Our Recommended Switch Games to Play on the Switch 2

 

At this point you have most likely seen the Switch 2 Reveal, and all of the games on their way for it. From Mario Kart World, to Donkey Kong Bananza, and even the surprise announcement of Kirby Air Riders. However, the Nintendo Switch 2 is also backwards compatible with the original Nintendo Switch, and today I wanted to share some of our recommended Switch games and series that you shouldn't out on! 

Maybe you didn't have a Switch at the time, or you wanted to wait for the Switch 2, but either way, there are a lot of great games out there already that you should try out! Maybe even on your original Switch?

So with that in mind, I sat down with the rest of the Netto's Game Room team, and these are the games we came up with:

Xenoblade Chronicles Series

Xenoblade is a well beloved Action RPG series from Monolith Soft that originally released their first game on the Wii 2010. Typically they all have massive explorable worlds with tons of secrets to find, engaging stories and character, and MMO style action combat that requires you to be more strategic and time certain attacks. Games from this series can last you easily from 70-100 hours depending on how much you want to complete them, and while the length may sound daunting to some, in my own experience they have all been fun and engaging hours.

Since the original release the series has grown, gotten sequels, and had some really great Definitive Editions that improved on the originals in every aspect. Thanks to this the entire series is now available on Switch, making it even easier to get into.

"Which one should I start with?"

In my humble opinion, I would recommend starting with the very first one, aka, Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition, and then play them in chronological order.

"Can I play them out of order?"

Yes you can, since all of the games do in fact have their own story and cast; HOWEVER, They all tie to each other in more ways than one. In particular if you play Xenoblade Chronicles 3 first you will understand the main story fine, but some characters and events won't hit as hard, or be something you might not fully understand unless you played Xenoblade 1 and 2 first. If you really want to know how deeply they are connected you can check out Ben's Article on it (warning though it does contain spoilers so read at your own risk).

The Legend of Zelda

"Wait isn't Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom getting a physical Switch 2 port?"

Indeed they are, but Nintendo decided that they will cost as much as a whole new game on the console. . . What you can do instead is buy the original release cheaper, either new or second hand, and then get the Switch 2 upgrade later for roughly $10. Of course there is the chance that the the Switch 2 release of Breath of the Wild will include the expansion DLC, but as of writing this article it hasn't been fully clarified yet by Nintendo.

Of course these are not the only Zelda games you might want to consider playing on the Switch 2. Echoes of Wisdom was released last year, and was a pretty nice breath of fresh air for the franchise. Instead of playing as Link the game puts you in the shoes of Zelda through the whole adventure, and it introduced a lot of new fun mechanics that only she can do (I was in particular a big fan of minion summoning). Then we also have the Link's Awakening remake which was a fun nostalgic call back to the original Game Boy game with a unique aesthetic art style that Echoes followed up on.

Hyrule Warriors was first released on the Wii U, and later got an updated 3DS release. It then received a definitive edition on the Switch which includes ALL DLC, and, honestly in my opinion, is a really fun action hack and slash game with tons of content to play through. It can be taken on solo or even with a friend in couch co-op!

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity was the follow up game directly tied to the story of Breath of the Wild, and also will be receiving a sequel for the Switch 2. However, Age of Calamity may have been a good game at its core, but its performance was rather lacking sadly. It suffered a lot from frame rate issues, so unless Nintendo also gives it a upgrade, I wouldn't fully recommend it in its current state. (Hopefully they will consider it!)

Last, but not least, Cadence of Hyrule was a unique Rhythm action take on both Zelda and Crypt of the Necrodancer, and made by the same indie studio! It even supports co-op play with a friend, and was both a fun and intense adventure. Highly recommended by me personally.

Super Mario

There are several Mario titles from the previous generation that can be enjoyed (Mario Kart 8 in particular as it is quite a bit different from the newly announced Mario Kart World), but I wanted to mention a few today that in my humble opinion are particularly worth considering.

Super Mario Odyssey was an impressive and really fun 3D collect a thon platformer with deep movement mechanics that were easy to learn but hard to master. It's already confirmed that the game is getting an upgrade on Switch 2, so if you missed out on it the first time, now would be a perfect chance to dive into it.

