The 9 Best Nintendo Switch Games You Can Play Now

With the Switch 2 confirmed and coming this year, it’s worth remembering just how insanely successful Nintendo’s first foray into hybrid gaming was. As of the time of writing, the Nintendo Switch has sold about 150 million units since it’s launch in 2017, marking it as one of the most successful consoles of all time. In fact, it’s only beaten out by the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS.

While the handheld-and-home-console gimmick of the Switch certainly helped sales at the beginning of its lifecycle, the meat of the consoles’ sales have largely rested on the games that have launched during its lifespan. Almost all of Nintendo’s most beloved IPs have appeared on the console, from Mario and Zelda to Fire Emblem and Pokemon, bringing a wealth of fantastic titles, in many different genres, which put the focus on fun over graphics (a rarity in gaming these days).

Here, we’re going to count down 9 of the best games to launch on the Nintendo Switch. We’ve restricted titles on the list to those that either came directly from Nintendo, or that launched with the Switch as its lead console launch. So, without further ado, we hope you look forward to it!

The Best Nintendo Switch Games

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

• Franchise: The Legend of Zelda
• Release Date: 3 March, 2017
• Genre: Open-world Adventure
• Players: 1
• Metacritic: 97

Launching alongside the Switch itself, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was (and still is) a pivotal part of what makes the console so impressive. An absolutely enormous adventure, set across a ruined-yet-recovering kingdom, with an incredible art-style and free-form exploration that leads to moments of true discovery, Breath of the Wild is widely considered the best game on the system.

As with (almost) every other Legend of Zelda you play as Link: a silent, stoic swordsman that wanders the Kindgom of Hyrule in search of various powers and dungeons that, ultimately, lead him to confront the great evil that plagues the land. However, in Breath of the Wild, the way Link interacts with the world, the story, and that evil itself, is both incredibly stripped back and made far more complex.

After a short introductory sequence Link is left adrift in Hyrule Field, with his only direction being to ‘destroy Ganon’. From there, its up to you to figure out which direction to go, where to explore, which lead to follow up, and when you decide to fight the great calamity himself. You can literally go from the starting area to fight Ganon immediately, if you’re feeling particularly fancy, which is a huge change to a series that, for a long time, railroaded its players into long, drawn out sequences of events which ultimately got in the way of fun, rather than gave birth to it.

Chances are that if you’re reading this story, you’ve probably either already played Breath of the Wild, or you’re finally thinking about it. My advice is to dive in knowing as little as you can, and take your time exploring all the nooks and crannies of Hyrule – it’ll make the journey all the better when you finally decide to finish your first quest to destroy Ganon.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

• Franchise: The Legend of Zelda
• Release Date: 12 May, 2023
• Genre: Open-world Adventure
• Players: 1
• Metacritic: 96

How do you follow up one of the best games of all time? Simple, you make it again, but add whole new layers to the already widely-praised world design and exploration pillars, giving returning players a new set of discoveries to make. Tears of the Kingdom is, in many ways, a straight-up upgrade to Breath of the Wild, with Link being given far more mobility and choice in how he navigates the recovering Kingdom of Hyrule. However, it isn’t an improvement in every way, and Tears of the Kingdom has ended up a particularly divisive game within the Zelda community.

But for us normies, we can just enjoy it for what it is: an incredibly open-world adventure with an incredibly level of verticality, the return of more classically-oriented Zelda dungeons, and a whole new set of powers that let Link create huge Zonai death machines with which to eradicate the invasive Bokoblin species. Or just to torture your Korok friends.

Tears of the Kingdom takes the free-form narrative structure of Breath of the Wild, and turns it up to 11. You’ll discover, early on in the game, that there are two new layers to the world: the Depths, below ground, and the Sky Islands, far above. Both of these regions have a tonne of secrets, collectables, and entire dungeons to discover.

This time, though, rather than setting out on an adventure to destroy Ganon, you’re instead searching for the missing Princess Zelda. She’s been spotted all over Hyrule, and you’ll have to investigate every corner to figure out what befell our favourite princess scholar. Good luck!

3. Super Mario Odyssey

• Franchise: Super Mario
• Release Date: 27 October, 2017
• Genre: 3D Platformer
• Players: 1-2
• Metacritic: 97

Ever wanted to see what Mario would look like if he was a frog? Or a fork? Or a tank? Or a T-Rex? Just me? Nintendo’s main mascot is no stranger to transforming with different power-ups and suits, but in Odyssey, Mario’ will be’s mind transported into other creatures by way of his magic cap companion, Cappy.

