RS Recommends: The Best Nintendo Switch Games We’re Playing in 2024
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.
At a Glance: The Best Nintendo Switch Games
More from Rolling Stone
EDITORS’ PICK: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
BEST RACING: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
BEST COZY: Endless Ocean Luminous
BEST SIM: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
BEST FIGHTING: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
BEST ACTION: Metroid Dread
BEST ROLE-PLAYING: Pokemon Legends: Arceus
BEST PLATFORMER: Super Mario Bros. Wonder
BEST ADVENTURE: Princess Peach: Showtime!
BEST PARTY: WarioWare: Move It!
BEST WORKOUT: Ring Fit Adventure
The Nintendo Switch has become a runaway success since its launch, outselling its predecessor the Nintendo Wii U less than a year-and-a-half after its release. The console’s hook is that it’s a hybrid handheld and home game system.
The Nintendo Switch itself is a tablet with a 6.2-inch touchscreen with up to 720p video resolution and a pair of detachable controllers called “Joy-Con” on either side. The console can be connected to a TV by setting it on a “dock,” which acts as a bridge between the Switch and your display.
SHOP NINTENDO Switch Consoles at Target
Nintendo has also released the Nintendo Switch OLED model with a larger 7-inch display with up to 1080p video resolution when docked to a TV for a more premium look and feel, as well as a handheld-only Nintendo Switch Lite with a 5.5-inch display and no TV output options.
And because of its success and popularity, the Switch has amassed a huge library of games, and it can be hard to find the best ones. After spending hours of gaming, here’s what we think are the best games for the Nintendo Switch in 2024.
In This Article
What Are the Best Nintendo Switch Games?
Buying Guide; How to Pick the Best Nintendo Switch Game
What Are the Best Nintendo Switch Games?
We’ve collected some of the best titles below. Whether you want to fall into a hundred-hour adventure, or want to kick back with some friends on the couch or online, we have you covered.
1. ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘
$69.99
The Legend Of Zelda has been a key Nintendo franchise for almost 30 years, but its latest entry, Tears of the Kingdom is one of the best.
After the events of Breath of the Wild, the game takes place in a version of Hyrule that’s been devastated by an ancient evil: Ganondorf. It’s up to you to piece together what’s happened, and explore a huge world that can take well over 100 hours to see fully. Each town, dungeon, and field provides another opportunity to find materials for crafting, or enemies that need to be taken down.
The game has been given an E-10+ rating by the ESRB, so it’s appropriate for most players, but some areas can be a little scary for young kids. It’s easy to get lost in this adventure, but that leads to its one potential flaw.
After playing through Tears of the Kingdom, the game does give you some direction, but it’s easy to completely ignore the story beats in favor of charting your own path and seeing what’s out there. That can be intimidating if you’re used to a more linear game with a predefined path. If you’re ready to lose yourself in an open world, though, there’s no finer title on the Nintendo Switch.
2. ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe‘
$47.99 $59.99 20% off
When it comes to multiplayer Nintendo Switch games it’s impossible not to recommend Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The colorful, chaotic racing game gives everybody (the game has earned an E rating, so we mean this literally), a chance to join in with frantic, fast-paced fun.
Choose one of more than two dozen characters, and race against up to three other people for a chance to earn the top spot on the leaderboards. While it plays like a straight ahead racer — the main actions are accelerate, brake, and turn — Mario Kart throws some new items into the mix.
The items, which range from a red shell that acts as a homing missile, to bananas you can place on a course to foil the racers behind you, serve to equalize matches to give players at all skill levels a chance to pull ahead. The action may get a little too chaotic for newer players, but the gameplay is so engaging they’ll get the hang of it before too long.
For even more characters, vehicles, and courses, Nintendo released a Booster Course Pass DLC (downloadable content) for 48 more racetracks — that’s a whopping 96 courses in total.
3. ‘Endless Ocean Luminous‘
$49.99
The follow up to Endless Ocean and Endless Ocean 2 for the Nintendo Wii, Endless Ocean Luminous is a cozy sea exploration game where you scuba dive in the fictional and uncharted Veiled Sea to search for marine life and lost shipwrecks. The game is designed for exploration, so you roam around the sea to take photos of sea life with more than 500 different species to catalog.
There’s even multiplayer included with up to 30 online players teaming up to explore regions together in a group. In our testing, Endless Ocean Luminous is a peaceful and tranquil game that’s made to be played during a rainy day curled up in a blanket.
4. ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘
$59.99
Video games don’t have to be intense to be satisfying or fun, which is why we highly recommend Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Instead of fighting enemies or testing your reflexes during fast-paced action sequences, you slowly build up a town and build relationships with townspeople. You build up a town over time in the hopes of attracting new residents, and design it to your exact specifications.
The game’s premise is simple: you travel to an exotic island, and slowly become the town’s mayor. It’s up to you to make the town cool enough for other characters to come settle down there. As you complete quests, the town will begin to flourish, offering accommodations like a museum filled with artifacts you’ve created.
