I feel like the snarky “aren’t I clever?” answer would be to say Edelgard from Fire Emblem Three Houses, because that’s a Nintendo game from a Nintendo franchise, and while Edelgard is more morally complicated than the “villain” label would suggest, she nonetheless is designed to be villain-coded both in general and by the very specific tropes and archetypes that Fire Emblem itself has developed. And since Edelgard is one of my favorite character of all time AND plays with the concept of villainy in so many different ways depending on all the different routes you can take in the game, she’d be my favorite villain character from a Nintendo franchise - because my favorite villains are the ones who take the coding of villains in culture and make you question what truly makes one villainous.

But I’m going to assume the intent of this question is, like, less obscure villains, villains who’d appear in Nintendo branding. Smash Bros and Mario Cart villains, right?

In which case my answer would be Bowser. I love how he evolved from a very simple and basic villain concept - big fire-breathing dragon who steals a princess - into something a lot weirder and more specific, both in appearance and especially personality. Bowser is one of my favorite examples of a villain from children’s media and specifically a recurring villain from children’s media, because like the best villains of that specific subsection of culture, he’s ultimately less a true evil doer and more a metaphor for a temperamental and antisocial kid on the playground. He’s selfish and throws tantrums and acts rude, but he’s not genuinely wicked - he is, in his own misguided way, seeking out a social connection with others. There’s something deeply pitiable and even lovable about Bowser - we all have our days where we want to stamp our feet and shoot fire out our mouth in frustration, or wish we could just tell everyone to fuck off as we take what we want. We shouldn’t, of course, but we all feel that way, and Bowser shows us both why we shouldn’t and, more importantly, why having those monster-moments doesn’t mean we’re beyond turning over a new leaf.

Because yeah, Bowser may be a jerk who causes problems on purpose, but no one really hates him. Mario and the gang still invite him to play board games and participate in their go-kart races. He is, in a weird way, as much their friend as their enemy, and that’s wonderful. And, in its own very simple way, this makes you ask the question: what truly makes someone villainous? Because if the big fire-breathing princess-kidnapping monster can have a good guy deep down beneath the scales and the bluster, then can we really write anyone off as just evil?

Also Bowser looks cool as hell.