Nintendo has been around since 1889. starting out as a simple playing card company before blossoming into the video game mega corporation we all know and love today. Since its' first ventures into gaming, it has vastly changed the landscape of popular culture with mainstays like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Pokémon just to name a few. With recognizable characters and plots that are known both to both gamers and non-gamers, Nintendo has become a household name, with their titles reaching out into not just games, but movies, TV shows, books, comics, and music.
When something is as popular and universally recognized as Nintendo and its' affiliated titles, it is no wonder that a few memes have started cropping up about some common experiences we have. Let's face it, Mario can be ridiculous, Link is kind of a weird character, Nintendo keeps on releasing weird systems and everyone has had a Mario Kart experience that drives them insane. That's the point of memes, they take an easily approachable, universal concept that people never thought to talk about, then they present it to you in a humorous way. Or sometimes someone just have something completely idiotic to say that pulls a laugh out of you despite yourself. Either way, Nintendo has done so much over the years that raise a few eyebrows that the internet is overflowing of people wanting to roast them, and we couldn't help but make a list of some of the internet's best Nintendo memes.
28 Accurate
What better way to capture the differences between our public and private personas than Luigi. Luigi is all of us. I loved these memes, and not just because it was painfully accurate. There was something about seeing Luigi looking like a dapper son-of-a-gun, being a dope DJ and wearing those rad sunglasses that made me just crack up. He looks like he's just so cool, so filled with confidence that he has never second-guessed any one of his decisions in his whole life. Then we see the second Luigi, the Luigi at home, and he's just broken. We don't know why, we don't know if he's crying, and if he is, whether it's out loud or silently. We just know he's curled up, his face buried in his hands, and the contrast between those two pics genuinely had me crack up. Whoever created this meme is a legitimate comedic genius.
27 I'd Do Anything For Love
It's adorable that Mario will do anything to Make Princess Peach happy, although that third panel gives me the impression that he isn't exactly into it himself. What exactly "it" is I'll leave up to your wicked imaginations. It makes you wonder why that specific thing turns her on. I know that in some games her name is Princess Toadstool, so maybe she's just into that kind of thing? Or maybe it's more of a kink. Because goombas have been traditionally the bad guys of the series, and have posed something of a danger risk in the past, maybe Peach likes mixing a bit of fear with her pleasure. And I'm not even going to try to suss out how the logistics of this whole thing are going to play out, I'm just hoping that Mario, Cappy and Peach have a really great night together (that's right, you forgot about Cappy, he's going to be there for the whooooooole thing.)
26 Late Bloomer
Someone once told me that time is a flat circle. I'm just kidding, that was totally a line from True Detective, but it totally applies here. One second, everyone is all chummy while you play Pokémon together, and everything is wonderful. Then you get a little older and everyone around you becomes a snarling monstrosity who pounce on the slightest sign of weakness, and for whatever reason, people see Pokémon as a weakness. Admittedly, it does involve a lot of memorization of statistics, and it is centered around fantasy animals using magic to battle each other. But that's obfuscating the point, Pokémon is cool!
Then you get to college, that crazy backwards world where everyone is wearing pajamas and lava lamps are cool again. In this upside land, Pokémon makes people go crazy. Maybe it is the rose colored glasses that hits us all when we look at things we enjoyed in our youth, or maybe it's the fact that you are allowed to enjoy things without being ridiculed, but for whatever reason, the things that got you teased are now the things that make you friends.
25 No Wonder He's Sweating
An eagle eyed viewer with an intimate knowledge of Magnemite's anatomy noticed that maybe he doesn't make the best stool. Or maybe he does, depending on what you are looking for to sit on. The fact of the matter is, either an animator forgot what Magnemite looks like on the top of his orb, or some animator knew exactly what he was doing and drew a very happy Pokémon trainer.
This kind of thing is what makes the internet beautiful. I mean, how many of us would have even noticed that? But now that it has been pointed out to us, how can we ever be expected to unsee it? And the person who found it, their first reaction wasn't just to show us and tell us, no, of course not, they had to turn it into an online comic, with the last panel capturing all of our expressions when we finally figured out the implications.
