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Topic: The Switch games I finished in 2023

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Harleq

[Edited by Harleq]

Harleq

kkslider5552000

I'm always here for more praise for Steamworld Heist, one of the only strategy games I bothered to complete ever.

I'm too lazy to write...actual words about the games I beat right now but I do have a list:
-Yooka Laylee
-Link's Awakening remake
-Xenoblade 2's Torna Expansion
-Age of Calamity's DLC had an ending of some sort I think I'll count it
-Goldeneye 007
-Advance War 1's campaign in the remake
-Metroid Prime: Remastered
-Doom 2
-Oxenfree 2
-Live a Live

Along with replays of Ocarina of Time, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Sonic Mania.

Non-binary, demiguy, making LPs, still alive

Megaman Legends 2 Let's Play!:
LeT's PlAy MEGAMAN LEGENDS 2 < Link to LP

SillyG

Let's have a look-see...

  • Pokémon Violet
    Completed the main game + Pokédex. Yet to purchase the DLC (as I'm put off by the prematurely released "complete" physical reissue). Have yet to receive the first badge in Scarlet, but I've completed the Pokédex in that too so that I can have a shiny charm for the bulk of that play-through (and funnily enough, I found a shiny Lechonk before I had even entered the school grounds!).
  • Untitled Goose Game
    Completed the main game aaaaaages ago, but I found the extra missions to be a little daunting. Turns out that they weren't nearly as hard to do as I had anticipated (expecting them to be extremely difficult without a second player), but I got them all within a few attempts.
  • Fire Emblem Engage
    Completed the main game in Casual/Easy with all support conversations EXCEPT for one late-game character who I didn't know was recruitable (grrr...), so I'm hoping to amend that in a Casual/Hard play-through (which is already tearing me to shreds).
  • WarioWare: Move It!
    It's pretty short. I haven't yet unlocked all of the poses though, but I'll try and get around to it soon. All stages and microgames are unlocked, however.
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder
    Completed everything except for the badge marathon. I spent all night a few weeks ago trying to complete it and failed miserably (I made it to the final stage several times too) as I was down to my last life an decided to leave it there.
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
    Not sure if this counts as I beat the main game, but I still have a ways to go with all of the new postgame dungeons (and accompanying difficulty spike...).
  • Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!/Pikachu!
    Already completed the main games + Pokédexs way back, but I decided to go for defeating all of the master trainers, which involved a lot of grinding in Cerulean Cave (but I got a good bunch of shinies out of all my comboing, including two Charizards, and a non-shiny Zapdos in the overworld).
  • Commander Keen: Keen Dreams - Definitive Edition
    The new levels in this "definitive" edition are so hideously and amateurishly designed, and it took dozens of tries to complete the objectives in some of those stages. I persevered and 100%'ed it though.
  • Ultra Mega Xtra Party Challenge
    A motion-based WarioWare knock-off before Move It came along. It's pretty good, but I think there was a weird bug that wiped out my save (maybe because I quit the game while it was saving, but the game doesn't actually alert you when it's saving data, which may be concerning).
  • Picross: Lord of the Nazarick
    No interest in the "Lord of the Nazarick" series, its lore or anything. I'll play almost anything that's Picross-related. I completed the Hello Kitty one on 3DS too. I'm almost done with Picross S5 too.
  • The Pizza Delivery Boy Who Saved The World
    Very little in the way of actual "gameplay". It's mostly just a mildly amusing visual novel at best with zero replay value.
  • Game Dev Story

I'm yet to complete The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The last I had played (which was a few months ago now), I was up to the boss of my third regional phenomena. I've unlocked all of the runes and found almost all of the shrines though, so, there really isn't a whole lot more for me to do.

[Edited by SillyG]

Porygon did nothing wrong.
Pokémon Sleep Friend Code: 1158-2327-1187

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

Harleq

@kkslider5552000 Steamworld Heist is great. I may go back to it one day and try to get all the hats.

Your list contains some real gems, including some I played and beat when they came out originally (Doom 2, Goldeneye, and Metroid Prime). You have excellent taste!

@Sisilly_G You owe it to yourself to finish Tears of the Kingdom. The final fights are some of the most memorable in the game.

Harleq

dmcc0

I'm in the same boat - didn't play any 2023 games this year, and not much on Switch at all to be honest. Had more play time on Xbox & 3DS I think.

