Rocket League (Switch eShop)

Football-meets-cars game, Rocket League, has plenty of bitesize matches for you to dig into with online play. Those of you who like to carry your Switch around with you will be pleased to note that local options are also available for those (perhaps rare) occasions that you can meet up with a couple of similarly-equipped pals for a quick match. It's here that Rocket League on Switch really sings; while playing people online is fun it's one of life's eternal truths that multiplayer gaming is dramatically enhanced when you're within punching distance of your opponents.

Of course, Rocket League's short and exciting matches are only really good if you've got a solid Wi-Fi connection, or have access to other players locally — but on the off chance that that's the exact situation you're in, you can't go wrong with a bit of car-soccer.

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Rocket League Collector's Edition
Rocket League Collector's Edition

Lumines Remastered (Switch eShop)

Lumines Remastered is a luminary of the puzzle genre and feels perfectly at home on the Switch. Intense and immersive puzzle action, psychedelic visuals, a killer soundtrack, and a bevy of content and modes make for a premier puzzle experience that should not be missed. Lumines is an addictive experience that is positively a delight to play, and we would highly recommend it to both veterans and newcomers of the puzzle genre.

Just like Tetris, Lumines makes for an excellent pick-up-and-put-down game.

Dead Cells (Switch)

Dead Cells puts you in control of a failed alchemic experiment trying to figure out what's happening on a sprawling, ever-changing and seemingly cursed island. Tough but fair combat, responsive controls, challenging foes, permadeath and of course, the emergency panic roll to get you out of trouble, make for a demanding, visceral and cathartic action game.

With a massive range of weapons, powers, and mutations, every run in Dead Cells feels different — and if you take advantage of the game's speediness, you can easily run through the levels and die horribly in less than 25 minutes.

Dead Cells
Dead Cells

ISLANDERS Console Edition (Switch eShop)

ISLANDERS is a relaxing, minimalist strategy game about building cities on colourful islands. Explore these procedurally generated Islands from lush green grasslands to dry deserts and snowy mountainscapes and expand your settlements from sprawling villages to vast cities.

With simple and intuitive building mechanics, you have the freedom to create your own cities on the rugged cliffs of the game’s islands in half an hour or less.

PUSS! (Switch eShop)

If you’re after something challenging and, shall we say, different, then PUSS! could well be right up your alley. Its avoid-em-up gameplay is simple enough for anyone to pick up, but the difficulty ramps up quickly to outrageous levels. Nevertheless, it remains strangely addictive, and will likely hold your attention for a good while as you pour blood, sweat, and tears into progressing through its levels, inch by inch.

You might only want to play this one in small doses. It's... a lot.

OlliOlli World (Switch eShop)

Flip and flow through the vivid and vibrant world of Radlandia in OlliOlli World, meeting colorful characters as you grind, trick, and air your way to discover the mystical skate gods on your quest for Gnarvana. Traverse a delightful and weird world as you take on missions, challenges, and make new friends along the way.

Step aside, Sir Anthony Hawk — this skate game is perfect for drop in, drop out game sessions, and it's gorgeous to boot.

Any of the Picross games

Honestly, we've almost lost track of which one is which in Jupiter's Picross series, but you can't go wrong with a good Picross game. They're all more or less the same experience, with small puzzles working up to large puzzles, plus a few extras like Mega Picross and Color Picross to keep things spicy.

Picross S7 has touch support, so maybe that's the best one, but again, it really doesn't matter.

Fall Guys (Switch eShop)

Fall Guys is a free, cross-platform, massively multiplayer, party royale game where you and your fellow contestants compete through escalating rounds of absurd obstacle course chaos until one lucky victor remains.

Rounds last between 5 and 20 minutes, unless you're really bad at the game. Note that you'll need Wi-Fi for this one, too!