Because you’re the head of the town, you get to control everything from the way it’s laid out and designed, to how the land is shaped and cultivated. Animal Crossing runs on a real-world timer, which means you can only accomplish so much in a single day. The idea is to go back every day to make a little bit of progress over time.
This “slow burn” style game is appealing if you want a title that evolves constantly, and doesn’t take up several hours of your day, but this limitation may get tedious for some players.
5. ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘
$59.99
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate allows you to finally settle the debate: Who would win in a fight, Link or Mario?
This game pits 74 classic Nintendo characters against one another on one of 103 stages. Hand-to-hand combat, character-specific weapons, and random items make every match stand out — even if you play for an entire day.
Nintendo went all-out on the Switch entry in this classic franchise by including every single character and stage from previous Super Smash Bros. games. The variety of characters and play styles is impressive, and the action can get intense when four players are on the screen.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has also earned the distinction of being one of the most family-friendly games. There’s no blood or gore, which has earned the title an E-10+ rating from the ESRB.
Although the title is family-friendly, it’s still an action game, which means it’s easy to play, but tough to master. Each character has a robust move set, with different button combinations required to pull off more powerful moves. This game is still fun to play casually, but getting the most out of it requires a fair bit of time investment.
6. ‘Metroid Dread‘
$50.90 $59.99 15% off
Metroid Dread is one of the most critically acclaimed Nintendo Switch games. The T-rated action-adventure game is the latest entry in Nintendo’s popular Metroid franchise, and the first one to hit the Switch.
The side-scrolling game pits Samus Aran against an organization of evil machines. Armed with an ever-growing arsenal of weapons, you’ll fight your way through hoards of enemies while solving puzzles to continue through the game. Part of the appeal of a Metroid game is the progression system. As you gain new abilities, you can enter new sections of the map, or places in previous areas that were previously inaccessible.
If you’re the type of player who loves to explore, Metroid Dread should be the next game you pick up for Switch.
7. ‘Pokémon Legends: Arceus‘
$59.99
Pokémon threw the rules out the window with Pokémin Legends: Arceus and gave the fans what they’d been asking for — an open-world style Pokémon game. Much of the gameplay itself is focused on Pokémon rather than a linear path to gyms and battles, as in other Pokémon games.
Each Pokémon has a unique personality and those little quirks are what make the game stand out against classic-style Pokémon games like Sword and Shield or Let’s Go. Unlike other Pokémon installments, there are also different ways to catch your favorite Pokémon, from immediately throwing a Pokeball at them or feeding them berries to distract them — you don’t always have to battle and weaken Pokémon to catch em’ all.
The map is incredibly large, although it can feel “empty” at times and the graphics are best described as sub-par. But, the real reason why this game shines is because of the almost life-like Pokémon running around. Each of these fun-loving creatures has a personality of their own, making them the star of the show rather than a sidekick like in Pokémon games past.
8. ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder‘
$59.99
For old school 2D platforming, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a must play! This game features Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toad, Toadette, Nabbit and Yoshi all as playable characters. But, Mario and friends find themselves in the Flower Kingdom, instead of an adventure in the Mushroom Kingdom.
The game features new power-ups and abilities, like Elephant Fruit, Bubble Flower, Drill Mushroom, and special Wonder Flower — which turns levels into trippy and delightful chaos.
In our play through, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a wonderful throwback to past games — like Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World — but updated with modern graphics and animations, as well as up to four multiplayer local and online co-op. This adds a new wrinkle to the gameplay since you’re playing with and against others to clear levels.
9. ‘Princess Peach: Showtime!‘
$59.99
Looking for adventure? Nearly 25 years in the making, Princess Peach: Showtime! features Princess Peach and her group of Toads at the Sparkle Theater. With the help from the fairy Stella, Peach must save the theater with new abilities and costumes after the Grape and the Sour Bunch attack the venue.
You play to clear levels and courses with special abilities, new outfits, and attacks, such as Detective Peach, Swordfighter Peach, Kung Fu Peach, Patissier Peach, Cowgirl Peach, Ninja Peach, and other fun costumes.
Showtime! is also the first gaming starring Princess Peach since Super Princess Peach was released for the handheld Nintendo DS in 2005.
10. ‘WarioWare: Move It!‘
$49.99
If you’re looking for a game to play with a group of friends, then WarioWare: Move It! is our pick — thanks to over 200 motion-controlled micro-games that range from short “follow-the-leader”-style games to brief Switch Sports-like challenges.
In our testing, WarioWare: Move It! is loads of fun with short bursts of exciting challenges, especially for more than one player. The micro-games are creative and inventive with bright colors and slick animations, while the motion controls seem accurate and amusing to execute in a group. You’ll sometimes have to “strike a pose” and get into a funny standing position to complete a few games — a great icebreaker for meeting new people — but it’s all in the spirit of fun and participation.
11. ‘Ring Fit Adventure‘
$79.99
Most video games keep you on the couch, but Ring Fit Adventure gets you up on your feet.
The E-10+ game is a light role playing game with a big twist: You need to run and perform routine exercises (pushups, squats, leg lifts) to advance. While the game is light on story, its exercise mechanics are no joke. Expect to sweat — a lot — as you face tougher enemies that require a lot of exercises to defeat.
