If you are a regular reader of the blog, you’ll know that I recently played Pokémon Pokopia and did not care for it all that much. However, my first session with it was absolutely electric. Before I understood how slow and plodding it would be to do just about anything in that game, I was in love. I was close to posting on social media that this might be my favorite Nintendo game from the Switch era ever. I held off on doing so just in case things turned out sour for me. Sure enough, they did, and I was glad I never posted that, as I would have looked like a FOOL.
As I talked about in my “Top 10 Nintendo DS Games” list, I kind of fell out of love with Nintendo several decades ago. I felt like the medium of video games was evolving, and Nintendo wasn’t always along for the ride. The Switch was my first time buying an actual Nintendo console since the Nintendo 64, and I only bought the portable Nintendo systems from that point on.
However, despite my reservations, I have consistently given Nintendo games a go as they have come out in the Switch era, and I’ve settled into a comfortable enough new relationship with them as a developer. At this point, I’ve almost completely given up on them creating a game that I will truly love. I have only had a few Nintendo games even make a “top 10 games of the year” list for me since the Switch released in 2017. But I do consistently find Nintendo games to be quality 8/10 types of experiences, with a select few making it to 8.5/10 and 9/10.
So despite the fact that I only expect one or two Nintendo games to be on my “Top 10 Nintendo Switch” games list that I’ll be releasing in the coming few months, my Pokopia experience got me wondering what exactly my top Nintendo games in the Switch era actually are. These are all games that I enjoyed a fair bit for the most part, though they also almost all had at least one fatal flaw that stopped them from reaching the heights that I thought they could have otherwise. Let’s get to it!
10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Like many, I very vividly remember my experience with New Horizons because of everything going on in the world around its release. It remains pretty unbelievable to me that one of the coziest cozy games of all time happened to drop right in the middle of one of the scariest and most perilous times that the world has seen in this century.
I think I spent something like two weeks with New Horizons before I got tired of it, but it’s an incredibly pleasant game. I’m not usually a huge decorator in games that give you those capabilities, but I put a fair bit of work into making my little town look as nice as I could. I was pretty big into soccer at the time and even put a few hours into making a little soccer field in one area of my town.
I eventually burned out on the game because too many of the reward structures revolve around aesthetics over gameplay. That’s why I generally prefer a farming sim over a life sim. But this is still about as good as it gets for this genre.
9. Super Mario Odyssey
As someone who didn’t own a Nintendo console for several generations, it’s crazy to think that Odyssey was my first 3D Mario game since Super Mario 64. Super Mario Odyssey ended up being a great re-entry point into the franchise for the most part. There’s a level of care, creativity, and joy that just permeates the entire experience. It’s consistently delightful.
Odyssey is only held back from greatness for me because of its insane lack of challenge. This is an awesome introduction to the genre for kids, and if you are the kind of person that just wants to play this as an “experience”, I can’t fault you. But as a video game, it’s so mind numbingly easy that the mechanics are unable to shine as much as they should for me. Despite this, the creativity and level design are still sights to behold when they really cook. I can’t believe there still hasn’t been a brand new 3D Mario game since this one.
8. Donkey Kong Bananza
Donkey Kong Bananza has one of the best “core” mechanics that I have ever seen in a video game. You can destroy pretty much any piece of the environment at will. Being able to tear apart entire mountains or burrow way underground is so much fun and feels so good. The game is also very generous with the amount of collectible bananas it places throughout each level, so you are always getting that rewarding feeling of working towards upgrading Donkey Kong’s skill tree.
There is a world where this game is at least top 3 on this list, but I just never felt like the game did anything interesting with those amazing mechanics for the most part. The combat and boss fights are all incredibly straightforward. The puzzle solving is limited to specific sections and is mostly pretty simple. The exploration can be somewhat fun, but the game is so easy that I didn’t feel all that incentivized to work on the skill tree that the game has.
Since I don’t own a Switch 2, I actually borrowed my brother’s console to play this game. Because of that, my goal was to complete it within two weeks. If I owned a Switch 2, and I could have just mindlessly chipped away at this for 30 minutes to an hour a day, I may have liked it a little more. But still, despite my complaints, this was a very cool experience.
7. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Paper Mario games are RPGs, but to me, they are more like puzzle games. Each boss or group of opponents tends to have one specific strategy that works best to defeat them, and the game is all about optimizing your moves to take out enemies in the most efficient way possible.
