The question is simple: Which of these third-party companies is your favorite, in terms of games they have developed and/ or published for Nintendo systems from the beginning of time until today?

Since a Negative World poll is limited to ten choices, I decided to stick with (arguably) the most well known companies who have contributed significantly to the library of games on Nintendo platforms, in terms of both quality and quantity.

Some of these guys have been around since the NES days; others fell from grace (Sega) on their way to becoming Nintendo supporters. One of them no longer exists, while others have become companies certain gamers have come to loathe (in part because of their success?). (And I cheated a bit by putting Square Enix on the list instead of separating them as they were before the merger, for those who have a greater preference for one or the other).

(Note: I'm not including Rare; their main support was as a second-party/ direct partner with Nintendo.)

There are some obvious favorites of mine to choose from (including Capcom and Konami) but I'm having a hard time picking just one favorite.

What about you? Easy decision? Looking forward to hearing from you!

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Capcom has been the most consistent. Konami's a close second, if only for Castlevania. They'd rank higher if we were counting Nontendo systems, but as far as Nintendo-only systems go, Capcom's the winner.

The existence of Resident Evil Revelations alone would make them a winner in my eyes. Mega Man V was phenomenal, too. Gotta love the Stardroids, as well as SunStar: The Doomsday Weapon. Such awesomeness.

Oh, and Street Fighter rules. I know you guys don't typically care for fighting games (what is wrong with you all?!?) but that series basically DEFINES the genre IMHO.

Not an easy choice, but I chose Square-Enix. I loved their Super Nintendo works, and their body of work was pretty solid with the Wii (and is excellent on the 3DS). Capcom was a close second, and Konami was third (they dropped low because their recent stuff, particularly on Nintendo platforms, has been disappointing). Namco was also a choice I considered. They're on the rise (on Nintendo) as of late.

The SNES wouldn't be anywhere near as memorable to me without Square, so I picked them.

Let me think here:

So Konami has the Castlevania games (with excellent handheld support over the years), the action-packed Contra goodness, and I loved Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

Capcom has an extensive library of games I enjoy! Street Fighter, Mega Man, the Resident Evil series (including REmake and RE 0 on GameCube), Zack & Wiki, Tatsunoko, Monster Hunter, Phoenix Wright, some good SNES RPGs (Breath of Fire I and II!), and so on...

Square Enix: Oh yeah! The great SNES RPG era, followed by the great RPG revival on DS. They brought us a bunch of Kingdom Hearts games (which I never really got into), created the unique RPG The World Ends with You (which I loved).

Ubisoft has done some great stuff like Red Steel 2, plenty of great Rayman games, Prince of Persia (Forgotten Sands is remarkable), and published Sucker Punch's Rocket: Robot on Wheels for N64.

Namco gave us Soul Calibur II, the great Wii platformer Klonoa, some decent old-school compilations (like the recent Pac-Man & Galaga on 3DS), Tales of RPGs, and the Baten Kaitos games.

Sega gave us Sonic on Nintendo, which has been a mixed bag of quality but overall I found satisfying (especially on the handhelds, go Sonic Rush!). I wasn't too happy with their Wii Nights game though, and I never got into PSO. They nailed it as a publisher on some awesome Wii games like MadWorld and House of the Dead Overkill. I can't forget their work on F-Zero GX or the first couple of Super Monkey Ball games! They also published two of my favorite GBA Treasure games: Astro Boy and Gunstar Super Heroes.

Tecmo, of course, gave us the NES Ninja Gaiden trilogy (sweet), Tecmo Bowl (not really my thing), and... well, they haven't exactly been strong Nintendo supporters in recent gens though.

The other companies on the list would definitely fall somewhere further down my list of favorites.

This is not an easy decision at all, but I think Capcom probably does barely edge the others in terms of games I enjoy. Barely! But really my vote could sway in other directions. I'll give Konami my vote this time.

Gotta go Square. I'm sorry.


Capcom (basically only Mega Man and MH) and Konami (LifeForce, Contra, and a couple friends), I love them, too. And Tecmo freakin' Super Bowl. Namco has the Tales series, but the juggernaut of ChronoTrigger-FinalFantasy-FinalFantasyII-FinalFantasyIII-SecretofMana-OgreBattle cannot be contained. Had Atlus not taken care of Ogre Battle 64, they'd be even MORE powerful.

@Shadowlink

I've never even played Zack and Wiki! "*GASP* You have to play it!" Play Fire Emblem! And Ogre Battle.

@Mr_Mustache

I thought Quest did Ogre Battle (before Square purchased Quest)

@Jargon

Enix is on there somewhere, I think..



Yep, Enix America, first possible screen on the game. 3
Easy to miss, but I thought there was a logo somewhere, too.. I guess I'm just thinking of the Quest deal.

@Mr_Mustache

I am playing Fire Emblem!

Slowly.

Play Zack and Wicki before Zero bans you.

@Shadowlink

I'll play it eventually. I do own it. Hands are kinda full now.

@Mr_Mustache

You don't care for Street Fighter or Resident Evil?

@GameDadGrant

Eh and Eh.

@Mr_Mustache

Bu..bu..but... FIGHTING! And ZOMBIES! How could you not like?

@GameDadGrant

Hey! I'm getting ZombiU!

@Mr_Mustache

Ha ha...I wonder how that game will stack up to something like Resident Evil 6? Favorably, I hope.

@GameDadGrant

I'm sure I'll like it regardless. I..I'm pretty good at picking out games I'll like based on what I see of them.
That opposed to someone saying "dude. Get Zack and Wiki." Which I did. I also did that for Fragile. Thanks, IGN!..

@Mr_Mustache

But Zack and Wiki is awesome .

Puzzles!

When have I ever steered anybody wrong here?

(Also, RE4. You LIKE RE4!)

I am seriously impressed with the early support Ubisoft has given Nintendo during the Wii's launch and the Wii U. Consistently great games with innovation, Ubisoft is the obvious best choice.

I almost picked Hudson based on Milon's Secret Castle alone. But I went with Capcom.

On handhelds, Level-5 beats Konami's vampire hunting games due to Layton and Dragon Quest IX. On consoles, Ubisoft have been consistenly showing Wii owners love, besides Nintendo, they were the only one that seemed to try (Red Steel with WiiM+). Now they're back again on Wii U. Overall though, probably Capcom oddly enough. That's mainly because of the monster hunter games.

@TheOldManFromZelda

Don't forget Mario Party (..right?? What am I thinking of....) and Adventure Island!