What is Nintendo’s most mature game?

To be straight with you guys, the decision on Nintendo’s most mature game is a tossup between Madworld and Mother. Console wars lead to fans making a few interesting decisions when it came to what they wanted from their video games. Every console has its own advantages/area they use to differentiate themselves from  competition. Nintendo is known as a company that tends to skew themselves towards creative gameplay and innovation rather than having systems with more advanced power for processing. 

Other areas where Nintendo tends to stand away from other systems is that they’ve branded themselves to have a more family-friendly image. This doesn’t mean that Nintendo is completely against making mature games on their consoles, rather that they are a slight bit uncommon. Here are 19 games (including the ones mentioned above) that one wouldn’t really expect to be released on Nintendo consoles. 

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

One of the most impressive things about the Witcher 3 is that this game was available for play on the Nintendo Switch. This is arguably one of the best RPGs on the market, and it brought Geralt’s story to an end in a great way. 

It has both great side quests and intelligent writing, as well as a world that is meant to be explored – the Witcher 3 is considered a masterpiece for a reason. While it isn’t ideal to play the Witcher 3 on the Nintendo Switch, simply having it as an option is surprising. 

Doom

The entry Doom onto this list may call out a specific title, but this title can be a placeholder for any gamein the franchise. Doom 64 and Doom Eternal can also be considered good picks. In this game one can find satisfying combat, gory kills, and aggressive enemies that are defining points for the Doom series. It’s a FPS that has a devotion to the gameplay, by offering seemingly never-ending waves of demons for players to kill. 

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy

Before GTA: The Trilogy, Rockstar had yet to release a 3D open-world entry on a Nintendo gaming system. This persisted for a number of hardware releases and it started to seem like Rockstar would probably never cross that line. Eventually though, GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas made their way to the switch. 

Unfortunately, the GTA trilogy had a few problems and turned out to be a mess. But this doesn’t take away from the fact that Nintendo players have the option of playing a GTA game.

Max Payne 

While a Max Payne game hasnt’ been released on a home Nintendo console, the first Max Payne was released on the GBA (Game Boy Advance) in 2003, and is pretty faithful to the initial game. Max Payne on the Game Boy Advance keeps most of the story beats and features that can be found in the home game console versions. While playing on the Game Boy Advance isn’t the best way to experience this game, the GBA version is fairly competent. 

Mortal Kombat 11

Since it initially debuted, Mortal Kombat has been a public representation of the Mature Game. It’s the first franchise that people think of when they think of bloody, violent games. Mortal Kombat 11 is the first entry to appear on one of Nintendo’s systems in more than a decade, even though they used to be quite welcoming of the gaming franchise at the turn of the 20th century. 

To get the game running on the Switch a few things had to be thrown away, such as effects and visuals having been made much worse than that experienced on other consoles. The fighting in the game is still gory enough though.

Narc

The game Narc used to be a big deal back in the 1980s, even though it might not be today. This was an arcade game that was inevitably ported onto the NES, Narc is about 2 agents working their way through a drug cartel and killing their enemies as they do so. While being a mature theme, Narc was considered very violent for the 1980s, and actually had blood in the game. While the NES version took away a bit of the drug references, the majority of the game was still the same. 

Chiller

Back in the 80s games had a sort of lawlessness to them, that could mainly be attributed to the hardware limitations, which acted as a type of censorship by itself. Chiller was originally an arcade game but was eventually (via an unlicensed port) for the original Nintendo moved over to the NES. 

This game features desecrated graveyards, dismemberment, death, and bloody torture chambers. 

Sexy Poker

In the Nintendo Wiis library one will find a game titled Sexy poker. Originally released a WiiWare, the game allows fans of Nintendo to face a few anime women in either blackjack or poker. If you run out of money, the ladies will remove a piece of clothing, they do have their limits though. Originally made as a mobile game, Sexy Poker looks like it was ported to the Nintendo Wii just to show that it could be. 

Conker’s Bad Fur Day

This game, interestingly enough uses an adorable and cute character with an attitude adjustment, and throws them into a cartoon world that is filled with sex and violence. A game like Conker’s Bad Fur Day was able to stand out because of the fact that the Nintendo 64 didn’t have very many M-rated games. 