24 I Should've Left You A Grimer
Well, that's one way of looking at the naming conventions. The consistency seems right and everything, maybe the color is a little off, depending on your diet. If you thought that wasn't gross enough, listen to this excerpt from the Pokédex: "It is constantly oozing; endlessly leaking a bacteria-rich fluid from all parts of its body." Man, I really hope this poster is wrong about this whole backwards naming thing. It only applies to those two snake Pokémon, right?
Ok, so whatever Muk is made of, he's gross. Keep that in mind next time you start pointing out Trubbish is made of trash. Now that you know that Muk might be something a little closer to home, maybe you'll also keep that in mind next time you even consider about wasting a pokéball on him and not just running away. If only you could find a way to counteract him with like a Kleenex type Pokémon.
23 That Koopa Deserves A Raise
What is with all those bullets with faces on them? Now that I'm analyzing it, why does EVERYTHING have a face on it? The clouds, the bushes, the bombs, the earlier mentioned clown car. Is everything sentient? I know that in the original mythos it said that Bowser turned the innocent occupants of the Mushroom Kingdom into bricks, so maybe it isn't totally unreasonable to think that literally everything around Mario is either alive or was alive.
That's kind of nightmarish, isn't it? Do they feel when you walk on them? Are they unhappy with their existence? Let's just, for a second, pretend that everything isn't alive, and only Bullet Bill is. Why is he angry? Why would Bowser make him angry? Does he hate Mario or is he only programed to seek out Mario? This comic honestly just raises more questions than it ever hoped to answer. Help me, Luigi!
22 He's Got A Strong Core
The physics with the Legend of Zelda franchise have always been shaky at best. There's a tunic that lets you breathe underwater, not to mention you can pick up a cuckoo that is legitimately a fraction of your weight and use it to float from place to place. What I'm trying to say is that thing can be a little wonky.
The iron boots are no exception. They are so heavy that they drag you to the bottom of whatever body of water you are currently in (but you put them in your inventory and can walk around fine, that's weird) and if you wear them on land, you can only move your legs uber slowly. Unless, of course, you roll. You can roll forward fine, which is a stretch, but kind of forgivable, but execute roll backwards and you do your classic backflip. So either Link has backflips that are exponentially stronger than any of his other moves, or the programmers are lazy.
21 We All Can't Have Water Cannons!
Poor Venusaur. He's honestly just a big dumb plant monster, we shouldn't expect much of him. Do we know anyone that picks Venusaur first? Like, what does he even know? Solar beam? How does that even make sense? Like razor leaf and whatever makes a kind of sense, but to suggest that this vegetable dinosaur can store up solar energy to use as an attack is pushing the limits of what I'm willing to accept, and I collected ghost Pokémon.
So yeah, he was never all that well respected among players, and I think that shows a lot in the cartoon, since when the opening theme scans through all the three starting Pokémon, Charizard is lighting a cloud on fire and Blastoise is clearly spreading water the children across the world, while Venusaur just kind of stands there. Earlier in the theme, we even see Bulbasaur just kind of rolled over like an idiot and get captured instantly.
20 Get Yourself A Little Tail
We all loathe those sappy inspirational "just girly things" images. Don't pretend you don't. Even the people who make them hate them, and only create them because the twisted evil mind parasite that is curled around their soul forces them to spread their wickedness across the globe. Nobody has looked at one of them and not instantly been compelled to mock them, to twist the words to be the inverse of their original intention.
So obviously a few gamers, who already have cynical souls from years of corrupted save files and micro-transactions, see these and instantly want to relate them to their favorite games. Here we see one of the three climactic showdowns with Bowser that Mario had to undergo in the classic Super Mario 64. Which is probably not what the original poster had in mind. I mean, unless the girl enjoys being flung around into an exploding spiked bomb. She could be.
