The best Nintendo Switch games are not going anywhere thanks to the Switch 2’s confirmed backward compatibility functionality. While the extent of that feature has yet to be confirmed, millions of Switch owners are rightfully relieved to know the bulk of the Switch’s library will live on. While the Switch’s historic success is very much […]
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The best Nintendo Switch games are not going anywhere thanks to the Switch 2’s confirmed backward compatibility functionality. While the extent of that feature has yet to be confirmed, millions of Switch owners are rightfully relieved to know the bulk of the Switch’s library will live on. While the Switch’s historic success is very much based on its incredible hardware design, the Switch’s best games have greatly exceeded the expectations of those who once worried the device was a novelty.
Instead, the console upended the industry by showing how great modern gaming is when we can experience it wherever we go. While it’s hard to ignore the mostly first-party exclusives that largely dominated the Switch’s library, the console’s greatest gift may just be the way it gave indie developers the perfect platform for their smaller games and big dreams. Together, they form a library that makes the Switch exactly what Nintendo hyped it up to be: a sign of a great time wherever you may see one.
Below, we’ve ranked what we consider to be the 15 best games on the Nintendo Switch.
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15. Tetris 99
Released on the Nintendo Switch eShop the day it was announced, Tetris 99 is a rare example of Nintendo using the flexibility of the modern digital marketplace to do something fun and surprising. Even if the idea of playing Tetris against 98 other people in a battle royale setting ended up being just a silly gimmick, at least it was going to be a free gimmick.
Instead, Tetris 99 ended up being pretty special. The basic battle royale concept (though it’s closer to a Last Man Standing mode in many respects) adds enough of a hook to keep you addicted to what has long been an underrated gaming experience: multiplayer Tetris. It reminded some of their love of the base game, it ensnared a new generation of players, and it kicked off the trend off the wonderful trend of “99” titles that grew to include Super Mario, F-Zero, and Pac-Man.
14. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Nintendo fans spent decades begging the publisher to release a traditional, mainline new Pokémon game on a console. While the Switch finally gave those fans such a game (a few of them, in fact) the best Pokémon game on the console is ironically the least traditional one: Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Yet, despite its lack of traditional Pokémon progression and combat mechanics, Arceus sometimes feels closer to the console Pokémon game fans long dreamed of. Its much more open design lets you lose yourself in the Pokémon universe while its more active combat and crafting mechanics make Pokémon feel more modern than it has in quite some time. It’s far from perfect, but it may be the future of the franchise.
13. Pikmin 4
Pikmin 4 was careering toward meme status before it was finally released in 2023. After about eight years of vague promises, fans of the cult classic series started to accept that the franchise had probably gone to live at the farm upstate that Nintendo sent F-Zero to. Besides, how much could we expect from whatever Pikmin game we may be lucky enough to even get?
Yet, Pikmin 4 really is one of the purest examples of Nintendo magic on the Switch. It’s both a glorious celebration of the creative blend of puzzles and explorations that always set Pikmin apart and an ideal starting point for the many who never gave the series a shot. You can feel the love that went into making Pikmin 4 either the best Pikmin we’ll ever get or the start of a bright new era for the franchise.
12. Super Mario Party Jamboree
At a time when the traditional party game is practically endangered, a night with Mario Party feels particularly special. At its best, Mario Party is a remarkably unpretentious good time that is just deep enough and competitive enough to enthrall any group of players. The problem is that Mario Party has rarely been at its best in recent years.
Super Mario Party Jamboree finally gets the franchise back on track. It features one of the best collections of boards and minigames we’ve seen from the series since the N64 days and is (mostly) mercifully free of the gimmicks that plagued previous entries. So long as you’re willing to embrace the chaos, it’s one of the absolute best local multiplayer experiences of the Switch era.
11. Astral Chain
For quite some time, Bayonetta 3 was hyped as the Switch’s biggest action exclusive. While Bayonetta 3 lived up to much of that hype when it was released in 2022, developer PlatinumGames somewhat quietly delivered an even better action gaming experience with 2019’s Astral Chain.
Rather than give us “Bayonetta 3 in a hat and mustache” (a perfectly acceptable and visually amusing compromise), PlatinumGames made Astral Chain its own, special thing. Its emphasis on exploration, narrative, and customization makes it slightly more experimental than PlatinumGames’ other action masterpieces while its creative, companion-based combat showcases the refined ambition of a studio at the top of its game.
10. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
There’s a degree to which the basic Fire Emblem formula is pretty much bulletproof. An airtight tactical RPG game with a compelling permadeath system tends to be a good time. With Three Houses, developer Intelligent Systems added a significant variable to that formula. This time around, players are encouraged to make meaningful loyalty choices and navigate a richer social system in a game designed to be played multiple times.
While not a flawless system by any means, those new and refined mechanics accomplish exactly what Intelligent Systems looked to accomplish: make Fire Emblem feel worthy of a major modern console. Like many Switch exclusives, Three Houses serves as both an effective gateway and the new bar for Nintendo’s legendary strategy franchise.
9. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
The game that famously brought its director Davide Soliani to tears when it was revealed at E3 2017 has gone on to inspire similar outbursts of joy among those who gave it a chance. Yes, the idea of an XCOM-like strategy title starring Mario and the Ubisoft Rabbids was always a little silly and hasn’t gotten less silly in the intervening years. You’ll get no arguments against from us.
