When the Nintendo Switch launched in 2017, our expectations were high. The hybrid console instantly felt like a dream console, and the fact that it would launch with a brand new Legend of Zelda game was a good sign that Nintendo was ready to support it with high quality games. The bar was high right out the gate — and Nintendo cleared it time and time again over eight memorable years.
The Nintendo Switch era isn’t fully ending anytime soon, but it will take a backseat to the age of Switch 2 on June 2. That impending date has left us reflecting on the bounty of games we’ve gotten on the platform since 2017. Third party developers returned to Nintendo in a big way with ports that helped widen the Switch’s library, but the console’s real calling card has been its exclusives. We got Nintendo’s studios at the top of their game here, reviving a wide swath of forgotten series while giving old standbys some of their best installments ever. Zelda, Mario, Fire Emblem, and more all made the Nintendo Switch a must-own device, and that good will is sure to spill over to Switch 2.
To celebrate that history, we’re counting down our 20 favorite Switch exclusives of all time. For this list, we’ve focused on games that are only available on Switch. That means no games that were ported to other consoles later and no Wii U ports (sorry, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe). Even with those caveats, we had an incredibly hard time narrowing the list down to 20. In fact, this list was originally going to be a top 10, but that felt impossible. You’ll see why as soon as you see the final list, which could have been cut up and rearranged in hundreds of ways depending on your tastes.
20. Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is remembered as 2020’s defining pandemic game, but Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics was just as important in my household. The simple collection pulled together tabletop games like Checkers and Shogi into a tactile and tightly design package that was custom built for bored families. It’s the least flashy game on this list, but it didn’t need to be. I personally spent hours upon hours playing Mancala with my partner at this time, which I’d never really tried before Clubhouse Games. The package did such a great job at explaining the rules that I ended up buying a real Mancala board after a week. Clubhouse Games‘ ability to teach and culturally contextualize 51 different games earns it a spot on this list among some mascot-filled heavy hitters.
19. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
When Nintendo first announced that Mario was crossing over with Ubisoft’s Rabbids, it felt like a joke destined to become weird history. That wasn’t the case, as Ubisoft created a surprisingly great tactics game with Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. It was the start of a promising series that wouldn’t take long to fully realize its potential. Mario + Rabbid: Sparks of Hope builds on everything its predecessor did so well, doubling down on its action-packed turns that let players pull off so many moves at once. That was largely thanks to a reworked movement system that did away with the first game’s grid for something a little more flexible. The end result is the Switch’s best tactics game and a real contender for the best Mario spinoff ever.
18. Ring Fit Adventure
Perhaps more than any game on this list, Ring Fit Adventure is a prime example of why Nintendo’s knack for innovation is so commendable. It would have been easy to make a motion-controlled fitness game, ala Wii Fit, on Switch that just asked players to mimic exercises. Rather than settling for that, Nintendo created its own pilates ring and turned it into a controller for a full-scale RPG. Ring Fit Adventure is a brilliant approach to the fitness genre, one that understands that gradually building your muscles isn’t that far off from an traditional RPG grind. The little fights add up over time so long as your patient enough to keep up with them. It’s an inspired bit of game design from Nintendo that turned out to be a much-needed force for good during the years of social isolation that defined the platform.
17. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
It’s not surprising to see several great Mario games on a Nintendo console. What is more surprising is to see a stellar 2D Mario game these days that feels just as exciting as a 3D one. That’s what we got with the surprising Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a reinvention that the 2D Mario formula so desperately needed. Rather than aping the tired nostalgia of the New Super Mario Bros. series, Wonder gave Mario an expressive makeover, colorful new enemies, and a slew of creative wonder effects that completely spun the idea of a traditional platforming level on its head. While it doesn’t quite have the staying power of Mario’s best adventures, Wonder does a fantastic job at rediscovering the magic that made Mario’s first games so appealing in the first place.
16. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
The Switch era gave us several surprising collaborations with Koei Tecmo, both Zelda and Fire Emblem into Dynasty Warriors-like Musou games. These have been some of the Switch’s most niche exclusives, but they aren’t ones to ignore. That’s especially true of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. The Breath of the Wild pseudo-prequel takes players to the days before Calamity Ganon’s reign over Hyrule as Zelda tries to assemble an army of fighters to stop the impending disaster. The result is Zelda’s take on Rogue One, playing with history to tell a thrilling piece of alternate history that gave us the best characterization of the series’ titular princess ever. And of course, slashing up thousands of moblins in between all that is a cathartic joy all its own.
15. Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
I’d wager that you won’t find Emio — The Smiling Man on a lot of lists celebrating the Switch’s library, but the eerie narrative adventure deserves its flowers. A surprising comeback for Nintendo’s Famicom Detective Club series, Emio tells a dark, mature story about a bag-faced serial killer stalking a quiet Japanese town. The tale plays out through a slow, grounded visual novel about childhood trauma and the ways that kids suffer in silence. It’s a deeply effective slow burn that still sticks in my mind today. And if nothing else, it’s a great example of how niche franchises thrived on the Switch thanks to Nintendo’s willingness to take more risks with its most forgotten franchises.
14. Astral Chain
Nintendo wasn’t the only company committed to making great Switch exclusives over the past eight years. PlatinumGames was the system’s third-party RPG, giving us the fantastic Bayonetta 3 as well as its surprisingly charming spinoff. Astral Chain might just be its crown jewel, though. The cyberpunk action game had players slashing through demons with both a cop and an entity chained to them. That concept opened the door for an experimental battle system that had players juggling two people at once and using the chain between them to perform maneuvers that weren’t just about pressing the right buttons. It’s one of the Switch’s most original games and one I’m hoping to see revisited on Switch 2.
13. Splatoon 3
It took Nintendo three tries to really perfect its Splatoon series over a seven year blitz, but the final result is fantastic. Splatoon 3 is an excellent, fully-featured multiplayer effort that I wish more games would take notes from. It’s not just that it has a great suite of fun online modes. It also sports a killer campaign, a creative card minigame, a tense PVE mode, and even a worthwhile roguelike twist in its excellent Side Order DLC. Splatoon 3 proved that Nintendo’s inky series really can do it all, justifying the company’s aggressive push to make it a top franchise in the Switch era.
12. Bowser’s Fury
Super Mario Odyssey might be thought of as the Switch’s great 3D Mario game, but Bowser’s Fury isn’t far behind. Included as a pack-in game alongside a port of Super Mario 3D World, Bowser’s Fury imagined what a true open-world Mario game could look like. It created one fully traversable set of islands made up of transitional platforming levels that players can fluidly jump into. It’s not just a fun experiment with form, but an excellent, compact Mario game in its own right that I imagine paved the way for Mario Kart World in some way. We might look back on Bowser’s Fury and see it as one of the series’ most influential games by the end of the Switch 2 era, mark my words.
11. Tetris 99
Tetris 99 is the Switch’s most unlikely success story, as far as I’m concerned. The Switch Online freebie felt like it was doomed when it was first announced. It sounded like Nintendo trying to capitalize on the battle royale trend of the era by needlessly stuffing it into Tetris. As it turned out, that elimination format is a perfect match for the puzzle series. A round of Tetris 99 is still thrilling to this day, forcing players to think fast in order to outplay 98 other players. Consistent updates have only built on that core fun, adding Nintendo-themed events, additional modes, and single-player content for traditional Tetris players. It may not be a reason to subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, but it’s a fantastic perk that I’ve played more than most Switch games at this point.
10. Luigi’s Mansion 3
A lot of games try to do comedy and wind up falling flat. Luigi’s Mansion 3 is the rare game that truly gets how to craft a genuienly funny game without relying too much on hammy writing. The ghost-hunting adventure accomplishes that by focusing on great slapstick comedy built around Luigi, one of Nintendo’s most expressive mascots. He’s a regular Buster Keateon in the adventure, jumping and screaming his way through a haunted house full of ghouls. That combines with strong puzzle design and an inventive vacuuming hook to create one of the Switch’s most delightful single-player adventures.
9. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Depending on who you ask, the top 10 of this article could have featured several Xenoblade games. The RPG series really found its voice on Nintendo Switch, turning something niche into a mainstream phenomenon. You can see why that happened with the Game Awards-nominated Xenoblade Chronicles 3. The massive adventure tells a dense war tale set in one of the Switch’s most engrossing open-worlds. Battles feel enormous, utilizing an MMO-inspired combat system that lets players carve their foes up with flair. A short blurb can’t do it justice, as Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a gigantic, systems-heavy accmplishment that needs to be played to be fully understood. What are you waiting for?
8. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
A modern Nintendo console is only as good as its Super Smash Bros. game in my book, so it’s no surprise that Ultimate is a pinnacle for the fighting series. Rather than inventing new gimmicks to freshen up a great formula, Nintendo simply went big by including every character that’s ever been in the series. The result is an enormous retrospective of video game history that pays tribute to a whole mess of iconic franchises from Mario to Persona. That’s all backed by its best in class brawling, which works both at a casual party level and in a serious competitive setting. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is an impossible act to follow up, which is perhaps why its creator is working on a Kirby Air Ride sequel for Switch 2 instead.
7. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
The Kirby series has always been one of Nintendo’s secret weapons, giving its studios a place to test out creative new ideas. Kirby and the Forgotten Land didn’t just follow that trend, but made Kirby undeniable. The delightful platformer is every bit as inventive as a 3D Mario game thanks to its wealth of mouthful powers that transform Kirby in ways never seen before. Like Luigi’s Mansion 3, it’s another great work of slapstick comedy that gets at what’s so appealing about Nintendo’s best characters. And through all of those bright colors and casual fun, Forgotten Land still weaves in a rich, lore-filled story that goes to some surprisingly challenging heights. It’s a terrific chapter for Kirby that I imagine will be remembered as a turning point for the series one day.
6. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons may not be the very best Nintendo Switch game, but it’s undoubtedly the most important. Released in March 2020, it quickly became a primary way for people to connect when the Covid-19 pandemic forced people into lockdown. It’s a product of its time, but it isn’t just great because of circumstances. New Horizons is a fantastic installment of the Animal Crossing formula that spiced the life sim up with crafting, terraforming, and more. With much-needed online features that let multiple friends socialize together, New Horizons had everything it needed to become the right game for the right moment. It couldn’t have taken on that role if the foundation wasn’t excellent.
5. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Following up Breath of the Wild felt like a truly impossible task by 2022, but the fact that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom pulled it off is a testament to what the sequel does so well. Rather than starting from scratch, Nintendo turned Breath of the Wild’s open-world into a more immersive sandbox in which players could craft dream machines. It completely changed the way players got around Hyrule, solved shrine puzzles, and took down enemies. While it wasn’t as much of a shocking surprise as Breath of the Wild was at launch, I still hold so many great stories from my time with Tears of the Kingdom, like the time I accidentally crashed a flaming airplane into a moblin camp in my very first hands-on with it. Those memories will stick with me forever.
4. Super Mario Odyssey
How can you reinvent the same series time and time again? That was a question plaguing Nintendo ahead of the Switch era, as it struggled to find new ways to spin Mario. In that sense, Super Mario Odyssey felt like a statement in Switch’s first year. The wildly creative installment brought the character to completely new worlds and changed the way he interacts with them thanks to the adventure’s signature hat possession. It was a total delight, and one that instantly proved that Nintendo still had plenty of creative juice left in the tank to fuel the Switch era. With its wealth of bite-sized challenges, Odyssey felt perfectly designed for a hybrid system and remains one of the best selling points for console-quality Nintendo games on the go.
3. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Prior to the Switch’s release, Nintendo had gradually turned Fire Emblem into one of its flagship series. That effort came to a head in 2019 with Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the Switch’s absolute best RPG exclusive. On its surface, Three Houses is a familiar tactics game that revolves around an excellent rock-paper-scissors combat hook. That’s only one piece of a much bigger puzzle though, as the RPG is filled with engrossing systems. From teaching students to going on tea dates, Three Houses is the grandest entry in the Fire Emblem series yet, one that gives players more ways to connect to their heroes as a political drama brews in the background. I’ll forever hold onto my Golden Deer pride, even when the Switch 2 sends me on another Fire Emblem adventure.
2. Metroid Dread
It might be a little surprising to see Metroid Dread beating out the likes of Mario and Fire Emblem here, but there’s a good reason it’s our runner up. When we asked our writers to pick their favorite game of 2021 years ago, Metroid Dread was their unanimous game of the year choice — and I still agree with that vote. The 2D adventure wasn’t just a welcome return for one of Nintendo’s best series, but an atmospheric masterclass that brought Samus’ long saga to unsettling new heights. Dread tells a story of chickens coming home to roost, as Samus has to face the consequences of the reckless bounty hunting of her early career. It’s a gripping story reinforced by challenging combat, excellent exploration, and sharp controls that pushed the Metroidvania genre forward. Dread may not be as universally known as Super Mario Odyssey, but its perfectly executed vision is hard to argue with.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
What can you say about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that hasn’t already been said. The open-world didn’t just redefine the Zelda series; it changed the way developers approach the genre, period. With more open-ended gameplay that was less about looking at a map and more about fluidly exploring a world, Breath of the Wild felt like the start of a mental shift towards making games about discovery again. We saw its formula taken to new heights in Elden Ring and even smaller ones in indies like A Short Hike. Within eight years, it felt as foundational to gaming’s DNA as Super Mario Bros. Tears of the Kingdom may have expanded on that idea even more, but Breath of the Wild still earns its spot at the top for its elegance and clarity of ambition that’ll keep it at the top of “best games of all time” lists for the next few decades.
Honorable mentions: Bayonetta 3, Cadence of Hyrule, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Mario Party Superstars, New Pokémon Snap, Pikmin 4, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Snipperclips, Super Mario Maker 2, WarioWare: Move It!, Xenoblade Chronicles 2