This is one of three Paper Mario games that I’ve played, and I feel like it’s the one that nails the formula best. The combat is about as good as it gets, and there’s plenty of fun exploration and personality throughout. There are a few relics of the past that linger throughout this remake, like a very dumb amount of backtracking, but they did an excellent job with this one, and it’s a very solid experience.
6. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Spoiler alert, but you will not see Tears of the Kingdom on this list. I definitely had some fun with that game, but it slowly wore me down. I didn’t enjoy the process of building things with the Ultrahand, but I certainly admired the open-ended and wacky puzzle solving that the game has with all of its creations.
Echoes of Wisdom is essentially the Diet Coke version of Tears of the Kingdom. It has many of the same elements with its puzzle solving, but without making you actually put stuff together. It also has the classic top-down Zelda gameplay with more traditional Zelda dungeons, which I appreciate. I still had some issues with the combat and the terrible amount of menu work, but this was a really nice way to incorporate modern Zelda with the classic formula, and I think it works great for the most part.
5. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
I loved the Fire Emblem series when I first discovered it in the early Game Boy days, but the strategy gameplay slowly got less interesting for me over the years, as I found that I greatly preferred something with less cheesy movement strategies, like Ogre Battle 64.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses reinvigorated the series for me by mixing in the battling with a heavy social-sim element. This made the formula feel fresh for the first time in a long time, and I was all in for quite a while. I did wear out on the social sim elements pretty badly by the end of the game, as I think they lose a bit of their luster and get repetitive, but I still really enjoyed this one for the vast majority of the way, and it got me “re-engaged (lol)” in the Fire Emblem series for the first time in something like a decade.
4. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
As you may have picked up from one of the previous write-ups, my ideal Zelda game is a classic top-down one with traditional dungeons. So yeah, I really enjoyed the remake of one of the best top-down Zelda games of all time.
Link’s Awakening has everything I love about the Zelda formula, but it modernizes the graphics and fixes up small elements of the gameplay in spots. It’s exactly what I’d want out of a remake, and it is now the ideal way to play this classic.
3. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
As a huge fan of the modern Rayman games, a Mario game inspired by those classics felt like an amazing decision by Nintendo. And sure enough, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a truly excellent 2D Mario game.
While I don’t think it reaches the same heights as Rayman, Wonder still has some of the most creative 2D Mario level designs in the series’ history. It also has responsive platforming, lots of different mechanics (which could have been implemented a bit better), and tons of classic Mario charm and personality. It’s probably the third-best 2D Mario game of all time in my view, and that’s a pretty big accomplishment.
2. Pikmin 4
Since I never owned a GameCube, Wii, or Wii U, Pikmin 4 was my first ever Pikmin game. Honestly, I never understood the hype around the series before playing this game. It seemed like a real-time strategy game without all that much strategy.
After playing and loving the indie gem Tinykin, I suddenly understood the appeal, but I was curious to see how the original “kin” game would hold up compared to it. And sure enough, Pikmin 4 is fucking awesome. I will play any Pikmin game going forward after playing this one. The formula is insanely satisfying. Pikmin 4 makes checking boxes about as fun as it could be. There are some legitimate planning and strategy elements that are a lot of fun, but that constant feeling of “getting stuff done” is unparalleled. Also, if you weren’t having enough fun with the game, there’s another Pikmin game within this Pikmin game, just for kicks.
Honestly, my one problem with the game is there’s probably a bit too much here when all is said and done. I think it could have been a touch shorter, but this game made me very Pikmin-pilled, and I will always love it for that.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Breath of the Wild is such a weird game for me. Many of my biggest recollections about this game are negative. Weapon durability leaves a bad taste in my mouth to this day. I definitely missed the classic Zelda dungeons, and I don’t understand why Zelda gets such a pass for its mediocre combat compared to other games in this genre.
But this is also cited as one of the greatest games of all time for good reason. This was a genuinely monumental game that has at least helped to shape open world design since its release. The thrill of an open world game was supposed to be in part the sense of discovery that came with it, and that was kind of getting lost over time. Breath of the Wild showed the way, with true exploration that evoked a constant sense of wonder and discovery. The game is also filled with classic Zelda puzzle solving that I will always be a fan of.
Even when it pissed me off beyond belief to lose almost every weapon I had stockpiled to one tough foe, I still ended up with the Master Sword and completing the game. This is an intoxicating experience. I think it pisses me off mostly because it was like two design decisions away from being one of my top 10 games of all time. Instead, it has to just settle for being my favorite Nintendo game from the Switch era. That’s still not all that bad.
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