Tag: Switch Essentials
Guide Best Relaxing Nintendo Switch Games
Chill games for Nintendo Switch
Updated with a fresh clutch of chill-vibe, relaxing Switch games. Enjoy! Had a tough day? When it comes to getting your pulse racing and adrenaline coursing, there are more than enough video games that fit the bill. Whether battling to recover your humanity in Dark Souls, making it to the final two in Fortnite, or...
Guide Best Retro Throwback Nintendo Switch Games - Modern Games With Old-School Style
Scratch that nostalgia itch with these Switch neo-classics
Updated with Pepper Grinder. Enjoy! Ah, nostalgia — it's a tricksy thing. How many times have we gone back to revisit a treasured classic only to find that modern games have spoiled it for us? For all the brilliant aspects of retro games, the mod cons and performance we're used to now...
Guide Best Cozy Games On Switch
Prepare to have your fuzzies warmed
Update: We've updated this list and given it a spring clean. Along with that, we've also added two newer releases to the pack: Botany Manor and Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. Enjoy! What exactly makes a game cozy? Is it the player's state of mind while playing? Is it an adherence to specific aesthetics or...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Puzzle Games
Piecing it together
Update: We've given this list a bit of a tidy-up and added both Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! and Botany Manor. Enjoy! From the very beginning, Nintendo handhelds have been a powerhouse in the puzzle genre, championing games that might have been lost in the bombastic, graphics-obsessed arena of home consoles. Switch’s bridging...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Metroidvania Games
Or 'Castloid' if you prefer
Updated with Rebel Transmute, a brutally difficult take on the Metroid side of the formula. Enjoy! The word 'Metroidvania' might rub some core gamers the wrong way, but it's a useful catch-all to describe a very specific type of game experience. Combining elements from both the Metroid series and Koji Igarashi-produced...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch 2D Platformers
Jump up, jump up and get down
Updated with Pepper Grinder and Freedom Planet 2. Enjoy! With so many excellent platformers available on Switch, picking something out from the overwhelming selection can be hard. The genre has a very strong pedigree on Nintendo systems going all the way back to the original Super Mario Bros. on NES (which you can...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Exclusives
Games you can only play on Nintendo Switch
Nintendo's Switch has become home to an almost overwhelming number of fantastic games since launching back in 2017. A great deal of them have appeared on other platforms — whether celebrated indie titles or huge AAA releases getting a second wind on Nintendo's handheld hybrid — but the console is also...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Collections And Compilation Games
Bundles of joy
Updated with Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story. Enjoy! Switch is many a gamer's go-to console for revisiting retro classics, at home on the TV, or wherever you happen to take the handheld hybrid. Squeezing in nostalgia trips between the big new releases has never been easier, and there have been a host of exceptional collections and...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Strategy Games
The best RTS, 4X, strategy and tactics games on Switch
Updated with Unicorn Overlord. Enjoy! Strategy and tactics games by their very nature require deep thought and careful consideration, and many gamers these days often find it hard to embark on epic multi-hour campaigns in a single sitting. Planning a multi-turn offensive in a 4X game like...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Card Games, Board Games, And Deckbuilders
Play your cards right
Updated with the excellent Balatro and Pocket Card Jockey. Enjoy! You'd be forgiven for thinking that physical tabletop gaming might have trouble surviving in this digital and ever-mobile age, but collectible card games and traditional board games are arguably more popular than ever. Excellent digital versions of household...
Guide 50 Best Nintendo Switch Games To Play Right Now (2024)
The very best Switch games ever, after seven full years
Welcome to our master list of the top 50 best games ever released on Nintendo Switch, as ranked by you. As the Switch enters its eighth year on 3rd March 2024 — yes, it launched a full seven years ago! — we're republishing this reader-ranked list of the top 50 absolute best games on the...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch DLC & Expansions
Downloadable loving care
Updated with Splatoon 3: Side Order and Eastward: Octopia, the fantastic farming sim DLC for the adventure RPG Eastward. Enjoy! There was a time, long ago, when games were done when they hit retail shelves. But we're in the 21st century now, and more often than not, additional post-launch content is released months after a...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Couch Co-op Games
Awesome when you're part of a team
While there's a huge variety of gaming experiences available on Switch, there's a good chance that couch co-op games were a big part of the reason you bought Nintendo's hybrid console. After all, the Switch is tailor-made for those experiences thanks to its Joy-Con controllers, which double up as two separate pads...
