2020 is now but a distant, if persistent, memory and we can now look back and survey the gaming battleground it left behind. Despite the year being a particularly ugly one for practically everyone, we were lucky enough to enjoy some incredible games that year, several of which helped restore spirits in our down time, enforced or otherwise.
Below you'll find the Top 50 Switch games of 2020 as ranked by readers of Nintendo Life. The order is governed by the User Ratings associated with every Switch game released in 2020 on our games database. As with several of our reader-ranked Best Games round-ups, the ranking is totally fluid even after publication, which means it's never too late to rate your collection and influence the list.
If you've yet to score your favourites, simply click your chosen games' ratings below and score as you see fit. Can't see your favourite? Head to our library of Switch games (click the Games tab at the top of the page) to find what you're looking for. A game needs to have been rated by a minimum of 50 users to become eligible, so it's entirely possible to influence this best Switch games of 2020 ranking and get your favourites on the list.
The best Switch games of 2017, 2018 or 2019 are available if you want to look back even further, but for now let's dive into this selection of the best Switch games of 2020...
50. The Outer Worlds (Switch)
The Outer Worlds is a hugely entertaining "Fallout-in-space"-style RPG adventure filled with wonderfully vibrant locations, excellent companions, zippy and hilariously brutal combat and a ton of well-written characters to meet as you attempt to save the colony of Halcyon. Virtuos has made the expected tweaks to graphics in order to keep things as smooth as possible with this Switch port and, although things can look and feel a little rough in docked mode, in handheld this is a supremely enjoyable experience that's entertained us just as much this time around as when we played it at launch, and comes highly recommended to fans of the genre.
49. Carrion (Switch eShop)
Carrion is a special thing in many ways — a game which puts you in the shoes (or slithering eldritch tentacles) of the game's 'boss' — but its actual meat-and-potatoes structure is as formulaic as the genre gets. Thankfully, its core gameplay of tearing room after room of people into wet chunks of corpse never ever gets old and sustains the experience throughout. It looks superb, sounds great, and is plenty of fun to play, despite some minor issues which just hold Carrion back from the absolute upper echelons of the Switch library. Still, if you're after a horrific Metroidvania with a twist, this one is disgustingly intriguing.
48. Burnout Paradise Remastered (Switch)
Elements of Burnout Paradise are starting to show their age now, but nobody can argue with the quality of its actual racing action. If you can put up with its various niggles and quirks and don’t mind the high price tag (relative to other systems), it’s easily one of the most entertaining – and certainly one of the fastest – racing games on the Switch.
47. Crysis Remastered (Switch)
Arriving 13 years after it originally set about melting the PC of anyone who dared to try to play it, Crysis Remastered on Switch is a port that's more impressive than anyone could have realistically expected. Performance for the most part is slick and smooth – albeit with a few dips and stutters here and there – while new lighting and global illumination techniques make this a fine-looking version of the game. The addition of gyro controls is just the cherry on top of an excellent job on the part of Saber Interactive. The gameplay here has aged surprisingly well, too, and rampaging across the sandbox of Lingshan taking out human and alien foes with your nano suit technology is just as much fun now as it was way back in 2007.
46. Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Switch eShop)
An exquisite bike racer-cum-trials game with tight controls, varied courses, and uniquely zen-like presentation. At once calming and demanding, Lonely Mountains: Downhill looks and feels like no other game on the eShop. Barring one or two disappointing technical issues, it's an absolute freewheeling delight.
45. Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)
Paper Mario: The Origami King tries to do something different with its combat system and, to be honest, we aren't really feeling it. That doesn't mean the rest of the game isn't thoroughly entertaining, however, and while the puzzle-based battles aren't quite what a new Paper Mario game needed, they aren't so awful that everything else shouldn't be experienced as a result. It still isn't the new Thousand-Year Door fans will have been hoping for, but it's still one of the funniest games in the series and it's got a truly likeable companion character, and while the combat is far from ideal the fact that we still thoroughly recommend the game regardless should speak volumes.
