The Easiest Nintendo Switch Games

Was this article inspired by @fizza forum posts?

*edit Actually never mind, I read the opening paragraph and commented rather than reading it all so I missed the thanks at the end.

Where is Metroid Dread with Dread mode?

Great list, a little addition from me would be Katamari Damacy Reroll and We <3 Katamari

You can lose, but it happens very seldom and isn't frustrating at all thanks to the happy vibes of the game

I don’t disagree with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but playing it online with other people globally and winning matches is NOT easy. There are some very very good players out there. Base game is pretty simple though with simple controls

@Fizza has been etched into NintendoLife history 🎉

I think the last campfire would be a good addition to this list. It's a pretty underrated game that's simple and cozy. The narrators voice was very pleasant to listen to and it only took me 8 hours to reach 100% completion

Good article. I don't have the time to learn new games, perfect them, or trawl the internet for tips, so much prefer easier games you can dive straight into. Lost count of the number or highly reviewed games I've abandoned in the first half hour because I just couldn't work them out. Either game mechanics, hard difficulty (Cuphead!), or even text that's too small to read. In that vein, I'd like to add one to the list. If you like card battlers, avoid Monster Train First Class and Inscryption, and buy yourself Dicey Dungeons!

I enjoy easy games so much more as I get older. Or even just options to adjust difficulty to what I feel comfortable with. Nice article 👍

This article needs a giant asterisk explaining "easy **to roll the credits**". Several of these games, despite being very easy to roll the credits on.... are actually extremely difficult to complete. In particular, Yoshi and Kirby games are notorious for having very, very difficult post games. Metroid dread is actually a cakewalk compared to Yoshi's crafted world's post game.

Dorfromantik needs to be on this list, finally got it today and it's way better than Islanders. Super chill

I appreciate when a game is easy to beat, but going for 100% completion takes what you learn to the test, and is one of the most difficult challenges you can possibly ask for without it ever feeling unfair. The Kirby series is generally good with this, but Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is another solid one, especially if you get the DLC!

Conversely, the main game of Super Mario Wonder is fairly simple to average difficulty, (unless using Yoshi and/or Nabbit) however the extra content in the special world is Celeste esque difficulty with interesting platforming mechanics. The special world and areas working up to it are quite challenging that as a veteran Mario player, I quite enjoyed the challenge. It's an easy game to beat, (credit roll) not complete.

Similar can be said of Super Mario RPG. Base game was easy, the post game with the added content was a good challenge.

As much as Tetris Effect is a 10/10 game, it shouldn't be on this list.
It has very strong visual effects that can be reduced, but never turned off. So those with photo sensitivities, and/or young players with developing eyes, would most certainly not have an easy time with it.

If you've played any of Good-Feel's craft-filled platformers before (Kirby's Epic Yarn, Yoshi's Woolly World), you may find that Yoshi's Crafted World suffers from a terrible case of more-of-the-sameness.
Eh, I would argue that Yoshi's Crafted World's true "terrible case" is how it handles its gameplay and content. The gameplay is leaps backwards from the fast and well-paced gameplay of Kirby's Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Woolly World, and the content has no excuse to not allow players the option to undertake multiple side quests at once (among other things).

There's loads more complaints I have for Yoshi's Crafted World and while I would agree that the game is "easy", it is far from the "best" (let alone good) in my opinion.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land definitely ticks the easy box, but only to a certain point. Some of the late bosses are very difficult.

Mario Wonder is by far the easiest Switch game I've played. I loved it but I also hated it at the same time. Three things that make this the easiest game in my opinion: 1. The levels are very short with multiple continue flags 2. There's actually a severe lack of secrets... hardly any levels have multiple exits and hidden areas on the map have practically no reward. 3. But the worst offence of all in terms of challenge... the 3 purple coins can be obtained too easily! You can jump to your death to obtain one and you start your next go with the coin obtained.

Oh and just in case you aren't finding it ridiculously easy... pick a badge to make it even easier for you! Honestly. I can see why this game divided opinions... it has so much greatness and style but it's then let down by being too easy, too short, and it also looks rushed. Captain Toad is a good example of what is wrong with the game ). You found a secret, the secret does nothing more than give you a few coins, and captain toad is just randomly assigned with no role in the game at all. Something is amiss.

Mario Bros U is a far better Mario game overall. Packed full of secrets, bonus levels, secret map routes, not able to carry a second item (makes it a lot more challenging)... its only flaw is just how familiar the locations are. If Mario U was in the Flower Kingdom, we'd have a Mario World beater.

