FishyS

I'm glad Zelda Echoes snuck onto the list.

Over half of my personal top 10 are on this list — Animal Crossing, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Pokemon Arceus, 3D World, Zelda Echoes, Mario Wonder.

There are so many amazing games on Switch after 8 years that even a top 50 isn't enough to capture them all anymore.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. I finished Wario Land 3 last week and started a new NSO game. I'm currently playing:

• The Mysterious Murasame Castle (NSO) - It's sort of like Zelda but ninjas literally everywhere 😆 Kind of chaotic and confusing but interesting to try some history which is mentioned in a lot of other games. Edit: I beat it! Sort of a cute game. Felt like zelda plus shoot-em-up plus ninjas.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Playing some endless and generally messing around. The sound effect from murasame castle is more fun after playing the actual game.
• Jumper Jon - Adorable metroidvania where you have a 30 second timer and die if you don't get to a checkpoint in time. A little chaotic but surprisingly fun so far and it has cute mini games in occasional break areas.
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - Didn't really do any plot so far this week, just some friendship farming. I've opened most of the teleport locations but am missing a couple. Ooh, I'm playing this article's cover game for once!
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 215/270 main puzzles completed.

@HyruleWanderer I mean... the ranking is just player votes/scores. I'm guessing the Nintendo Life staff would rank it differently (I know I would!) but this ordering is the will of the people. If you haven't yet, go in and give the games you've played a score and the list may change (it gets updated all the time).

@Princess_Lilly Since this is a player ranking, I bet a lot of people rank the first game they played somewhat high. Personally I never played the original Red/Blue so I didn't give it a score at all. In fact if you look at the game page, fewer players on this site have scored Red/Blue than Scarlet/Violet.

@FatWormBlowsASparky Game Freak refers to Arceus in official briefings as a mainline game.

It will be fun playing Pokemon with rocks as we huddle in our post-apocalyptic caves. 😃

@Markatron84 Stapleron will surely appear within the next decade at most.

I'm not a huge fan of those starters, but I always pick water or plant, so perhaps Chikorita. That said, I'm not sold on the game's combat system so I may or may not pick up Z-A.

I'm glad they're experimenting but the combat doesn't look like something I would enjoy personally so I may skip this game. Which is a little sad because Arceus is my favorite Pokemon game ever and I was looking forward to this game. I guess I'll decide when we know more.

People keep comparing it to Xenoblade which is a series I've never played. 😆

I wonder how many other NSO games are only there under a limited time license deal. This could be a bad sign for the future.

It looks a lot like a dock!

oh, yay, I've been waiting for this one to come to Switch.

It's interesting the first letter listed a zillion mega man games but not mega man 11 even though that is also just an iteration. Great non-reinvented game which got a 9/10 of this site.

As for play-forever games like Mario Kart, the main issue is if Mario Kart 9(10? 11??) was too similar to Mario Kart 8, why would people bother buying 9; they could just keep playing 8. That's a bit different than series like mega man where each game is it's own little story and they're not really made to play for 500 hours.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I've been playing:

• Pepper Grinder - This was on a good sale so I went back and played the demo again, had lots of fun, and bought the game.
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - Not playing every day since the game (thankfully) isn't real time, but having a lot of fun. I just started exploring the underwater and located the last initial villagers. Pochacco is not my favorite villager but he is now my permanent companion because he makes me run faster 😅
• Wario Land 3 (nso) - Currently at 43/100 collectables. This is a surprisingly long game. I hope they make a new Wario Land game.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 211/270 main puzzles completed. No easy ones left so this will take a while.
• Rusty Rabbit (demo) - Just trying out the demo, mainly because it has a rabbit. I'm not sold by the dialogue or controls so far, but we'll see.

@RiasGremory - I watched part of the Farmagia anime and it was super surreal because every second it feels like 'why is this an anime instead of a farming game' 😆 I'm glad the actual game is fun.

@silver-crescent NintendoLife occasionally changes the normal 5-vote options to 1 vote or 3 votes. Maybe they are doing experiments to see how the results vary or maybe they are just trying to keep us on our toes. 🤔

@Sylamp Yoshi's Island is a wonderful game to play any%, but portions of 100% are definitely a bit painful. Good luck!