44. The Wonderful 101: Remastered (Switch)
Marrying astonishing spectacle and overwrought drama, The Wonderful 101: Remastered is one of the most memorable action games you’ll ever play. Its delirious excesses come with a price, and it’s one that’s at little harder to forgive this time, with the original’s flaws remaining untouched, and a few compromises made to accommodate the Wii U version’s dual-screen set-pieces. But for all its minor frustrations, it’s a game that rewards patience and perseverance. Grit your teeth through its control quirks and camera foibles and relish the giddy spectacle of a game that doesn’t know when to stop.
43. Two Point Hospital (Switch)
The highest praise we can give Two Point Hospital is that it feels impossible not to have fun with it. It’s zanier than an episode of Scrubs and shot through with some of the most satisfying sim gameplay of any title this generation. It may be heavily inspired by games that came before, but in truth, it feels like a natural evolution of Bullfrog’s title, surpassing it in so many ways and is an endlessly enjoyable addition to the Switch’s third-party library. It's also arguably the best version of the game so far, given its visual similarity to other versions, and being able to carry the experience around with you makes it even more appealing and addictive.
42. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered (Switch)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered teleports players back to more innocent times a decade ago, when simply taking on a series of races was considered enough to keep players entertained. Many would argue its simplicity is a strength, however, and the reality is that despite the lack of depth it's still a hugely entertaining time whether you're playing as a racer or a cop. If you struggle to stay afloat with all the faffing around in modern games, this old-school dose of straightforward racing goodness is your life jacket.
41. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (Switch eShop)
A masterpiece to this day, Duke Nukem 3D is done proud by this Switch conversion. It looks and runs briliantly, the online options are a welcome inclusion and it's not compromised in any way from its earlier console release. It's a shame that a handful of previously-available expansion packs are missing, but given the low price of World Tour Edition, it feels churlish to complain. In the words of the Duke himself, come get some.
Comments (72)
I'm glad Xenoblade is getting the recognition it deserves! It's one of my favorite games of all-time now. Overall the rest of the top 10 is amazing too. 2020 was a great year for gaming, all things considered.
Origami King is sorely missing in my humble opinion, but most of the 2020 greats are here! Gonna dive into Ori and Pikmin later today
Catherine is super low, and The Origami King, one of the best releases of 2020, isn't even in the top 50?
Joke list.
Xenoblade first place? Okay we have lot of fake weeb gamer
I have yet to experience the game in full, but I'll grant a tentative honourable mention to Hypnospace Outlaw.
This list serves as an interesting overall reminder for me. If we can consider this an interregnum year, a slow, pandemic-stricken one, then those of us who jumped into Switch ownership early must count ourselves lucky. That is a fairly meaty set of games!
At least, I will consider myself lucky. This much choice, to say nothing of the peace and liberty to play games at all, is something I will consciously cherish this Christmas Day.
@JokerCK This comment makes me wonder why you are even on a website dedicated to a console from a Japanese manufacturer.
Not liking/knowing a game doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to be in first position. It's one of the finest jRPG out there and I'm glad it's finally recognised as something else than a niche jRPG.
Happy to see so many apreciating one of my all time favourites xbc. Also good to see Hades in top 3, it’s brilliant.
But all in all, people play what they like to play - as they should.
Xenoblade at first place! I've gotta admit I am surprised but I'm happy to see it! I legitimately can't believe how far the series has come, can't wait to see what the future entries have in store!
Wow realy surprised at Xenoblade at number 1, I’ll have to pick this up. Played maybe 5 - 10 hours on 3DS and enjoyed it but I got stuck on one of the boss battles couldn’t carry on -I think the visuals made the battle a struggle for me to see what was happening on screen
@PikaPhantom I’m off to rate that 9 right now, thoroughly enjoyed it
Surprised that ACNH is not first, but Xenoblade Definitive edition deserves it, my second fav JRPG, right belove Fire Emblem three houses
Just ordered Xenoblade from amazon, only £29 sold direct by amazon new - seems a steal based on the above
No Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2? Hmmm...