Super Mario Wonder has a distinctively lovely cartoon aesthetic going for it, and was one the best platformers released in 2023. It supported an interesting take on online play where you could see the ghosts of other players attempting the level at the same time as yourself. It was also a surprisingly challenging Mario game in general, and never got stale with its level designs or themes. It also allowed Daisy to be playable for the first time in a mainline Mario game!

Luigi's Mansion 3 is a solid followup to the first two titles, and offers full co-op support through the main game. Players can work together to solve puzzles and suck up ghosts, and work their way through challenge stages once the main story is over. It isn't particularly hard, but it is still a lot of fun.

Other Non-Switch Exclusive Mario games worth checking out include: The outstanding RPG Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and Super Mario 3D World. Both titles were released on previous platforms, but are at their best on Nintendo Switch.

Platinum Games

The Bayonetta series is a high octane action game reminiscent of the Devil May Cry series, which isn't a big surprise since it was directed by Hideki Kamiya (known for directing Okami, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 2). Originally the series started out as a multiplatform release, but due to SEGA and Microsoft not being impressed by the sales at the time (which was still around 2 million when combined with PS3/Xbox 360 sale), SEGA decided to not invest on a sequel, and the series was left to presumably become a one off for Platinum Games.

Then Nintendo stepped in.

With the release of the Wii U, Nintendo decided to pick up the torch, and invested in both the series and Platinum Games to produce a sequels and other exclusive games for the Wii U (Star Fox Zero, Wonderful 101), and later on the Nintendo Switch (Astral Chain).

The whole Bayonetta franchise is now available on the Switch, and are some of the most action packed games the console has to offer. Even so, rather than simply recommending Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2, and Bayonetta 3, I wanted to talk a bit about a rather underrated entry in the series that really deserves more love.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a prequel to the entire franchise, and had a pretty deep story and great gameplay to go along with it. Unlike the other games in the series, Origins took a more adventure game, with light puzzle solving, approach where you controlled two characters at the same time. It still had combat still, but it wasn't the main focus like in the previous titles.

The game sadly didn't get that much coverage during the month of its release, due to various reasons, but if I had to speculate, it was most likely due to the fact that it got released only a few months after Bayonetta 3, and that is was a huge departure gameplay wise from the previous entries. That being said, everyone who I have talked to about it say the same thing: it's one of the best games on the Switch! and seriously underrated, definitely one of the games of the year! It deserves a lot more recognition!

I am a sucker for underrated or hidden gem games, so it felt wrong not to mention it here even.

The Wonderful 101 is an action game (I know I've said this a lot, but that is Platinum Games in a nutshell!) where you control a huge amount of heroes to take on Alien invaders that are set out to conquer earth! (It is kind of similar to Pikmin.) The game is also available on PS4 and Steam, but I wanted to mention it since it was originally a Wii U exclusive from back in the day, and still worth playing.

There are a few more titles like Astral Chain and of course the Nier Automata port, but for the sake of this list I wanted to focus more on the underrated titles from Platinum Games.

Pokemon

The Switch does for sure host a lot of Pokemon games, but if I am gonna be honest; I have a hard time recommending most of them personally, even if they are games that sold rather well and are beloved by many. They just suffer from so much technical, performance, design and effort issues that it makes me miss the older days of the franchise. Back when it felt like Game Freak cared more, and was actually given enough time to develop games. I also have a hard time seeing how the upgrade for Scarlet and Violet that got announced alongside the other upgrades can fix those games, when they are from a fundamental design point a bit. . . Lacking. . . Hopefully at least the upgrade fixes a lot of the lag and crashes the game suffers from to this day.

I do have better expectations from Legends Z-A though!

That being said, there is one game that didn't have any of these issues, and ironically it is a spin off sequel to a N64 classic. Yes readers, I am talking about New Pokemon Snap!

The game was developed by Bandai Namco, and is a first-person on rail shooter photography game. The whole point of the game is to take the best pictures of any Pokemon you can see on the screen, and maybe mess with them by throwing some fruit, or using other gadgets to get a reaction out of them. Or maybe even get them to do a funny pose for you! It is an incredibly simple but fun game, and it is one of the best looking Pokemon games in general. It has a lot charm, and a lot of love was put into the different Pokemon animations that give them so much life. When playing the game you do feel like you're on a safari tour through different environments in the world of Pokemon, and I love that.