@Burning_Spear Nice to see someone else playing Piczle Cross! Good game.

@species8472 sadly, I think these bundles are the price drop. It's effectively a free game compared to the normal price so it's sort of like a price drop without completing being one.

@Pipulitoch It definitely depends a lot on country and region, but in the united states where I am almost 50 million Switches were sold. Most of those were sold to families with a child, so that's generally 3 or 4 people. Also, both kids and adults sometimes play devices owned by friends and extended family members. So let's say maybe around 150 million people have played which is near half the country. Clearly something used by almost half the country is known of by many others as well. So it's safe to say the average person in the US knows what Switch is. The existence of Switch 2 has been in the mainstream news, not just the gaming news. I've informally surveyed people who I work with and most of them are non gamers who are vaguely aware Nintendo is making a new device, but not precisely when. So I get your point about people not knowing when Switch 2 will release or even the name. But also, although almost everyone in the country knows about Mario, I think very few people know what 'Mario Day' is or are looking to buy a new console in March (not known for huge sales) and decide to grab whatever they see without even the most cursory internet search which would immediately tell them Switch 2 is about to drop. This feels more like Nintendo is just trying to get through their Switch 1 stock under massively declining sales (they've already had to reduce their sale predictions twice this year). Which is fair.

@NinChocolate I'm skeptical that the people who don't know Switch 2 is coming will know what Mario Day is either or will hear about this special deal. Sure, some people who are desperately seeking a console in the middle of March will happen to see it in a store, but I imagine it will be a trickle rather than a rush.

I wonder how many people will still be looking to buy a Switch 1 so close to the April Switch 2 info.

If we don't have gold coins or vouchers, that's effectively a 26% price increase on new digital first party games.(.95* 50 = 47.5, 60/47.5 = 1.26 ).

I would guess they are doing this as an alternative to making every game $70 unless they do something like $70 physical/$60 digital.

Regardless, this news has significantly lowered my hype level for Switch 2.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I've been playing:

• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - I'm really enjoying the game so far. I am about to get the diving gear so I am still very early in the plotline, but I've explored a lot as well and done a lot of the races. It's interesting that the game restricts how much you can do per day even though the rest of the game is independent of real time. Overall I don't mind this because I would be addicted to an unhealthy degree if I could play nonstop; forcing you to only do a little every day is actually kind of relaxing.
• Wario Land 3 (nso) - Currently at 27/100 collectables so I have a lot left, especially since I keep getting lost 😅
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Played some endless for the first time in a long time. I can't believe it's been 6 years since smm2 came out.
• Tetris 99 - Always fun to come back for a maximus cup. For some reason I was instantly targeted by a ton of people in my first round and was absolutely destroyed 😆
• Spinch - Randomly in the mood for some Spinch, a Psychedelic colourful bizarre platformer.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 196/270 main puzzles completed.

'All platforms' May 21. And before they mentioned the game was delayed because of 'new hardware'.

So... Switch 2 release in May? 🤔

I suspect I'll stick with my Switch 1 Lite for outside-the-house gaming for years and Switch 2 will mostly live in the dock so I don't care too much about the screen; it certainly won't be worse than the screen of my Lite which I think is perfectly fine.

For what it's worth my tv is a bit crappy so things won't look better there.

I'm surprised how biased the poll is towards expansion pack. I suppose that is a consequence of the poll being on this site. Nintendo indicated the number of subscribers is mostly based on online games so I can't imagine all that many of the 34 million have expansion pack; most people just want to play online mario kart, smash, Splatoon, etc.

I've been happy enough with basic NSO, but expansion still doesn't seem like a great deal to me.

@AG_Awesome If you hold Y in one of the apps you can choose to sort by alphabetical, last played, total playtime, or custom.

@kmtrain83 It's especially fun when there haven't been any major releases recently; the responses to this article are really all over the place.