Completed:
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Great Game - definitely the best thing I've played this year across all platforms.
Cotton Reboot
Finally got around to playing one of the many Cotton games in the backlog. Really good Shoot-Em-Up
South Park: The Stick of Truth
I'm no more than a casual South Park fan, but this was a really fun game, although there were probably a ton of in-jokes from the show that went straight over my head. Some genuinely funny parts though.
Beast Busters Can barely remember what this was like - Rail shooter type game from the SNK collection I think. Pretty forgettable.

Played, but dropped:
Annalynn Retro arcade-style platformer which borrows heavily from games like Pac Man. Was pretty enjoyable, but got frustrated with enemies seemingly appearing right in front of me with no time to dodge.
Dig Dug Fun arcade game from one of the Namco compilations. Played a fair bit, but didn't finish as it apparently has around 250 levels! Might go back to it if I fancy something to play in short bursts.
99Vidas Side-scrolling Beat-Em-Up. Was pretty disappointed in this as it reviews quite well, but I found it very average. Got bored with it pretty quickly and never finished it.

[Edited by dmcc0]

dmcc0

Magician

The games I rolled credits for, but there are many I've started but have yet to "finish".

Arcade Paradise
As a person who grew up playing cabinets at local bowling alleys, pizza places, or arcades in the late 70's to early 90's...Arcade Paradise spoke to me on a personal level. The game oozes nostalgia for those familiar with quarter-munching experiences. If you're like me and you have a lot of love for that place in time, don't skip this game.

Ruiner
Isometric twin-stick action game published by Devolver Digital. Arguably one of my favorite third party publishers because the games they publish skew more towards mature-rated experiences than family-friendly-fun. Ruiner is a linear action game with a lot of window dressing. There's a score-and-time-attack system, but both don't go towards anything other than speed running and/or bragging rights.

Anywho, this was a quick three-hour blast. You're constantly switching between melee and ranged weapons depending on the situation. Ranged weapons only get one magazine, which forces you to routinely pick up weapons dropped by enemies. And the soundtrack is very appropriate for the dystopian / cyberpunk theme of the game.

Just...one hell of a good time, puppy.

Cyberpunk 2077
Gave me whiplash from the lack of loading screens after playing Midfield.

Starfield (a.k.a. - Midfield)
It's better than the launch version of Fallout 76, I'll give it that much.

Monster Hunter Rise
Rolled credits for the base game again on PS5. The hype for Wilds in 2025 is real.

Dragon Quest Treasures
I'm a sucker for most anything DQ-themed. I enjoyed this.

Witch on the Holy Night
Visual novels that aren't otome feel few and far between. I might rank this as a top-five vn on Switch?

Chaos;Head Noah
On the other end of spectrum I experienced this. Again, not an otome, but by the end I didn't care about these characters. And the constant suicidal thoughts from the protagonist? Woof.

Oxenfree
A four hour adventure game with a tinge of Eldritch horror. Puzzles are on the easy side, making this feel closer to a 2D walking simulator. But, it's well written and the voicework is great, which was enough to make me eager for each proceeding moment. Fantastic.

Trouble Witches Final: Episode 1 - Daughters of Amalgam
Pleasantly surprised. The pixel art of the characters over 3D backgrounds, running at a smooth framerate even during a screen full of bullets, this game is nice to look at. I like the currency system of purchasing your bombs, lives, and extending the duration of your witch ability. Dare I say that this is the best cute'em up I've ever played?

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
An open world adventure game about taking photographs of the world's wildlife. You play the role of a young girl whose mission is to save the island's nature preserve from being demolished in lieu of the construction of a shiny new hotel. It's like Pokemon Snap, only less complicated and has freedom of movement, lol. Just a fun, super-solid, easy-breezy chill experience.

Spidersaurs
Co-op run'n'gunnin' fun. I think the game looks great, sounds great, and plays fairly well. But...I think it follows Contra's design...too well. Lots of cheap deaths. Whether it's ranged enemies spawning at odd angles to the weapons you have equipped, leaving you unable to defend yourself. Or enemies with greater movement speed than that of your character, resulting in bad touch...after bad touch...after bad touch, causing you to burn through your continues quickly.

Warhammer 40k: Shootas, Blood and Teef
Developed by Rogueside. These fine Belgium folk know how to make fun run'n'gun games. Coming off of the Guns, Gore & Cannoli games, Warhammer 40k SBT feels like a proper WH game from the perspective of the Orks. The quality of the voicework and the audio design make this game feel like a high AA-quality game. Unfortunately, the framerate on Switch begins to dip when the action gets too intense.