Immortals Fenyx Rising is my game of the year.
It combines some of the best parts from Assassin's Creed Odyssey and BOTW.
It's a much more focused game than BOTW and feels more like a classic Zelda in that regard.
Ubisoft did a great job here, and I hope we will see more games in that style from them.
The reviews are to harsh in my opinion. To much focus is laid on the BOTW comparisons. It certainly borrows a lot of elements from that fantastic game, but it's still has enough of it's own style and gameplay. Just a fantastic game on it's own.
Far far far too may ports in this list. At first glace around a third is entirely old games...
I don't think old ports should be eligible unless they are a full on remake ala Resident Evil 2/3.
I love No more heroes 1+2 to pieces but they really should not be in this list....
The fact that A Short Hike is one of the top 10 is amazing, it's a great game!
I love that A Short Hike placed so high! Such a great little game!
I see a few others that I still need to try out.
This was definitely the year I played my Switch the least. The games I played I enjoyed but a very quiet Nintendo year for me. Do plan on jumping into Age of Calamity in the next few days though.
No way, where is Paper Mario: The Origami King??? Probably my best game of the year, and it's not even among the top 50...
People that have never touched it, can you please stop scoring it with 0 or 1 just because it doesn't have exp points...?? Damn, I can't stand the haters. As much as I LOVE The Thousand Year Door (one of my favourite games ever), I consider this one as a great successor, perhaps the second best entry in the series. If only people just gave it a chance...
That list is pretty spot on
upvoting Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2 and Origami King.
Solid list and can't argue with the top 3 even if i would put Hades No 1 and then Xenoblade No 2. Had my Switch a year now and its been a blast with so much to play and love.
@TheLightSpirit I understand it in your case, then. The battle system is not for everyone (even though is much better than I thought). I mean it for those that refuse to play just because some people say it´s the same as Sticker Star (they have NOTHING to do XD).
Interesting
Xenoblade does look gorgeous seeing some exploration footage
The combat system doesn't look that appealing to me but maybe I'll give it a chance
Doom eternal one of the biggest visual downgrades on switch? I've seen far FAR worse. Hell, Eternal looks better than 2016.
Shocking to see origami king missing considering how many ports are listed. Also surprised to see NMH1 lower than NMH2. But whatever, XC was number 1! Finally getting the recognition it rightfully deserves!
Xenoblade Chronicle DE is definitely the best for me closely followed by Animal Crossing. Really made my gaming year. The others on the list are pretty much all great. Barely 3 or 4 I haven't tried.
@dres
I agree with this 100 percent. I am enjoying this more than BOTW. Better combat, story, puzzles (the vaults are impressively diverse), and traversal.
BOTW lacked on combat and story and Immortals does that nicely. I'm excited the first DLC coming out, I think, in January.
Too bad this game launched when it did, it is so enjoyable.
@ozwally
Same here. Just started playing again on switch and its so worth it
Yes xenoblade. Very few games are better. I'm never excited to see a release be game of the year... But this is one game I can always support being at the to of a list.
I've no complaints with the ordering, but it does strike me as odd that the review scores are a bit of a mixed bag (i.e. I would have expected the top 10 to be 9s and 10s rather than 8s). Just picked up Horace for £1 and looking forward to having a blast with that, but see it is languishing in #29th place despite the gushing review.
EDIT: just noticed it's sorted by user scores, what do we know!
Good Job should be higher up this list imo.
So, where is Deadly Premonition 2?
Where is Crimzon Clover World Explosion?
