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This is an incomplete list of Nintendo-branded TV series.
Mario series[]
Saturday Supercade (1983-1984)[]
Saturday Supercade is an animated television series based on several arcade games, including Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Frogger, Q*bert, Pitfall, Kangaroo, and Space Ace. Each episode is approximately one hour long and comprises four shorter, self-contained segments based on one arcade game each. While the Donkey Kong segments appeared in both seasons, the Donkey Kong Junior segments ended after the first season. In total there are nineteen Donkey Kong segments and thirteen Donkey Kong Junior segments. It ran for two seasons on CBS.
The series marked the animated debuts of Mario and Donkey Kong.
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989)[]
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! is the first cartoon of DiC Entertainment's Super Mario trilogy, aired between September and December of 1989; it was the only one to be produced directly for syndication. The show featured live-action segments in which Mario and Luigi (played by Lou Albano and Danny Wells respectively), living in their basement workshop in Brooklyn, were often visited by various celebrity guest stars. Also featured were cartoons based on the first two Super Mario Bros. games, where the Mario brothers teamed up with Princess Peach (then known as Princess Toadstool) and Toad to battle Bowser and his forces to save the many lands of the world.
King Koopa's Kool Kartoons (1989)[]
King Koopa's Kool Kartoons is a live-action children's television show created by DiC Entertainment as a spinoff of the company's previous show, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! The format of the series is comparable to Bozo the Clown's television show. King Koopa hosted the show and was originally played by Christopher Collins (later Patrick Pinney) inside a rubber suit as the show's emcee.
Mario Ice Capades (1989)[]
Mario Ice Capades is a television special and a show on ice that is loosely based on Super Mario Bros. It was seen on television on Thursday, December 7, 1989, on ABC. A commercial for the show aired on December 28, 1989, and was shown during an airing of an "Ice Capades" on channel 5 KSTP-TV, the ABC affiliate in the Twin Cities, Minnesota.
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)[]
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, also known as Super Mario Bros. 3, is the second cartoon of DiC Entertainment's Super Mario trilogy, loosely based upon Super Mario Bros. 3.
The Super Mario Challenge (1990-1991)[]
The Super Mario Challenge is a game show which aired on The Children’s Channel from 1990-1991. The show was only aired in the United Kingdom and not in the United States as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! was airing around that time in the US. It was hosted by Mario himself, played by John Lenahan. Each night, the show had two guest players, who would have to play various Super Mario games, such as Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 3. The two players would compete to see who could get the most Coins on a level, or who could finish the level in the fastest time.
Super Mario World (1991)[]
The final cartoon based on Super Mario games, Super Mario World features the adventures of Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool in Dinosaur Land. Yoshi and several new characters, such as Oogtar, a blond-haired caveboy, make an appearance as well. The game is based on the 1990 video game Super Mario World.
Donkey Kong Country (1997-2000)[]
Donkey Kong Country is the final cartoon based on the Mario series, the CGI animated series features Donkey Kong, an anthropomorphic ape living in the jungle who happens to stumble upon a magic orb called the Crystal Coconut in the temple of Inka Dinka Doo. After finding the coconut, Donkey Kong is named the future ruler of Kongo Bongo Island. As he and his friends wait for the day when the Crystal Coconut will proclaim him the ruler of the island, they strive to keep the relic safe from the clutches of the villainous King K. Rool and his minions, who desire the coconut so that K. Rool may rule the island himself using its power. The series is based on the first 3 games of the Donkey Kong Country series.
In 2023, some of the voice cast members of the series reprised their roles in DKC: Return to Krocodile Isle, an animated short made by fans of the series.
Mario variety shows[]
From 1990 until 2001, TV Tokyo aired various variety programs based on Mario include Super Mario Club (briefly revived in 2010), Super Mario Stadium, 64 Mario Stadium and Mario School.
The Legend of Zelda[]
The Legend of Zelda (1989)[]
The Legend of Zelda is an animated series loosely based on The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Produced by DiC Entertainment and distributed by Viacom Enterprises, the show aired from September 8 to December 1, 1989 with 13 episodes in total. Episodes of The Legend of Zelda were screened weekly on Fridays as part of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
The Legend of Zelda: The Misadventures of Link (2013-2014)[]
The Legend of Zelda: The Misadventures of Link is a series of 12 short videos available exclusively on the Nintendo Video service for the Nintendo 3DS. The videos served both as entertainment and as advertisements for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Pokémon series[]
Pokémon the Series (1997-present)[]
The Pokémon anime series, currently titled as Pokémon the Series, is a Japanese anime television series, which began broadcasting in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 1, 1997, and in North America on September 7, 1998. The anime initially featured Ash Ketchum and Pikachu for the first seven series and later, Liko and Roy in the eighth. The anime was initially dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment for the first eight seasons and later, TPCi since the ninth.
The anime is largely credited for allowing anime to become more popular and familiar around the world, especially in the United States. It is also the most successful video game adaptation of all time, airing for over 25 years.
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- Pokémon Chronicles
- The Power of One: The Pokémon 2000 Movie Special
- Pocket Monsters Premier 10
- Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs
- Pikachu shorts
- Pokémon XY Pre-Start Special: Road to Kalos
- New Series Pocket Monsters Pokémon Investigation Team
- News Pokémon Satellite
- Oha Suta (Pokémon content is also included)
- Pocket Monsters Encore
- Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station
- Hoopa's Surprise Ring Adventures
- Top Secret Internal Team Plasma Genesect Video
- Pokémon Sunday
- Pokémon Smash!