Arietta of Spirits
It takes a lot of inspiration from Zelda. Top-down action adventure. But where Zelda is a bit more of an open world, with a bit of exploration, AoS is much more of a linear experience. It only took three hours to play through. But the music is quite nice and the boss fights are mechanically good fun.

[Edited by Magician]

Switch Physical Collection - 1,540 games (as of January 28th, 2026)
Switch 2 Physical Collection - 4 games (as of December 8th, 2025)

Matt_Barber

Here are the ones I finished:

Assassin's Creed: Ezio Collection - The quality of the Switch port pleasantly surprised me. That's not to say that it runs amazingly or anything, but I could detect some visual improvements over the originals and the frame rate holds up just enough not to get in the way of your rooftop parkour. Replaying these games was fun in a way that the more recent entries in the series can't deliver for me any more.

Persona 5 Royal - This is a well-regarded Switch port with good reason. If anything, I'd say that it runs better than, the still Switch-exclusive, Shin Megami Tensei V. I don't think the game needs much of an introduction; you've got a mix of schoolboy social sim and otherworldly dungeon delving. Very good overall, although I'd still say that my heart lies more with the mainline SMT games.

Old Man's Journey - An inventive little puzzler with a touching story that makes for my cozy-game-about-death this year. It's too short and simple to be compared with the likes of Gris and Spiritfarer, but well put together for what it is.

Fire Emblem Engage - Enough has been said about the game's shortcomings in the story department that I won't go into that. Still, for all that you have to turn your brain off for the cut scenes, you've got to switch it right back on again for the battles. The map design is top notch and you've got to keep your forces on the move as the game will punish you if you just try to slog it out. I got a good sixty hours out of it but I can't say that I'm expecting it to have the replay value of Three Houses with that game's branching story.

Metroid Prime Remastered - This has gone down as the best example for the year of how to take an old game and update it for a modern platform without fixing anything that wasn't broken. It's still a great game even if it is a twenty year old one.

Bayonetta Origins - Loved this one. It looks and feels more like a third Okami game than a fourth Bayonetta but it's got the best and most coherent story of the series as a whole and the switch-up to more puzzle based gameplay suits me just fine. I just don't see it having as much replay value due to the lack of pure platinum medals to collect.

Advance Wars Re-Boot - We had a long wait for this one but it was worth it and, while Metroid Prime only needed a bit of a glow up, the decision to revamp the graphics over the GBA originals is justified here. The gameplay is virtually unchanged though and that's how it should be. Maybe we'll finally get a new entry in the series on the back of this?

F-Zero 99 - This might have come like a slap in the face with a wet fish to those looking for a GX follow up, but I'm loving it. Don't make the mistake of thinking that it's just the SNES game warmed over, as that's just its visual style and the gameplay is far deeper.

Super Mario Bros Wonder - I enjoyed it but didn't find it to be that radical a shake-up, just a mixture of the familiar and inventive and that;s no bad thing. You'll find plenty of wilder levels in the Maker games but it's definitely not just another NSMB.

Into the awards section now:

Baten Kaitos 1 and 2 Remastered - I went into this expecting the remasters to be pretty rough and there are definitely some poor things about them. The lack of an English dub didn't bother me, but the slowdowns and occasional bugs did, while the way that the QoL features were grafted on wasn't exactly seamless. You'd think that you might want to access the options to make the game a bit easier after you've lost a boss fight but no, you've got to close the game and reload to do that. Anyway, the stories hold up well, the music is as fabulous as it always was, and the visuals are better than ever thanks to the improved textures and animations. The parallels between the first game and Xenoblade 2 seemed rather notable too. Sure, it's a mixed bag on the technical side, but on balance it's still my third favorite of the year.

Xenoblade 3: Future Redeemed - I'm sure we've all got a dream that one of our favorite studios will make a game to order giving us exactly what we want and I almost feel that that happened here. Not only is this the crossover finale to the series that I always wanted but the lead character shares my name! Seriously, this is definitely one for the fans and, while enough of a game to stand in its own right like Torna did, it's one where you've ideally played the entire series first. Anyway, Torna was my favorite Switch game of 2018 and this is even better, but it's only second best this year because...

Tears of the Kingdom - As a fan of both expansive open worlds and games with impressive physics engine this absolutely nailed it to me. Insert gushing praise here. It's my game of the year and no question about it.