@JohnnyMind We should set up a counter to update whenever someone asks you a snarky or bewildered question about how you play so many games.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. I've been pretty busy this week so not much game time but still a little:

• Wario Land 3 (nso) - A few people have a game club over on the NintendoLife discord server and this is the game for February. I've never played it before; fairly fun though the golf mini game is humorously bad. Playing this game makes me want a brand new entry in the Wario Land series.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 186/270 main puzzles completed.
• Super Mario Party Jamboree - Hoping to do a board later today.

May start another game but haven't decided what yet.

I'll definitely play. I'm glad the maximus cups are continuing.

Looks great and I love the art style but my metroidvania backlog has gotten overwhelming; there are too many good games in the genre.

@LoroTalby If you like cozy zelda-likes, it might be worthwhile trying Infinity Nikki. The advertising catch phrase is 'The Coziest Open-World Game'. The game borrows a lot from BotW but fundamentally is a cozy fashion game with bug catching, fishing, lots of chill exploring even though there are occasional monster camps, etc. It's less a life sim and more a fashion rpg, but it definitely has cozy plus zelda vibes.

It's not actually on Switch but it's on everything else (mobile, PS5, PC) and hopefully will be on Switch 2.

I really like cozy games in interesting genres.

That's some fairly consistent reviews even with the standard IGN outlier.

@SoIDecidedTo Nothing embarrassing about it; a game is a game. If it looks fun, you should get it 😀

huh. Maybe they are trying to convince people who ignored the game as a basic remaster to give it a try. Like me! And I'll try out the demo so maybe the tactic will work, who knows.

@Banjo- That's fair. I will remove the question from the other thread. Good luck.

I wish Nintendo would show continuing totals; some games trickle up quite a lot over the years. We know Mario Maker 2 for example is a million ish higher than the above chart shows because last year we had a graphic which showed total 2D Mario sales on Switch.

For that matter ot would also be nice to know the sales for the smaller games like Emio.

It's hilarious that 9 of those 10 games sold less than a million over the holidays but Mario Kart somehow sold 3 million.

I grabbed all of these... but I also realized I now have well over 2,000 NSO icons and I have never used a single one of them.

Although I haven't bought any of the January games just yet, Hello Kitty and Ender Magnolia are on my must-buy list. Some of the others also look interesting.

Of the 2024 selects, Tetris Forever is the only one I own and I really enjoyed it. Of games I plan to buy eventually, Antonblast and Pepper Grinder had fun demos, Animal Well looks very interesting, and I suspect Neva will eventually be my favorite from the list.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. I'm still deciding whether to snag Hello Kitty Island Adventure because I want it but I also don't want to spend money right now. Otherwise I have been mostly continuing games from last week:

• Heart of the Woods - Just finished. I liked the good ending so much I decided I couldn't bear to go back and play the bad endings so I guess I won't have 100% 😝
• Fitness Circuit - Played more than usual this week and also walked a lot and semi turned my legs into jelly. 😅
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 182/270 main puzzles. One puzzle confused me and I had to make a 50% guess; still not sure what I missed. 🤔
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Been in a Mario Maker mood recently after thinking about how much I want Mario Maker 3 on Switch 2. Mostly playing levels and super worlds from my followed creators right now, including some on this site.
• Suika Game - Played for the first time in a while. Having fun with some versus.

Kind of a slow month. I'm still expecting Nintendo to shadow-drop a game.

Obviously Civ 7 is a big one but I don't see any real reason to buy it before Switch 2 where it will hopefully run better and maybe even work with the new controller-mouse function.

With no February or April Switch 1 games announced and no release dates for 2/3rds of 2025 games we know about and not much known third-party wise, a direct could get filled up pretty easily. They pretty much need either a full direct or a partner showcase and some big Twitter announcements.

@solarwolf07 Sadly you are dreaming, but it does seem plausible to happen.

Hello Kitty for me. I need something cute and relaxing to tied me over while waiting for Switch 2.

I need this game. Super cute and I need something to play while waiting for a new animal crossing.

I've been waiting for this review; very happy to see the game is as good as expected. Will definitely pick up eventually.

