Nintendo is pretty much the Disney of video games
at this point. With them becoming the richest company in Japan, they owe a lot to their iconic
characters. From the playful fun of the Mario series to the epic adventures in Zelda, there is
something for everyone when it comes to Nintendo. But, just like Disney and
their unforgettable villains, Nintendo has their own set of vile fiends who
plague their own games. And today, we’re counting them down from the kindest faces you go up
against, to the most twisted and deranged. Who’s the worst, most irredeemable
bad guys… and who seems almost good in comparison? I’m Brad with 1upBinge! And
this is Nintendo Villains: Evil to Most Evil! Now, we need to go over a couple rules. Firstly,
we’re just counting their deeds in their games themselves; no external media allowed.
This includes any Nintendo Power comics, manga, films or anime adaptation. Secondly,
their deeds must be from their main series only, so no Super Smash Bros feats. And thirdly,
we’re focusing on the most popular villains. If we missed a villain you think should have been
here, let us know. With that said, onto the list! For this video, we’ll be
starting with the least evil and working our way down to the most
remarkably vile, most evil villains. First up, we have two characters that are
honestly more heroic than villainous, but still acted bad enough to warrant a spot here. Our
first Nintendo villain goes to the sword wielder, Meta Knight. First introduced back in Kirby’s
Adventure, this mysterious swordsman seemed to be just content being in the shadows,
sometimes even aiding Kirby on his quest by giving him some rare candy. He can sometimes
send his own minions after him to attack Kirby, before fighting him himself, but not
before offering him a sword for a fair fight. Truthfully, despite being called upon by
King Dedede himself to help him hide the star rod, he is pretty heroic, as future games expand
upon his role as being a protector of Dreamland. So, why are we counting him as a villain? Well,
aside from fighting Kirby a fair number of times, which could be pointed towards just trying to
test Kirby, he does have two genuine villainy attempts. In one of these two, “Revenge Of Meta
Knight”, the Knight wishes to conquer Dream World in order to stop them from being so lazy, being
so willing to kill Kirby that he stands in his way while his own ship goes down. In the other, “Kirby
Fighters 2”, he teams up with King Dedede to kill Kirby to prove that they are stronger
than him. That said, him being the villain is more of the exception than the rule.
Truthfully, he has been more than willing to jump to the aid of Dreamland and is definitely
the most noble, and least evil, of these villains. Next up, with our silver medal of the least vile
Nintendo villain, we have our other Dreamland “villain”, King Dedede. When we first met him,
he was stealing all the food in Dreamland for himself, forcing Kirby to go after him and stop
him. The next time we meet him however, things get a bit more interesting. We see him break the star
rod from the Dreamland Fountain up, but he has a good intention; to seal up Nightmare, the threat
that Dreamland was facing. From then on, he sort of took a backseat role as other villains came
up to cause havoc on dreamland, mainly getting possessed or kidnapped himself in some way. Once
he breaks free, he is willing to help out the others, like with defeating Zero Two in Kirby 64,
or in Kirby Triple Deluxe by teaming up with Kirby to stop Queen Sectonia. Of course, the penguin
still has his fair share of vile roles, like with the previously mentioned Kirby Fighters 2, or with
King Dedede’s Revenge, with him going all out on Kirby to settle their rivalry. While he is a far
cry from the villain he once was, he still isn’t completely heroic like a certain swordsman, so
we can’t place him any higher. In comparison to other characters though, he’s truly a hero,
even if his claim to the throne is questionable. Next up, for the consolation prize of
being the least bad, we have anti-Mario, Wario. Now, for someone who was made to be
an evil version of Mario, Wario certainly does live up to his name. His first introduction
was hijacking Mario’s own island and castle, and keeping it for himself. After this introduction,
he became popular enough to get a spin off series, Wario Land, where he is an adventurer looking
for money, and maybe sometimes saving the day by rescuing someone. His main obsession however
is money, and doesn’t really care if he saves a princess, even tossing them aside if they stand
in his way of the gold. His greed extends to his other side series, WarioWare. Here, he’s the
owner of a microgame business in Diamond City, enlisting the help of his friends to
create these small quick games for him. Seems legit enough, up to the point where he tries
to keep all their hard earned money for himself. That said, he still does seem to think of them
as friends, more than willing to party with them and join them for a night of bowling, and the
others seem to like him as well, expressing a desire to invite Wario to their parties as well.
