Best Nintendo Switch Games in 2025

As the Nintendo Switch procreation winds down and we await the accomplishment of Nintendo Switch 2 aboriginal this year, it's clip to look backmost astatine the past 8 years and observe what has go 1 of the top crippled libraries successful Nintendo history. The hybrid portable console has surpassed the PlayStation 4 and Game Boy to go the 3rd best-selling console of each clip with implicit 150 cardinal units sold, Nintendo Switch Online has added Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games, and Nintendo struck a 10-year woody with Microsoft to larboard Call of Duty to aboriginal Nintendo consoles. While we hold for Mario Kart 9 and everything other Nintendo Switch 2 is definite to deliver, present are the 25 champion Switch games you tin play to clasp you over.

But what bash we mean by “best?” To beryllium precise clear, this is not an effort astatine an “objective” ranking that volition indisputably enactment up with the tastes of gamers of each types. That, sadly, tin ne'er exist. Instead, this is simply a database of games that IGN’s unit of Switch gamers urge arsenic a group, ranked utilizing our Face-Off instrumentality truthful that everybody – including our NVC Podcast hosts – got to measurement successful equally. It’s presented successful the tone of recognizing games we love, and encouraging others to effort them if you haven’t. With lone 25 slots to fill, determination are tons of astonishing caller games that didn’t interval to the apical – but that doesn’t mean we don’t deliberation they’re awesome, too!

Most importantly, retrieve that this database is conscionable our group’s picks and is nary much “right” oregon “wrong” than a database that you make yourself. Speaking of which: if you person your ain ranking you’d similar to enactment retired into the world, we’d similar to invitation you to marque your ain apical 25 (or apical 100!) database of Switch games utilizing our Playlist instrumentality and stock it successful the comments.

So without further ado, these are our picks for the 25 champion Nintendo Switch games. You tin besides cheque retired our database of the apical escaped Switch games for further picks.

25. Slay the Spire

There’s thing astir Slay the Spire’s equilibrium of strategy and randomness that makes it an endlessly replayable puzzle. Assembling that cleanable combo of synergistic cards tin consciousness incredible, but there’s besides a joyousness successful scraping your mode to triumph contempt the likelihood ne'er rather falling successful your favor. With that potent bundle connected the Switch’s mobile level — with immoderate reasonably decent interaction power options, we mightiness adhd — it’s a occurrence we’ve ever stopped playing it.

Slay the Spire made our updated database of the 10 champion roguelikes.

24. Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is simply a wonderfully open-ended farming sim. You’ll forge your ain state way with fishing, fighting, farming, and falling successful love. Additionally, being capable to instrumentality vantage of the Switch’s slumber mode helps instrumentality immoderate of the unit disconnected of not being capable to prevention successful the mediate of a day, adjacent if a fewer different bugs successful the larboard are inactive waiting to beryllium squashed here.

Stardew Valley is present disposable connected Apple Arcade arsenic Stardew Valley+, and is 1 of the champion iPhone games around.

23. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is 1 of the biggest and champion JRPGs disposable connected Switch. Its fantastical world, endearing characters, and yet satisfying communicative marque this 150-hour epic a travel good worthy taking. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 besides features the series’ champion broadside quests and astir varied combat to date, acknowledgment to its caller class-swapping mechanic.

22. Celeste

Celeste is simply a astonishment masterpiece. Its 2D platforming is immoderate of the champion and toughest since Super Meat Boy, with levels that are arsenic challenging to fig retired arsenic they are satisfying to complete. But the top triumph of Celeste is that its best-in-class jumping and dashing is blended beautifully with an important and sincere communicative and an unthinkable soundtrack that marque it a genuinely affectional game, adjacent erstwhile your feet are planted firmly connected the ground.

The developer's adjacent crippled is called Earthblade, a "2D explor-action crippled successful a seamless pixel creation world." It was primitively scheduled to travel retired successful 2024, but developer Maddy Thorson said successful a caller blog station that the crippled won't beryllium making its 2024 merchandise date, though improvement is progressing.

21. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

With its charming, toyetic ocular benignant and bizarrely acheronian undertones, the immense land of Koholint successful The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening has ne'er looked amended than it does connected Nintendo Switch. Link’s shipwrecked escapade connected a mysterious land rife with eccentric characters and sprawling dungeons has ever been 1 of the alien Zelda stories, and this remake allows caller audiences and aging fans alike to admit it connected a modern system. It modernizes the classical beloved Zelda crippled with a shiny caller overgarment of paint, immoderate fantabulous prime of beingness improvements, and loads much hidden collectibles but, ultimately, its top accomplishment is retaining the weird, haunting, beauteous feeling of the archetypal Game Boy game.

See our usher to the Legend of Zelda timeline to spot however it fits into the series.

20. Astral Chain

Platinum Games makes immoderate of the champion enactment games astir – that overmuch is each but indisputable. It's attack is unique, and arsenic a effect the Switch-exclusive Astral Chain is genuinely 1 of a benignant successful that you're simultaneously controlling not conscionable your character, but besides a surviving limb tethered to them known arsenic a Legion. This creates a thrilling benignant of combat that looks spectacular and feels unthinkable to play astir with. Astral Chain is challenging, rewarding, is perfectly jam packed with extent successful its combat systems, and has an engaging communicative arsenic well, with wide inspiration from anime classics specified arsenic Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost successful the Shell, and Appleseed, among others.

19. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is simply a top-shelf modern metroidvania, arsenic this unexpected bid revival from Ubisoft belongs close alongside hits similar Hollow Knight and Metroid Dread. Its incredibly originative acceptable of clip powers – similar Sargon’s quality to permission a shade mentation of himself down and drawback backmost to it astatine the property of a fastener – beryllium indispensable successful The Lost Crown’s tense combat, challenging platforming, and perplexing puzzle-solving, and the “a-ha!” moments we experienced aft unlocking a caller instrumentality rival immoderate of the genre’s all-time greats. But The Lost Crown volition possibly beryllium champion remembered for its innovative Memory Shards, wherever you tin drawback in-game screenshots that service arsenic reminders of areas oregon unlockables you can’t entree yet truthful you tin retrieve to caput backmost erstwhile you gain that adjacent important upgrade. This is simply a diagnostic each metroidvania should person moving forward, and Prince of Persia nailed it connected the archetypal attempt.

18. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury offers 2 fantastic Mario experiences that compliment each different brilliantly. 3D World landed connected the Wii U and gave fans a unsocial blend of 2D and 3D platforming, each of which could (optionally) beryllium played with up to 4 players successful a setup that worked amended than the New Super Mario bid accomplished. Inventive and conscionable plain fun, it was excessively bully of a crippled to support stranded connected the Wii U forever, and its larboard to Switch came with bonus online co-op capabilities, a photograph mode feature, and more.

But the biggest gully for fans who had already played 3D World was Bowser’s Fury, a brand-new, open-world acquisition that lasts astir 3 to 6 hours. Though lone a tiny sensation by bid standards, this free-form experimentation stands arsenic a impervious of conception that an open-world Mario crippled tin beryllium conscionable arsenic creative, exhilarating, and enjoyable arsenic what we’ve seen successful the franchise frankincense far. If this is the absorption the adjacent mainline Mario goes, it’s an breathtaking aboriginal indeed.

17. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

For years, the conception of a Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake felt arsenic mythical and unattainable arsenic opening the titular doorway itself, but Nintendo yet listened to this RPG’s highly vocal fanbase and delivered a adjacent cleanable retelling of Mario’s iconic GameCube quest. It’s singular however good The Thousand-Year Door holds up 20 years later, with its hilarious script, satisfying combat, lovable enactment members, and memorable locations. Mario virtually climbs the ranks of a pro wrestling league acceptable connected a floating land successful the sky, and that’s conscionable the mounting for 1 section of this epic adventure. And, pursuing the past fewer Paper Mario entries that traded successful unique, archetypal characters successful favour of hordes upon hordes of samey Toads, it’s a implicit delight to spot the slimy metropolis of Rogueport and its surrounding areas peppered with caller personalities. Simply giving The Thousand-Year Door a gorgeous caller overgarment of overgarment and sprinkling successful a fewer quality-of-life improvements has earned it a spot connected our database of the champion games connected Switch.

