The Nintendo Switch game library has gotten off to a good start but these are the best Nintendo Switch games out there.
Its super portable form factor, bright colours and unusual proposition might not be for everyone. But in our books the Nintendo Switch is one of the very best consoles on the market right now. And that’s due in no small part to its fantastic games library. Nintendo Switch
The Switch already has a few great first-party exclusives, because it is a Nintendo console after all. There’s Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and Nintendo shows no signs of slowing down either. Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Super Mario Odyssey
There are also some great titles that we’re expecting later this year, like a new Super Smash Bros. title, as well as new Pokemon games and a brand-new Mario Party that’s been re-engineered for the Switch.
While Nintendo has been busy with its first-party development teams, the Switch also has a wide range of great third-party releases too, from Skyrim to Little Nightmares. These are helping Nintendo finally get rid of the third-party curse you could argue it’s had hovering over its head over the past few years.
To help you create the best possible Nintendo Switch library, we’ve collected together the best games available to download or buy right now and we’re constantly trying the latest and greatest Switch games, so keep an eye out for updates to this list.
Update: Take yourself back to your childhood days with the revamped Crash Bandicoot game Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy or flex your brain with Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, both available now on the Nintendo eShop. Looking to enhance your experience? Check out our picks of the best Nintendo Switch accessories best Nintendo Switch accessories Not got the console yet? These are the best Nintendo Switch deals around These are the best Nintendo Switch deals around
Watch our review of the Nintendo Switch below! Want to know what the best Pokemon game is as well? best Pokemon game
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is a real gem. A re-release of the well-received Wii U title, Captain Toad is an action puzzle game that puts you in the shoes of the Mushroom Kingdom’s most lovable sidekick. While puzzles are a bit on the easier side for older ‘kids’, a term we’ll use loosely here, pint-sized adventurers will have to use their noodle to collect items without running into the paths of enemies. It’s good, clean, IQ-enhancing fun – which is the best kind of fun!
Freshly-added to the Nintendo Switch line-up, if Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is just half as popular on the Switch as it was for the PS4 it’s bound to do very, very well. Maybe it’s everyone’s current love of nostalgia from their earlier days? But either way, the remaster of Crash Bandicoot is bound to pull at your heart strings. It has everything you knew and loved from the original game, but everything’s been enhanced, revamped and there are plenty of new levels and adventures that have been added.
Mario and his crew are some of the most talented fictional characters in the known universe. They can golf, they can compete at the Olympics, some of them are doctors, plumbers and princesses. And now they play tennis, too.
Mario Tennis Aces has been heralded as a combination of Super Smash Bros. and the old Mario Tennis games released on the Nintendo GameCube and N64. To that end, gameplay is lightning-quick and requires twitch reflexes.
The big changes this time around are the new super moves that cause rackets to break and balls to fly to nigh unreachable spots on the court. They add a new layer of strategy to the long-running Mario sport franchise and fun, too.
Golden bananas, rickety minecarts and cranky kongs – the king of the gaming apes, Donkey Kong, is back!
And, if you’ve previously been a Wii U owner, it may feel like a very familiar adventure, as Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is actually a remake of that system’s simian-themed platformer.
The Switch version is easily the definitive version of the game though, bringing not only with it the Switch’s signature handheld play, but also a new ‘Funky Mode’ that lets you take control of Funky Kong, a returning character who is just that little bit faster and able to leap just that little bit further, making a very challenging platformer a tad easier for the smaller cheeky monkeys in your family.
Star Allies is Kirby’s debut on Switch and it’s a good one and largely your familiar Kirby fare. Fans of Kirby’s previous adventures will be familiar with the colorful side-scrolling platformer gameplay and enemy absorbing powers. But there’s a new mechanic which allows Kirby to throw hearts at enemies and recruit up to three of them to his side to be controlled by either AI or real-life friends.
Though it’s not the most engaging single-player game and might not leave long-time fans as satisfied as they might have hoped, Star Allies is a co-op experience that shouldn’t be missed, especially if you’re looking for a game to play with your kids.
Part software, part hardware, Nintendo Labo is a must-have for anyone who enjoys Nintendo’s more quirky and play-focused ideas. Nintendo Labo
Build your own cardboard toys, play games with them, explore how they work and reprogram them to do what you want. With Nintendo Labo the only real limit is your patience and imagination. Build a fishing rod and catch a shark, build a piano and control a musical cat choir, built a robot and, well, become a robot. It’s all possible with Labo.
Nintendo Labo is certainly one of the more original and even educational releases we’ve seen in years and it can only be played on the Nintendo Switch.
