Online aspects and modern stuff like the game's battle pass and collectibles are woven in smoothly, and the various new modes all have their place in a package that also delivers the goods in terms of minigame quality.
For our money, Jamboree is the best Mario Party to date. So if your invite didn't come through, this is the party to crash. And the laboriously named Super Mario Party Jamboree - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV (seriously, two 'Jamborees'?!) adds a whole load more ice in the cooler for an even bigger, better shindig.
Mario Party Superstars is a love letter to the parties some of us remember attending two decades earlier. A disappointingly slim selection of boards takes the shine off things somewhat, but it was hard to argue that this was the best Mario Party had been in over a decade.
While there aren't many new ideas here — surprise, surprise — we much preferred to have all these classic ideas intact rather than potentially tainting them with unwanted, unnecessary inclusions only added for the sake of being new.
The lack of DLC boards was utterly baffling, but this is how you do a compilation of minigames, and with online play, there are even more opportunities to claim victory. Grab a can of Tango and a fistful of 10p Freddos — it's time to party like it’s 1999.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD introduced a raft of technical improvements and quality-of-life updates that revitalised the Wii game.
The alternate button control scheme totally worked if you still couldn't get on with the motion controls, the graphics got a sensitively handled HD overhaul, and a once-bothersome sidekick was streamlined into something altogether more useful.
Yes, the locking off of instant travel behind the official amiibo was a misstep, but beyond that issue, this was a great remaster of Zelda game that splits opinion.
Super Mario Maker 2 took everything you loved about Super Mario Maker and turned it up to 11.
It added more of everything: the Super Mario 3D World style, enemies, gizmos, power-ups, vertical levels, the Story Mode having an actual story, multiplayer, and more (including slopes, of course). The list of additions is truly massive.
There are a few small issues here and there — the online is still hilariously obtuse in a way only Nintendo could make it, and the slight awkwardness of button-based building is disappointing after how natural it felt on the Wii U GamePad (Switch 2 Mouse Mode update, please) — but they're overwhelmingly dwarfed by the sheer joy and unbridled freedom on offer.
Free updates and tweaks to the formula evolved the experience over time, much like the original, with Ninji Speedruns and various new elements — like the ability to create world maps — added to this expansive, essential Mario toybox.
Visually, Pikmin 3 Deluxe doesn't push the boat out much further than the original Wii U version . In most respects, it's a simple, tidy port of the same great game we first played back in 2013.
Where its changes lie are in its revamped control system and the addition of a new Side Stories mode. Neither is transformative enough to warrant double dipping if you're perfectly happy with your Wii U copy, but if you're one of the vast majority who don't have a Wii U copy, this Switch update is unquestionably the best way to play Pikmin 3.
Bringing Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy to Switch, it’s a shame that the presentation here is practically barebones, with no bonus content beyond the soundtracks. However, there can be no denying the quality of the games on this time-limited release. Super Mario 3D All-Stars is The Beatles’ Greatest Hits of the video game world, and is an absolute treat whether you’re reliving it in HD or discovering it for the first time.
Unfortunately, if you didn't grab a copy of this triple pack of platforming goodness before it was delisted on 31st March 2021 and removed from the Switch eShop, you'll have to look for a physical copy still in the supply chain (which shouldn't be too difficult given the substantial quantities Nintendo manufactured) or rely on the secondhand market.
Splatoon 3 is more of the same, but refined to borderline mechanical perfection. It's the most fun we’ve had with an online shooter in years, and for series veterans it makes Splatoon 2 feel entirely redundant for all but its unique single-player content. The developers solved every problem the Splatoon community was bleating on about, and then fixed some more that we didn’t even realise were problems.
There's nothing revolutionary about it compared to its predecessors, and it's perhaps missing a Big New Idea™ that you might have expected, but Splatoon 3 is the pinnacle of the series, and the pinnacle of shooters on Switch.
With the titular princess taking a starring role in her namesake series for the first time, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom should be the new standard for top-down Zelda going forward.
Rather than abandoning the classic formula, Zelda has shown that the old and the new can come together and produce wonderful results that reward experimentation and reinforce the joy of play.
In our book, this is easily in contention with A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds as one of the best top-down adventures in the series, and we hope we don’t need to wait another 35 years for Zelda to take the lead again.
This beautiful Switch remake of the classic Game Boy entry rebuilt everything from the ground up, and would be a good entry point for younger players into the Zelda series.
On top of the beautiful new art style, it added modern conveniences, a dungeon creator, amiibo support, and lots of little quality-of-life improvements whilst infusing every single square inch of Koholint – every secret passage, Piranha, Pokey, and Pig Warrior – with a level of detail and depth that totally reinvigorated both its timeless story and classic Zelda gameplay for a new generation.
If there's anything holding The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening back, frame drops may distract you from the otherwise absorbing gameplay, especially in docked mode. It's a little thing — and something smoothed out on Switch 2, thankfully — but with the heritage of technical wizardry behind the Game Boy original, imperfect performance is a dent in this game's otherwise glistening armour.
Super Mario Galaxy still feels incredible. However, it’s worth pointing out that the gyro controls used for the pointer in this Switch remaster aren’t as effective as the original Wii Sensor Bar – you’ll find yourself constantly recentring with a tap of ‘R’.
Minor camera annoyances are also more noticeable now after 15+ years of refinement in the platforming genre, but this is a nitpick. Galaxy remains one of Nintendo’s greatest achievements, and it’s never looked better.
How do you follow up a game like Mario Galaxy ? Well, with its direct sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2 , Nintendo refined and expanded upon the original’s outrageous gravity-based gameplay. The result is one of the finest 3D platformers of all time, one that constantly pushes you down surprising and thrilling new paths.
After its exclusion from Super Mario 3D All-Stars , Galaxy 2's arrival on Switch was very, very welcome, and despite some minor control irritations, it translates well. A must-play.
Splatoon 2 is just about everything you could ask for from a sequel. It builds on everything the original online team shooter set up and then some; almost every single major issue people had with the first game has been resolved, showing that Nintendo genuinely listens and wants to deliver the absolute best experience possible.
Maintaining the freshness you’d expect and throwing in countless big and small changes and additions — every one of them for the better — Splatoon 2 is simply... wait for it ... ink-redible.
Comments 2
Do the Xenoblade games really not count? Nintendo OWNS Monolithsoft, that makes them first party surely...
Same goes for Fire Emblem, and Smash, and numerous smaller games that are all first party - an Intelligent Systems game like WarioWare counts, yet Fire Emblem does not? What is being included is strange here.
@Matl At the time Nintendo didn't own them entirely, maybe that's why. Nintendo only owned 100 percent of Monolith from the end of last year or so.
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