We make a lot of lists here at Nintendo Life, you may have noticed. Why? Because we've all been that person who really wants a game that's like another game they really enjoyed, and they want some more recommendations. It's easy to lump games together by genre to answer that query — but what about all the games that fall through the cracks?
Some games defy genre in interesting ways, but that makes them hard to put in nice boxes (although maybe putting things in nice boxes isn't such a great thing, anyway). Other games mix genres to create something entirely new — like metroidvanias, before "metroidvania" was a thing, or the dreaded deckbuilding roguelike — but that means that they don't quite fit in anywhere, either.
So, to solve this egregious wrong, we've put together a handful of games that we think deserve recommendation, but don't fit in your neat little categories. They're different, man. They don't conform to your standards. And honestly? That's why we love 'em.
(Author's note: Some of these games, like The Stanley Parable and Return of the Obra Dinn, are technically on other lists — Stanley made it to Best Comedy Games and ROTD is on our list of Best Detective Games — but if we're being totally honest, those lists were made so we could include those specific games. So it doesn't count.)
Neon White (Switch eShop)
Neon White is a hard game to pin down to one single genre. Part platformer, part first-person shooter, part card game, part social sim. It sounds like a risk of too many cooks in the kitchen, but Neon White has blended them all together perfectly to create a five-star meal.
From its excellent writing, music, and presentation to its intense and satisfying core gameplay, Neon White is one of the most exciting things we’ve played all year, and it’s a game we can't see ourselves putting down for a long time as we try to best our previous times.
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Part Time UFO (Switch eShop)
Part Time UFO may not have initially been made with any involvement from Nintendo, but HAL’s close links with the company shine through regardless and as a result, it absolutely feels like the sort of premium product you’d usually only expect from one of Nintendo’s own development teams. It's just sort of hard to categorise... but perhaps it doesn't need to be. It's brilliant on its own terms.
Katamari Damacy REROLL (Switch eShop)
Games are often at their best when they embrace the truly weird and wonderful. Katamari Damacy is one of the OG weird and wonderful games, in which you play a Prince tasked with rolling up stuff to create new stars, because your terrible, buff dad accidentally destroyed them all. Is it a puzzle game? Is it an action game? Who cares. It's a great game.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (Switch eShop)
The Stanley Parable is an incredibly meta game that relies on defying genre. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will make a choice, and you will have your choices taken from you. The game will end, the game will never end. Contradiction follows contradiction, the rules of how games should work are broken, then broken again. You are not here to win. The Stanley Parable is a game that plays you.
Do Not Feed the Monkeys (Switch eShop)
Invited to the mysterious "Primate Observation Club", your task in Do Not Feed The Monkeys is to observe "the monkeys" through a series of cameras, while reporting back on your findings to the Club by responding to their email requests for information. Feeding back your accrued knowledge gets you paid, and getting paid allows you to buy more cameras to spy on more "monkeys".
It's one of many voyeurism games, like Orwell, Hypnospace Outlaw, and Her Story... some of which are also on this list, because they're all hard to categorise in the same way!
Tux and Fanny (Switch eShop)
Tux and Fanny just want to play soccer but their soccer ball is deflated. In your quest to re-inflate it, you will play as a flea whose entire society has died, a cat who wants to eat birds, a worm who just wants to escape the digestive system it has found itself in, and the titular Tux and Fanny. This game is all over the place, in the absolute best way, with elements of point-and-click adventures that are told in bizarre, absurdist ways. It's a game about a football, but it's a game about everything else, too.
Tetris Effect: Connected (Switch eShop)
Sure, Tetris is a sort of puzzle game. But Tetris Effect is so much more — a synesthetic zen wonderland of shapes, sounds, and colours.
During gameplay, every movement, line clear or hard-drop is accompanied by some kind of aural and visual effect, and each level is set against a wonderfully animated and evolving backdrop. Some would argue that Tetris is a game that doesn't need graphical gimmicks to engage and addict, but Tetris Effect pulls out all of the stops regardless, delivering some truly gorgeous visual effects which combine perfectly with the equally beautiful soundtrack.
Return of the Obra Dinn (Switch eShop)
Arguably, Return of the Obra Dinn — like a lot of games on this list — is a "narrative" game, and a "walking simulator". But what does that even mean, really? It’s probably unlike anything you’ve ever played before and, as such, is somewhat difficult to get your head around to begin with. Like most games of its ilk though, when it begins to click you’re already sucked into the mystery and wanting to eagerly crack on to close this fascinating case.
Telling Lies (Switch eShop)
Telling Lies, from the same studio as similarly genre-defying (but not on Switch) game Her Story, has you reviewing video clips of four main characters and an assortment of support players using various video capture devices. You only hear one side of the conversation, but you have the ability to search the fictional RETINA database (the repository for these surreptitious recordings) using any word from the dialogue, and much of your detective work relies on finding the other half of a conversation, identifying that person and listening for new leads and search terms.
