This is a comprehensive list of the best games ever released for the Nintendo Switch according to the number of global sales and player reviews plus with the personal bias of the members of The Gamerz Den. If you are looking to get into Nintendo Switch gaming, these games will give you the best experience on the record breaking console.
11. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Release Date: April 27, 2017
Developer: Nintendo Entertaining Planning & Development
Publisher: Nintendo
Series: Mario Kart
Genre: Racing video game
Like other Mario Kart games, Mario Kart 8 sees characters from the Mario universe race in go-karts, attempting to hinder their opponents or improve their performance using power-ups found in item boxes. It includes four different difficulties, each differing in speed, which can be selected before beginning the race to challenge players. Returning features from previous instalments include motorbikes and 12-player racing from Mario Kart Wii, as well as hang gliders, underwater racing and vehicle customization from Mario Kart 7. Mario games have always been one of the biggest franchises of the Nintendo systems and this game retains the huge name of the franchise and is definitely one of the Best Nintendo Switch Games ever.
10. Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Release Date: January 28, 2022
Developer: Game Freak
Publishers: Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, Nintendo of America Inc.
Mode: Single-player video game
Genres: Adventure game, Action role-playing game
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an action role-playing game that preserves the core gameplay of past entries in the mainline series. The player is able to roam freely across the game map, divided into five large areas of individual biomes. Each time the player enters such areas, they spawn in a camp, and can fast travel to other camps in the same area. Outside of traversing the landscape on foot, the player can unlock rideable Pokémon which can travel faster, swim across bodies of water, climb cliffs, or fly. In each area, Pokémon wander the landscape, being found in certain habitats and will interact with both the player and their environments. Some will actively avoid the player while others act aggressively, and some exhibit other specific behaviors. A number of “Alpha” Pokémon – larger, more powerful versions of the Pokémon – can also be found in the areas. The multiple areas and the hub system instead of a fully open world gameplay resulted in reviewers comparing Legends: Arceus with the Monster Hunter series. Reviewers also drew comparisons between Pokémon Legends: Arceus and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, noting apparent similarities in both gameplay and art style. All of this makes Pokemon Legends: Arceus one of the Best Nintendo Switch Games to ever come out.
9. Cuphead
Release Date: September 29, 2017
Developer: Studio MDHR
Publisher: Studio MDHR
Mode: Multiplayer video game
Genres: Indie game, Platform game, Shoot ‘em up, Run and gun
Cuphead‘s gameplay is centered on continual boss fights, interspersed with run-and-gun levels. Each is housed in one of four worlds, with the final fight against the Devil. Each boss fight includes a simple, normal, and expert difficulty mode (with the exception of the final two bosses, which lack a simple mode). Defeating a boss on normal mode is required to progress through the game and unlocks expert mode for that particular level. Most boss battles take place on land, although some involve player characters piloting aeroplanes and play like a side-scrolling shoot ’em up. The game includes role-playing elements and a branching level sequence. Player characters have infinite lives, maintaining all equipment between deaths. Equippable weapons and special abilities, referred to as Charms, can be purchased from Porkrind’s Emporium, an in-game shop, using coins found in levels and the overworld. Player characters can use a slapping parry attack on objects marked in pink to various effects, the most important of them being a super meter charge that enables more powerful attacks. The super meter is represented by a row of five playing cards, and can also be charged through attacking or Charm effects. An enhanced attack can be executed at the cost of one card, with its particular form determined by the currently equipped weapon. The most powerful strikes, or Super Arts, require the Super Meter to be fully charged and will completely drain it upon use. Three Super Arts are available, one in each of the first three worlds; to earn each one, the player must enter a mausoleum and parry a horde of ghosts to stop them from reaching an urn at the center of the screen.
8. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Release Date: November 20, 2020
Developer: Omega Force
Publishers: Nintendo, Koei Tecmo, Nintendo of America Inc.
Mode: Multiplayer video game
Genres: Role-playing video game, Hack and slash, Fighting game, Adventure game
Like the previous Hyrule Warriors game, Age of Calamity mixes the hack-and-slash gameplay of Koei Tecmo‘s Dynasty Warriors franchise with the characters, locations, and other elements from Nintendo‘s The Legend of Zelda series. The basic gameplay is participating in large-scale battles against enemies, while also completing objectives and taking strategic actions such as capturing bases and commanding troops. With everything this game provides to the avid players, it is one of the Best Nintendo Switch Games for sure.
7. Undertale
Release Date: September 15, 2015
Developer: Toby Fox
Publisher: Toby Fox
Mode: Single-player video game
Genres: Role-playing video game, Adventure game, Action game
Undertale is a role-playing game that uses a top-down perspective. In the game, the player controls a child and completes objectives in order to progress through the story. Players explore an underground world filled with towns and caves, and are required to solve numerous puzzles on their journey. The underground world is the home of monsters, many of whom challenge the player in combat; players decide whether to kill, flee, or befriend them. Choices made by the player radically affect the plot and general progression of the game, with the player’s morality acting as the cornerstone for the game’s development.
6. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Release Date: July 29, 2022
Developer: Monolith Soft
Publishers: Nintendo, Nintendo of America of Inc.
Mode: Single-player video game
Genres: Action role-playing video game, Adventure game
Like its predecessors, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is an action role-playing game with a large open world to explore. Unlike previous Xenoblade series entries, which limited the number of active party members to three, the game allows for up to seven party members to participate in battles at once, including the main party of six and one additional “Hero” character. Up to 19 Heroes can be recruited to the party by completing story events or sidequests, each possessing different skills and abilities, and the player can switch between them while outside of battle. Party members will also gain the ability to change their character class, granting them access to different abilities. Under certain conditions, specific pairs of party members—Noah and Mio; Lanz and Sena; and Eunie and Taion—can utilize the Interlink system to combine into an Ouroboros, a larger form with more powerful moves. This game certainly deserves a place on the list of the Best Nintendo Switch Games to have ever been released.