16. Splatoon 3

The fine-tuning of Splatoon 3’s team-based multiplayer makes for the series’ champion online modes to date, portion the instauration of a much fleshed-out single-player run elevates it to 1 of the champion wide games disposable connected Switch. The multiplayer is an betterment connected Splatoon’s established look acknowledgment to caller weapons, enemies, customization options, and an improved lobby system. The Return of the Mammalians campaign, meanwhile, presents 70 cleverly designed missions, 5 memorable brag fights, and a soundtrack oozing with style.

15. Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition

Other games connected this database correspond immense innovations and genre shakeups, but Dragon Quest XI S earns its spot due to the fact that of however classical it feels. This RPG plays similar an ode to the 1990s era, and it does an astonishingly bully occupation astatine taking the classical turn-based format and freshening it up for a modern audience. All the elements you’d expect from a tribute similar this are here: Exciting and balanced combat, a nostalgic communicative of bully against evil, a lovable set of heroes, and a vibrant satellite to explore.

Every constituent of Dragon Quest XI S feels meticulously designed and polished, and it's evident that truthful overmuch emotion and attraction went into crafting this escapade for Dragon Quest’s 30th anniversary. Plus, the Switch mentation is genuinely definitive, with further communicative content, afloat orchestrated music, and the enactment to swap backmost and distant betwixt modern 3D graphics and SNES-inspired, top-down pixel art.

14. Luigi's Mansion 3

Luigi's Mansion 3 is fundamentally a FrankenLuigistein’s monster of the archetypal 2 games, a mashup of some that creates the cleanable Luigi's Mansion experience. Charming, clever, and perfectly gorgeous to look at, Luigi's Mansion is 17 levels of axenic ghost-hunting joy. Working your mode done each of the haunted hotels whitethorn ne'er highly challenging, but the originative brag fights and deviously hidden collectibles volition support you engaged for a twelve hours oregon more. The excitement of getting to a caller level conscionable to spot its taxable (TV Studio! Sewer Maze! Egypt!) is good worthy the terms of admission, positive the crippled opens with Toad driving a bus. Priceless.

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is disposable now.

13. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Fire Emblem: Three Houses takes the bid to caller heights, deftly blending grueling battles with an expansive societal hub that allows for adjacent limitless customization arsenic you recruit, train, and enslaved with the memorable characters connected your team. Its unsocial instrumentality connected a three-pronged communicative ensures that nary substance which location you choose, the engrossing crippled that unfolds ever leaves capable enigma to marque aggregate playthroughs incredibly hard to resist.

The series' adjacent mainline game, Fire Emblem Engage, is present disposable connected Switch. IGN awarded it a reappraisal people of 9 and said Engage "proves itself worthy capable to beryllium counted alongside the bequest it honors truthful well."

12. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Released connected the doorstep of a planetary pandemic, Animal Crossing: New Horizons provided a overmuch request flight to many, selling astir 34 cardinal copies to date. Routine and find play arsenic important roles arsenic you program the cleanable layout for your island, marque friends (or enemies) with each your villagers, and invitation your friends to your ain small utopia to commercialized items and swap secrets.

It’s superb successful its simplicity and masterful successful the mode it encourages players to support up with chores, redecorate and/or reshape full plots of land, oregon pain dozens of hours trying to drawback uncommon food oregon find each past seasonal item. It surely helps that each the penning is supremely comic and that, hundreds of hours in, you’re inactive capable to chuckle astatine a random remark oregon find genuine inspiration successful the places you’d slightest expect.

Taking a cue from galore of Nintendo’s Switch editions of their long-running franchises, Animal Crossing New Horizons does small to wholly reinvent the franchise, but it makes a large bid adjacent much accessible, much exciting, and much fantastic than it has ever been.

New Horizons is officially Japan's best-selling crippled of each time. Animal Crossing players tin get adjacent much retired of it with the Happy Home Paradise DLC. Our reviewer Taylor Lyles called the enlargement "a must-have for basal crippled owners."

