Video game publishers offer pack-in games to entice people to buy consoles. This allows the consumer to buy everything in one package and not have to shell out a fortune for the console and then a game.
Pack-in games are generally first party entries and most are very good. You don’t want your introduction to a console to come with a bad game, so many pack-ins have become iconic must-haves for a particular console.
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8th Wii sports
When the Wii came out, some of us cave dwellers needed help understanding motion controls. Why was the controller a TV remote? do we need a bracelet Partly a tech demo, Wii Sports captured the sports of tennis, baseball, bowling, golf and boxing well.
Tennis will make you get into noisy matches with friends; Boxing will exhaust you. Bowling has never been surpassed as the ultimate bowling experience and has been played in senior centers across the country. Baseball was a fun demonstration of motion controls, and golf was one of the most relaxing gaming experiences one can have.
7 Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Mash Bros. Melee was packaged with the Gamecube, which had the largest controller ever made for a fighting game. SMBM followed N64’s Super Smash Bros. with better graphics, finely tuned gameplay and awesome multiplayer. It was the best-selling game on the Gamecube, selling seven million copies, and was a competitive esports game well into the 2010s and well beyond the Gamecube’s lifespan. Some saw this as the reason you would get a Gamecube, and it remains one of the best Smash Bros. out there today.
6 Mario Kart 8
The WiiU didn’t set the gaming industry on fire, but Mario Kart 8 was packaged with the console and serves as the benchmark for kart racers. Mario Kart 8 inherited the best elements from both Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7. It still feels like a recently released triple A title today, even if it was released in the WiiU era.
The number of tracks, racers and vehicle types is exhaustive, and the graphics are bright, colorful and satisfying. No wonder it jumped to the Nintendo Switch, becoming the de facto kart racer for that console as well.
5 Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt / World Class Track Meet
Back in the NES days, you could get one of the best video games of all time, the granddaddy of rail shooters, and a game that requires physical exertion. The Super Mario Bros / Duck Hunt / World Class Track Meet Pack-In for the NES was epic. You and your friend could use the power pad to compete in four events in the World Class Track Meet, meaning the NES was the first Peloton training device. This could be the best value for money on any system really.
4 Super Mario Bros. 3
Along with the NES later in the console’s life, you can look forward to playing the best Nintendo has to offer with this pack-in. While the original Super Mario Bros. sold over 58 million copies, Super Mario Bros. 3 is considered the superior game as it expands on almost every single aspect of gameplay from the original. It would end up as the third best-selling NES game and has been re-released numerous times. Super Mario Bros. 3 was even featured in a full-length movie, The Wizard. It also introduced the raccoon suit, which results in +Mario having a flying mechanic in every subsequent entry.
3 Super Mario 3D land
When Super Mario 3D Land packed with the Nintendo 3DS, it brought new energy to Mario games that were starting to feel a bit old hat. Previously, Nintendo pumped out the Super Mario Bros. Wii and U games, which felt a bit derivative.
But not Super Mario 3D Land as it was able to blend 2D and 3D aspects of gaming together and gave everyone an excuse to buy a 3DS before it was ported to the Nintendo Switch. While some said this game was too easy, it was fun to play and kept people coming back to it with its sheer depth of gameplay.
2 Zelda Wind Waker + Metroid Prime
Want to get a gamecube? How about a Gamecube with two of the best games for the console? The Metroid Prime and Zelda Wind Waker pack-in was available with the Gamecube during Christmas 2005. Wind Waker’s unique art style, open world, and gameplay are loved by gamers to this day, while Metroid Prime was the first in the series since Super Metroid on the SNES. If you want to make a pack-in game, putting together the very best to get people buying the console is a great step.
1 Super Mario world
When the SNES came out, people were interested in seeing the sequel to the Super Mario 3 masterpiece. Nintendo didn’t disappoint and many kids got their shiny new 16-bit console with one of the greatest platformers of all time. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto said this is his favorite game and probably some of us have the same feeling. It’s so special.