Honestly, I believe that you should separate the indies and triple AAA developers and have Top 50 for indies and then Top 50 for the others. For the most part, the bigger developers can spend millions on games and dwarfs the money that most indie devs have access to. There are also a lot more people making those games in bigger companies and you're basically saying that a small number of people in an indie company should be compared to hundreds of people in bigger companies. I feel that is a disservice to the bigger devs by including indies in the same list. By doing this, you can rate more indies and triple AAA that deserve to be listed. I mean, you can't compare Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Call of Duty, The Elder Scrolls and others with an indie platformer. Anyway, this is just my two cents and thank you for reading this.
To me, another game of the year 2020 for Nintendo Switch that wasn't mentioned is La-Mulana 1 & 2 Hidden Treasures Edition.
Wonderful to see A short hike and Crosscode so high up!
Hades and Ori 2 are my 1 and 2 and then there is a huge gap and then other games after that.
Of the Nintendo exclusives, I think Xenoblade DE was the best game from them this year.
Xenoblade 1st? No origami King? Mario 35 so low? What is this????
Eh, Animal crossing on 4 and instead a old game (Xenoblade chronicles) on 1?! Something is not right...
And Doom Eternal so high, I didn't expect that!
@Xylnox,
I dissagree. 99% of the Switch games are indies. Making a list of only triple A retail-games, that would be a very short list. Besides there are many very strong indie-games nowadays. Games like Blasphemous or Monster boy and the cursed kingdom can stand toe to toe with the best AAA titles. its the quality that counts, not the amount of people working on a title.
@Vsaxo27,
Immortals is awesome, even if the humor is pretty cringy. And while botw probably has more diverse and original puzzles, this game has the harder puzzles. It can get frustrating though, and overall I think the difficulty is much higher (that also amounts to the battles) then botw. I am happy that Immortals is on the list at all, and when the dlc price gets sliced in half I also get that.
Good to see people enjoy Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore. I'd give it a try but I just hate the idea of censoring things just to censor them. Bought Xenoblade in June, still haven't found time to play it specifically though. I'm not sure it can live up to the hype everyone's gave to it for me, but I hope it still does.
First, where is Origami King? Second, why is Mario 35 there when it's going to be wiped from existence in four months?
Well, as much as I loved the writing and style in The Origami King (best Paper Mario ever on those aspects), the battles sure made the game a drag to play most of the time.
I would personally rank it around 30th - 40th, but understand why it didn't make top 50 here
Xenoblade above hades?
XC is a 10/10 for me. Glad to see it at no. 1.
Also, are people missing that this list is based on this site's user ratings?
Okay, I guess I have to check out the Definitive Edition of the Xenoblade Chronicles!
But I’m as surprised as anyone that Animal Crossing missed the Top 3, and that the Origami King isn’t even listed. I’ve heard a ton of great experiences from people who played it! I guess it fell off the radar for many gamers?
I think Paper Mario is missing because of folks gaming the system. The fact so many have mentioned it in the comments, says it all really.
Haters gonna hate.
@Wargoose It has a 7.7 user score here, so it just missed out being included on the list. I don't think that's a bad score, so not sure it got that much review bombed here.
Gave it a (low) 9/10 myself, but can see why people would rate it lower.
Weird, that bird character in the Short Hike game looks like the bird Reginald from that old Nedroid webcomic series.
Nice list of ports..
I agree with the 1,2 and 3 but really does Zelda deserve that top ten spot?
Some I agree with and some I don't but overall much better than the staff list at the very least. Xenoblade Chronicles still holds up as the best JRPG I've ever played so it's a worthy #1 for me.
XBC2's pandering is making it difficult for me to take the Xenoblade series seriously. Good for those that can enjoy the game I guess, though, and good on Nintendo for localizing it — certainly seems to have paid off.
A few worthy games but far too many ports of older games here. XC is a fantastic game but when a 10 year old Wii remake tops a poll it highlights the lack of new content this year.
Nintendo used to be known for innovation, now all we get from them are sequels and ports. Hopefully they manage to find some of that Nintendo magic and release something new next year
Great year to replay old games and ports.