If that sounds really weird for a Mario game, you’d be right! But there’s no morality to think about here, it’s Mario! No one minds having their body stolen by a plumber for some hardcore platforming, so you shouldn’t either.

Odyssey is Mario’s return to a more open-ended 3D platformer design after a number of more linear affairs. You’ll fly between a number of worlds, each of which are quite large and varied, and explore than at your own leisure to progress. Here, you’re searching for moons, rather than stars, with the goal of (you guessed it) saving Princess Peach from Bowser. There’s literally hundreds of moons to collect, with a slew of secret challenges and fun forms to take.

If you’re looking for a 3D platformer, and somehow haven’t played this one yet, it’s hands-down the best on the console. Plus, there’s a (very limited) two-player mode where in the second player controls Cappy, but there isn’t much for them to do.

4. Metroid: Dread

• Franchise: Metroid
• Release Date: 8 October, 2021
• Genre: Metroidvania
• Players: 1
• Metacritic: 88

The first side-scrolling Metroidvania-style Metroid game in 19 years, Dread was a long time coming. It was originally ideated as a follow up to 2002’s Metroid: Fusion before getting shelved when the creative team realised they couldn’t make the game they wanted with the hardware available. For over a decade, rumours swirled about the abandoned Metroid: Dread, until finally the game was revived, revealed, and released for the Nintendo Switch. And, somehow, it was worth the wait.

Metroid: Dread is a fantastic game. You play as Samus Aran, the series’ staple heroine, who finds herself navigating a new planet rife with ruins, parasites, and, you guessed it, Chozo. Oh, and Metroids.

Returning Metroid to its 2D roots (though using a 3D style), Dread plays like a modern version of Super Metroid. You’ll explore the world, find power-ups and new abilities which allow you to explore more, which allow you to find more power-ups and the cycle continues. When you reach specific areas you’ll find bosses, which usually leads to more abilities, and slowly, but surely, you’ll uncover the entirety of the map.

This isn’t a ‘story’ game, really. Rather, Samus is almost always solo, silent, and stoic, searching the game-world for a way forward using everything in her arsenal. While you’ll run into a a few difficult spikes, the game isn’t meant to be hard – rather, you’re expected to view it as one giant puzzle. You just need to find the right piece for every situation.

5. Metroid Prime: Remastered

• Franchise: Metroid
• Release Date: 8 February, 2023
• Genre: 3D Adventure
• Players: 1
• Metacritic: 94

If Metroid: Dread was a return to form for the Metroid series, Prime: Remastered is a celebration of what was. It’s a remaster (duh) of one of the best games ever made, but goes quite a long way in making that game relevant and playable on modern hardware. It’s more effort than Nintendo characteristically puts in to these kinds of projects – just look at Super Mario 3D All-Stars for evidence of that – and shows how important the Metroid series is becoming to the Big N.

While Dread continues the series’ 2D heritage, the original Prime showed off what it’d look like to be in Samus’ shoes: mixing Metroid’s infamous exploration and slow-paced gameplay with a first-person shooter. What resulted was one of the best GameCube games ever made, and with Prime: Remastered, we have an even better version.

Graphics have been touched up, and everything looks incredibly polished. Plus, the game runs at a solid 60fps, ensuring that jumping, rolling and shooting always feels as smooth as butter. Controls have been touched up, and while shooters have come a long way since Prime’s original launch back in 2002, there’s something special here that hasn’t been replicated: a focus on exploring the environment, rather than hiding behind cover and shooting at enemies from afar.

With Metroid Prime 4: Beyond just around the corner, and rumours of a remaster of Prime 2 & 3, there’s no better time to jump back into Nintendo’s first-person masterpiece.

6. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

• Franchise: Xenoblade
• Release Date: 29 July, 2022
• Genre: JRPG
• Players: 1
• Metacritic: 89

The Xenoblade series has always been a bit of an odd one. Birthed out of a niche PS1 JRPG, Xenosaga, the Xenoblade series takes place in a world where humanity lives in near constant war with a group of mechanical beings known as ‘mechonis’, and the world itself is essentially a giant sea of clouds with giant, long-dead robots serving as landmass. They’ve been dead so long that ecosystems have sprouted on their bodies, and humans have made their home on them. Compared to a lot of RPGs, it gets a lot of points for creativity.

