Ah, the Nintendo Switch. Even seven years into its life cycle—an eternity for most consoles—it’s still going incredibly strong. Stronger than its newer competitors, even.
We know we’ll hear about the Switch’s successor sometime before April 2025. But even I, a thrifty capitalist skeptic, can’t look you in the eye and advise you that means it’s a bad time to get a Switch. I just don’t believe that’s true. The Switch is still a vibrant system with tons of incredible releases, both in its stockpile and on the horizon.
So whether you’re a proud new Switch owner, or simply looking to add to your library, here are the must-own Switch titles. It says a lot about how many incredible games there are for the switch that, after a lot of hemming and hawing, I had to take out absolute bangers like Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and freaking Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Odyssey.
10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
You kind of can’t have a “best of the Switch” list without including Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a game that 100% saved people’s lives when its release coincided with COVID lockdown in 2020. And where it didn’t save lives, it saved sanities. Even beyond the distinct cultural moment it had four years ago, New Horizons is still an incredible game.
Designing and building up your island just as you want it, making friends with and recruiting villagers, interacting with all the delightful weirdos who come to visit, strolling through your aquarium—it’s all just as much of a joy today.
9. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
There is an argument to be made that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, which came out originally for the GameCube, is the best Mario game ever made. At least, that’s what I thought until I played the Mario game further down on this list. Still, if I’m being honest, I enjoy Thousand-Year Door even more than Super Mario Odyssey. So if you want to try your hand at an absolutely delightful turn-based RPG, this one’s for you.
8. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chances are, if you’re getting a Nintendo system, you want to play some Pokémon. If you want a classic Pokémon RPG experience, my honest advice is to go with Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee, which are delightful remakes of the first gen Pokémon Yellow. But as the newer mainline games have felt disappointingly stagnant, the best Pokémon game on the Switch switched up the Pokémon formula entirely: Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Arceus is an entirely new kind of Pokémon game. You’re a surveyor, filling out tasks by interacting with Pokémon in the wild. You can throw Pokéballs and catch new Pokémon without fighting them. Instead, wild Pokémon sometimes fight you. It’s a refreshing entry in a franchise that badly needed a refreshing entry.
7. Metroid Dread
You should take Metroid Dread’s title seriously. It’s a classic 2D Metroid, with all of the adventure and discovery and glory that might mean to you. But there really is a sense of dread in the gaming—a very thrilling, tension-ridden dread that comes going being persecuted by bloodthirsty robots. It’s quite possibly the most intense first-party Nintendo game every made.
6. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Yes, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe might be your party game of choice for the Switc, but that game originally came out for the Wii U. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a Switch original, and it’s the best Smash since Melee. “Everyone is here,” as the tagline goes, so you can revel in the absurdity of Cloud Strife beating up Jigglypuff—or, better yet, vice versa.
5. Pikmin 4
There is a real argument to be made that Pikmin 4 is the most beautiful game available on the Nintendo Switch. For all the talk about how the Switch’s competitors boast higher graphical capabilities, I dare them to play Pikmin 4 and tell me that really matters.
Pikmin 4 is without doubt the best game in the series, worth trying even and especially if previous entries have never captured your fancy. It’s a puzzle game where you fling weird little guys at monsters, often to their deaths. But with your new pup Oatchi and a time rewind, a no-death playthrough has never been more possible. Besides, the grim truths of nature have never been this cute.
4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
I discovered an entirely new side of my gaming self because of the Switch’s two Fire Emblem games, Three Houses and Engage. While you might argue that Engage‘s combat is more addictive, Three Houses is undeniably a high point for the classic tactical strategy game. Three Houses has a highly engaging story, with three different paths which make the game ridiculously replayable. It’s like you’re playing the most addictive fantasy drama you’ve seen in years.
3. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
I have a confession: Super Mario Bros. Wonder is my favorite 2D Mario game of all time. The game has a giddy playfulness that feels rare and special, resulting from the developers getting all the time they needed to try out their wackiest ideas. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a game where you want to look under all the nooks and crannies, simply because it feels so good to do so. Also: Elephant Mario.
2. Hades
Hades is not a Switch exclusive, but I’d wager that well over half of its players regard it as a Switch game. One of the greatest strengths of the Switch is its championing of indie games, and the Switch/Hades combination was a match made in heaven—or, rather, the underworld. Because in this incredibly satisfying, addictive rougelike, you play as Zagreus, the son of Hades, trying to fight his way out of the underworld. Come for the impeccable combat, stay for the shockingly rich story and character development.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom
Okay, so it’s cheating to place two games up top, but trying to decide between two of the greatest video games ever made, both of which inhabit the same world—I’m merely human. The point is, whether you play one or both of these games, the modern Zelda experience is not to be missed. It’s why you get a Switch. No open world game has ever felt as good to me as these games, which bountifully reward your curiosity for looking under every nook and cranny. For me, these games were both life changing.
While Tears of the Kingdom can be a standalone experience, I guess I’d personally recommend starting with Breath of the Wild.
Published: Aug 30, 2024 03:58 pm