For me, first party Nintendo had been really disappointing. Where is Nintendo’s next great single player adventure ? Luigi 3 was good but it wasn’t up to Nintendo’s greatness (probably because it was farmed out). Animal Crossing is fun for a couple of months for me, but there’s not any real “gameplay” or anything really new. Neither sequel took it to the next level in terms of design.
Nintendo doesn’t have to try hard. People will pay full price for a 6 year old port.
Nintendo is a company that can make “10”s like nobody else. But there hasn’t been much reason for me to turn on my switch over other systems lately.
@Wargoose I can guarantee you that a ton of people who didn’t actually play it gave it a low score just because it doesn’t match their precious GCN game.
The game was fantastic. If you don’t like the combat (which I agree was the weakest part) it can be essentially skipped with the cheer system. Every other part of the game is just fantastic, but so many people won’t give it the light of day because it doesn’t have experience points. Baffling.
Good number 1
I'm shocked that Superliminal didn't even make top 50. A wildly unique and inventive puzzle game drawing inspiration from Portal in all the best ways.
Of course, my usual gripes with 3D All Stars and Pikmin 3 being considered on a 2020 list. It's cool to see A Short Hike so high, even though its not a very deep game. It does well what it intends to do. And this is helpful in finding a lot of quick recommendations that I didn't have on my radar before. "Buy this," huh? Okay, I think you've sold me on Horace.
Pretty solid list although I think Mirage sessions is very overrated.
Ys Origins deserves to be higher, what a brilliant game it is. The 10/10 I just awarded it pushed it from 18th to 17th but it's deserving of a place in the top 10.
Its available for a decent price at the moment, 50% off I think.
This has to have been one of the worst years for games I have known.
Didnt expect Xenoblade to be on top. I liked the game, but I enjoyed Xenoblade 2 a whole lot more.
This year has been a lot of fun. My top game of this year is definitely Animal Crossing and the past month Sakuna Of Rice and Ruin. Sakuna is such an original game, glad to see it made the list. This sense of discovery on rice farming is just lovely to experience.
2020 has brought enough beautiful games that I might not even need that many new releases next year
@r1chard some people said they only thought Horace was a solid 8 or a top end 7. Looks my kind of jam though, so I'll probably rate it higher I'd guess. I got that myself last week, not played it yet though, I'm still polishing off Dragon Quest 11, and I had my first half hour blast of Hades earlier, yeah, it's seriously impressive, I can definitely see myself sinking mega hours into that.
@ozwally I did as well and it’s arrived today 😊 £50.00 on eshop 😱
@MattAllsopp mine arrived also today, but I need to clear the backlog abit before I open this one
@ozwally I know what you mean. I’ve bought loads of games recently that I’ve not even played yet 😱😄
Xenobloade Chronicles 1 is the only game in the series I feel like I could replay or play tbh. It was magical the first time and engaging enough the second time and then I lost all interest. It's the only one that definitely deserved the mutlitple upgrades and remasters.
"Opinions are like a**holes; everybody has one."
(Harry Callahan, The dead pool - 1988)
Thanks for A Short Hike, I would not have played it had it not been for this list. The NL review is spot on.
As for my Hades purchase, I'm not sure I am in the Roguelike camp, I've tried a few and the rinse, get upgrades, repeat cycle doesn't feel very rewarding.
I simply don't feel I am getting better, just my equipment is. Like ending up with a motor bike in the tour de france for just turning up a few years in a row.
I will give it another few tries, but its just sycophantic gaming, the discovery is the slow release of upgrades and skills, I guess I'm more a show me it all upfront and I know the tools I have vs the mystery box of random screwdrivers.
Xenoblade Chronicles, amazing bold choice loved that game since the Wii!
@MattAllsopp New Years resolution time for us both I think
@ozwally Oh yes! 😄👍🏻
You guys forgot to say anything about #38. Picross S4 and #37. Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut.
animal crossing got robbedd
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