Yet, that silliness is at the heart of what makes the whole thing so special. Kingdom Battle represents not only its team’s love of the Super Mario universe but the joy of strategy games that we still don’t get enough of. It’s a minor miracle that this game dilutes XCOM’s defining difficulty yet somehow still taps into the heart of that series while emphasizing distinct Super Mario gameplay and charms.
8. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
The brilliance of Super Mario Bros. Wonder can be found in its name. With this modern 2D entry in gaming’s most famous franchise, the team wanted modern games to experience the same kinds of joys and surprises that the original Super Mario Bros. inspired nearly four decades ago. The wonder of it all, if you will.
They succeeded spectacularly. Every aspect of Wonder is designed to invoke a sense of surprise from those who play it. No object or ability is ever quite what it seems, and the joy of discovering the true nature of it all amplifies what has always been one of gaming’s most purely enjoyable experiences.
7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Much like Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s name is a rare example of truth in advertising. This game’s absurd roster of 80+ characters is larger, weirder, and more ambitious than even those fan-created roster pages that once defined the Super Smash Bros. corners of the internet. If we never get another Smash Bros. game, we at least know the developers left nothing on the table with this one.
Despite its ambition, this is a remarkably refined take on the Smash Bros. experience. The series’ mythical blend of competitive depth and enjoyable accessibility is on full display in this game that often transcends the fighting genre and the ways we analyze it.
6. Metroid Dread
For decades, the Metroid franchise has been a critical darling and a consistent sales disappointment. While the games Metroid inspired have gone on to sell millions and millions of copies, the Metroid franchise has consistently struggled to justify a sequel.
So when we celebrate Metroid Dread’s record-breaking series sales, know that we’re really celebrating a franchise that finally got more of the love it always deserved. More than a victory lap, Metroid Dread is a throwback to the series’ roots that brilliantly refines or evolves the franchise’s core mechanics while emphasizing those atmospheric qualities that Metroid has long done better than most. It’s not just the best-selling Metroid game; it may be the best Metroid game yet.
5. Super Mario Odyssey
There are times when it feels like we take Super Mario Odyssey for granted. Though we expect a new Super Mario game alongside a new Nintendo console, perhaps we have become so complacent in our expectations for those games to be great that we let them come and go like another Meryl Streep Oscar nomination.
Super Mario Odyssey deserves better. An evolution of the franchise’s 3D platformer era, Super Mario Odyssey features all the secrets, objectives, and collectibles we lovingly associate with that era. Yet, we’ve rarely seen levels this creative, movements this refined, or cinematic moments this satisfying in even the best 3D Super Mario titles. Most importantly, Odyssey is downright weird at a time when some of gaming’s other major franchises are a little too eager to play things a bit too safe.
4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Few could have seen a game like Breath of the Wild coming. Yes, it’s an entry in one of gaming’s greatest franchises, but its many deviations from that franchise’s norms were enough to make you wonder if this game was more of an elaborate experiment than a proper Zelda sequel. It turns out it was the best of both those things.
With Breath of the Wild, Nintendo upended the blockbuster open-world genre by emphasizing the joy of organically discovering absolutely everything. By doing so, they were really bringing the adventurous, explorative joys of the original Legend of Zelda to life in the modern era. It’s one of the boldest and greatest games to ever reach true blockbuster status.
3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
There’s a degree to which New Horizons will always be associated with the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. What should be an entirely tragic association instead often inspires an unlikely smile. At a time when we looked for community, adventures, and the idea we were all sharing something a little bit better, New Horizons provided all that and more.
Then again, that’s always been the magic of the Animal Crossing experience. It’s a quaint and enjoyable series that demands little and gives so much. Like some of the Switch’s other great games, Animal Crossing was one of those franchises that fans hoped would eventually return to Nintendo’s consoles in the grandest way possible. Even then, few dared to dream the dream that New Horizons gave many at a time when the reality of it all often felt like too much to handle.
2. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
One of the greatest magic tricks Nintendo pulled with the Switch was to use the hardware’s popularity to resurrect many of the Wii U’s greatest and most overlooked titles. While the Switch supported updated versions of numerous Wii U games that deserved better, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will always be the definitive example of that movement.
You certainly could have argued that the Wii U version of Mario Kart 8 was the best Mario Kart game up until that point. The Switch version of Mario Kart 8 simply solidified that position. Yes, the Deluxe version of the game features various improvements and quite a bit of new content, but its greatest advantage has long been how good it feels to play Mario Kart on the Switch hardware (especially in handheld mode). This was the earliest and most powerful example of how invaluable the “Switch advantage” would be.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Tears of the Kingdom lingered in a rather odd position ahead of its release. On the one hand, even a better version of Breath of the Wild would have been a worthy experience. On the other hand, people expected Tears of the Kingdom to not just build upon Breath of the Wild’s mechanical greatness but recreate what they felt when they played that game. How would this sequel live up to those expectations?
Well, Nintendo did with a game that now makes even the incredible Breath of the Wild sometimes feel like it’s missing several special somethings. Defined by its Ultrahand and Fusion mechanics that enable levels of creative exploration not seen outside of games that are basically elaborate toolkits, Tears of the Kingdom lets you explore and implement the limits of your imagination in an experience that still manages to be fundamentally brilliant even if you play it in the most vanilla ways possible. As we prepare to enter the Switch 2 era, Tears of the Kingdom shows just how much more the Switch platform has to give.
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