Guide Best Time Loop Games On Nintendo Switch
Okay campers, rise and shine...
Gooooood morning (afternoon? evening?), all! We're republishing this piece in honour of Groundhog Day. Whether the groundhog saw its shadow or not, we want to celebrate the best games that throw you into an endless time loop. We've also added In Stars and Time and Outer Wilds to the list. Enjoy! Most video games are...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Fighting Games
Final Round. Fight!
Updated with the fantastic UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes. Enjoy! It's ironic that one of the most violent video game genres is also one which has pulled millions of people together; ever since the early days of Fatal Fury and Street Fighter II, the humble 'fighting game' genre has created (and arguably ended) countless...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Visual Novels
Reader’s digest
Updated with Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy and Bahnsen Knights! Hold it (and enjoy!). The portability of Nintendo Switch makes it a great system to play a wide variety of genres, and while visual novels can be enjoyed perfectly well on your TV, there's something about playing them on a handheld which just feels 'right'...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Stealth Games
"!"
Update: We've given this list a sneaky tidy-up to ensure we're recommending only the very best stealth games on Nintendo Switch. We've also added two brand-new entries — Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and the newly released Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal. For all the gun-blazing, whip-cracking, all-out action, and mayhem there is to...
Guide Best Point And Click Adventure Games For Nintendo Switch
For the clicks
Updated with The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo and Another Code: Recollection. Enjoy! In the years since launch, Nintendo Switch has hosted games from across the genres, including an array of old-school point-and-click adventure games, a genre that flourished on PCs in the old days and one which Nintendo's hybrid console offers a...
Guide The Easiest Nintendo Switch Games
Best easy Switch games
Sometimes you just want to take it easy. Perhaps you're looking to dip your toe into a new genre with unfamiliar mechanics, or you're simply not in the headspace to go toe-to-toe with unforgiving, inscrutable games like Dark Souls, Hollow Knight, and their ilk. If you're looking for easy games for Nintendo Switch — games...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Life Sims And Farming Games
Life comes at you slow
If you're looking for a change of pace and some welcome distraction from everyday life, few mediums offer such engrossing, ongoing escapism as video games. Even the best books have an ending, but some games can go on almost indefinitely and come to form a calming part of our daily routines. If you're looking for just such a...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Games Of 2023
The finest Switch games of 2023, as ranked by you
[video: Alex's video round-up of 21 picks, although BEWARE that his video covers games released in Switch's seventh year (between 3rd March 2023 and 3rd March 2024), not the calendar year. 2023 was an incredibly fruitful year for gamers, and Switch enjoyed an excellent seventh year on store shelves...
Every Nintendo Switch LEGO game, as ranked by you
What is the best LEGO game on Nintendo Switch? It's perhaps surprising to see just how many games based on a Danish plastic brick system (habitually melded to another juicy licence) have graced Nintendo's hybrid system since launch. Looking back, we've had Switch ports of older Lego games, all-new...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Games For Kids
The best Switch games for your little ones
Nintendo Switch is a console with brilliant software for gamers young and old. Nintendo's wholesome, family-friendly image is well-earned, and with characters like Mario, Luigi, and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom gang, Switch games cater to the young and the young-at-heart alike. With its excellent...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch FPS Games
Lock and load
Nintendo Switch's bulging catalogue of games covers practically every genre, and First-Person Shooters are no exception. It's a welcome change because Nintendo systems have historically lagged a little behind other consoles in the FPS field despite hosting some classics. After all, GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark helped define the FPS...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch RPGs
The finest traditional-style Switch RPGs available to humanity
Nintendo Switch has amassed a huge number of quality titles across almost every category since launching back in 2017, and the RPG genre is certainly no exception. Below you'll find our picks for the Switch's essential role-playing games, in no particular order. This selection of the...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Party Games
Maximum fun, minimum fuss
Updated and scrubbed ready for the fiesta-friendly festive season. Enjoy! So, you're having a party, possibly on a rooftop, dancing to the music and all that jazz, but suddenly there's a lull. Fear not because we've got just the thing to get the party started again! Nintendo Switch has a whole host of crowd-pleasing co-op...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Football Games
We mean Soccer, not that 'other' football
Updated with Football Manager 2024 Touch. Enjoy! Football is the world's most popular sport, from the elite level of child-like millionaires with dazzling skills and impressive diving techniques, to actual children on playgrounds using jumpers for goalposts. Being a football / soccer fan that owns a...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Roguelikes, Roguelites And Run-Based Games
Like Rogue?