- Pokémon Get☆TV
- Meet Up at the Pokémon House?
- Where are we going with Pokémon!?
- Pokémon Music Festival
- Pokémon Origins
- Pokémon Generations
- The Two Professors
- Pokémon: Twilight Wings
- Pokétoon
- Pokémon Evolutions
- A Ripple in Time
- Bidoof's Big Stand
- The Delicious Day with Pokémon
- Pokémon: Hisuian Snow
- Cube-Shaped Pokémon on Cubie Island?!
- Challenge the World!
- Pokémon: Path to the Peak
- Pokémon: Paldean Winds
- Pokémon Concierge
- The Adventures of Snorlax and Cubone
- The Birth of Mewtwo
- Inuko Inuyama's Pokémon Hour
- The Uncut Story of Mewtwo’s Origin
- It's a White Tomorrow, Team Rocket!
- Team Rocket's Secret Empire
- Pokémon Live!
- Twitch Pokémon Marathon
- Pokémon shorts
- Discover Pokémon Together
- Animated Pokédex
- PokéMinutes
- Pokémon: Discover Paldea
- Monpoké Short Animation
- A Clefairy Bedtime Story
- A Mimikyu Bedtime Story
- A Sylveon Bedtime Story
Pack Your Pocket With Adventure (2023)[]
The first live-action Pokémon TV series, Pack Your Pocket With Adventure, is an original live-action drama series based on the Pokémon games. It stars Nanase Nishino as Madoka Akagi. The series premiered on October 20, 2023, and ended on December 22, 2023. The series consists of 10 episodes.
Seeds of Good Night. (2024)[]
Seeds of Good Night. is a Japanese live-action mini program based on Pokémon Sleep. It consists of 26 two-minute episodes, and stars Mario Kuroba as Kaimi. It aired on NIPPON TV in Japan, in the Kantō region, every Sunday from 9:54 PM to 10:00 PM from June 2 to December 1, 2024, with 26 episodes.
Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (2001-2003)[]
Kirby: Right Back at Ya! is an anime television program which is based on the Kirby series. It was produced jointly by Nintendo and HAL Laboratory through a subsidiary company called "Warpstar, Inc." and was directed by Sōji Yoshikawa and Mitsuo Kusakabe, with supervision and the original draft coming from series creator Masahiro Sakurai. The show originally aired on October 6, 2001 in Japan through CBC Broadcasting and consisted of one hundred episodes aired in the morning on a weekly basis, concluding in September 27, 2003. The show would later be dubbed into English by 4Kids Entertainment, and aired on Fox Box from September 14, 2002 to December 9, 2006 with intermittent pauses and changes in episode ordering.
The anime follows Kirby, a pink, spherical, childlike creature who does not speak coherent words but possesses the ability to take on new magical powers temporarily by sucking up their owners. Kirby crash-lands on a planet called Popstar and quickly befriends two yellow-skinned siblings named Tiff and Tuff. Over the course of the series, Kirby and his friends fight to bring down evil emperor Nightmare, all the while evading King Dedede and his assistant Escargoon, who try to get rid of Kirby using numerous monsters provided by Nightmare Enterprises.
Episodes have also been released on the Kirby TV Channel for the Wii game console (only in Europe), and on the game compilation Kirby's Dream Collection (also for the Wii). Atsushi Kisaichi and Minami Takayama, Meta Knight and Knuckle Joe's Japanese voice actors, continued to voice these characters in later Kirby media, such as Super Smash Bros..
Fire Emblem (1996)[]
Fire Emblem is an original video animation adaptation of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, produced by KSS and Studio Fantasia and released in 1996. It consists of two episodes, adapting the first three chapters and some of the backstory of Book 1 of the game, and by extension, of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. In Japan, it was released on LaserDisc and VHS, while in the United States, it was released only on VHS. Marth's Japanese voice actor in the OVA, Hikaru Midorikawa, continued to voice the character in later media, such as Super Smash Bros., Fire Emblem Heroes and Fire Emblem Engage.
F-Zero: GP Legend (2003-2004)[]
F-Zero: GP Legend is a 51 episode animated adaptation of the F-Zero produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Ashi Productions. It debuted in Japan on October 7, 2003, on TV Tokyo; the final episode aired on September 28, 2004. 4Kids Entertainment licensed the anime series for North American broadcast. It is a reboot of the franchise taking place in the year 2201. Lifeforms from all across the galaxy come to compete in the new racing tournament called "F-Zero".
Captain N: The Game Master (1989-1991)[]
Captain N: The Game Master is an animated television series that aired on television from 1989 to 1991 as part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup on NBC. The show was produced by DiC Animation City and incorporated elements from many of the most popular video games of the time from Nintendo. There was also a comic book version by Valiant Comics, despite only featuring characters from games produced by Nintendo.
Kid Icarus 3D Anime (2012)[]
To promote the release of Kid Icarus: Uprising, Nintendo released three anime shorts on the Nintendo Video app for the Nintendo 3DS created by three different Japanese animation studios. Each short focuses on one particular major Kid Icarus character. All three shorts are available on Nintendo eShop.
See also[]