19 Magnemite Sure Is Popular
I don't know what the chances are that two different memes on this list are about Magnemite in suggestive situations, but that's the magic of working at TheGamer.com. As funny as this comic is, it does raise a few questions. Are Pokémon prone to having multiple partners at once? Do Pokémon even mate? Do they get married? Shouldn't the dejected Magnemite have noticed that what it walked in on was it's evolved partner since there are too many "screws?" Why is it in a bed? I actually think seeing a Pokémon in a bed was probably the most jarring part of this whole comic. It's like seeing a dog read the paper or a cat watch the weather network. It's just not something you thought they wanted, let alone could do. Like, don't these particular kind of Pokémon just float? Why would they need a bed? Am I just over analyzing a lewd joke?
18 Double Standard
If Bowser did half the things that Link did, people wouldn't bat an eye at calling him the bad guy. Link smashes everyone's pots, he unwillingly rides cuckoos, he murders almost every animal he comes across and he relentlessly pursues a princess. He also totally doesn't give Saria's ocarina a second thought once he trades up to the sweet Ocarina of Time, which is something that is so Bowser. You know, if they weren't busy beating each other into colorful paste during Super Smash Bros. then I think these two dudes might get along pretty well. Maybe they could even team up and help each other take care of their collective Mario/Ganondorf problem. Man, now that is a video game I would like to play. Would you feel like the good guy or the bad guy? Moral ambiguity is the coolest! If any of our readers are game developers, please don't steal that idea.
17 Hope You Don't Slip Up!
I'll go ahead and assume most of you are good people, since you are here and my articles only attract the very cream of society. I will also assume that you all become remorseless warmongers the moment you play Mario Kart. I know that as soon as things start going poorly for me when up against my friends, I sort of picture them being tortured horribly. And when things start going well for me, will I hold onto that small and inconsequential victory harder than a saltwater crocodile onto a wildebeest. So when in first place, I will drop a whole republic worth of bananas behind me in order to hinder any possible advancement that might usurp my throne. I would burn the whole track to the ground rather than relinquish that first place spot, so naturally the banana stream I leave behind me is pretty epic. I presume you all feel the same way.
16 What Are You Trying To Say?
I mean, these people are probably looking too much into it, right? Right? There's no way that Nintendo has a nefarious plot brewing where all of the people who play their mobile games will be hunted down by something unseen? That's ludicrous and paranoid, right? I mean, what could they possibly know that we don't? Everything is fine. This is fine. Nothing horrible is going to happen.
This is one of those instances where the original joke, and then it snowballed into an ever expanding joke that gets exponentially funnier. With each person adding something increasingly ominous are less subtle, the joke goes from a possible warning to a horrific yet comical certainty. Sometimes the internet can be a really magical place, where people actually come together to make something beautiful. Or scary, whichever. Beggars can't be choosers. Let's just be grateful that this didn't turn into some sort of Supernatural reference.
15 You Won't Believe This Trick!
We live in an age of clickbait. I don't say this from a place of derision, if I didn't have clickbait titles on my articles, I doubt half of you would be reading these words right now. It's just the only way to stay competitive when you create listicles. I need to make you want, nay, need to read this article lest your life become all the worse for missing out on that one thing you need. This meme understands how those headlines work.
Wanna know something also weird? Nintendo has been warning us for years not to blow into cartridges. I'm serious, look it up. Apparently that one simple trick that we already knew was damaging our precious cartridges the whole time. What a plot twist, right? Aren't you glad you clicked on this article now? Sure, the memes are funny and all, but this precious information, where else would you find that?
14 Also Plumbers In Swimsuits
Nintendo has always been a company that has walked its' own path. Sure, they love releasing sequels to their existing titles, but while Microsoft and Sony are trying to one up one another with realism and gore, Nintendo will just release increasingly absurd video games and audiences will eat it up. At this point, it's hard to imagine Nintendo ever doing anything wrong. The above image is a key example of how Nintendo just went off in its' own direction, with something that really shouldn't work all that well on paper, and people went bananas for it. Breath of the Wild is currently sitting at a perfect score at IGN and a whopping 97% on Metacritic. That is the kind of success that neither Sony nor Microsoft has been able to duplicate, and nobody seems to know why. Maybe they should take a page from Nintendo's book and just try doing something unique instead of funneling all of their money and resources into a sure thing.