It’s not everyone that would have had the chance to enjoy Bayonetta 2 when it was first released back in 2014 thanks to its Wii U exclusivity. Fortunately, the game has finally come to Nintendo Switch alongside its fantastic predecessor, giving it the reach it deserves.
Bayonetta 2 is an excellent game, with fast-paced and satisfying combat, jaw-dropping animations and frankly outstanding fashion. Even better, when you purchase a physical copy of Bayonetta 2, you’ll also receive a free download code for the original game.
More than anything, this is a great way to prepare for Bayonetta 3, which has been confirmed as being in development for the Switch.
Anyone who loves classic point-and-click adventure stories such as Broken Sword and Monkey Island will certainly want to direct their attention towards this recent release from LucasArts veteran Ron Gilbert.
Mechanically, the game works like the classics of the genre with lots of slow-paced obtuse puzzle solving and verb-list clicking. Even visually it’s very similar to the games that have influenced it.
If you’re tired of playing the same classics on repeat, pick up Thimbleweed Park for an excellent new addition to the point-and-click genre. You’ll travel back to 1987 for a neo-noir adventure that you won’t want to leave.
Super Mario Odyssey is Mario’s first real outing on the Nintendo Switch and he makes his debut in style. Odyssey is a 3D sandbox adventure that sees Mario travel between a wide range of worlds to save Princess Peach from the nefarious and maritally-minded Bowser.
Giving the old formula a bit of a refresh, this game sees the traditional Power Ups replaced with a new companion for Mario called Cappy. This sentient hat is Mario’s weapon and friend and he can be used to possess enemies and objects to solve puzzles and defeat foes.
In our full review for Super Mario Odyssey we called this game “one of Mario’s finest adventures in recent memory” and recommend that you play it now. full review
If you decide to pick the game up for yourself, don’t forget to check out our tips and tricks guide to help you get started. tips and tricks guide
Even for a series like The Legend of Zelda which rarely puts a foot wrong, Breath of the Wild is an absolutely phenomenal game. Breath of the Wild
While past Zelda games have stuck pretty closely to the formula established by Ocarina of Time (the series’ 3D debut), Breath of the Wild throws much of the established wisdom away.
Rather than having a pre-defined order you must use to approach each major mission, Breath of the Wild opens the entire map up to you almost immediately, allowing you to approach the game in whatever order you see fit. You can spend hours just climbing trees and brewing elixirs, or you can even head straight to the game’s final boss if you’re feeling confident.
But away from Breath of the Wild’s unique structure, it’s the puzzles themselves that make the game feel the most satisfying. While previous games rigidly allow for a single solution to each puzzle, BotW’s physics-based problem solving means that there are often multiple solutions to each challenge depending on how you combine your various skills.
The result is a game that feels incredibly broad in scope, with so many little touches to discover that it’s hard not to fall in love with this long-running series all over again. Check out everything you need to know in our Breath of the Wild tips and tricks guide Check out everything you need to know in our Breath of the Wild tips and tricks guide
Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U was already one of the best entries in the franchise, and the Nintendo Switch version is no different.
At it’s core the game offers the same excellent racing as the Wii U original, but there are also a number of new additions for this version of the arcade racer.
You’ve got the return of battle mode, new characters, all the previously released DLC tracks, and the ability to hold two special items at a time to add an extra layer of strategy to your racing.
The new game is also a great way of playing the game in multiplayer. You can play online, split-screen with up to four players or link up to eight consoles together to play multiplayer wirelessly (where you can also play with up to two players per console).
It’s a versatile release, and well worth picking up for anyone who missed out on Mario Kart 8 the first time around. Get ahead of the competition with our Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tips and tricks Get ahead of the competition with our Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tips and tricks
Splatoon was the closest Nintendo has ever allowed itself to get to an online shooter, and it did so by fundamentally turning the genre on its head.
That means no guns, no bullets, and ultimately no death. Instead, you play as characters with paint guns tasked with covering the map in your team’s colors.
You can kill (well, ‘splat’) your enemies, but you do so only in service of buying yourself time to paint more of the map without your opponents, and their painting, getting in the way.
While Splatoon 2 is technically a sequel, in truth it’s more of the same.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The original game was tightly designed and well-balanced, and while the sequel makes some minor tweaks to the gameplay, the same Nintendo charm is still present in spades.
If you never played the original then Splatoon 2 is an easy game to recommend, but even if you did then it might be worth jumping in again to revisit it on Nintendo’s portable system.