Plus, as stated before, he does end up saving the day a couple of times, so we really can’t fault
him too much. While not as heroic as the hero he’s based on, he still is capable of being
a good person. Just don’t get money involved. Next up, we have one of the many villainous
organizations of Pokemon, Team Rocket. Now if we ranked every Pokemon organization
and all the individual members in them, this list would definitely be bigger than it
already is. But let us know if we should do that in the future. For now though, let’s just focus
on the most classic group, Team Rocket. This evil crime syndicate is after pokemon, stealing
them and selling them on the black market. They’re also prone to just using the pokemon for
themselves to further their own goals. The most notable members of this organization are Giovanni,
the most serious and cruel of the bunch, and his three most recurring hencemen, Jessie, James,
and Meowth. Sure, they are mostly well known for their anime portrayals, but they were so popular
they made their way into the games. While the Team Rocket organization has expanded past their
original debut, Jessie, James, and Meowth have only made appearances in Pokemon Yellow, The Let’s
Go Games, and Pokemon Masters. As bad as they are, they’re probably the least threatening of the evil
organizations, and while they can be competent, they’re quite easy to overcome in comparisons
to these other organizations, allowing them to squeeze in with a relatively low spot, at
least in comparison to other serious threats. From animal kidnapping to regular kidnapping, we
have the Plasm Wraith. Now, Pikmin really doesn’t have many real villains, so trying to pick an
overarching threat from here is a bit tricky. However, the Plasm Wraith managed to be such a
threat. This mysterious and sentient primordial ooze is the final boss of Pikmin 3, and unlike
the previous two games and their final bosses, had a bit of build up to him, with him kidnapping
Olimar and seemingly taking the space captain all for himself. That said, he doesn’t seem intent on
actually dealing harm to the defenseless captain, save for making him sleep by forcing
Olimar’s space suit to make him sleep. The team rescues Olimar, however, to them,
he is happy with damaging and hurting, putting him above others. That said, with his
seemingly genuine fascination and care for Olimar, we really can’t rank him too badly in the end. The koopa family makes their debut, with the
son, Bowser Jr., coming up first. Introduced in Super Mario Sunshine, he’s Bowser’s son who
just wants to make his father happy. After being told about how Bowser keeps losing to Mario, the
young prince wants to bring Mario to his knees by framing him for dirtying Isle
Delfino and kidnapping Princess Peach. From then on, he was Bowser’s second in
command, never being that far away from his father when they faced Mario. Bowser
Jr even had his own side adventures, from finding his paper self and befriending
him, to leading the Koopalings against Fawful’s own minions of the Best Fitness
Friends in Bowser Jr’s Journey. As a child, he is definitely prideful and arrogant.
However, through the course of the adventure, Bowser Jr actually starts to develop a
thoughtful and caring side towards his siblings, the Koopalings. He also states that he doesn’t
really care about what his papa does, just that he wants to help him. In the end, while still a
villain and really capable of dealing some damage, we really can’t be too harsh towards someone
with this much blind obedience towards his father And like son, like father, Bowser steps up to the
plate. Perhaps Nintendo’s most well known fiend, Bowser made his name known by his constant
capturing and kidnapping of Princess Peach, with Mario always being there to stop him. Throughout
the years since the original Super Mario Bros, Bowser has always picked himself up and is ready
time and time again to succeed in his goals. From just kidnapping the princess herself, taking
the entire castle over, or even forcing her to marry her, the giant turtle truly doesn’t give
up. However, he isn’t all that bad. He does seem to at least be genuinely in love with Peach
and he just has a bad way of showing it. He also has a great deal of respect and admiration
for his son, and is more than willing to fight against anyone that harms him. And of course,
he’s also willing to throw down against other invaders of the Mushroom Kingdom, like Fawful.
He even is willing to take a break from villainy to join Mario and friends in a round of golf,
kart racing, or even a party. Overall, while he’s a classic villain, there are still other
villains that are definitely more vile than him. From the Bowser of Mario to
the Bowser of Donkey Kong, King K Rool comes aboard. The main threat of the
Donkey Kong Country games, this crocodile has taken a liking to Donkey Kong’s banana stash,
stealing it from him under the cover of night in the first game. So, just what makes him more
despicable than the other villains so far? Well, he keeps upping the ante every game. The
next time around, he ends up kidnapping Donkey Kong as revenge, leaving Diddy Kong and
Dixie Kong to team up to save him. After that, King K Rool decides to kidnap Donkey Kong as
well as Diddy Kong. Even after all of that, he still gets worse, deciding to just blow up the
entirety of Donkey Kong’s island home. He doesn’t get the chance to thankfully, but with just how
he keeps escalating his antics to beat the Kongs, it’s easy to call King K Rool the
more evil one between him and Bowser. Coming up is the fresh and rude DJ Octavio. Once
a friend of Cap’n Cuttlefish when they were both humans, their friendship ended when they both
ended up on opposite sides of the Great Turf War, losing and having to hide underground. Now, as the
leader of the Octarians, the enemy of the Inkling, the Octopus does his best to ensure that the
Inklings are wiped out. He does this by kidnapping the Great Zapfish, the source of the Inkling’s
power for their home, Inkpopolis. The training he puts his citizens through is just as vile,
if not moreso. From birth, he uses his music to help brainwash the Octarians into serving him.