That's it for Switch, although I've still got Mario RPG and Pikmin on the unfinished pile.

There are a bunch of other games that I played on PC, and mobile but I'd save those for a more appropriate topic.

Matt_Barber

Harleq

@Magician You and I might be of a similiar age, because I had the exact same thoughts about Arcade Paradise. It's made with love and reverence for that particular era and captures it perfectly. I wonder how it looks to someone who didn't live through it.

Ruiner is awesome. Stylish and violent and perfectly comfortable being exactly what it is. I haven't touched the rest of your list, but there are a few I'm bookmarking for later.

@Matt_Barber Persona 5 is an all-timer. I've completed it on two different systems now and I'm dangerously close to starting another run. I'm glad to hear your thoughts on the Advance Wars and Baten Kaitos reboots. I loved their originals and it's good to see that they're still good after all these years. Maybe once I've gotten a few more of my backlog cleared...

@dmcc0 13 Sentinels is one of the best things I've ever played, and a perfect example of a story that could only be told through this medium. It's a towering achievement.

It's great to see everyone's lists here. Keep them coming!

[Edited by Harleq]

Harleq

Fizza

I've finished/beaten WAYYYYYYY too many games this year to list all of them here so I'm just gonna link my Backloggd 'Games I've Played in 2023 Ranked' list instead XD

https://www.backloggd.com/u/Fizza/list/games-ive-played-in-20...

might edit this with my thoughts on certain individual games later but that's for future, less tired me to decide

[Edited by Fizza]

Mario Maker 2 Maker ID: YT1-0Q2-YFF
Please ask for permission before using my FC!

Switch Friend Code: SW-3505-5480-3330

BenAV

The games I reached the credits in this year (in order that I finished them):

  • Chaos;Child
  • Dragon Quest Treasures
  • Portal
  • Return to Shironagasu Island
  • Fire Emblem Engage
  • OneShot: World Machine Edition
  • Digimon Survive
  • Theathrythm Final Bar Line
  • Octopath Traveler II
  • Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo
  • Dredge
  • Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key
  • Wildfrost
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC
  • GrimGrimoire OnceMore
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
  • Witch on the Holy Night
  • We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie
  • Shadows Over Loathing
  • Megaman Battle Network 1
  • Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE
  • Arcade Paradise
  • Pikmin 4
  • Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes - Definitive Edition
  • Little Noah: Scion of Paradise
  • Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
  • Super Bullet Break
  • Vampire Survivors
  • The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
  • Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate
  • Star Melody Yumemi Dreamer
  • Terraria (first time finishing the Switch version)
  • Anonymous;Code
  • Windosill
  • Chained Echoes
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder
  • Rune Factory 3 Special
  • Dave the Diver
  • ghostpia Season One
  • Risk of Rain Returns
  • Star Ocean: The Second Story R
  • SteamWorld Build

The games I've started but haven't finished for whatever reason:

  • Cult of the Lamb
  • No Man's Sky
  • Lunistice
  • Factorio
  • Floppy Knights
  • Two Point Campus
  • Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
  • Tactics Ogre: Reborn
  • Blue Fire
  • Tunic
  • Backpack Hero
  • Faeria
  • Etrian Odyssey HD
  • Outer Wilds
  • Potion Craft
  • Little Goody Two Shoes

[Edited by BenAV]

BenAV

Switch Friend Code: SW-4616-9069-4695 | Bluesky: benav92.bsky.social

SillyG

Harleq wrote:

You owe it to yourself to finish Tears of the Kingdom. The final fights are some of the most memorable in the game.

I have a feeling that I'm going to need to set aside a few hours to fully immerse myself in the game's conclusion, hence why I have been putting it off for the time being.

I fully intend to get around to it, but I am also yet to complete the last beast/dungeon in the BOTW DLC, so, I will likely prioritise that first.

Porygon did nothing wrong.
Pokémon Sleep Friend Code: 1158-2327-1187

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

Ralizah

Yeah, I really need to get back to TotK. I bounced off that HARD back in June.

Currently Playing: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (PC)

Harleq

@Fizza That's a fun list! Castlevania II is such a weird thing. My brother and I played it so much that we could essentially speed run it by the end to get the best ending. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I have strong nostalgia for it but I also think it's objectively bad in just about every way but the music.

@BenAV You beat ALL those games this year? How did you find the time? I'm lucky to have an hour to play in the morning while nursing my daily cup of coffee.

Harleq

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