The game comes with the “ring controller,” which is basically a pilates ring, and a leg strap. You’ll need to slip the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers into these accessories, so it can measure which parts of your body you’re moving. The measurements are surprisingly accurate, and Ring Fit Adventure’s main character will ask you to correct your stance if it senses you’re a little off.
You’ll learn new exercises as the game progresses, and have the option to switch out which “attacks” to keep in your roster. Swapping exercises allows you to focus on one part of your body during each gameplay session, or mix things up.
Ring Fit Adventure encourages you to push yourself by recording your stats, and offering a breakdown of how long you’ve run, how many calories you’ve burned, and how long you’ve played that day. If you don’t like going to a gym, and want a way to work out at home, this is a worthwhile option.
Buying Guide; How to Pick the Best Nintendo Switch Game
There are many factors to think about when choosing the best Nintendo Switch Games for you; below are the most important ones, which we considered while we were researching this list.
Genres: Different types of games appeal to different people, so we’ve made sure to include titles from the biggest genres: action adventure, fighting, racing, and simulation.
ESRB Rating: The Electronic Software Rating Board determines which games are appropriate for which age group. It’s the equivalent of movie ratings like G, PG, PG 13, etc. Our guide contains games that are suitable for everybody, so no players will feel left out.
Multiplayer vs. Single Player: We made sure to balance out the games in this guide so that single player and multiplayer games are included. If you’re the only one in your household who plays games, the single-player titles we’ve chosen will last hundreds of hours but can be played in smaller chunks of time. If you want to play with friends and family, our multiplayer selections can be played over and over again without getting stale.
Best of Rolling Stone
1. The Legend of Zelda Breath Of The Wild
The Legend Of Zelda has been a key Nintendo franchise for almost 30 years, but its latest entry, Breath of the Wild is one of the best.
It takes place in a version of Hyrule that's been devastated by an ancient evil: Ganon. It's up to you to piece together what's happened, and explore a huge world that can take well over 100 hours to see fully. Each town, dungeon, and field provides another opportunity to find materials for crafting, or enemies that need to be taken down.
The game has been given an E-10+ rating by the ESRB, so it's appropriate for most players, but some areas can be a little scary for young kids. It's easy to get lost in this adventure, but that leads to its one potential flaw.
The game does give you some direction, but it's easy to completely ignore the story beats in favor of charting your own path and seeing what's out there. That can be intimidating if you're used to a more linear game with a predefined path. If you're ready to lose yourself in an open world, though, there's no finer title on the Switch.
The Legend of Zelda Breath Of The Wild
2. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
When it comes to multiplayer Nintendo Switch games it's impossible not to recommend Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The colorful, chaotic racing game gives everybody (the game has earned an E rating, so we mean this literally), a chance to join in with frantic, fast-paced fun.
Choose one of more than two dozen characters, and race against up to three other people for a chance to earn the top spot on the leaderboards. While it plays like a straight ahead racer -- the main actions are accelerate, brake, and turn -- Mario Kart throws some new items into the mix.
The items, which range from a red shell that acts as a homing missile, to bananas you can place on a course to foil the racers behind you, serve to equalize matches to give players at all skill levels a chance to pull ahead. The action may get a little too chaotic for newer players, but the gameplay is so engaging they'll get the hang of it before too long.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Video games don't have to be intense to be satisfying or fun, which is why we highly recommend Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Instead of fighting enemies or testing your reflexes during fast-paced action sequences, you slowly build up a town and build relationships with townspeople. You build up a town over time in the hopes of attracting new residents, and design it to your exact specifications.
The games premise is simple: you travel to an exotic island, and slowly become the town's mayor. It's up to you to make the town cool enough for other characters to come settle down there. As you complete quests, the town will begin to flourish, offering accommodations like a museum filled with artifacts you've created.
Because you're the head of the town, you get to control everything from the way it's laid out and designed, to how the land is shaped and cultivated. Animal Crossing runs on a real-world timer, which means you can only accomplish so much in a single day. The idea is to go back every day to make a little bit of progress over time.
This "slow burn" style game is appealing if you want a title that evolves constantly, and doesn't take up several hours of your day, but this limitation may get tedious for some players.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate allows you to finally settle the debate: Who would win in a fight, Link from The Legend of Zelda, or Mario?
This game pits 74 classic Nintendo characters against one another on one of 103 stages. Hand-to-hand combat, character-specific weapons, and random items make every match stand out — even if you play for an entire day.
Nintendo went all-out on the Switch entry in this classic franchise by including every single character and stage from previous Super Smash Bros. games. The variety of characters and play styles is impressive, and the action can get intense when four players are on the screen.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has also earned the distinction of being one of the most family-friendly games. There's no blood or gore, which has earned the title an E-10+ rating from the ESRB.
Although the title is family-friendly, it's still an action game, which means it's easy to play, but tough to master. Each character has a robust move set, with different button combinations required to pull off more powerful moves. This game is still fun to play casually, but getting the most out of it requires a fair bit of time investment.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Solve the daily Crossword