On paper, searching a large database of phone-filmed video clips doesn't sound too exciting, but Telling Lies offers an exhilarating few hours of detective work thanks to clever construction, strong performances and exceptional polish.
No Man's Sky (Switch)
Some games on this list are here because they don't fit neatly into one genre box. No Man's Sky, which comes out on Switch in October 2022, is here because it fits into too many boxes.
Your voyage through No Man's Sky is up to you. Will you be a fighter, preying on the weak and taking their riches, or taking out pirates for their bounties? Or a trader? Or perhaps an explorer?
The gigantic, frequent free updates to this game only add more options.
Loop Hero (Switch eShop)
Loop Hero proves to be a fascinating and creative take on an RPG, distilling the genre down to its most important gameplay elements and throwing in some fresh ideas. There's deckbuilding, tower defense, city management, timeloop narrative, boss battles, and more. It's an RPG, but it's not an RPG... it's... an RPG about RPGs? Maybe????
Head to page two for more genre-bending, label-defying video games...
Comments 52
Ehh I'm pretty sure you could fit all these games to a genre if you tried hard enough.
Tetris Effect for example is still at it's core a puzzle game so you would rank it as such.
And No Man's Sky is listed as an action-adventure survival game.
3 10/10 games I never see other people talking about.
Carrion, a metroidvania were you play the bad guy. Lethal League Blaze, a mashup of 2D fighter and dodgeball. Pato Box, a mashup of Punch-Out and adventure.
@Rykdrew I love Monster Train!! I've been playing it on Xbox Game Pass, though! I'm tempted to get a second copy just so I can play it on my travels...
Part Time UFO is one of the most complete ideas I've encountered on the eshop. It does just one thing, and it does it extremely well. Great puzzles, charming visuals, and an amazingly catchy soundtrack.
A must-play.
Been looking for a list like this for aaages;
''best games on Switch that aren't the 'best' games on Switch''
''best games on Switch people should know about but don't (but maybe they do jeeze I don't know you all''.
''best games on Switch like insert random game you love''.
The problem is I'm so absolutely-amazing-beautiful-great-astounding-discerning (joke joke I jest) at choosing games; I usually have a lot of the best versions of any particular sub-genre of farming, crafting, sandbox-y type game.
Lucky for me I'll give anything a try, I just wish the only person still making great Harvest Moon style games wasn't just one guy who's now moved on. God I loved HM on the SNES. And the GB. OMG aaaand FoMT. The new chocolate game that guy is making looks great though.
OH hey, BTW Obra Din, amazes, The Stanley parabalalala (playing on PS4, haven't finished) but so intriguing. I keep doing the wrong ahem thing just to see.
Is No Man's Sky a proper non cloud thingy cos that would be a technical marvelution.
I can't wait for the other very different spacey thing, Outer Wilds. I bought it and the expansion on PS4 but it really does seem like a handheld experience so I am gonna wait it out and the feel guilty for buying it again just like I did with Stardew (4 times eck !) and various other bits I bought just cos I ''needed'' them handheld.
@hotdangitsdan
omg so sorry that was huge
don't really agree with Luigis Mansion 3 being in this list it is a very popular game I would argue a lot of people who played it would put it in the best Switch game category
@CharlieGirl OMG yes thanks for reminding me I'll pick this up some time soon. I love little concepts like this
@Rykdrew I bought Griftlands, just never even opened it. One day sooooon
Would Yoku's Island Express fit? It's very much a metroidvania, but also a pinball game. Plus it's absolutely wonderful.
❗️Only 'Unpacking' is on my Wishlist📄
Putting human moral codes on The King of All Cosmos - is patently ridiculous. He is a great father. None of us would exists without his passions and desire. If we are to be rolled into a ball to recreate the universe destroyed in lovemaking - so be it.
Katamari Damacy is in my all-time top 5. If you have never played it, it goes on sale down to $7 US. Give it a try!
This is the kind of list I've always wanted! I love games that are a bit different. I've only played two of these games and am unfamiliar with most of them.
@iLikeUrAttitude Why try hard to fit something to a genre? Genres are largely made up (or popularised) by companies to sell things, so it's good when a game goes against the grain.
@NeonPizza I've only played it once and didn't like Katamari based on that experience.
I think games that split opinion are a good thing though - if everyone loved the same thing, life would be boring, and no creators would take risks.
Katamari is a classic. I adore the whole series but it still holds up today. Giving unpacking another go after it became a snooze fest (I was told it would get better). Need to try “say no more”. Dude, stop is also a good “what is this” game. Part time ufo enrages me but it’s cute so that helps.
my favorite game that probably doesn't fit is Snipperclips. i liked the puzzles that game have.
Great list - I thoroughly enjoyed Part Time UFO. Highly recommend it.