And Xenoblade Chronicles 3 turned it all up to 11. Not only is it one of, if not the best looking game on the Nintendo Switch, it’s also one of the biggest, and features an incredible open world experience that you can take on the go with you. Is it bogged down in the usual JRPG tropes? Yes, of course it is, but with strong gameplay, and a world begging to be explored, you’ll want to dive deep into what Xenoblade Chronicles 3 offers.

While you don’t have to have played the first two games in the series to understand what’s going on in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you’ll certainly have a better time if you did. Thankfully, the entire Xenoblade Chronicles series is available on Switch (with the upcoming Chronicles X port rounding out the missing titles), so if you have literally hundreds of hours spare you can explore one of the most interesting and engaging worlds available on a handheld. Enjoy!

7. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

• Franchise: Fire Emblem
• Release Date: 26 July, 2019
• Genre: Tactical RPG
• Players: 1
• Metacritic: 89

Once a niche series, Fire Emblem finally got its due with the 3DS’ Awakening, but it was Three Houses that really pushed the franchise into the big leagues. As is series tradition, you play as a mostly mute field commander who leads their troops into war zones, defeats enemy parties in tense, tactical skirmishes, and then spend your time between combat encounters getting to know the men and women that fight alongside you.

Only, in Three Houses, you play as a teacher at a monastery school that largely caters to the elite, with the student body essentially split up by ‘houses’ (three of them, specifically). The kids you’re shepherding – both in battle, and in the classroom – are quite literally the future leaders of their respective territories, and your choices will determine what happens in the second half of the story.

It’s a fantastic game, and easily provides a tonne of content for those looking for something meaty to dig into. It’s a bit slow to get going, I’ll admit, but once the plot starts to get moving it’s hard to down – allies become enemies, people you’ve learned to care about start dying off (depending on how you’re playing), and you start to understand the aims of the shadowy enemies you’ve been encountering.

Plus, don’t forget, you can go on tea dates with your allies. It’s a weird balance between bloodshed and socialising with your students, and I won’t lie and say the game always nails it, but it’s silly enough that you’ll be having fun throughout.

8. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

• Franchise: Animal Crossing
• Release Date: 20 March, 2020
• Genre: Simulation
• Players: 1-2
• Metacritic: 90

The pandemic game. Everyone and their dogs jumped onto Animal Crossing when the rest of the world was locked down, and while it’s tempting to chalk up its success to Covid-19, it’s worth remembering that people kept playing it throughout lockdown because the game is great.

As is usual for Animal Crossing, you’re a new villager who becomes indebted to Tom Nook, a racoon who helps you set up a new life only to reveal how much you owe him. In New Horizons, you’ll take up residence on a deserted island with a number of other creature-people looking to live isolated from the rest of the world. If that all sounds dark and weird, remember that this is a kids game.

You’ll essentially spend as much or as little time as you want on the island exploring, gathering bugs, cutting down trees, fishing, crafting new outfits, planting flowers, and whatever else you want to do. All of it is in service of fun, with the main goal being just to collect everything. It’s not a stressful game by any means, and that’s entirely by design.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a fantastic game to dip into when things are feeling too stressful, or you just want to go and visit your friends island and rip up all their hard work.

9. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe

• Franchise: Mario Kart
• Release Date: 28 April, 2017
• Genre: Kart Racing
• Players: 1-8
• Metacritic: 92

Mario Kart 8: Deluxe is essentially the ultimate party game, pitting you against your friends in a rabid race to the finish line. You can deck your kart out with a ton of unlocked extras, switch up wheel types, and pick from 42 characters from across the Nintendo-verse. It’s everything you expect from the Mario Kart experience.

Plus, for a bit of added spice, the game added in new zero-gravity sections where your kart becomes magnetically locked to the track. In these sections, the already fantastic courses of Mario Kart 8: Deluxe get truly trippy, allowing you to go flip completely upside down in order to remain on the track while it spirals, turns and twists. It’s a fun change to a series that is already goofy, and helps Mario Kart 8: Deluxe stand out from other kart racers.

The base game comes with 48 courses, all of which can be done at different levels of speed depending on how comfortable you are with the game. The more you do, the more you unlock – and that’s just the base game. There’s a deluge of DLC available if you absolutely need more, though there’s plenty here for the price of admission already.

Together with it’s original version, Mario Kart 8 on the WiiU, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe is the 4th best selling game of all time.

What do you think?

In any list like this, you’re bound to miss some people’s favourites – especially on a console with a varied and stellar a game line-up as the Nintendo Switch. Upset at the lack of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Think Splatoon 3 is the best game this generation? Is Pokken Tournament underrated? Feel free to get in touch and let us know!