One list to rule them all, One list to find them, One list to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. That’s right, precious, it’s time to rank the Lord of the Rings games on Nintendo platforms.
It began with the forging of the Great Adaptations. One was given to the SNES, immortal, wisest, and fairest of all consoles. Five to the GBA and GameCube, great consoles and pillars of the nostalgia halls. And three, three games were gifted to the DS, which, above all else, needed more power… (Yeah, there was also a bunch on Wii, 3DS, Wii U and Switch, but we wanted to keep the Galadriel thing running as long as possible.)
While we wait for Tales of the Shire to join the Fellowship, you’ll find the current ranking below. One does not simply rank every Lord of the Rings game, but we’ve had a stab at it.
The Lord of the Rings: Volume I promised so much in 1994. Magazine previews spoke of a revolutionary adventure with peerless visuals and incredible gameplay — a title to challenge the likes of A Link To The Past and countless other action RPGs on the SNES. The final product, though, ranks as one of the most bitterly disappointing uses of Tolkien’s world in the realm of interactive entertainment.
There are faint glimmers of quality here; the soundtrack is wonderful and almost worth enduring the pain of the gameplay. There are also moments when you’re able to ignore the pointless fetch quests and get a feel for what it would be like to journey through The Shire on your risky mission.
However, these moments are few and far between, trampled and lost amid the downright broken game design, terrible controls, laughable AI and almost non-existent plot. Tolkien was famously sceptical about media adaptations of his work; this SNES effort would have him spinning in his grave.
The portable version of Aragorn’s Quest is different enough to provide a satisfying supplement to the Wii game, but its focus on levelling up your character and acquiring stronger equipment becomes detrimental over time, making the game too easy to complete.
The lack of co-op adds to the repetition of its hack-‘n-slash gameplay, although a combat system which involves parrying strikes alongside flailing forward with a combo of basic and special attacks helps to make each battle fun. The different locations add fan service to this eight-hour adventure, although a general lack of variety makes it best enjoyed in short bursts.
Opting for 2D isometric visuals and a reduced class roster, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest on DS is a very different game from what you’ll find on beefier Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. That said, there’s still fun to be had here, with a hack-and-slash campaign providing a whistle-stop tour of the three film’s narrative beats.
It’s not the 3D action classic found elsewhere, but it’s a neat way of watering the experience down to work in a portable form.
An adaptation of Tolkien’s work rather than the Peter Jackson film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring on GBA takes a turn-based tactics approach to the first book in the trilogy. The isometric perspective and simple visuals are very much of their time, but at least it’s a faithful enough retelling that we get some Tom Bombadil content.
Unlike its 3D GameCube counterpart, The Hobbit on GBA is less about platforming and more about hack-and-slash combat and puzzling. The sword-swinging leaves much to be desired, but the isometric perspective gives the whole thing a vague Zelda air, and there’s fun to be had in exploring the locales of Tolkien’s original novel without the intrusion of any Peter Jackson CGI.
LEGO The Hobbit on 3DS unfortunately falls short of hitting its mark every step of the way. The lacklustre script, repetitive combat, and crude aesthetics combine with inconsistent audio and minor glitches that all point toward its generally poor quality.
It’s the type of game that has glimmers of unique design and good intentions, but that fails to live up to its potential. A missing third act made us wonder whether or not this title was released prematurely; it’s a game that definitely feels rushed to market before it was ready. Avoid.
Also released on the 3DS and Wii, LEGO The Lord of the Rings on DS shares much of the same gameplay as its 3D counterpart, though, naturally, this version houses the worst visual quality of the three.
A couple of new additions to the combat and a full three-movie campaign are nice touches, but with the entire experience being substantially shorter than that found on console, and the portable version being riddled with bugs, it’s only worth a play if it’s your only option.
Although the Quest is lengthy, the burden of taking this journey outweighs the reward. While most players will likely experience a thrill of nostalgia and fanboy glee in the early hours of Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, as time wears on, that joy transforms into a pitiful, purposeless trudge.
There are some Lord of the Rings games that should not be forgotten, but this one is barely worth playing the first time.
Unlike its GameCube RPG counterpart, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age on GBA is a fully turn-based affair, providing a top-down tactical spin on Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy. The battles lack the energy of the beefier GameCube port and without any exploration between them, the gameplay loop can become tiring.
That said, the turn-based format did allow the full trilogy to get the portable treatment, which is nothing to be sniffed at.
The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game offers up an unusual mixture of cooperative play and narrative-driven battles that flies in the face of more traditional digital CCGs. If you’re looking for a card game more aligned with the rules of a tabletop effort, with more of a role-playing focus, this is definitely going to appeal.
