16 Years Ago Today, Nintendo Delivered One of the Greatest Video Games of All Time

The video game industry has had an incredibly busy week full of virtually nonstop announcements, reveals, demos, and more in this not-E3-but-basically-E3 season. Yesterday, Nintendo closed out the season with its June Nintendo Direct, which gave fans a good look at the future of the Nintendo Switch 2, while today marks the 16th anniversary of one of its most important franchises.

Today, June 10, 2026, is the 16th anniversary of the initial Japan release of Xenoblade Chronicles on the Nintendo Wii. This game would put the pieces in play for Nintendo to have another RPG series besides Fire Emblem, but this one would emphasize a large open world, party dynamics, and real-time combat mechanics.

Developed by Monolith Soft (who would go on to help develop several other Nintendo titles), Xenoblade Chronicles takes place in a sci-fi setting on the bodies of frozen warring titans. Another war begins between humans and machines, leading to the lead character Shulk finding the Monado, a sword that can defeat the machines. Gathering members to his party, Shulk sets out for revenge and to defeat the machines.

Gameplay would take a lot of inspiration from popular MMOs, such as exploring the large open world, talking to NPCs, and fighting creatures. Combat features auto-attacks and manually controlled abilities called Arts.

According to Metacritic, the original Wii version of Xenoblade Chronicles is sitting at an impressive metascore of 92. Critics praised the game's complex narrative, characters, themes, and battle system, with many reviewers noting that it was surprising that Nintendo would publish a narrative-heavy game over their traditionally gameplay-first focused titles like Mario and The Legend of Zelda.

The game would spawn a series of sequels: Xenoblade Chronicles X, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and the recently revealed 2027 release, Xenoblade Genesis. All of the titles have been ported and re-released with updates on the Nintendo Switch, with Chronicles X already receiving a Switch 2 Edition earlier this year. The other three mainline games are set to receive Switch 2 Edition upgrades periodically throughout 2026.

Xenoblade Genesis is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch 2 and is set to release sometime in 2027.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 7:54 AM.