There are many recurring tropes throughout the biggest Nintendo franchises. From bare-bones narratives to a variety of difficulty settings, lots of elements make Nintendo games what they are. One of the most frequent is seeing one's favorite characters encounter evil counterparts of themselves throughout the franchise.
Whether it be a light-hearted adventure like Super Mario Bros., or a darker epic franchise like The Legend of Zelda, evil clones are Nintendo staples. Oftentimes, they play antagonistic roles toward Nintendo's most lovable heroes, while other times they're playable characters and allies. These examples have the most memorable evil clones in Nintendo's history.
8 Mario
Mario has had many doppelgängers over the years, but none are quite as iconic as Shadow Mario. Debuting in Super Mario Sunshine, the mischievous Shadow Mario is responsible for covering Delfino Island in graffiti and framing Mario in the process. As it turns out, the Mario look-alike is actually Bowser's child, Bowser Junior, in disguise.
A darker variant of Mario also appears in Super Mario Galaxy in the form of Cosmic Mario, who appears in certain levels to challenge players to a race. While it's not as antagonistic as Bowser Junior's alternate form, it certainly poses quite a challenge to players depending on what level it's encountered in.
7 Link
Evil clones of Link have recurred throughout the Zelda franchise. The first known appearance is Dark Link, who serves as the final boss of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link on the NES. The character also appears as a boss in titles like Ocarina of Time, where it faces off against players in the Water Temple as an evil reflection of the Hero of Time.
Other evil counterparts of Link have also appeared in titles like Link's Awakening for the Nintendo Switch, as well as one memorable cutscene from Twilight Princess. Of course, there's no evil counterpart of Link as lovable as Ravio from A Link Between Worlds, although that character is much more of an ally to Link than a villain.
6 Samus
Nintendo's iconic galactic bounty hunter has one of the more significant evil clones in all of Nintendo's franchises. Dark Samus made its debut in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes as one of the primary antagonists, after an alien born of Phazon absorbs Samus' suit and DNA. In the Metroid Prime franchise, it's one of the more formidable enemies of Samus.
Although Dark Samus also appears as a playable Echo Fighter in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, it's not the only evil clone of Samus' in the Metroid series. SA-X, the main antagonist of the handheld title Metroid Fusion, is an X-Parasite that mimics Samus' appearance in order to hunt the franchise's main protagonist.
5 Kirby
Many video game fans would be mistaken to think that Meta Knight is an evil clone of Kirby, though the character is only known to be the same species as the pink puffball. However, a more direct evil clone of Kirby appears as a boss character in several titles, including Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, as well as a cameo appearance in Kirby Triple Deluxe.
This clone, known as Shadow Kirby, comes from its homeland, the Mirror World, to fight Kirby, though the two mortal enemies become allies against the real bad guy, Dark Mind. Leave it to a franchise like Kirby to take what should be Kirby's greatest foe and make it into yet another friend, a similar trajectory to Meta Knight in the series.
4 Pit
Kid Icarus: Uprising heavily centers on Pit's encounters with his evil clone, Dark Pit, who is created after Pit makes eye contact with the legendary Mirror of Truth. As a result, Dark Pit interferes in Pit's missions numerous times throughout the 3DS title, but similarly to Shadow Kirby, he has a surprisingly redemptive character arc by the end of the game.
During Pit's conflict against the mysterious Chaos Kin, Dark Pit realizes his life is bound to Pit's and opts to help Palutena's soldier. After Pit sacrifices his wings to save Dark Pit, Palutena aids Dark Pit in returning Pit to the Rewind Spring to heal him. Out of all the evil clones in Nintendo's history, Dark Pit is also the recipient of the best theme music, too.
3 Princess Zelda
Like Link, Princess Zelda has had her fair share of copycats over the history of her titular franchise. Though she rarely faces her evil clones as Link does, she has a significant one in the form of Princess Hilda from A Link Between Worlds, who serves as the monarch of the alternate dimension of Hyrule known as Lorule.
Although she initially appears as an ally to Link throughout the game, she later reveals herself to be a villain when she attempts to steal Hyrule's Triforce to restore her kingdom to glory. Fortunately, she's persuaded to spare Hyrule by Ravio, and the two return to their own world and leave Hyrule in peace in the end.
2 Captain Falcon
There aren't many popular characters from the F-Zero franchise other than Captain Falcon, who gains most of his notoriety through Nintendo's all-star Super Smash Bros. series. However, 1998's F-Zero X introduces a racer to the series that's actually an evil clone of Captain Falcon created by his arch-nemesis, Black Shadow, known as Blood Falcon.
Blood Falcon is a true evil clone, who is programmed to solely fulfill the purpose of destroying his not-so-evil counterpart. It's also implied in the series that Blood Falcon is one of many clones of Captain Falcon. Although the character itself doesn't appear in Super Smash Bros., one of Captain Falcon's alternate costumes is based on its color scheme.
1 Bowser
It may be surprising to some Nintendo fans to know that Bowser himself has had an evil clone, considering that Bowser himself is already evil. However, even Bowser's villainy is outdone in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, in which Mario and Luigi end up sucked into Bowser's body and face an evil entity known as Dark Star that is stealing his DNA.
Once Dark Star has absorbed enough of Bowser's DNA, it's able to transform itself into Dark Bowser, who is recognizably much different in appearance than typical Bowser. Dark Bowser serves as one of the final bosses of Bowser's Inside Story, which sees Mario and Luigi teaming up to defeat it, and Dark Star, to return the Mushroom Kingdom to peace and tranquility.