If you were born in the early 80s, you will forever have this image of Nintendo as this unwavering giant. For us, the Wii U and the Gamecube were just temporary setbacks. Nintendo is an invincible company that will always make the comeback and reign over other consoles.

The truth is a bit different. Not only did Nintendo manage to fall behind for entire generations at a time, it also stumbled a few times in the middle of some of its most dominant periods. Games that were supposed to be sure-fire hits, or titles on which they had spent a lot of time and money, ended up under-performing severely. Too unsuccessful to become full-fledged franchises, these games have been left on the side in favour of their more popular companions.

The opposite is also true. While Nintendo itself probably always hopes that their games are going to hit the mark, some succeed despite having the odds stacked against them. A lack of marketing, an unimpressive trailer, or a tumultuous development can lead to the general public having low expectations for a title. The story behind these unexpected hits is often fascinating, perhaps even more than that of a game where everything went according to plan. After all, every good story needs a bit of adversity.

In the end, this article is about extremes. Which games were total letdown from a financial and critical standpoint? Which ones overcame expectations to forge themselves a place in gaming history? We picked the most surprising games from both end of the spectrum to demonstrate that Nintendo might be capable of the best, but it is far from being infallible.

25 FLOP: Code Name S.T.E.A.M.

via polygon.com

It was supposed to be the new standard in quirkiness, a strategy game starring Abraham Lincoln, Tom Sawyer, Tiger Lily from Peter Pan, and characters from the Wizard of Oz. It even had Wil Wheaton, Michael Dorn, and one of the lesser Baldwin brothers doing voice acting work. The ingredients were there for something that should at least have been a cult classic, but the game never gained traction. With all the money sunk into the project and the tepid reviews from the press, 200,000 copies sold were not enough to make it a success.

24 FLOP: Captain Rainbow

via cubed3.com

This game was only available in Japan and was so over the place that it was too much even for Japanese sensibilities. The famous magazine Famitsu found Captain Rainbow to be too vulgar, despite appearances from minor Nintendo characters such as Birdo, an out of shape Little Mac, and the golfer from the NES classic Golf. Although the game was featured on numerous websites and some vocal Nintendo fans did request a translation, the 22,000 copies sold made sure that any plans to export this Wii title were scrapped.

23 HIT: GoldenEye 007

via polygon.com

Developed by an inexperienced team of 11 people at Rare, GoldenEye 007 was originally conceived as a SNES platformer before becoming an N64 shooter. Even that part was reworked, as it went from an on-rail shooter to a first-person shooter, forcing the developers to change direction mid-development.

It was also released two and a half years after the movie on which it is based.

People were already thinking about the next James Bond by the time it came out. This should have been another Duke Nukem Forever, but instead, it ended up selling 8 million cartridges – good for third place of all time on Nintendo 64.

22 FLOP: Disaster: Day Of Crisis

via giantbomb.com

Disaster: Day of Crisis was one of the first games announced for the Wii in 2006, and was supposed to be a launch title. It was still in development by mid-2008 and was released with little fanfare everywhere but in the West by the end of that year. Reviews were mixed, citing dated graphics and sound - for a Wii game! Imagine how bad it had to be. The poor sales around the world led to the cancellation of the NA version.

21 FLOP: Star Fox Zero

via theverge.com

Shigeru Miyamoto hyped it as a return to form for Star Fox, focusing on space battles instead of the other distractions that recent titles had been focusing on. After making detours through the realm of third person shooters and military strategy games, Fox was supposed to be back in the Arwing. That part was true, but the clunky controls were enough to sink the game. What should have been the last big hit for the Wii U ended up fizzling out, just like the console itself.

20 HIT: Donkey Kong

via nintendo.com

The original Donkey Kong arcade game was Shigeru Miyamoto’s first game at Nintendo. The company was stuck with unsold Radar Scope cabinet, another game which was a flop, but on a smaller scale.

With Miyamoto’s concept in hand, Nintendo spent a long time gutting the old machines to turn them into Donkey Kong cabinets.

The company’s distributor were sceptical because of the goofy name, but the test locations were so popular that soon enough, they could not keep up with the demand. The game made millionaires of those involved and saved the company’s Western operation. Not bad for a first game!

19 FLOP: Odama

via youtube.com (cgrundertow)

The Gamecube was a solid machine, but it was struggling behind the PS2 and the Xbox. Nintendo tried different gimmicks to differentiate their system from their competitors’. Odama, for example, was pinball mixed with a strategy military game where players gave orders to their army through a microphone. It was ambitious, but it was also awkward and difficult to play. The game failed to find an audience, but at least no one can say that Nintendo does not take chances.

18 HIT: StarTropics

via houstonpress.com

A fun mix of Zelda-like exploration and semi-platforming action, StarTropics was released in the dying days of the NES. It surpassed every expectation the company had, to the point where a sequel was released a few years later, also for NES. That was in 1994, three years after the introduction of the superior SNES to the West. StarTropics was so successful that it sustained a dying platform way past its expiration date. And yet, we haven’t heard from the franchise since. That’s one obscure title that’s due for a comeback.

17 FLOP: Geist

via vgsmproject.com

Nintendo took a chance on an M-rated game developed by a second-party developer, back when this was an unusual move by the company. Multiple delays during development, including a complete overhaul of the game’s engine, resulted in a product that was already dated by the time it was released. Average reviews did not help at all, claiming that the game’s atmosphere was more cheesy than scary. Though Nintendo still owns the franchise, fans of Geist should not count on this series making a comeback.

