongest characters in Super Smash Bros.

9 Kirby

Kirby is another character that managed to carve a name for himself in Nintendo’s roster of characters despite not being a part of the Mario family. His cute, lovable design resonated a lot with audiences.

Also, his enormous appetite has also added to his cartoonish look and gameplay style as he can absorb the powers of whatever he eats. Although he was more well-known than Samus, he benefited just like she did from being included in the first Super Smash Bros., which increased his popularity.

8 Toad

Toad might not seem like a Nintendo hero, but he’s grown quite popular and recognizable alongside other characters like Mario, Luigi, and Peach. He’s most well known as Princess Peach’s right hand, but it’s been his inclusion in games like Mario Kart that’s boosted his popularity.

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Now, even non-gamers know his name and can pick him out from a crowd. That is the sign that a character has elevated just beyond those within an industry and has entered the public consciousness. Toad has even risen to the level of getting his own games in recent years.

7 Yoshi

Mario has a tendency of taking auxiliary characters and catapulting them into the spotlight. Yoshi was originally meant to be nothing more than a ride for Mario to get around in Super Mario World. However, his cute design and helpful gameplay caught fans’ attention.

He immediately became popular enough to not only get his own game but become a fan-favorite character in Mario sports and other competitive games. What’s also great is that there is a whole species of Yoshi, all in different colors.

6 Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong has had a very interesting journey to becoming a Nintendo hero. Although he originally got his own game, he was positioned as the villain. It wasn’t until much later that Nintendo realized the Donkey Kong character deserved to be redeemed.

Donkey Kong Country was a big transition as it created a whole lineup of Donkey Kong characters. Also, the fact that he became a fixture in other competitive Mario games made Donkey Kong the household name and face that he is today. He’s a true Nintendo redemption story.

5 Peach

Princess Peach has had quite an interesting career as a character. In the beginning, she was really nothing more than a plot device, something for Mario to have to rescue from the bad guy. However, she’s evolved considerably over the years to become her own individual person.

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Now, Peach is a force to be reckoned with both in power and popularity. Rather than a decoration to be rescued, she’s a formidable player in many competitive games from Super Smash Bros., Super Mario RPG, and all of the sports games fans love.

4 Link

The overused joke in gaming is that uninformed non-gamers call Link by the name Zelda instead, but gamers know to respect a character that can be continuously reinvented every generation.

Link is much different than Nintendo’s mascot, Mario, as every Mario game seems to have the same character over and over again. Link is a completely different animal as every standalone game is part of a new resurrection of characters. This has led the character and his franchise to be more versatile than any other on the list.

3 Luigi

It’s hard to think of a bigger underdog in terms of video game characters than Luigi. He was originally restricted to simply being a color-swapped character with Mario for the second player. However, as graphics improved, Luigi was able to branch out with his own design and style.

He remained in his brother’s shadow until eventually getting his own game years later. Mario still might be more popular and featured in more games, but Luigi has since built up a healthy fan base of his own.

2 Ash

Ash is by in large an unlikely hero for Nintendo given that he’s not a legacy character that was developed during the company’s early years. Instead, he was a character for a brand-new franchise that has surprisingly stood the test of time and grown to enormous proportions.

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Ash is one of the few examples of a video game character whose cartoon depiction outshines his original creation. Still, with so many different Pokemon to support him, it’s no wonder that Ash is as well-known as he is.

1 Mario

It’s hard to fully encapsulate just what Mario means not just for the Nintendo brand but the entire gaming industry. Mario’s rise was also extremely unlikely. After all, it’s strange that the Japanese game company would make an Italian plumber as a character.

The game he made his first appearance in wasn’t even named after him. It was only later that Mario became a hero all his own. He continually evolved with every installment, and Nintendo did such a good job on these games that it’s no surprise he’s become as popular and well-known as he is.

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