@NintendoWife I believe that link you gave includes digital software sales so I'm not actually sure if Switch has sold more physical games than previous consoles. Note that the official Nintendo quarterly data generally includes digital sales even though the regional monthly/weekly sales data often does not. The recent Nintendo financial data said that last quarter 56% of their software sales were from digital sales; that number changes up and down somewhat each quarter but overall it has gotten much higher than in the early days of Switch.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the physical/digital trend on Switch 2.

A lot of doom and gloom in the letters this month but I thought the responses were good.

I hadn't realized it was the 20th anniversary for NL this year. Much love to @antdickens and all the NL staff for keeping the site great all this time.

He can work on the port in 2060 when Stardew Valley becomes a fully immersive VR game.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. I'm going to catch up on Switch demos this weekend. I don't usually play the full demo, just enough to decide if I don't want the game or if I want to add it to my wishlist. Besides that, this week is just continuing games from last week:

• Heart of the Woods - Absolutely lovely story so far; I'm on chapter 5 so I think I'll finish this weekend.
• Fitness Circuit - I decided to go into the difficulty settings and raise them; we'll see if I regret it.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 171/270 main puzzles completed. I have been replaying some old levels for better times so my total playtime on this game is going to be insane.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Mostly playing @Not_Soos 's super world. I'm about halfway through the 40 levels. Lots of fun traditional levels.
• Moon Raider - Zone 4. I discovered a funny glitch so I think I have over 100% of the collectables but oh well 😆 The bosses in this game are easy but I enjoy short bosses which make you think a little but don't drag on forever.

Side note, but for the last couple months Nintendo has stopped doing their on-Switch 'What's New this week' slightly curated lists. Usually there is only a 1-week holiday break so I'm wondering if they decided to cancel these until Switch 2. Which makes me wonder if they will be doing something better for discoverability on Switch 2.

@BenAV Glad to see Ender Magnolia is good; I've been waiting for a NL review but I definitely want that game.

Looks like a fun game, I'll definitely try it.

@Angelic_Lapras_King @timp29 I'm impressed you two are still super active on this site after dropping comments in this article in 2009. @dartmonkey called your comments 'vintage' 😆

Well, that's sad; I was looking forward to the new game. Maybe I'll replay Celeste.

But will Balatro catch up with Suika Game; still has a few million to go.

I've played hundreds of indies including many great ones, although ironically not Balatro.

@SuprMattio Nice to see an Infinity Nikki player here! I love the game but I'm a little behind because I don't own a device where it runs and controls very well. I'm really hoping it comes to Switch 2.

The game save setup in Tetris Forever was kind of bad, so I'm glad there will be a bit of improvement. Overall, fun and interesting game though.

That's 40 million views on the English tweet. The Japanese Tweet has another 50 million.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. It's been a bit of rollercoaster with the Switch 2 stuff; I can't wait for the upcoming direct(s). But for now I am playing the usual mix of backlog, continuing games, and sporadic new games:

• Heart of the Woods - I've been in the mood for shortish visual novels lately. So far this game has a really interesting plot and a lot of great voice acting. It's a bit hard to pull myself away from it.
• Fitness Circuit - Getting back into my previous exercise routine with this game after some travel and a bit of an injury.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 159/270 main puzzles. The Nintendo website had a section today I've never seen which said 'Since Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons has been your most-played game lately...'. Nintendo is calling me out 😆
• Dragon Saber - I've always wanted to play this game because a shoot-em-up where you're playing as a dragon is just adorable. The game itself has some enemies at your altitude and some below you and it's a lot harder to hit the ones at ground level.
• Moon Raider - I thought this game looked cute and it was on a crazy sale for 50 cents so I grabbed it. Basically seems to be a simple metroidvania-lite. The one somewhat interesting feature is that you can't do an air dash unless you fuel up with gems which you collect along the way. The game is a little jank but it's kinda fun so far.
• Grapple Dog - starting a non-rushed run to 100% all collectibles after which I'll play the second game.

Edit:

• Super Mario Maker 2 - I'm adding this one because I just noticed @Not_Soos has a super world to play. I always enjoy playing levels from creators on this website.

@cosmograph I hope your year gets better. Congrats on finishing Ring Fit! I hope we get good exercise games on Switch 2.