After last week, I
needed some happiness. And
though Nintendo does a lot of comedy (I'd need a Top 100 to list the
best moments of comedy in the Nintendo franchises), it's also very
strong when it comes to emotions. Nintendo makes you feel good. Okay,
you could say that for almost
any video game series. But Nintendo always finds ways to insert
heartwarming moments in its
video games.
If you're really sensitive, those moments could bring a tear of joy
to your eye. Here are 12 of those moments.
Please,
keep in mind: Those are MY Top 12 heartwarming moments. Most of those
moments, I have seen them in their respective games or I know they
were touching to a lot of people. As a result, if there is something
missing on this list, a moment that you really liked and that you
wished you had seen here, well... Not only I need to keep it to 12,
but I also had to pick among the many moments I remembered or those
that seemed to bring the most emotions to me or others. If you don't
see your favorite moment here, tell it in the comments! I'll be very
happy to read about it. Also, be warned: Many of those moments refer
to the endings of the games, so read at your own risk if you don't
want to get spoilers.
Let's
get this happiness party started!
(Out-of-character
note: I really, really need this. As I was writing this review, I was playing Pokémon HeartGold, as I was about 90 species away
from completing the Pokédex. However, I found out that my save file
had been corrupted and, therefore, erased. Nearly three hundred hours
of fun were taken out of my lifetime along with some of my real-life
friend Laura's favorite Pokémon that she traded to me, some
exclusives she got who knows when. As a result, as I wrote this Top
12, I felt extremely saddened. Therefore, excuse me in advance if
this article is not the funniest. Even though it had been planned for
a while before this happened, it's still a very heartbreaking thing
to see all your efforts amount to nothing because of a glitch. That
was April 11th. Even at the time this article is posted, I
might still be very bitter about it. Please don't mind it too much,
but... Yeah, I need something to make me happier again and make me
forget that I lost over two hundred fucking hours to a game that
glitched on me. Wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't spent so long playing
it, spent so long trying to get everything... and I had nigh
everything I could catch in it, I was one - catchable - Pokémon away from
succeeding! But... Damn. Look, please enjoy this list, I worked on it
as much as I worked on my other Top 12s, so... to fully enjoy the
moments listed here, please try to forget this lengthy paragraph and
just be happy that Nintendo is really able to get emotions out of you
with the stories in their games.)
12.
Aran and 'Mon
You should see the amount of fanart for that friendship. My Gosh. |
11.
Some Recognition, at Last!
Cranky being nice? That's a rare thing! |
10.
The Cake is a Lie No More
Nothing makes me happier than a happy pink puffball. ...How is he holding those ustensils? |
9.
Sadly But Then Happily Married
No, Kafei is not a kid. Just a small adult. There is nothing deeply wrong going on here. |
8.
Farewells From Pikmin Planet
To
me, it's always difficult to talk about Pikmin, as I hardly ever
played this series. However, just reading about this scene from the
second Pikmin game made me smile. How can it not? Captain Olimar's
ship is repaired, and he can leave the planet of the Pikmin (which is
Earth after an apocalypse, if we can judge by the trash that Olimar
picks up around; a Duracell, really?). Times were tough for this
diminutive alien. The animals in this world were all gigantic, except
the eponymous Pikmin, which were basically Olimar's only allies until
the end. When our little space man leaves in is spaceship, the
Dolphin, he takes a look back at this gigantic planet that was so
dangerous. It's almost night, and all the Pikmin wish him goodbye...
by glowing on the ground, thousands of them if not more, covering the
land. This is beautiful to watch, ad it shows that Olimar really did
something wonderful down there with his allies the plant-people.
7.
Never Give Up, Trust Your Instincts
That's Fox! ...No, that's James. No, it looks too much like Fox! But I tell you it's James... Oh Gosh, I'm confused. |
6.
Happy Ending Party at the Ranch
Another
Legend of Zelda heartwarming moment? Yeah, that series has a lot of
those. Through every game, you get to interact with a lot of people,
and many of them end up helping Link in a way or another. It's most
prominent in Ocarina of Time, where everyone rejoices at the end of
Ganondorf' reign of terror over Hyrule. Seven years of pain, gone
forever, thanks to our Hero of Time. Everyone's at Lon Lon Ranch, and
we see many scenes revealing that peace has returned, and it shall
stay forev... er... well, until Ganondorf's next twisted plan,
anyway. Talking about each of those moments would take way too long,
but I'll just end by saying that the Legend of Zelda series does this
sort of thing very well. In most games, you save the world, but you
hardly ever get a glimpse of how much you've done for the world. And
the Legend of Zelda series mastered that aspect. I took the ending to Ocarina of
Time; I could have used any Zelda game since A Link to the Past,
actually. That's quite the achievement for an entire franchise.
5.
Wishing For Realities
Oh, don't worry, it'll happen soon, Luigi. Keep wishing. |
4.
Finally Resting Peacefully
Major
Pokémon X and Y spoilers here. So, for once, you beat the Elite 4
and a parade is made in your honor. Wow, now that's what I call some
recognition! It was about time the hero got what he deserved, huh?