Updated with Balatro. Enjoy! What are the best roguelikes on Nintendo Switch? When it comes to modern video games, there are few more polarising genre terms. That divisive descriptor draws some players like moths to a flame, while others run a mile at the mere whisper of it. These days, it often feels like 'roguelike' — which refers...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Detective Games
Grab your trilby and trench coat
Updated with the world's greatest detective's newest adventure on Switch, Murder On The Orient Express, along with our favourite coffee-loving yellow mouse, Detective Pikachu Returns! Everyone loves a good mystery, and even more so if they're the one who gets to solve it. The detective genre has evolved a great...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Horror Games
Pack a spare pair of underpants
Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night? Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic? Have you or your family ever seen a spook, spectre, or ghost? If the answer is "no"... you obviously haven't been playing any of the excellent horror games available on Nintendo Switch...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Racing Games
Feel the requirement for rapidity!
What are the best Nintendo Switch racing games? While the Switch lacks the raw processing grunt of the Xbox One and PS4, petrol heads have been increasingly well served on the hybrid console, with a steadily growing catalogue of fantastic racers that offer plenty of arcade thrills and spills — and you can do it...
Guide Best Space And Sci-Fi Games On Nintendo Switch
The answer to the Ultimate Question
Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the — sorry, er, these are the best space and science fiction games that can be found on Nintendo Switch, despite the fact that none of the developers in this list has actually been to space. What makes a good space game? Well, first it has to take place in...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Graphics - The Most Beautiful Switch Games
Only skin-deep, but what skin!
While the Switch might not be able to compete with other platforms in pure processing terms, there's certainly no shortage of beautiful-looking games on the console. Switch may not output at a native 4K at 120 fps, but Nintendo's diminutive little hybrid can still pack a punch for the eyeballs. Couple clever...
Guide Best Mech Games On Nintendo Switch
Suited and booted
What's the ultimate power fantasy for you? If it's getting inside a robot and delivering a metallic, explosive world of pain to your enemies, then you're probably a mecha fan. From Gundam to Evangelion, mecha have been hugely popular in culture — particularly in anime — for years. And mech video games have followed suit,...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Soulslikes - Games To Play If You Like Dark Souls
Git gud games
Updated with the macabre sequel, Blasphemous 2 and the surprising stripped-down experience Bleak Sword DX. When Dark Souls launched back in 2011, it ushered in a new era of lore-filled and inscrutable combat-focused games that gave players the freedom to follow their own path and play style, but steadfastly refused to 'go easy' on...
Guide Best Switch Ports - The Most Impressive Ports On Nintendo Switch
Port city
Updated with new entries. Enjoy! Few could have predicted just how successful Nintendo's hybrid console would be prior to launch back in March 2017. For the preceding decade or so, many prolific third-party publishers tended to overlook Nintendo's systems for a variety of reasons, but Switch has attracted a huge number of the world's...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Remakes And Remasters
Remake you feel my love
Updated with Mario vs. Donkey Kong. Enjoy! It used to be the case that, if you missed out on a particular game, your only way to catch up was to buy the original console and the original game. Then, thanks to services like the Virtual Console, you could emulate those old games without having to own any old consoles, for...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Music And Rhythm Games
Not rushing, not dragging
Whether you're a rhythm-gaming master or just enjoy getting down to the funky beat, there are a wealth of games available on Switch that cater to the musically inclined. From games that give you a full body workout to titles that test the timing of a single digit, we were surprised to see just how many excellent rhythm and...
