The best Nintendo Switch games

Animal Crossing: New Horizons took the daily customization fun of the early AC games and weaponized it. A new entirely optional quest system mimics mobile game mechanics to keep you visiting each day and earning new rewards – and it’s effective. Building up your home, wardrobe, and island is engaging and rewarding even when you set your own goals and ignore the in-game prompts.

The definitive turn-based strategy RPG on Switch, Fire Emblem: Three Houses has three distinct story paths to follow, each with its own cast of characters to get to know, and a unique ending. If you get the DLC, there’s even another path to follow. Three Houses is a chunky experience, and only gets bigger if you play the action game Fire Emblem: Three Hopes.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might be one of the greatest games of all time, despite being restricted by the Nintendo Switch. It’s quite a claim, but critics tend to agree. This bold reimagining of both the Zelda formula and the wider open-world genre did so many new things and we’ve already seen its influence seep into other games in the genre.

The Switch has plenty of racing games available to play, but only one is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This game would sit atop the racing hierarchy on Switch even if it wasn’t getting a chunky 48-course DLC season, doubling the number of available tracks. This is one of the slickest racers available on any console and is easily an essential Nintendo Switch game.

If you’re looking for an intense action game, look no further. Metroid Dread presents a labyrinth to explore and ultimately dominate. Every path hides something new, much of which you won’t be able to interact with immediately, but before you know it doors keep opening up. Exploring this alien world and then having it feel as familiar and safe as your own home is incredibly rewarding, and needs to be experienced.

If you want to fight big beasties with high stakes, then Monster Hunter is the game for you, and Monster Hunter Rise only recently got bigger than ever thanks to the Sunbreak expansion. There are dozens upon dozens of monsters to fight, with even more coming in updates. The cycle of hunting monsters to protect the ecosystem and crafting gear to fight even bigger monsters is one that’s hard to put down, and you’ll easily sink 100 hours into this excellent adventure.

Yes, the man himself, Super Mario. It’s only natural that he would get a place on this list, and Super Mario Odyssey is one of his very best 3D outings. Super Mario Odyssey takes Mario across the globe, exploring a variety of new areas and jumping across brand new challenges. Some of the best 3D platforming there ever has been,, exclusively on Nintendo Switch.

Like it or not, this is what peak performance looks like. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is, as the name implies, the ultimate version of Super Smash Bros., including every character from the franchise’s history, a bunch of new ones, a majority of previously released stages, literally hundreds of music tracks, and much more. If it had rollback netcode, this would probably be considered the perfect fighting game.

Xenoblade Chronicles is a fantastic series of JRPGs, and of course you should start with the first one. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is a full remake of the original Wii game, and it has been brought up to par with the other games in the trilogy. Xenoblade Chronicles, 2, and now 3 are all available on Nintendo Switch, and it’s an excellent trilogy to get started with. Xenoblade Chronicles X still might get a Switch port, some day…

If you want a shooter to dig your teeth into, then Splatoon 3 is the one you should play on Switch. Frankly, traditional shooters don’t hold up too well on Nintendo’s hybrid console, but Splatoon 3 is designed for it, and that makes all the difference. Whether you play with the precise gyro controls or just with standard button inputs, Splatoon 3 is fast-paced and exciting. Even the toughest shooter players will find their skills put to the test whether in Splatoon’s online ranked mode, or just the campaign.

Metroid Prime is one of the best games of all time, and Metroid Prime Remastered proves it. All this GameCube game needed was a new coat of paint and some control updates to bring it up to par with some of the best modern games of 2023. A must-play.

Another Zelda game? Yes. And it's easy to see why once you start playing. The freedom of Breath of the Wild has been trumped, giving you the same world with a whole new dimension. Instead of just traversing the length and breadth of the land, you must explore the depths and heights too, and with some brand new mechanical inventions to help you on your way. It also includes some of the all-time coolest moments from any Zelda game. Tears of the Kingdom, when paired with BOTW, might be the best duology of all time.

Another Mario game too? Yeah, well, them's the breaks. It's not my fault that Nintendo keeps making the best games of each and every year. The fact is that the 2D Mario platformers have begun to feel a bit stale, and Nintendo finally recognized that, and rectified it with one of the most inventive platformers of all time. Every level is a great Mario stage, and then the Wonder Seeds change each of those levels into something entirely bold and new. Essential.