Making prequels is a concept many fans may not associate with Nintendo. However, quite a few of their big franchises, including Mario, do have origin stories. Fans may not even know that some of their favorite games were prequels, but that’s the fun thing about learning: discovery.

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One of their biggest franchises, Kirby, almost got an origin story on the SNES. It was called Kid Kirby and DMA Design was developing it, a studio that most may know now as Rockstar Games, the creators of Grand Theft Auto. It’s a wild fact, but unfortunately, there aren’t many screenshots out there for this canceled Kirby game. These other Nintendo prequels, on the other hand, were not canceled, and stood out as detailed prequel stories in their respective franchises.

Spoilers Ahead

6 Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity

Fighting In A War 100 Years Ago

• Metacritic Score: 78

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild saw Link wake up from a one-hundred-year-long nap. During that time, Hyrule fell to Ganon and The Calamity, and Zelda seemingly sealed Link away to one day fight for the kingdom’s return. The main game shows flashbacks to the events set one hundred years ago, but there is very little backstory or characters to explain what truly went down.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity elaborated on this war with Ganon. It is both a prequel to show how Link and the others fought back, but it’s also an alternative take on the events involving interdimensional time travel. Whether these are truly the events that led up to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is irrelevant as it’s also another fun Musou game that Koei Tecmo collaborated on with Nintendo.

5 Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

A Puzzling Adventure To Set Up Mario 3D World

• Metacritic Score: 81

Many may not even know that Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker was a prequel starring one of the most ambitious Toads in the franchise. Those who finish it will know there is a nod to Super Mario 3D World, which is where the concept originated. In that game, players could find Captain Toad and play mini-courses that were more like puzzles, and were very similar to the puzzles in Treasure Tracker.

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The full game expanded those puzzles into a more daring adventure on the Wii U. It has since been re-released on the Switch with more content, and it’s an easier way to play too. Did players need a game to explain why Captain Toad appeared in Super Mario 3D World? No? Did they need a game with more puzzle levels? Yes! And Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker couldn’t have been better.

4 Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Catching Monsters The Old Fashioned Way

• Metacritic Score: 83

Pokemon Legends: Arceus is set in the Sinnoh region of the franchise. This is the area where Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl take place. Players wake up one day in bed as their created character, and then they get sucked through a wormhole. They wake up to find they are now in the past when the region was more barren. It’s not quite a take on feudal Japan, but it does have some design and fashion choices that call back to the country’s history.

There are fewer electronics around, like Pokeballs, which can be crafted instead for various effects. It was the first true open-world entry in the series, and it’s also the first game to allow capturing without having to battle, which was a massive improvement to the gameplay. It didn’t answer any story questions from the DS games, but that’s because it was never truly linked to any events that happened in Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, so much as it was a prequel to the entire Pokemon series.

3 Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

The First Western Game In The Series With A Secret

• Metacritic Score: 88

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade was first released in 2003 in Japan for the GBA. A year later, North America got it as Fire Emblem, and it was the first game in the series to hit the West since it debuted in Japan in 1990. What’s strange is that players probably don’t know it’s a prequel. Their first taste of Fire Emblem was through Super Smash Bros. Melee, which featured Roy, the protagonist of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, and Marth, the hero of the first game.

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade followed Roy’s father, Eliwood, along with his (likely) mother, Lyn. Who his mother is hasn't been officially been canonized, since that choice is up to players, but it's probably Lyn. Release history aside, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade was a strong entry in the series, prequel or not. Those who want the full story can thankfully find an English fan translation of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade online.

2 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

A Crayon-Colored Odyssey Of Tears

• Metacritic Score: 91

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a prequel to the whole series, but it is more directly a prequel to Super Mario World, the first mainline game on the SNES. It doesn’t answer anything about Mario and Luigi's families, but it does show them as babies being carried by a stork. Luigi gets kidnapped by Kamek in the intro, and Mario falls to the ground and is eventually rescued and adopted into Yoshi society. The entire game is played through many Yoshi dinosaurs who all have the same powers.

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They can jump, hover, and then swallow enemies to turn them into eggs. If a Yoshi got hit, Mario would float away from their back and start to cry. Players had to quickly pop the bubble holding Mario before Kamek’s minions captured him, and the crying could become annoying. Again, it didn’t answer many questions, but the Mario series only needs fun adventures to be considered good and, in that sense, this prequel starring a bunch of Yoshi dinosaurs was outstanding on the SNES.

1 Metroid Prime

Samus Has Found Her Calling

• Metacritic Score: 97

The entirety of the Metroid Prime universe takes place in-between the first game and Super Metroid, which was the third game at the time. It was before the introduction of the Baby Metroid or Mother Brain, Samus was already an established bounty hunter, and these games were produced to showcase more adventures in her life rather than to answer any burning questions.

Chief among them, the first Metroid Prime is a favorite among fans. It was also the first to switch the perspective to first-person, and it worked. The original GameCube controls were fine, but the remaster in 2023 really refined the gameplay to create a more cohesive shooter experience, and it is without a doubt the version players should pick up now.

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