Manhunt 2

Certain games give off the feeling that they are intentionally trying to start a controversy by trying to insult as many people as humanly possible. Manhunt 2 is one of those titles and was one of the only titles to receive (intentionally I might add) an Adults Only rating.

There are some companies who don’t release AO titles on their consoles so Manhunt 2 needed a few edits. Even with those edits this is still a game that revolves around murder and serial killers, so it’s fairly intense.

Bayonetta 2

Bayonetta is considered one of PlatinumGames’ crown jewels. It takes everything that Platinum is known for doing well and injects it with a dose of insanity. The games’ control and play are dreamlike, but the real highlight is the main protagonist.

Bayonetta makes use of her looks in a creative way and tries to make sure that her use of combat is borderline reality bending. 

Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Leisure Suit Larry has been around since the 80s and used to simply be a click and point game played in the early PC gaming days. This franchise feels like a relic of the past, but has been revived as of late. 

A more recent title Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry, recently go released on the Nintendo Switch, which was one of the only times that a game such as this has been released on a Nintendo gaming console. 

Bully: Scholarship Edition

Rockstar has become known for their violent open sandbox games that make headlines and push boundaries. Most of their efforts are in environments that justify the violence that ensues, but Bully is controversial and detours from that theme since it takes place in a boarding school. 

In this game one will find most of the same ideas and tricks that they’d find in GTA and other big series by Rockstar. Bully puts the aggression behind a young protagonist, making it fairly risky. While the game, bully, wasn’t initially on the Wii, it did get ported after a while.

Catherine: Full Body

Catherine: Full Body is an example of a video game that offers little in the way of substance and does nothing but allow humans to indulge in their baser instincts. But some games are more novelty than actual games. This is one of those games that take and apply a mature theme in a justified manner and delivers something that is provocative and powerful while doing so. 

This game is the expanded version of Atlus’ puzzle game. The psychological, dark game mixes a number of genres together and is very memorable. And the fact that it was recently ported over to the switch brough sexualized absurdity to fans of Nintendo.

Agony

A nihilistic survival horror game, Agony was made by Madmind Studio and deals with lost souls who’ve been turned into disturbing monsters as they’ve been trapped in hell.This game uses Faustian themes and asks questions of consent in powerful yet unearned and gratuitous ways. 

The designs of the monsters and arts are totally upsetting. Agony is one of those games that had an AO rating initially but was toned down to meet certain standards. It was eventually ported onto the switch. 

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

Eternal Darkness is a survival horror game that was released exclusively on the GameCube. It didn’t have a huge franchise like Silent Hill or Resident Evil but it did make enough of an impression that people have asked for a sequel. 

This game was inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft as it goes over a number of time periods in dark ways. While being violent and full of death, the game also psychologically attacks players and addresses topics such as suicide, making it a novel experience for Nintendo game fans. 

Madworld 

Released on March 10, 2009 Platinum games’ Madworld was an early and stylized hit for the company that details how bad guys are not meant to be underestimated. This title uses an action beat-em-up style that par for the course for the game’s publisher. 

It’s presented in black and white that shows contrast with the red buckets of blood that’s constantly spilled. It’s a great game that brings about the feeling of the work of Frank Miller and of intense graphic novels.

Sakura Succubus Games

The Nintendo switch has become a great model for one to be able to experience the Sakura Franchise. This gaming series is a combination of short visual novels that lean quite a bit into fan service, but falls short of showing things that are too graphic. Sakura Succubus is made of 5 games that drop the players into a harem where they are able to live their anime fantasies out. 

If Sakura is compared to other visual novels, it will appear quite tame, which is why it struggles on Steam and other platforms. But it does stand out on the Nintendo eShop.

Mother 

Mother is a strange game. It gives off the appearance of being nice and fluffy on the outside but, coupled with the concepts and ideas behind it, it’s actually an ugly and terrifying game – kind of like the real world. The trilogy makes constant use of the themes of loss and sacrifice and makes use of things such as a “rape quote” and Fetus things in the gameplay. Not to mention that it had a deleted boss scene that can be described as Lynchian. This was a dark game.