Beyond Pokemon, I’m not exactly a huge Nintendo fan. I’ve played the Mario and Zelda games sporadically, and I think they’re all quite good, but I can take or leave all of them. That being said, my housemate Will is a massive fan so I always end up watching him play the newest Nintendo titles. He’s just got Mario Golf: Super Rush, which actually looks like a ridiculous amount of fun, and I noticed the water in it has no business looking as good as it does - it’s just a golf game, why does the water need to look so great? But when I think about it, it turns out Nintendo is the king of water. Like Canute, but not shit.
As graphics have improved, our expectations and standards have also risen, but Nintendo has always understood water. I’m not a purist, so I don’t think water needs to look realistic to look ‘good’ - it just needs to be stylish. Just like the taste of water, what exactly makes for gorgeous water is hard to pin down, but I know it when I see it, and Nintendo games have it by the bucket load.
The 3D Mario characters have always sported a saturated, cartoonish look that suits them perfectly. That’s the artstyle I expected of Mario Golf. Instead, as Will put his controller down to check his phone, I noticed the sunlight glistening off the gently rolling water of a stream next to his Mii’s feet. It was a dazzling, beautiful display, one that seemed very out of place. I mean, just look at the photo below - who put that much care and attention into the water?
This isn’t the first time a Mario game has had weirdly realistic and good looking water. Super Mario Sunshine released on the GameCube back in 2002 and featured detailed reflections on the water’s surface, and refraction when Mario went underwater. In fairness, that is a Mario game mostly about water, but they didn’t have to pop off like that and make the wet stuff look so damn pretty.
I said I’m not always interested in realism, yet I’ve waxed poetic about how much I love the shiny realistic water in two games so far, so let me babble on about the water in Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire for a bit. I was seven when I played Sapphire, and seeing my character reflected in the water blew my tiny little mind. I think the water in Hoenn makes it the best region in Pokemon, and that’s because there’s so much care put into it: the surf laps at your feet on beaches, you’re reflected in still water, and puddles reflect clouds in the sky above - all this on a 2002 Game Boy Advance game.
The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker had very iconic water. The game’s whole toon aesthetic was superb, and has stopped the game from aging in the way it would have if it attempted realism. With just one shade of blue and white for detailing, I could watch and play in those waters for hours without getting bored. It’s such a simple and elegant way to implement the water, yet it works so well. The water in Paper Mario: The Origami King is an improvement on this style I didn’t think was possible.
Some honourable mentions for Nintendo water also go to Breath of the Wild, Pikmin, Mario Kart Double Dash, and the move Surf in Pokemon Gold & Silver - a blue wave would rise up the screen and leave everything below it rippled as though it were being looked at underwater.
Sure, Uncharted wowed everyone with the way water could only wet clothes up to the point where they were submerged, and yes, Sea of Thieves does have truly excellent seas - and thieves! It even has some impressive ‘of’s. But Nintendo games have been consistently delivering high quality water content for decades now, and they need recognition for it. Now, go and drink a glass of the good stuff, you’re probably a little dehydrated.