He can also use his powers to brainwash others, like Callie into being his second in command.
That said, for all his evil, he does at least seem interested in the Great Zapfish due to it being
the reason that he can keep the underground running, saving his own civilization. However, he
is still dooming one civilization to save his own, so we can’t be too generous here, and
thus, are still ranking him this high. Up next, we have the first of our two Metroid
villains, Mother Brain. Originally just a kind computer that helped last of the Chozo race,
she ended up becoming more and more insane after she lost her last child. In her rage,
she ends up letting the Space Pirates raid Zebes and use her powers to take over the army.
Now as the leader of the Space Pirates, she seeks to bring the entire Galaxy under her rule, only to
get stopped by Samus time and time again. With her deteriorated mental state, she believes that the
universe would be better off with her ruling it. She does at least claim to be trying to bring true
order to the universe, it’s just that her methods are definitely dangerous. She does also try to
at least recruit Samus to her cause even if she didn’t care for Mother Brain. That said, she still
is quite arrogant, not liking how Gray Voice calls her out for her crimes. She also doesn’t see much
value to her own troops, preferring to let her Metroids feast on them. She’s truly dangerous
and definitely not worth underestimating. From the first Metroid villain here
is our first Kid Icarus villain, Medusa. The original villain for Kid Icarus,
she seeks to take over Palutena’s domain in the Skyworld. Originally, that is just what she was;
a villain who seeks to take over the afterlife. However, Uprising reveals some interesting details
about her life. Firstly, she was actually once just as benevolent as Palutena herself. However,
she grew hatred towards the mortals, believing that they only call for her and Palutena whenever
they are in need, making her believe that humans are ungrateful. She revolted against the humans by
turning them to stone and destroying their crops. Secondly, she is more or less employed by Hades
at this point, with him just bringing her back to life over and over again. And finally, she did
end up playing a major role in stopping Hades, even saving Pit from him and punching Hades’s
head off, claiming she’s done being his puppet. While she certainly is a villain, she
has been truly righteous at one point, and did help Pit and Palutena in stopping Hades,
so we do have to rank her not too high up. Up next, we have the most iconic Zelda villain,
Ganondorf. The wielder of the triforce of power, this Gerudo was born into a colony of desert
people. Seeking power, he ended up going after the triforce to use its power to conquer the
land. However, thanks to how impure his heart was, it ended up splitting as he got stuck with the
triforce of power, using its might to wage war against Hyrule. Unlike the Link and Zelda that
keep changing every game, Ganon is the same in each and every game. In Skyward Sword,
canonically the first game in the series, Link and Zelda were cursed by Demise as he died
that a being made from his own hatred will haunt them throughout all of time, that creation being
Ganon. Throughout all the games, Ganon’s goal of conquering the fields of Hyrule have remained
the same. However, some games did give him other motives for this. His Wind Waker version had him
envy the land of Hyrule as he lived in a desert. And he was literally made to be a curse to haunt
Link and Zelda throughout the rest of time, without any say in the matter. Not only that, but
in his recent incarnation of Breath Of The Wild, he’s just a mindless being of pure hate who can’t
even control himself at this point. Overall, while definitely evil, he was kind of always destined
to be that evil, with no real hope for redemption. Prepare to have fury, as Fawful is
next. This fan favorite bean has started as just being Cackletta’s assistant in Mario
and Luigi: Superstar Saga. However, even then, he has been plotting for something greater.
Creating his own robotic army, he would use his master’s death as an excuse to start bringing
forth his true goal. Taking a break in Partner’s In Time to gather resources, he would just
gain beans from Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to fund his expenses for his true plan, taking over
the Mushroom Kingdom. Spreading a disease called the Blorbs which inflates and immobilized Toads,
he would tempt Bowser after his latest defeat to consume a shroom that can inhale everyone
inside Peach’s Castle, leaving him free to exact his plan. He ends up taking the Dark Star
and fusing with it, becoming powerful enough to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, had it not been
for Bowser, Mario and Luigi stepping in. With a power and skill set deceiving enough to rise up
from being a second in command to a true threat, he definitely deserves to be recognized
as one of Mario’s most dangerous foes. For our most evil of Mario’s universe, it has to
be King Boo. The overarching threat in the Luigi’s Mansion series, his goal in life was originally
to just kidnap and trap Mario in a painting, only paying Luigi any attention after he gets so close
to saving Mario. At first, he seemed to care about his troops, calling the boos his friends and even
saving one of his most powerful troops, Boolossus. From then on however, he started to view the
younger brother as his most serious threat, thanks to constantly being vacuumed up by him.