16 FLOP: Cubivore

via hunterdavis.com

Cubivore was originally a 64DD project that got ported to the Gamecube when the add-on system failed. Because of its origins, the game’s graphics looked a bit blocky compared to its contemporaries.

When the Japanese release was met with indifference, Nintendo declined to localize it for other markets.

Atlus, a company known for niche titles, found the game interesting and negotiated with the Big N so that they could publish it in the West instead. They game flopped commercially but is considered somewhat of a Gamecube hidden gem these days.

15 HIT: Wii Music

via youtube.com (Dumb Jason)

After an E3 introduction so ridiculous it spawned its own memes, gaming journalists and gamers alike expected the game to be Nintendo’s first big flop on their popular console. What they did not expect was the casual crowd, who after being caught up in the Wii Sports and Wii Play craze, was willing to buy something else with “Wii” in its name. In the end, nearly four million copies of the game were sold. It was unexpectedly successful, but Nintendo knew better than to press their luck. There has been no follow-up since.

14 FLOP: Steel Diver

via nintendolife.com

A submarine simulation game, Steel Diver was a launch title for the 3DS. It was originally supposed to be a DS game, but after six years in development, it was ported to the upcoming platform to give it a better chance at success. Despite the lack of software available for the 3DS at launch, it managed to be one of the least impressive titles on the platform. The sequel was free-to-play to make it more attractive but failed to give the series a second life.

13 FLOP: Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland

via spriters-resource.com

Nintendo thought that The Legend of Zelda’s would-be fairy Tingle warranted his own spin-off due to his popularity in Japan. They also released the game in Europe, but refrained from making a Western version, where Tingle is mostly seen as The Legend of Zelda’s Jar-Jar Binks. It had mixed reviews at best, but Nintendo persisted and created a sequel, to diminishing return. The second try was the end of the Tingle experience, which was thus entirely contained to the Nintendo DS’s library.

12 HIT: Wave Race 64

via dualshockers.com

Wave Race 64 was a tech demo that exceeded expectations and sold millions of copies. A programmer at Nintendo was messing around with the new computers created by Silicon Graphics for the N64’s development, and created a program showing what water and waves could look like on the system.

Shigeru Miyamoto saw the demo and decided it should be a whole game.

With only four racers and eight tracks, it was still impressive enough that gamers flocked to it and made it one of the N64’s first players’ choice titles.

11 FLOP: Hey! Pikmin

via polygon.com

Pikmin is a series beloved by its fans, but it is still a fairly niche title. It always manages to sell over a million copies anyway, probably because of that Shigeru Miyamoto magic. Hoping to open up the franchise to other types of gamers, a platforming spin-off was created by Nintendo, but without their star designer’s input. The result: it only sold about a third of its usual haul. Hopefully the next Pikmin title will go back to its roots and stick to real-time strategy gameplay.

10 HIT: Kirby’s Dream Land

via wikipedia.org

According to Satoru Iwata, Kirby’s Dream Land was just supposed to be a simple platforming game that would serve as an introduction to the genre for the more casual gamers who only had acquired a Game Boy because of Tetris. In fact, Kirby wasn’t even supposed to look like that. Its final design was just supposed to be a place holder until a better idea came along. This nonchalant attitude still resulted in one of the Game Boy’s most successful games, and one of Nintendo’s most enduring franchises.

9 FLOP: The Virtual Boy’s Entire Library

via imgur.com

The Virtual Boy console itself was a flop, with only around 700,000 Virtual Boys sold in total. In fact, it’s the second worst-selling Nintendo console of all time; only the 64DD sold less than this headache-inducing machine.

The software sales were so sluggish that no information was ever released by Nintendo.

All we know is that the best-selling game on the system was Mario’s Tennis, which was helped by the fact that it was the NA pack-in game. When one of your library stand-outs is Nester’s Funky Bowling, you know you have a flop on your hands.

8 HIT: Mario Paint

via gamefabrique.com

Mario Paint was priced higher than other games of its time, due to the SNES mouse that was included with the cartridge. Despite being an extremely passive title, where most activities centered around drawing, coloring, and making music with a simple editing software, it was still a huge success. It’s a game that could keep you busy for as long as your imagination would allow. There’s still a community centered around the game to this day. In fact, the first Homestar Runner cartoon was made through Mario Paint.

7 FLOP: Conker’s Bad Fur Day

via destructoid.com

Don’t get us wrong: Conker’s Bad Fur Day is a delightful game worthy of praises. The problem is, Conker’s life was a weird one. Originally a 3D action game in the vein of Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, it spent most of the N64’s lifespan in development hell. It resurfaced near the end of the console’s era as a raunchy but funny 3D platformer. It was critically acclaimed but was not as successful financially. Cartridges of the game are rare and valuable today. The lack of success means that outside of a remake, we haven’t seen anything new from the squirrel to this day.

6 HIT: Pilotwings

via retrogames.cz

Released on launch day as a demo of what the SNES could do with updated graphics (as well as with the fabled Mode 7), Pilotwings still sold over a million copies when there wasn’t even that many SNES around.

Because of the surprise success, Nintendo tried the same tactic once again with the N64.

A Pilotwings sequel was released along with the new system, and it sold nearly the same amount of copies. It is unknown why the franchise stayed dormant for 15 years after that, but we had to wait until the 3DS for a follow-up.