Guide Best LGBTQ+ Switch Games
Play with pride
Happy Pride, everyone! We're updating and republishing this list of some of Switch's best and most inclusive games in celebration of Pride month. Enjoy! The games industry has not always been good at portraying LGBTQ+ relationships and identities, but thanks to the efforts of small studios, indie developers, and LGBTQ+ creators,...
Guide Best Funny Games On Switch - Games That'll Make You Wii Yourself
Urine for a treat
What does it mean to be funny? Merriam-Webster defines funny as "affording light mirth and laughter", and in these dark times, don't we all need a little bit of Light Mirth? Well, do we have the mirth-inducing games for you! From witty writing to pants-wettingly chaotic co-op games, this list has every kind of light mirth that you...
Guide Best Bad Guy Games On Switch
It's good to be bad
Don't you get so tired of being the hero all the time? Do you ever look at Bowser and think, "man, King Koopa's got it all figured out"? Does your life philosophy tend to lean more towards "nice guys finish last"? Then boy, have we got the games for you! So if you're itching to do crimes and evil deeds, then here are the best...
Guide Best Spin-Off And Crossover Games On Switch
Spinnin' around
You know you've got it made when your game is so successful that you get a spin-off — and plenty of the biggest games in the biz have done exactly that, from Musou crossovers and sports-playing alternate universes to rhythm and strategy games. And you know what? They're usually pretty dang good. We've compiled a list of the best...
Guide Best Pixel Art Switch Games
Our pick of impeccable pixels
Of all the art styles in video games, none has a stronger chokehold on developers and players alike than the humble pixel. Whether it's a fantastically detailed modern take on what is possible in pixels, or something made in homage to NES and SNES games of yore, pixel art can be found everywhere — in every genre of...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Wacky Physics Games
Slapstick is the highest form of comedy
Comedy has evolved a lot over the centuries and millennia, but one particular comedic mainstay has passed the test of time over and over again: Slapstick. It turns out that civilisation, no matter how advanced, will always appreciate a good pratfall, or even something as simple as a human being moving in a way...
Guide Best Zombie Games On Nintendo Switch
Undead and docked
Every decade or so, something big happens to bring zombies back into our lives. Whether it was the release of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead in 1978, the publication and subsequent adaptation of The Walking Dead, the hugely popular 'Zombies' mode in the Call of Duty series, or the meteoric rise of The Last of Us, we love a...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Management And Tycoon Games
Put on your best suit and tie
Are you the kind of person who — how do we say this politely — really likes everything a very particular way? Perhaps you've got your kitchen cupboards labelled and filled with neat rows of boxes, or you always take point on group projects because you know you'll make better slides than everyone else? You, my...
Guide Best Feel-Good Nintendo Switch Games
I see a ship in the harbour
We've updated this list with a couple more feel-good games to help get you through any New Year blues. Enjoy! Blue Monday. No, not just a kick-ass New Order song, but the name coined by marketers for the third Monday in January (or the first, or the second — all January Mondays it seems!), which is purportedly the...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Anime Games
Jojo Pose
Anime! Who doesn't love anime? No one who's clicking on this list, hopefully, because all these games are anime as heck. We've compiled a list of the very best anime video games on the Nintendo Switch — the games which take the action, charm, and/or personality of popular and beloved anime and manga series and squish it into a video...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Fitness And Exercise Games
Get in shape with these Switch games
Looking for something to keep you active? Thinking about getting in shape but you're finding the lure of gaming too hard to resist? Worry not, because with Switch it's easy to mix your favourite pastime with a little cardiovascular exercise to get your blood pumping. Below we've collected our picks of the best...
Guide Best Free Nintendo Switch Games To Download And Play Right Now
Free as a bird
Can you get any Nintendo Switch games for free? Yes! How times change! It used to be that you went to your local video game emporium, took your chosen game to the counter, handed over cold hard cash, and raced home to pop it in your console. Not only has digital distribution removed the need to even leave the house, but many games...