He ends up destroying the Dark Moon to cause the nice ghosts to go crazy and fight against E
Gadd and Luigi. To his once friends, he decides to just experiment on them and no longer cares
about them, getting wrapped up in revenge. He gets so angry towards Luigi that he ends up activating
a ghost portal that could destroy the entire universe just for a chance of finally killing
Luigi. His spite continues in the next game, laughing at how scared Luigi is after
he kidnaps Mario, Peach, and the toads, growing angry at Hellen Gravely despite
her being the reason he escaped E Gadd, and renouncing his own forces as useless.
From just a petty grudge against Mario grew into a real life of hatred against Luigi,
stopping at absolutely nothing to kill him, he has done a real good job earning his title
as the most evil being in the Mario universe. For a threat truly out of this world, we have
Giygas Once known as Giegue in EarthBound Beginnings, he was raised by a human mother
named Maria and her husband, George. However, after George fled to Earth after studying about
the aliens’ PSI ability, Giygas was tasked with the job of betraying his family and killing them
to keep the knowledge of their PSI safe so they could attack Earth. However, he still has a great
deal of love and respect for Maria, offering to spare the great grandson of her, Ninten, and
backing off after hearing Ninten and his friends sing a lullaby that Maria used to sing to her.
During his next attack however, he wasn’t as forgiving. However, there was a reason for this,
as thanks to just how much power he absorbed, he essentially became mindless and doesn’t even
know about what he’s doing anymore. In the words of Porky Minch, he is an almighty idiot. So, while
we are definitely ranking him this high up thanks to his willingness to go through with his plan
of galactic conquest, with just how he ends up being and his love for his parents, there
is some doubt to just how evil he really is. For our bloodied bronze reward, we have Ridley
hitting the big time. Now, if we were counting the Metroid manga, Ridley would have definitely
taken the gold. Killing Samus’s parents, faking sympathy to lull the kid Samus into
a false sense of security before trying to kill the three year old child, and mocking Samus
upon seeing her later while telling her how he ate her parents; that’s just pure evil. But even
without that, Ridley is still a pretty menacing force. Originally just another monster under
Mother Brain’s command, he became a threatening leader of the Space Pirates, traveling the
galaxy and causing as much destruction and death as possible. He causes galactic wide destruction
and misery for no other reason because he can, including the complete destruction of Samus’s home
colony, K-2L, bringing the Chozo to extinction. He’s as evil as you would expect someone with the
title the “Cunning God Of Death”. The only reason he isn’t any higher is that in his actual games,
he’s mostly just a villain for Samus to destroy, and his heinous actions are kept offscreen
or in logs. That said, no one should underestimate just how vile this space dragon
can be. He’s a true monster and true threat. For our second place space terror, rise up,
Andross. Originally just another brilliant scientist for Corneria, however he has
been a rather controversial figure with his extreme experiments. Thanks to his most
dangerous experiment destroying the city, he ends up getting himself arrested, being sent
to Venom as punishment. Due to just how prideful he was, he never owned up to his mistakes
and still believes that he’s in the right. Spending his time here, he ends up creating an
army powerful enough to wage war on the Lylat system. With his acquired powers, he has managed
to not only threaten Corneria’s way of life, but has destroyed several planets and created
several dangerous weapons to help him on his quest. The only real positive we can say about
him is that he cares about his grandson, Dash. Seeing him even as Andross himself was a ghost in
Command, he orders his forces to stop firing on him. He even seems proud of Dash for managing
to beat the Monarch Dodora. That said, that’s the only nice thing we can say, and he’s truly a
horrible monster that plagues the Lylat system. For Nintendo’s most vile villain, there
is only one foe who can earn this title, and that is Hades. Now, there are plenty
of Hades throughout fiction, but this one seems to enjoy being evil just more than the
others. In fact, out of all the villains here, he seems to enjoy being a villain the most of
all, and has the powers to back up his boasts. He is powerful enough to actively harm the entire
universe. He just wants to see the destruction of all human souls and claim them for his realm to
fuel his army. He views others as just a means to amuse him, not even caring for his own soldiers
and actively viewing them as inferior and dumb. He hates having his rule questioned, and even
killed Medusa for fighting back against him. Of course, he can even just interfere with
smaller scale events, just to amuse himself. Even when helping others defeat Aurum, he still
decides to stop Pit by bringing forth Mimicuties, and even halting Pit from getting the
Lightning Chariot. It doesn’t matter how big or small a conflict can be, if he can
make someone’s life a bit more miserable, he will gladly do it. With such a dangerous
and life threatening entity that Hades is, how much he enjoys doing what he does, and
what he did through the course of the game, we are very confident in awarding him as
Nintendo’s most evil and vile villain. And that wraps up our list! Did we miss
anyone you think deserved to be here? Let us know. Don’t forget tp hit that notification
bell and binge our Good to Evil playlist. Where we break down the morality of the characters in your
favorite games! But most importantly, stay wicked!