The Easiest Nintendo Switch Games:
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
A racing game
Are you kidding me? AI in racing games is a pure cheating bs! I hate racing games for this very reason. Someone says that the AI in fighting games is broken and trash... Well, at least, you are able to finish fighting games, actually! Can't say the same thing about racing games! Also, I would like to add to this list UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] – one of the greatest, easiest, and accessible fighting games on Switch! Would like to add Skullgirls 2nd Encore as well, but after the censorship patch... It became trash. This game is dead for me.
@LadyCharlie Have you played UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r]? Are you waiting for the UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes]?

@SuperLuigi53 Check the "Easiest Nintendo Switch games when it comes to number of deaths" article.

Kirby Star Allies?
Miitopia?
Colors?
A bazillion farming sims?
Sayonara Wild Hearts?
Phone ports like Alto’s Adventure?

Child of Light has an awesome soundtrack by Coeur de Pirate. It's often priced down real cheap. Recommended.

Some of these are not actually very easy. Kirby boss challenges are pretty rough. Mario kart AI will kick your butt

Star Allies VS Grumble volcano and Rainbow Road on 200cc. Hmmmmmmm

I was going to say Splatoon. But that matchmaking throws you to the wolves with no remorse. It's not fun, that's why I dropped it.

Um, no, sorry guys. This list should be called most accessible switch games if accessibility didn't already have another definition in gaming. The last boss in Kirby was nothing to sneeze at, and MarioKart lives online - where the competition is HARD. Just because a game has a set of options that make the game less daunting, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily “easy”…

On paper Treasure Tracker should be right up my street but after 4 or 5 attempts to get into it I just get really frustrated. 😵‍💫

Honestly, despite what some here are saying, I think the fact that a lot of these games have higher skill/difficulty ceilings AND low difficulty floors makes them even better for this list. Sure, True Arena in any Kirby game is a nightmare (pun intended), but that just means if you hear it's easy but think it's TOO easy, you have room to go upward. Tetris Effect, while Tetris is a pretty simple game to understand and play, has its expert difficulty for the Journey mode which has even given me difficulties, and though I may not be at the top, I can hold my own pretty well in modern Tetris. And then one that others and even the article itself has pointed out, Mario Kart 8 isn't too bad offline (can be a bit tricky to hit first place at 200CC when the bots are harder but still relatively simple), but online it probably belongs on the hardest Switch games list. But these supposed "faults" in how easy a game is show an extra layer of complexity/difficulty that the player can choose to engage with or not. It creates a net more accessible game, which in the end I think is what most people really want instead of JUST a harder or easier game.

Isn’t Mario Kart 8 considered the most stressful Switch game?

The easiest is Detective Pikachu Returns.
@StAmbrosius It's been years I played Child of Light, but I'm still listening its music !

@antisumo Agreed. Islanders is definitely more complex and challenging than Dorfromantik, even when high score chasing in the latter. I'd swap those two, to be sure.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Kirby: Forgotten Land and Super Mario Wonder are actually very hard if you want to 100% them.

Yup agree with this list

@FishyS yeah, I got stuck maybe half way through on Toad’s Treasure Tracker. I give up on games way too easily tho.

@FatWormBlowsASparky I agree i didn’t think it was so easy I gave up honestly lol 🤨😊

I recently rage-quit Mario Kart 8 single player, trying to get 3-stars on 150cc, because the CPU karts get red shells, blue shells, and lightning, whereas I only ever get bananas and coins. I can go for 3 races, all laps in 1st place, then on the last lap of the last course, they pull out lightning (losing my banana shield) followed by a blue shell me, then a red shell, and I finish 5th. 1-star trophy and another 15 minutes of my life wasted.

Kirby Star Allies shouldn't qualify as easy because the game literally plays itself...!

Mario Kart 8 isn't easy or without stress!
Blue/Spiky shell for one!
Cheating computer!
Items not randomized! First place gets coins!
I don't want coins, I NEED shells to block!

@SuperLuigi53 I haven’t started dread yet is it easy?

Also what’s dread mode?

@datamonkey I was being sarcastic, but just incase you weren't: Metroid games are a little hard (Dread is one of the more linear ones), and Dread mode kills you in one hit no matter what hits you, lol.

Feels like a kids friendly list, but Inside is definitely not for young kids. It's quite cruel. Brilliant, but cruel.

@Pete_Stooge It's also not especially easy. More on the cinematic side, but some of the swimming and time-based segements might need a few tries. I'm not saying it's a difficult game, but its inclusion on this list is confusing.

@McGloomy exactly, some puzzles take quite some time to solve. Happily, or else it would not be a good puzzler. So no, it would not be on my easy game list, or it has to be for the super simple controls... another reason why the game is so good. It's stripped from everything unnecessary.

@SuperLuigi53 Pfft. Please. That's way to easy, even for these games.

Hm. I have or would like many of these titles. Says a lot about my style of gaming I guess!

It's sad but is true. The final version including the DLC and the update already leaked.