13 GameStop Used THROW SHADE
There always has to be that one joker who thinks he's figured out the trick of the industry, that they are smarter than all the sheeple and that they are the only one who can see behind the curtain. This guy thinks he's cracked the code of using a smaller model to make a Snorlax pillow look larger than it is (why not use an infant and really throw people off?) and GameStop is having none of it. They don't even try to defend themselves and say that they didn't actually do the manipulation the guy is suggesting (because it is beneath them to even entertain his nonsense) but instead go right after his manhood. Suggesting a man might be lacking anatomically is pretty much every dude's weak point, so this not so subtle implication is a pretty wicked burn. Who knew that video game retail companies could have that much sass waiting up their sleeve?
12 The Tables Have Turned
There have been a lot of questionable decisions when it comes to the Mario franchise lately. Him teaming up with the Rabbids seems like an especially odd choice, considering Mario seems to have totally sidestepped the desire to team up with Rayman in any way. That's like Mario ignoring Sonic to start getting into his own wacky adventures with Big The Cat. Then there's all the crazy business of his ability to possess people now that he has Cappy (usually possession of another being is something reserved for the bad guys.) So between those things and the fact that Mario finally admits he's in love with Peach, who still wants to play the field, it's no wonder she's turning to her main squeeze Bowser to come "kidnap" her away from all the craziness. I've always been a bigger fan of Bowser anyways, if only for that dope Koopa Clown Car.
11 Grass Isn't Cutting Itself
Ok, yes, as the Hero of Time, I have been known to kind of squander my time. I spend a good deal of it fishing, or at least trying to do that stupid trick where you use the fishing lure to steal the guy's hat. And yes, I'm totally guilty of wasting a bunch of time by making all those frogs change size through the magic of song. So is anyone surprised that I use the Master Sword to get a little gardening done from time to time? I mean, it's a pretty lucrative business, there's literally rupees fallout out of the blades of grass. Sometimes hearts. Or potions. There's just tonnes of stuff in there! In a world where I need to save up my rupees in order to buy a fireproof tunic so I can enter a volcano to fight a dragon, you can bet your right foot that I'm going to chop every last blade of grass I see to fill up my giant's wallet.
10 This Is Rainbow Road!
We were all so naive before we picked up the controller. We were laughing, making memories, being friends, generally having a good time. We entered the game thinking that our friendship would never end. It was all in good sport, just a friendly match between pals, an innocuous little game. How could something with Yoshi in it ever be a bad thing? Look at him, he eats melon and cookies all day long!
You fools, you pitiable fools. Did you think you were above the human emotion of rage? Maybe that was before you lost three matches of a limbo dance. You had morals before someone stole all your coins three turns in a row. The dice has turned against you and you roll nothing but 1s. You continually land on the red space, and now all you play as 1 vs 3. This is no longer fun, fun left you alone with your hatred three hours ago.
9 Heartbreak, I Choose You!
The first thing I did after seeing this meme was look into how many different hats Ash Ketchum has had in Pokémon. At the time of the writing of this article, I count at minimum seven different hats. Seven. I haven't owned seven pairs of shoes in my life, and this ten-year-old kid has gone through seven different versions of an already stupid looking hat. And each time he has a new hat, it means the world to him. I mean, he will it his best friend Pikachu up against twenty story tall rock demons in order to get that hat back if it should ever be stolen. People in this universe even know how much Ash loves his hats, and they use the taking of the hat to lure him into multiple traps. And he falls for it, every single time. Because he would rather walk face first into a punji pit than lose that hat. Until he finds another one he likes better. Yeah, Ash is kind of the worst.