The 8 Best Games For The Nintendo Switch

You just bought a new Nintendo Switch. First of all, good job! They’re kind of hard to find. Now it’s time to figure out what games you want to play. We’ve got you covered.

The Switch is only a few months old, and like any new console, it doesn’t have a ton of games. However, it has a solid ratio of good games, and a few are legit greats.

As with all of our Bests lists, we’ll be updating this one over the months and years to come, eventually capping it at 12 games. It may be a humble list now, but expect it to expand and improve, hopefully at a brisk clip.

For now, here are the eight best games you can get for the Nintendo Switch.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a monumental artistic achievement, a video game so creative and full of surprises that we’ll be talking about it for years to come. It’s also unlike any Zelda game before it. For years, Zelda games were defined by “no.” You can’t reach this place until later; you can’t solve this puzzle until you get the right item. Breath of the Wild is the best Zelda game to date, and it accomplishes that simply by saying yes.

A Good Match For: Anyone who likes games that let you explore and make your own fun; horse lovers.

Not A Good Match For: Anyone who preferred the strict structure of other recent Zelda games.

Read our review.

Study our tips for the game.

Watch it in action.

Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | Gamestop

Shovel Knight is a brilliant reminder of what we loved about the best classic NES-era platformers. It combines tight controls, bouncy game feel, an extremely good soundtrack, and a charming cast of characters into a game that feels like a classic, even if it comes with many of the conveniences we associate with newer games. The Treasure Trove includes two expansions, with a third free one on the way. The first two let you play as Plague Knight and Specter Knight, and while the latter campaign is more fun than the former, both expand on an already fun game. It all looks and plays great on the Switch, and is a natural fit for on-the-go gaming.

A Good Match For: Fans of old-school platformers, people who like a little challenge—and a lot of good music—in their games.

Not A Good Match For: Anyone looking for something with modern graphics, or who doesn’t like challenging 2D platformers.

Read our review of the original, and the new Specter Knight campaign.

Watch it in action.

Purchase From: Available on the Nintendo eShop

In Snipperclips: Cut It Out Together!, you and a friend take control of a pair of goofy little paper characters. You have to cut one another into weird shapes in order to solve a series of ever more complicated physics puzzles. This leads to all sorts of funny failed experiments and, hopefully, some satisfying victories. You’ll need to think collaboratively, but you can take your time and experiment. Like the best co-op puzzle games, even your mistakes are fun.

A Good Match For: People who like playing games with their friends, puzzle fanatics.

Not A Good Match For: Anyone looking for a beefy single-player game.

Watch us play the game on Facebook.

Purchase From: Available on the Nintendo eShop

Originally released in 2016, Tokyo RPG Factory’s first outing I Am Setsuna is a sweet, sorrowful game with a beautiful soundtrack, splendid art, and characters with real personality. It borrows narrative elements from Final Fantasy X and a combat system from Chrono Trigger, combining those raw ingredients into a modernized RPG that would still feel at home in the SNES era. We mean that in a good way.

A Good Match For: Fans of classic JRPGs, fans of piano music.

Not A Good Match For: People who hate snow. Setsuna has a mournful, icy vibe that doesn’t really let up from start to finish.

Read our review of the PS4 version.

Watch it in action.

Purchase From: Available on the Nintendo eShop

Why have one good thing when you can have two? Good question. In the case of Puyo Puyo Tetris, those two good things are… Tetris and Puyo Puyo, a pair of place-the-dropping-shapes games that are equally beloved, if not equally well-known, all around the world. In single-player, online or splitscreen multiplayer, you and up to three friends can compete in hectic matches that flip and flop from Tetris to Puyo Puyo and back again. It’s a chaotic good time.

A Good Match For: Fans of Tetris and fans of Puyo Puyo, obviously. Also, anyone looking for a fun competitive puzzle game to play with friends.

Not A Good Match For: Those looking for a fleshed-out singleplayer game, anyone who prefers to solve puzzles without a time limitation.

Read our impressions of the game.

Watch it in action.

Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | Gamestop

Something is wrong with Isaac’s mom: She thinks that she can hear God. And God, disturbingly enough, has instructed her to kill Isaac. The only way Isaac can get out of that hellish situation is by jumping into his basement—which happens to be endless, and full of terrors. Thankfully, these demons can be defeated by directing Isaac’s tears, twin-stick shooter style, across Zelda-like dungeons. Well… if Zelda dungeons were full of horrifying hellspawn, poop, and tons of mysterious items that you don’t know how to use. The Binding of Isaac has gotten several iterations over the years, and Afterbirth+ is the biggest expansion yet.

A Good Match For: Players who like a challenge, especially of the roguelike variety. A lot of the appeal with the Binding of Isaac is how constantly it will surprise you with challenges you’ve never encountered before.

Not A Good Match For: Players who are sensitive to gross stuff or jokes about religion, or people who are just looking to relax while playing a game.

Watch it in action.

Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | Gamestop

You remember that scene in the second X-Men movie where Nightcrawler assaults the Oval Office? Of course you do, because it was awesome. Mr. Shifty is basically that scene made into a video game, and it’s as cool as that sounds. You play as a teleporting vigilante, hell-bent on reaching the top of a crime boss’s skyscraper base. You don’t have a gun, but you can move quickly, teleport through walls, and knock out most bad guys with a couple punches. Get hit by a single bullet, though, and it’s game over. The result is a breakneck mixture of Hotline Miami and Smash TV, which, yes, that is a very good combination.

A Good Match For: People looking for a fast-paced action game.

Not A Good Match For: Those looking for something relaxing or forgiving, along with anyone who likes their games to perform flawlessly. Mr. Shifty is plenty of fun on Switch, but we ran into some performance issues in later levels. The developers have promised a patch is inbound.

Read our review.

Watch it in action.

Purchase From: Available on the Nintendo eShop

Ah, the blue shell. There may be no better metaphor for the bleakness of life. One minute you’re cruising along, on top of the world, and then… BAM, you’re totally hosed. Just when you thought you had it in the bag, life throws a blue shell.

Mario Kart 8 isn’t really all that philosophical, of course. It’s the same Mario Kart formula re-tuned and polished to an absurd degree, easily one of the most fun party games you can play on the Switch or any other console. Best of all, the Deluxe version on Switch includes all the DLC maps and characters from the Wii U game and also completely overhauls that version’s woebegone battle mode. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the definitive version of an already great game.

A Good Match For: People who like moving really fast, people who like seeing Luigi look really mean.

Not a Good Match For: People who don’t like Mario Kart? Do those people exist?

Read our review of the Wii U version, and of the Deluxe Switch version.

Watch a tournament that we staged at company HQ. 

Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | Gamestop

How has this list changed? Read back through our update history:

5/3/2017: And lo, the Switch Bests list was created! No updates yet. Expect more in the near future as we add more games, eventually capping the list at 12.

Want more of the best games on each system? Check out our complete directory:

The Best PC Games • The Best PS4 Games • The Best Xbox One Games • The Best Wii U Games • The Best PC Virtual Reality Games • The Best 3DS Games • The Best PS Vita Games • The Best Xbox 360 Games • The Best PS3 Games • The Best Wii Games • The Best iPhone Games • The Best iPad Games • The Best Android Games • The Best PSP Games • The Best Facebook Games • The Best DS Games • The Best Mac Games • The Best Browser Games • The Best PC Mods

Note: If you buy any of these games through the retail links in this post, our parent company may get a small share of the sale through the retailers’ affiliates program.

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