However, an interesting event happens during the parade. You meet
with AZ, the odd homeless man who's taller than every
other human in the series, and he challenges you to a Pokémon
battle. Compared to the Elite 4, he's not hard to battle, I'd even
say he's AZ to defeat (Tomato throwers, do your thing; I know this
was an awful pun). It's then revealed that this man was the King of
the ancient civilization that was about to destroy the population of
the Kalos region. The guy's more than 3,000 years old! Oh wait, it
doesn't stop there. After you defeat him, he retrieves his long-lost
friend, a Floette, and cries of happiness. He has retrieved faith in
humanity, which was a very common theme in the sixth-gen Pokémon
games. Even Lysandre, the real enemy, has lack of faith in mankind as his motivation for
leading Team Flare! ...Although, to be fair, the other Team leaders do
give those humanity haters some arguments... Looking at you, Ghetsis.
3.
From Snarker To True Companion
In
my enormous review of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, there
was so much to say about the plot that I omitted this interesting
element: The relationship between Midna and Link. Yeah, she meets him
as a wolf and is a snarking little imp at the moment, I'd even dare
say she was acting nasty at first. She helped Link, but it does seem
like she didn't want to or as if she didn't believe in him (then
again, what's a goat herder gonna do against a Twilight King?)
However, at one point, Zant traps Link in wolf form again and badly
injures Midna by exposing her to the light of Hyrule. She begs for
Wolf-Link to bring her to Zelda, as the princess can heal her. Oh, by
the way, this is the first time she calls Link by his name. After he
saves her, she becomes much more likable towards him, ready to help
at any moment, even her tone of voice seems to have changed. Their
friendship grows through the adventure and by the end, they're like a
true team, knowing exactly what's their role. Because they've been to
Hell and back, it's like they've known each other forever. It's
heartwarming to see such a good friendship, huh? ...But I'm not
shipping them. Besides, I don't want to imagine a cheap reason why
Midna would be able to travel back to Hyrule despite shattering the
Mirror of Twilight... you know, the kind of thing fanfic authors do.
(And also, she looks in her late twenties while he's 17.)
"This is the moment when I'll turn into a giant spider and destroy the castle's force field. I know you're not gonna run away." |
2.
Farewell, Odd One in the Equation
What?
Yet ANOTHER Pokémon heartwarming moment? Huh, guess there's a lot.
Okay, but this one is quick. If you've played Pokémon Black or
White, you know Ghetsis wanted to rule over the world by being the
only one allowed to have Pokémon, and for this he used an idealist
(manchild-ish?) teenage boy, N, who was unaware of it until he was
defeated by the player. Turns out that before that fight, Legendary
dragon Reshiram or Zekrom (depending on the version) had joined N's
team, as it agreed with the boy on his vision of the world.
...Anyway, once Ghetsis is defeated, N has his entire life
to re-think. His way of looking at the world has been negated by the
player's victory, and to top it all off, his sole existence was part
of a carefully elaborated plan by a madman seeking power. Thus, after
Ghetsis is defeated, N tells some final world to the player
character... and then leaves on the back of his dragon, never to be
seen again. He hasn't forgotten his ideal view of the world, but he's
accepted the divergence in points of view and remains a friend to all
living things, still not quite a villain but not exactly a hero
either.
Wow,
there weren't much jokes in this one.
1.
The Great X in the Skies
The
Number 1 heartwarming moment, to me, is the ending of Super Smash
Bros Brawl's Adventure Mode, AKA The Subspace Emissary. All 35
characters escaped the Great Maze in time. Tabuu's defeat has led to
all the pieces of the Smash world being put back in place. All... But
one. The Isle of the Ancients, home of the R.O.B. None of them came
back, except one: The R.O.B. you can use in the game. As the many
brawlers look at this great X in the skies where the Isle of the
Ancients originally was, the ominous theme song starts playing, with
lyrics translated from Latin to English. “I've heard legends of
that person / How he plunged into enemy territory / How he saved his
homeland.” “Now that person stands at my side / Now my friends
are with me / Some of them were once heroes / Some, my mortal
enemies.” “Now, that person / Stands at my side.”
...Do
I really need to explain that? Heroes and villains, all together,
looking at the only thing that has never been brought back from their
adventure in Subspace, in silence.
"Ille iuxta me. Ille iuxta me. Socii sunt mihi, qui olim viri fortes rivalesque erant. Saeve certando pugnandoque splendor crescit." |
And this concludes the list. I hope you enjoyed it. Next week is... Next week is... Oh God! I had almost forgotten! It's my last Game Boy Advance cartridge! I'm almost done with GBA games! And I know exactly how to celebrate... With a multi-part review of that last game! Yes, I'm totally doing that! Regardless of the subject of the game... Wait... that's Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards. Awesome, there's no better way to end the GBA era of Planned All Along than with a game that is so good and so bad all at once! Tune in next week if you're a Yu-Gi-Oh! fan! If you grew up reading the manga, watching the anime, playing the card game, or if you got addicted to the Abridged series, you're not gonna want to miss that!
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