On another note, fellow Netto's Game Room writer Ben did enjoy Pokemon Sword, Shield, Scarlet, and Violet for what they were, and was even crazy enough to 100% complete the National Pokedex in every title released to date. He even put everything into Pokemon Home to prepare for the future.

Does he recommend them? Well, he said "it really depends if you enjoy the core gameplay, and collecting aspect of the series. Sword and Shield were a refreshing trimmed down experience, while the open world in Scarlet and Violet could be improved on even further in future entries."

He does recommend Legends Arceus, as "it was a fun spinoff take on the series," and reminded him of "the days when Pokemon games would try something new and just have fun with it."

Fire Emblem

When speaking to the other writers, one series they loved was none other than Fire Emblem. The Switch is home to five titles within the series, but two of them are non-conventional, and one of them isn't fully Fire Emblem.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses was a massive release in the series, as it is technically three games in one. The game sees our main character becoming a new teacher at a school, and choosing which house they want to be in charge of. Each house contains its own storyline and missions to complete, and there is plenty of reasons to keep coming back for multiple playthroughs. It is also the first Fire Emblem to contain a more developed life sim section, with an entire school to explore and activities to partake in to improve your team. While the game might not check all of the boxes for longtime fans, it was still a solid entry, and easily a must have on the original Switch.

The second main Fire Emblem title was Fire Emblem: Engage. This one took the core of Three Houses, improved on the gameplay, focused on a single linear story, and brought in past Fire Emblem characters using a new mechanic that allows characters to fuse with past heroes. While fans would get more out of the returning characters, the game is still stand alone, and can be enjoyed by newcomers as well. It was a more refined experience at its core, but its being different from Three Houses means not everyone will like it as much. And that is okay!

Moving past the two main games, the first Fire Emblem game to release on the Switch was Fire Emblem Warriors. Like Hyrule Warriors, the game was an action spin off developed by the Dynasty Warriors team, and featured many fan favorite characters. It too featured a couch co-op mode, and had an all new original story. Fire Emblem: Three Hopes on the other hand, like Age of Calamity, was based upon another game in the series, and served as a new story in the series. In this case, Three Hopes is a follow up to Three Houses, and once again splits down different paths depending on the house that is chosen. 

Both titles are great for Warriors fans, with plenty of content to work through, and could serve as a good entry point for Fire Emblem fans who have never touched a Warriors title before.

Finally, while it isn't technically a full Fire Emblem game, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE also exists, and is actually a Shin Megami Tensei title. It uses Fire Emblem characters within its story, and incorporates Fire Emblem mechanics into the battle system and gameplay, and was originally released on the Wii U. The game was developed by the same team that went on to do Soul Hackers 2 in a similar style, so fans of that game might enjoy this one also; although Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a much more developed game compared to Soul Hackers 2.

Indies

The Switch hosts a large library of Indie titles, and quite a few of them have a physical release! It would be too long of a list to go through all of them, so I'll just highlight a few I personally recommend.

CrossCode is a 2D action RPG that is inspired by retro titles such as Terranigma and Chrono Trigger. You take control of Lea as she wakes up logged into an MMO of the distant future with her memories hazy and unable to speak. She is then guided to explore the MMO world to rediscover her memories, but there is more to it than meets the eye. The game itself is a full single player action RPG with deep mechanics and movement, a skill tree system, gear for different playstyles, and an impressive memorable soundtrack. The story is very well written with great characters, and I honestly can't recommend it than enough.

Duck Game is a chaotically fun 2D party action game where 4 players take the control of a duck, and have to as quickly as possible kill each other with either the environment itself. (Or with any weapons you find laying around the battlefield!) The rounds are very fast paced, and the mechanics are deep enough to incentivize fun while trying to outplay the opponent. If you need a game to play with buddies that is cheap to get, then this is the game for you.

Celeste is an intensive platformer with a satisfying story and characters. The whole game is about helping Madeline climb up to the top of the mountain, while she battles her inner demons. It is a deeply satisfying game to learn, and has has a lot of secrets to find. It is a difficult game, sure, but that is the whole point of climbing the mountain, and it has a very generous checkpoint system, so you get to immediately try again if you fail at a challenge.

Closing thoughts

The original Nintendo Switch has a MASSIVE and diverse library of games, so I definitely missed games that could have been talked about here. Therefore, I want to ask you reader to give us your recommendations in the comment section of this article! Which games do you think are worth getting if you're a new Switch owner in general?