Nintendo is no stranger to the weird. The company’s been meme’d about for years, thanks to awkward Nintendo Direct moments, rubbery cartoon shows, and their collection of hardware and peripheral oddities. That’s also not mentioning former president of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aimé, who has a massive horde of memes behind his name alone.
Being a Japanese video game developer and publisher with decades of history and hiccups behind them, it should come as no surprise that Nintendo games also have their own super odd moments. YouTuber and Nintendo fan Shiromi recently compiled a supercut of the publisher’s strangest moments in video games, kicking things off with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link’s infamous “I am Error” NPC. From there, it barrels through the ‘90s, ‘00s, and ‘10s with glimpses into games like Earthbound, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Splatoon, and Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Unless you’re counting the WarioWare series, Earthbound, and Mother 3, most Nintendo games aren’t exactly weird in and of themselves. What Shiromi highlights are moments where the company’s jokes seem lost in translation from Japanese to English, or where graphics and textures just seem awkward. There’s also the odd manifestations of some of its most beloved characters, with 1992's Mario Teaches Typing being one such example. Another highlight is Mario Party 4, where specific parts of Luigi, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, and Peach start uncontrollably jittering in fear.
If you’ve got the time, watching all 20 minutes will probably give you some insight into Nintendo’s odd history, and maybe even introduce you to some of their forgotten gems, like Captain Rainbow and Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland. Shiromi also recently uploaded a newer video on weird easter eggs and secrets from Nintendo’s game library, should you be jonesing for more baffling Nintendo moments.