11. Metroid Prime Remastered

A masterclass successful crippled design, Metroid Prime is present playable connected Switch with a caller overgarment of overgarment and much-needed improvements to its 20-year-old power scheme. As Samus Aran, players travel a distress awesome to a Space Pirate frigate wherever Nintendo’s iconic bounty huntsman sets disconnected connected a solitary escapade equipped with a increasing arsenal of combat and platforming abilities. Metroid Prime Remastered is moody, surprising, inventive, and arsenic IGN’s reviewer Sam Claiborn wrote, “one of the champion first-person shooters ever made, afloat stop.”

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond volition merchandise successful 2025.

10. Pikmin 4

Pikmin 4 and its charming creatures – including the caller adorable caller pup, Oatchi – instrumentality the landing successful the strategy-puzzle series' Switch debut. It comes with plentifulness of caller features and upgrades that amended the tried-and-true look of the archetypal 3 games, including the largest fig of enemies to battle, treasures to collect, and awesome post-game content. It does each of this without its adorable gameplay becoming overcomplicated, making it an perfect starting constituent to leap successful if you've ne'er played earlier (nothing against the Switch ports of Pikmin 1 and 2 oregon Pikmin 3 Deluxe), but it's besides filled with callbacks to the earlier games for longtime fans.

9. Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder proves Nintendo tin inactive bent with the champion of them successful the 2D platformer category. After astir 2 decades of (relatively) bland New Super Mario Bros. games, Nintendo confidently returned to Mario’s roots successful Wonder, which lives up to its subtitle acknowledgment to its gorgeously caller creation style, immense magnitude of clever caller force types, and inventive Wonder Flower mechanics that perpetually astonishment and delight by wholly turning everything connected its caput successful the mediate of a level.

Whether Mario’s marching alongside an service of singing Piranha Plants oregon desperately trying to past arsenic a lowly Goomba, Wonder’s creativity and imaginativeness is connected afloat blast from commencement to finish, resulting successful a modern 2D classical that feels similar the archetypal worthy heir to Nintendo’s legendary Mario 3 and Mario World. Oh, and Elephant Mario is simply a axenic enactment of art, too.

8. Hades

Roguelikes don’t ever entreaty to everyone, but Hades has someway recovered a mode to triumph implicit adjacent those with a distaste for them. Fighting your mode retired of the Greek underworld is simply a ruthless and challenging affair, but each nonaccomplishment is rewarded successful a mode that someway makes them breathtaking successful their ain right.

Instead of conscionable notching up each nonaccomplishment and moving onto the next, the moments betwixt each tally propulsion Hades’ fantabulous storytelling to the forefront, giving you opportunities to larn much astir its charming characters and turn adjacent to them – arsenic good arsenic amended the prince of the underworld’s abilities and weapons. It’s that meaningful premix of progression and infinitely repeatable flight attempts (coupled with genuinely fantastic writing, art, and action) that marque Hades arsenic delectable arsenic Ambrosia itself.

Hades 2 Early Access is present disposable connected Steam.

7. Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is 1 of the champion modern MetroidVania’s available, utilizing each the pieces that marque the genre truthful large successful the archetypal spot without feeling derivative of thing that came earlier it.

The expertly crafted representation that is the kingdom of Hallownest has an absurd magnitude of paths to explore, bosses to fight, and secrets to uncover. That's each drawn successful a somber but expressive creation benignant that gives the adorable bug radical who unrecorded their lives, and stories, of their own. It tin undoubtedly beryllium a challenging and demanding game, but what you get retired of volition beryllium a reward worthy acold much than you enactment in.

The sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, was expected to beryllium released successful the archetypal fractional of 2023, but Team Cherry delayed it further owed to ongoing development.

6. Metroid Dread

Metroid Dread had go a near-mythic game, a fabled DS introduction that ne'er saw the airy of time by the clip it was announced astatine E3 2021 arsenic a Switch game. With astir 20 years having passed since the past caller 2D Metroid, expectations were entity high. Fortunately for fans, Dread met (and successful galore cases surpassed) expectations for what a modern 2D Metroid crippled could accomplish.

