We love For so many r💦easons. Most pertain to its unriva♛led string of world-class video games, often populated by many of the most iconic characters to ever grace the medium.

Perhaps it's a somewhat less universally reason, but the Big N's commitment to "gimmicks" - revolutionary concepts in its hardware which have helped to define each generation - are consistently handy reminders that Nintendo often leads the pack in innovation. While we're specifically looking at home consoles in this list, rather than branching out into Nintendo's handhel𝐆ds, we hope you'll enjoy the journey down gimmick memory lane!

7 Nintendಞo 64 ܫ

The Rumble Pak can be hooked into the N64 controller to provide "force feedback", the sort of vibration customarily found in most modern consoles. While needing a peripheral is unfortunateꦇ, it delivered decent results for the time.

The Expansion Pak, meanwhile, improved the graphics for a good number of games, added content for some, and was fully required 𒀰for a handful, including Donkey Kong 64 and The Legend of Zeld൩a: Majora's Mask.

Both Pak-named accessories are arguably less "gimmick" than "enhancement", but they'🍌re the closest the N64 comes to the word - and they're pretty effective, too. Still, there's not much to get excited about in all of this.

6 Nintendo Entertainment S💫ystem🌳

The NES has a duo of clear gimmicks, spearheaded by the inclusion of R.O.B (Robot Operating Buddy). Very early in the cons𝕴ole's lifespan, R.O.B. was a big part of its appeal, with Japanese children especially keen on ge💃tting their very own robot friends, but ultimately, R.O.B. was only used in two games, neither of which gained much sales traction or long-term renown.

R.O.B. moves gyros in Gyromite, You need way too many accessories on top of R.O.B.: 🍃two gyrꦿos, a spinner, a holder, and a controller tray. Stack-Up tasks R.O.B. with actual block-stacking; this game never caught on in the slightest.

The NES Zapper, a gun-shaped accessory (although its relative realism in that regard was scaled down in the West, and understandably so) that allowed players to point it toward CRT TV screens, pull th✨e trigger, and experience nifty feed🌳back on the screen itself. The Zapper is best known for Duck Hunt, where folks can enjoy some, well, duck-hunting. It was surprisingly precise, and quite novel at the time!

5 ꧑ Super Nintendo Entertainment Sy🐼stem

The Super Scope is an evolution of the NES Zapper. It's better, and amazingly enough, it's also wireless, although that comes with the cav☂eat of needing to be recalibrated prior to playing a game with it, and needing batteries. 12 games use it.♓ It's a successor design of NES Zapper, so not much more of a gimmick.

The SNES Mouse is integrated into many more games than the Zapper, though many are Japan-only. Mario Paint is probably its most famous example; it was a surprisingly robust art creation software kit for its time, and you could even compose music with it. That function is somewhat limited, of course, but still - very cool stuff. The short c✅ord was a bit of an issue, but hey. We love this thing.

4 Nintend♌o Game𒊎Cube

The GameCube's closest thing to a gimmick is its far-and-away raddest separately purchasable accessory: the Game Boy Player. Its integration with a wide range of handheld hardware - Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and even Game Boy Advance - allows players to enjoy those games on a bigger screen, which is super cool.🌳 Mindblowing stuff back then, and I still boot up my GameCube for it occasionally.

Sure, you can get the same experience with a bevy of Game Boy titles through the Wii and Wii U's Virtual Consoles, or more recently, the Switch and Switch 2's Nintendo Switch Online, but that'll always be limited in number... especially in the latter's case. Almost every member of the GB's and GBA's catalogs can be tapped into in this fashion, a handful of which even thrive on it in uniqu෴e ways.

As you can see, I love this. I'm just not convinced that all that many people out there will consider it to be the most useful gimm𓆉ick in Nintendo's history, y'know? Thus, it's a center-of-the-pack contender here.

3 🌳 Nintendo Wii U

Wii U gets a bad rap, and was a notably poor-selling console, but the GamePad is actually pretty good, ma𒊎inly for the ability for plenty of developers to relegate many menu and map features to a more fitting devicꦐe. This not only cleared up precious screen real estate on TVs, but let players pull up maps on a separate screen for quicker and more continuous reference, or equip various equipment nigh-instantaneously.

Plus, it's sort of a proto-Switch in its own right, isn't it? You couldn't travel with it, but if you were close enough to your Wii U, you could play a game on it in full. This cleared up the television for a friend, a partner, or what-have-you; it also meant I could keep jamming on it in bed, which was kind of a big deal🌺 back when I was working out every day and wanted to give my body such a complete break that I didn't even neඣed to remain seated.

2 Nintendo Wii ꦐ

Motion controls drastically changed the gaming landscape, to a degree that can't be overstated, even if 💫their usage is far less in vogue these days. While certainly divisive, millions of gamers adored the Wiimote, and the enhanced interactivity it comes with. Revolutionary stuff at the time, and highly useful in many games. (And more of a hindrance to others.)

An excellent integration is found in The Legend of Zelda; Skyward Sword, though that requires the Wiimote MotionPlus, a more robust variation that could be🔜 purchased late in the Wii's lifespan. Even with games that are less advanced, the "waggle" of the regular ꦰWiimote in something like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is iconic, as Nintendo went all-in on swordplay in a way they'd never achieved before. Perhaps you prefer the traditional experience for Twilight Princess, as found in its GameCube and Wii U iterations; as for myself, I dig this.

Plus, there's Wii Sports. Surely, the ultimate pack-in game? With so many ways to check out motion controls, many of which remain exceedingly satisfying to this day. Great times were had - I'm just glad that non-motion contro🍌llers never lost their shine, because there are plenty of games out there that I'd hate to play this way!

1 Nintendo Switch & Nintendo Switch 2 🦋

By blending Nintendo home console setup and Nintendo handheld flexibility, the company struck gold with the Switch, so much so that the Switch 2 directly follows up - and while some fee🌃l it's uninspired to repeat the trick, the mass market will most likely be quit🃏e satisfied.

If anybody out there is going to reinvent the wheel despite achieving incredible renown the first time around, it's Nintendo, but they're playing m🌼ore conservatively this time around, and I can't b🐬lame them. Portability for a full-fledged console is that big a deal.

Not to suggest I'm knocking the plethora of amazing Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS games in existence, but hopefully, you'l♓l know what I mean when I say that the ability to bring "console-quality games" on the go in a convenient form fa🌱ctor has been a total game-changer.

It's ha꧙rd to beat the S﷽witch's paradigm shift in usefulness.