Splatoon 2 (Switch)

Fishy inky terrain-painting shooting game Splatoon 2 maintains the freshness you’d expect from a Splatoon game and throws in countless big and small changes and additions, every one of them for the better. Anyone who says Nintendo can’t do online should be eating their words right now; Splatoon 2 is simply inkredible.

Again, you'll be needing Wi-Fi or some local multiplayer pals for this one, but matches are short and sweet.

Splatoon 2
Splatoon 2

Townscaper (Switch eShop)

Townscaper is an experimental passion project. More of a toy than a game. Pick colours from the palette, plop down coloured blocks of house on the irregular grid, and watch Townscaper's underlying algorithm automatically turn those blocks into cute little houses, arches, stairways, bridges and lush backyards, depending on their configuration. Build quaint island towns with curvy streets. Build small hamlets, soaring cathedrals, canal networks, or sky cities on stilts. Block by block. No goal. No real gameplay. Just plenty of building and plenty of beauty. That's it.

You can play Townscaper for as long as you want — which is part of the lovely, relaxing beauty of it. Maybe best for extremely stressful situations, like a delayed train, or a dog's funeral.

Of course, there's no way this list could ever be exhaustive — so let us know your favourite games for bitesize play sessions in the comments!

This article is one of our Switch Essentials guides which cover a wide variety of genres, including the Best Switch FPS Games, the Best Switch RPGs, the Best Switch Games For Kids, the Best Switch Couch Co-Op Games and the Best Switch Fitness and Exercise Games. We can also help out hunting down the Best Switch Horror Games, the Best Switch Racing Games, the Best Switch Action-RPGs, the Best Nintendo Switch Roguelikes, Roguelites and Run-Based Games, the Best Free Switch Games, the Best Remakes And Remasters, the Best Switch Music And Rhythm Games, Best Feel-Good Switch Games, Best Switch Open-World Games, Best Switch Soulslike Games, Best LGBTQ+ Switch Games, and even Games to Play After You've Finished Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Whatever your favourite genre, we've got you covered: Strategy Games, Metroidvanias, Puzzle Games, Party Games, Online Multiplayer Games, Local Wireless Multiplayer Games, Shmups, Twin-Stick Shooters, Visual Novels, Kart Racers, Fighting Games, Football Games, Funny Games, Golf Games, 'Walking Sims' And Narrative Games, Switch Games For Lovers And Lonely Hearts, Detective Games, Hidden Gems, 2D Platformers, 3D Platformers, Puzzle Platformers, Tabletop Mode Games, Run and Gun Games, LEGO Games, Sports Games, Survival Games, Beat 'Em Ups, Camera Games, Chill Games, Family Games, Retro-Inspired Games, Short Games, Card Games and Deck-Builders, and Life Sims And Farming Games.

Still hungry for more? Elsewhere we look at Wholesome Games, TATE Mode Games, Flight Sim and Space Combat, Point and Click Adventure Games, and the Best Switch Exclusives, as well as Every Arcade Archives Game, Every ACA Neo Geo Game, Every SEGA AGES Game On Switch, plus the Best Switch Ports, Best Wii U-To-Switch Ports, Best Switch Collections And Compilations, Best Cheap Switch Games, Best Switch Demos, Games That Are Better On Switch OLED, Switch Games Under $10, $20, $50, and Switch games with the Best Soundtracks and the Best Graphics. Phew!

If you're looking for the best Switch games regardless of genre, our reader-voted selection of the Best Nintendo Switch Games should help you out, and you can also find the Best Nintendo Switch Games of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. And finally, if you're interested in other Nintendo consoles and retro games, check out the Best Game Boy Games, Best GBC Games, Best GBA Games, Best Nintendo DS Games, Best Nintendo 3DS Games, Best NES Games, Best SNES Games, Best N64 Games, Best GameCube Games, and Best Wii Games, and Best Wii U Games, as well as Every Available Nintendo Switch Online Retro Game, and ranked lists of Every Nintendo Switch Online NES, SNES, N64 and Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Game.