It’s easy the smoothest crippled successful the series, moving astatine a silky 60fps, and incorporates respective caller weapons and abilities the bid present can’t unrecorded without -- the Flash Shift unsocial makes Dread consciousness wholly fresh. With high-production values, unthinkable crippled plan that mildly guides the subordinate done ZDR’s labyrinthine corridors, and the astir unflinching mentation of Samus we’ve seen yet, Mercury Steam deed Metroid Dread retired of the stratosphere and brought the franchise backmost into Nintendo’s orbit.

5. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Mario Kart 8’s encore connected Nintendo Switch didn’t conscionable support the online assemblage live and added returning favorites similar Balloon Battle and Bob-omb Blast, we besides got a brand-new “cops and robbers” squad mode with Renegade Roundup, each of the large DLC stages, and adjacent immoderate guests from the Splatoon universe. It’s not a caller game, but 1 truthful good, it deserved to scope a bigger assemblage connected Switch close away.

4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is precisely what its sanction implies: it’s the eventual incarnation of Nintendo’s present 20-year-old brawler series. It’s a solemnisation of Smash Bros. arsenic a whole, filled with much fighters and levels than ever before, and packed to the gills with implicit 1000 much characters from each crossed gaming. “Everyone is here!” whitethorn person started retired arsenic conscionable different tagline, but it’s 1 that Nintendo has impressively backed up, and it’s made Ultimate the definitive Smash Bros. crippled for a agelong clip to come. Add a 20+ hr single-player mode with full-on brag fights and immense satellite maps and it’s casual to get mislaid successful Ultimate. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate had a batch to unrecorded up to with that name, but it has undoubtedly done conscionable that.

3. Super Mario Odyssey

A masterclass successful 3D platforming, Super Mario Odyssey seamlessly blends the champion elements from astir each Mario crippled with an full portfolio of caller gameplay mechanics to make thing some nostalgic and courageous. New players volition adore stomping done the vivid and immense caller worlds, portion seasoned veterans volition instrumentality astir aft the credits to unlock the hundreds of challenges that await their accomplishment and dexterity. To enactment it succinctly, Super Mario Odyssey is pure, sublime joyousness and 1 of the champion Super Mario games ever made.

You tin cheque retired our database of each Mario crippled connected the Switch for much similar this.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Formerly the fig 1 Switch crippled connected the database for years, and for bully reason, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been de-throned by Tears of the Kingdom. When Nintendo released Breath of the Wild successful 2017, it revolutionized not conscionable Zelda games, but open-world enactment games astatine large. The fig of Breath of the Wild imitators from each kinds of antithetic developers post-2017 were numerous. While Breath of the Wild is inactive an indispensable Switch game, and important to play to afloat admit Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo’s sequel improves connected astir each facet of Breath of the Wild that it does marque going backmost to the predecessor difficult.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is, hands down, the champion crippled disposable connected Nintendo Switch. Tears of the Kingdom is truthful bully that it arguably made our erstwhile number-one Switch game, Breath of the Wild, obsolete: As IGN’s reviewer Tom Marks wrote, “Breath of the Wild felt acold from unfinished but, inconceivably, Tears of the Kingdom has someway made it consciousness similar a archetypal draft.”

Tears of the Kingdom expands Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule with a larger scale, greater depth, and a much captivating story. It builds connected Breath of the Wild’s gameplay with amended dungeons, much originative limb crafting, and unfathomably robust gathering mechanics. It’s someway a large betterment connected what came earlier — and what came earlier was IGN’s prime for the champion crippled of each time.

You tin spot our database of each Legend of Zelda crippled connected the Switch for much similar this.

Upcoming Switch Games

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition launches connected March 20.

More connected the Best of Nintendo:

• Best Wii Games
• Best Gamecube Games
• Best Nintendo 3DS Games
• Best DS Games

Also see: The Best Switch Deals

March 12, 2025 updates:

Added: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Did we miss anything? Is your favourite crippled excessively low? Let america cognize successful the comments, and beryllium definite to cheque backmost erstwhile we reconfigure this database again!