5. Bayonetta 2
Release Date: September 20, 2014
Developers: PlatinumGames, PlatinumGames Inc.
Publisher: Nintendo
Mode: Multiplayer video game
Genres: Fighting game, Hack and slash, Action-adventure game
Bayonetta 2 carries on the action-style gameplay of its predecessor, in which players control the eponymous Bayonetta as she fights against various angelic and demonic forces using combinations of melee attacks and gunplay. Dodging enemy attacks at the last second activates ‘Witch Time’, slowing down enemies around Bayonetta and allowing players to easily retaliate and solve certain environmental puzzles. Players are also able to use special moves called Torture Attacks, trapping opponents in infernal devices for extra points. Weapon customization from the first game also returns, allowing players to equip combinations of new weapons on both Bayonetta’s hands and feet. A large array of weapons can be equipped, including the character’s signature guns, a bow, swords and other forms of projectile weapons. Players earn grades during combat, with the highest ‘Pure Platinum’ grade achieved by performing high numbers of combos, in the fastest time possible, without being damaged. As with the previous game, Bayonetta can use Torture Attacks on her enemies, conjured torture devices that finish off single enemies in gruesome ways and grant a bonus to the player.
4. Hollow Knight
Release Date: February 24, 2017
Developer: Team Cherry
Publisher: Team Cherry
Mode: Single-player video game
Genres: Metroidvania, Fighting game
Hollow Knight is a 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania soulslike game that takes place in Hallownest, a fictional underground kingdom. The player controls an insect-like, silent, nameless knight while exploring the underground world. The Knight wields a Nail, which is a type of sword, that is used in both combat and environmental interaction.
In most areas of the game, players encounter hostile bugs and other creatures. Melee combat involves using the Nail to strike enemies from a short distance. The player can also learn spells, allowing for long-range attacks. Defeated enemies drop currency called Geo. The Knight starts with a limited number of hit points, which are represented by masks. “Mask Shards” can be collected throughout the game to increase the player’s maximum number of masks. When the Knight takes damage from an enemy or from the environment, a mask is reduced. By striking enemies, the Knight gains Soul, which is stored in the Soul Vessel. If all masks are lost, the Knight dies and a Shade enemy appears where they died. The player loses all Geo and can hold a reduced amount of Soul. Players need to defeat the Shade enemy to recover the lost currency and to carry the normal amount of Soul. The game continues from the last visited bench they sat on, which are scattered throughout the game world and act as save points. Initially the player can only use Soul to “Focus” and regenerate masks, but as the game progresses, players unlock several offensive spells which consume Soul. Additional Soul Vessels, used to hold more Soul, can be acquired throughout the game.
3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Release Date: March 20, 2020
Developers: Nintendo, Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development
Publisher: Nintendo
Mode: Multiplayer video game
Genres: Adventure game, Life simulation game, Social simulation game, Simulation game
As in previous Animal Crossing games, New Horizons is a life simulation game played in real time. Weather also adjusts to the seasons of the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, depending on the player’s real-world location, a first for the Animal Crossing series. The game follows a villager customized by the player, who, after purchasing a getaway package from Tom Nook, moves into a deserted island. After Tom Nook gives the player essentials, such as a tent, the game proceeds in a non-linear fashion, allowing for the player to play the game as they choose. This is one of the best known franchises on Nintendo’s platform and given that the players all over the world seem to love this game, it definitely fits on the list of the Best Nintendo Switch Games ever.
2. Hades
Release Date: December 6, 2018
Developers: Supergiant Games, Supergiant Games LLC
Publisher: Supergiant Games
Mode: Single-player video game
Genres: Rougelike, Indie game, Action role-playing game, Fighting game, Shooter video game
The player takes the role of Zagreus, the prince of the Underworld, who is trying to escape the realm to get away from his unloving father, Hades, and reach his mother Persephone in the mortal world. His quest is supported by the other Olympians, who grant him gifts to help fight the beings that protect the exit from the Underworld. He is also helped on his quest by notorious residents of the Underworld, such as Sisyphus, Eurydice, or Patroclus. The game world is divided between four main dungeons, each representing one of the regions of the Underworld, namely Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and the Temple of Styx, with each new region being unlocked upon clearing the previous locale.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Release Date: March 3, 2017
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Publisher: Nintendo
Mode: Single-player video game
Genres: Open world, Action-adventure game, Action role-playing game, Nonlinear gameplay
Breath of the Wild is an open world action-adventure game. Players are tasked with exploring the kingdom of Hyrule while controlling Link. Breath of the Wild encourages nonlinear gameplay, which is illustrated by the game’s lack of defined entrances or exits to areas, scant instruction given to the player, and encouragement to explore freely. Breath of the Wild introduces a consistent physics engine to the Zelda series, letting players approach problems in different ways rather than trying to find a single solution. The game also integrates a “chemistry engine” that defines the physical properties of most objects and governs how they interact with the player and one another. For example, during thunderstorms, metal objects will attract powerful lightning strikes; during a storm, therefore, a player must be careful not to carry metal, but may also throw metal objects at enemies to draw lightning to them. These design approaches result in a generally unstructured and interactive world that rewards experimentation and allows for nonlinear completion of the story.
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If you liked this list, we would like to suggest you check out this list on the best PlayStation 4 games of all time here: https://thegamerzden.com/top-10-best-playstation-4-games-ranking-the-greatest-playstation-games/
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