Here are some of the games I’ve enjoyed on the original Nintendo Switch since purchasing it in February, 2018.
Super Mario games
When we talk about Nintendo, we can’t ignore Super Mario, the most iconic Nintendo series. There have been a good amount of Mario games published for Switch. Some of them mainline, others less so.
My Switch journey started in the summer of 2017 when I volunteered to help a friend by borrowing their Switch from them allowing them to focus on their project and I spent the time exploring Super Mario Odyssey, the flagship game of the new system. Odyssey was probably the best 3D Mario to ever be published. It’s incredibly fun. The controls are crisp, the level design offers a ton of options for exploring and capturing enemies with the Cap to absorb their powers never gets old.
While I loved spending the summer month with Mario in Odyssey, what pushed me to buy the console for myself was Super Mario Maker 2. I had been spending a lot of time watching people (like CarlSagan42, Geek and GrandPooBear) in Twitch and Youtube play the original SMM on Wii U and when the sequel was published, I made the decision to buy the console. People are amazing at creating fun, challenging, entertaining and exciting levels.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle puts Mario and friends in a very different environment. In this crossover game, Rabbids end up in the same universe as Mario who has to gather his friends to save the day. The game is a tactics game with some environmental puzzles mixed in. The battles are fun and different powers and weapons you accrue to your team really change up the gameplay, keeping things fresh. There’s also Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope that’s been on my to-buy list for a while but I haven’t played it yet.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a classic fun Mario Kart experience. It’s the perfect party game when playing with friends (or colleagues, as I mostly ended up playing it at the office). You don’t have to be a racing game fanatic to enjoy this fun game and the well designed catch up mechanics balance the game out between experienced players and newcomers. During the pandemic, I really enjoyed playing it with my German colleagues over the internet.
Zelda games
The second company defining franchise of Nintendo’s is The Legend of Zelda series. Over the years, we’ve to to explore Hyrule so many times in so many exciting games (my all-time favourite is Super Nintendo’s A Link to the Past).
The two main games are The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW amongst friends) and the sequel Tears of the Kingdom (TotK amongst friends) are masterclasses of open world game design. You can go pretty much anywhere you can see in both games. Different parts of the world feel different and refreshing, exploring Hyrule is more fun than ever and while the weapon mechanics cause difference in opinion, I ended up enjoying it a lot. Each weapon have durability so once you’ve hit with them enough times, they break and you need to find a new one. That creates a fun loop where you end up trying out a lot more different weapons instead of just sticking to one.
The sequel adds more of everything. More places to explore, more weapons, more customisations, more tools, more adventures. The main game play is the same though and it’s effortless to jump from BotW to TotK to continue the adventures.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is already a second remake of the original Game Boy game and it’s the most fun of the three versions. It’s claymation style is vibrant and brings the island alive in a way the older versions (Link’s Awakening on Game Boy and Link’s Awakening DX on Game Boy Color) while still maintaining the charm of the originals.
There hasn’t been a lot of opportunities to play as Princess Zelda in the series since its inception in 1986 but The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom finally allowed us to experience Hyrule from a different perspective with the magic wielding namesake princess. Instead of fighting with a sword and shield, Zelda has a magic wand that she uses to create echoes of objects, enemies and bombs she encounters and use them to do her bidding.
Other games
Lonely Mountain: Downhill
I’ve written about Lonely Mountain games in Lonely Mountains, check it out! They are fun downhill games: first one about mountain biking and second one about skiing.
Bad North
Bad North is a rogue-like island defense game. Your kingdom is being invaded by Viking invaders and your brave warriors travel from small island to another, joining forces with local groups to defend the island against waves of enemies. You have bowmen, swordsmen and pikesmen at your helm to control as you try to survive the seemingly never-ending invasion.
Bad North is a slightly stressful game, especially the further you get into a run but that is balanced with brilliant art style and intriguing decision making. Do I move laterally to save another island and hopefully gain more powerful allies or abilities but risk getting caught up by the Vikings?
It’s one of those games that you can just pick up on break, play for a moment and continue later. Or like usual, get hooked into the game and notice half a day has passed again.
Golf Story
One of the best games on the console is Golf Story, a story-driven golf RPG with a hint of disc golf mixed in. It’s set in a wonderful pixel art world full of eccentric characters and twists. Every area has different mechanics. You need to learn to master all the elements of golf: whether it’s bouncing the balls on turtles from island to island, finding the holes in a graveyard or melting ice with fire balls. Your usual golf shenanigans.
I’m a sports guy and I loved the game but I have a feeling that you don’t have to be a golf fan to enjoy this game.
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a heavily story-driven role-playing adventure where you play as a detective who wakes up in a hotel with little memory of how you got there. You explore the city you’re in to solve mysteries.
The game has a lot of things to read: not only dialogue but all sorts of other material too. I bought the game one Christmas and it was the perfect escape from the real world pandemic.
Switch might not be the best platform to play the game on however as there’s so much text and it’s quite small on a small screen. I might have enjoyed the experience slightly bit more on a larger screen but the immersion was enough to reel me in to its world time after time even on Switch’s smaller screen.
Good Job!
Good Job! is something quite different. You are an office worker — child of the CEO — who needs to complete all sorts of tasks in a chaotic environment. There’s a lot of different ways to approach each problem and they are fun in different ways. You can cause absolute mayhem, destroying everything on your way or be more careful and keep the office building standing.
It’s a perfect relaxation game for moments when the real world is a bit too much.
Slay the Spire
I’ve written about Slay the Spire (and the sequel Slay the Spire 2, even though that won’t likely be available on the original Switch) before. It’s a game I own both on Switch and PC/Steam Deck and have dunked hundreds of hours into the game on both devices.
If you’re into deckbuilders and rogue-likes, this game won’t leave you disappointed. Even after almost 7 years since its release, the game still has fun moments to offer. Check out the main note for more.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp and Wargroove (+ 2)
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a remake of the Game Boy Advance classic. If you’ve never played those games but like tactics games, AW is one of the best series out there. For me, it was a bit of a disappointment as it didn’t really offer anything new and I still enjoy playing the original GBA versions over this one. But at the same time, it’s the same great experience so if you don’t have the original, this will be a good pick.
Wargroove is a game in the same genre but it adds more story bits into the mix and switches generic looking soldiers to fun fantasy aesthetics. It’s a really good game in the genre. Its sequel, Wargroove 2 doesn’t get a recommendation from me however. It leaned way too much to the story. I usually don’t mind that but there are too many “battles” that are actually just story stuff and that was a disappointment to me.
Urumangi Generation
Urumangi Generation is a first-person photography game. You’re thrown into a world and given photography tasks and the rest is up to you. It’s a very different game from most others that I’ve played and it’s hard to explain its charm. You need to give it a go yourself.
Other platformers
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove and Hollow Knight are two different style platformers — both of them beloved by the developers.
Shovel Knight is a tribute to retro 16-bit platformers. It masters the nostalgia genre: playing it feels like what we think the old games felt like but makes it actually great. Different characters feel different enough to play with and there’s a lot to explore.
Hollow Knight is a metroidvania masterpiece. I don’t generally like the genre but this game found its way to my heart. The art style, the mood and the characters are all wonderful. For $15, you’ll be in for a treat that will provide you with fun times for hours and hours to come. And then you can move on to the sequel Silksong without having to wait for 7 years like the rest of the world did. I haven’t played Silksong yet though but I’m willing to bet it’s very good.