That's a great list and a great reminder of games I've yet to play
Pikmin is an RTS through a Nintendo filter and Tetris and Superliminal are definitely puzzle games. But this list is great regardless!
3 hips for part time ufo. That game oozes charm and the price is a steal. Kara Mari I enjoyed but not so much at first. It had some jank for me with the controls but it definitely is its own experience.
@skadoom Yes! One of my favourite games of all time.
I’d argue that Manhunt and Hungry Shark World is another one of those unique genre types.
@Rykdrew I second Monster Train (if my profile pic wasn't enough, hehe). 350+ hours in thus far and still loving it; currently trying to clear all the Expert Challenges on C25.
I think Freedom finger deserves more recognition
I have a folder/group on my Switch called weird/random/other and I similarly put the game Everything there.
I was surprised Rain on your parade wasn't on this list but then I noticed NintendoLife gave it a shockingly low review score; personally I thought it was a great game and definitely deserves this category.
Also, pikmin 3 should really be in best survival games. If you think that's a stretch, note that untitled goose game is in the best stealth games list.
Some of my favorite games on the Switch right there. I think I own about 75% of these titles. I need to get A Dark Room now… and probably the other 25% of the games. Thanks for shouting out the games that don’t get enough praise!
Katamari Damacy still plays like an absolute dream - and I can't believe this - 20 years on. The sequels didn't add all that much, but I didn't care, they were great. I hope Bandai Namco get round to at least one more from the series (if not a Switch-specific new one).
I really wish Say No! More will get physical release.
AlexHarford wrote:
Uh what? Every game belongs to a genre regardless.
Just because it's not as conventional as others in said genre doesn't mean it isn't a part o fit.
Splatoon doesn't play like any other shooter on the market but at it's core it's still a shooter and meets all the criteria to be one.
Same with Smash Bros and fighting games (well platform fighters to be more specific.
Genre's are just for sales, they are meant to oraganize games as a whole and be easier to find for others to buy what they're interested in.
need more katamari games please
Given the thousands of games on the Switch this list was very disappointing and surface level.
@Coffeemonster
Katamari never played like a dream, that's like saying Octodad has rock solid controls. The uncertainty of the controls and the general wonkiness of Katamari is half it's charm.
@Magrane
Manhunt would have to be on the Switch first to make this list
If you enjoy thinking, give Obra Dinn a go. It’s marvelous.
@skadoom Yoku’s Island Express is honestly one of my favorite games on Switch. It’s criminally underrated!!!
Where the hell is Untitled Goose Game?
Horace, surely. Magnificent oddity that it is.
@iLikeUrAttitude Actually I've seen Tetris Effect placed into the rhythm category. And actually, that makes some sense. It's not that cut and dry.
@Ogbert Tetris Effect also can fit neatly into the category of rhythm game. So it does define genre. And Pikmin is an RTS game, but doesn't fit neatly into that category. Some people call it and Action-RTS game, because RTS games are usually Versus or Tower Defense. Pikmin isn't any of those two.
Two more games not easily categorized are Townscaper, not really a game, but a digital toy about making a town. And also, The Longing, a game about waiting around that doesn't even have to be played to win.
Probably not as good as other games on this list, but definitely off-beat.
I love the good work putting games in categories at the end. The Shmups and Twin-Stick Shooters articles are two of my personal favourites
I haven’t played a ton of these, but the ones I have are great. I really enjoyed A Dark Room and was glad to see it listed here!
Great job!
@thinkhector A rythm game requires things to be done to the rythm, so no Tetris Effect is not a rythm game.
Tower Defense is a separate genre again, arguably a sub-genre. It can be RTS as well but it isn't inherently. Pikmin is 100% an RTS, you create and gather units, select them and send them to a location or enemy. It's just like how Splatoon is a team shooter not about kill-death ratio but more about stage coverage. Pikmin is an RTS less about combat and more about exploration. That doesn't make it not an RTS, it makes it an original take on an RTS. It's not an adventure game, that is where Zelda lies, it does have some elements of that I'll grant, but it's.core is an RTS.
@Ogbert "Just Shapes and Beats" and "Fuser" are two games where you don't have to follow the beat. Also, Deku Deals list games by category. "Tetris Effect" is found under the MUSIC category.
Unfortunately 'Everything' was made by a crypto guy and his attitude kinda devalues the cool Alan Watts philosophy he copy-pasted for the background noise
@Rykdrew Agree.
Looking forward to Gordian Quest!
My contribution to this list is Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido. It’s a Nintendo exclusive and it’s very one of a kind. Think Nintendo Life gave a decent review on it.
Unfortunately Pikmin is in the genre “brilliant but neglected Nintendo IP genre”. There’s a lot of games that fit that genre.. sad sad face
Thank you for a delightful collection of games for the wish list!
Why is No Man’s Sky on this list when it’s not even out yet?
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