The lack of proper support for online PvP is an odd omission considering how popular that feature is in other entries in the genre, but a refreshing lack of suffocating microtransactions does help soothe that wound.
LEGO The Hobbit has some strengths, and it’s perhaps tempting to look at the sheer size of the world and volume of content and give it a pass. However, the frequently poor design and shoddy gameplay experience represent a low in the franchise.
We’re often supportive and complimentary of the Lego series for what it does achieve despite its flaws, but this was a sloppy effort from Warner Bros. and TT Games; a typically rushed movie tie-in, and an unfortunate blemish on the lists of Lego and LOTR games.
Forget about the isometric GBA port, The Hobbit on GameCube is a full-blown 3D action platformer which works through all the major beats of Tolkien’s original text. Inevitable Entertainment takes some liabilities with the story’s structure (including a particularly memorable ‘flash-forward’ opening sequence), but Bilbo’s neat movement and expressive art style make this an enjoyable retelling nonetheless.
The 3DS port of LEGO The Lord of the Rings shares a lot of the same DNA as its DS brethren with the added bonus of marginally improved visuals. Much like its portable counterpart, this version feels watered down compared to the beefier console port, with reduced level sizes and bugs galore.
It’s fine if the 3DS is your only option, but the Wii version is an infinitely smarter choice.
Unlike the watered-down DS/3DS versions, LEGO The Lord of the Rings on Wii is much closer to the full console experience. Some forced motion-controlled sequences aside, this version’s open hub world and additional 3D sequences make it by far the best of the bunch on Nintendo consoles.
It’s just a shame that Nintendo and TT were too busy with LEGO City: Undercover to get this one on Wii U.
Naturally incapable of mustering the 3D hack-and-slash brawling of its GameCube counterpart, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on GBA is the Diablo-meets-Middle-Earth mash-up we didn’t know we needed. The looting and summoning abilities make for a pretty addictive gameplay loop, and we are particular fans of the additional Frodo, Gandalf and Éowyn campaigns.
It’s far from the high-octane action available on home console, but a welcome departure for fans of skill-based battling.
Much like its GBA predecessor, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King offers a different, Diablo-style top-down take on the Peter Jackson movie. This second instalment (third movie, second game — it’s confusing) adds in the Rune mechanic for some bonus weapon customisation, but otherwise, there is little difference to the previous game.
A little repetitive in the long run, perhaps, but Griptonite Games provides another fun movie retelling for short play sessions.
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age on GameCube dares ask the question, ‘what if Final Fantasy X was set in Middle Earth?’ The exploration and battle structure are a little too similar to Squaresoft’s systems, if anything, but we’d be lying if we said the mash-up doesn’t work.
It’s a welcome departure from the hack-and-slash gameplay that defined the previous movie tie-ins and an interesting parallel story to the narrative thread that we movie buffs know all too well.
Without an official tie-in game for the prior movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers recounts the story of the first two films in the hackiest, slashiest of ways. This GameCube version goes all out on the action, with three different heroes at your disposal and a long list of combos to remember.
While the scope and roster would be beefed up for the sequel, this was just about the coolest retelling of Peter Jackson’s coolest movie back in 2002.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on GameCube takes all the hack-and-slash action of The Two Towers and dials it up to 11. This follow-up boasts an expanded roster, larger levels with interactive environments, Fellowship-wide skill upgrades and, the pièce de résistance, two-player co-op.
It doesn’t go all out trying to retell the movie’s narrative, but the sword-swinging action is more than capable of mustering up the excitement levels, all the same.
Well, there it is, every Lord of the Rings game, ranked (well, all the Nintendo ones at least!).
We’re only including Lord of the Rings games that appear on Nintendo consoles and, at the time of writing, neither Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor nor Shadow of War have made the jump.
Our fingers are crossed that we’ll get to sample the beloved Nemesis system on a Nintendo console one day, but for the time being, you’ll have to stick to PS4 or Xbox One to play either game.
So, Gollum on Switch isn’t officially off the cards, but a Nintendo launch is highly unlikely.
If this list DOES NOT PASS with your tastes, be sure to share your thoughts on any of the above by leaving a star rating and see if the ranking changes.
This is all ordered in real-time, so, if you haven’t had a chance to share your thoughts on some of your favourites yet and you want to get involved, you can click on the Star Rating of any of the games above and rate it out of 10. Even the smallest vote can change the course of the future.
What do you make of the above ranking? Have we been Fools of Tooks and missed anything? Head on an adventure down to the comments and let us know.
