The Best Nintendo Switch Games

Nintendo EPD shipped it on 3 March 2017 as a Wii U game and a Switch launch game at once, and the Switch is where it became the console's argument for existing. Climbing anything, cooking anything, and watching a Guardian one-shot you on the Great Plateau still teaches more in an hour than most tutorials manage. No Steam listing exists: Nintendo sells first-party software only through its own channels.

Cappy turns every enemy into a temporary body, and Nintendo built the entire Power Moon hunt around that single verb. Released 27 October 2017, it had passed 30.27 million copies by December 2025. The Bowser capture during the final chase is the best five minutes on the console, and I have replayed it more than the moon-collecting that surrounds it. Not on Steam, since Nintendo keeps first-party platformers exclusive to its own hardware.

Ultrahand is the most permissive building tool Nintendo has ever handed a player, and Fuse quietly answers the weapon-durability complaint by making every broken stick an ingredient. Out 12 May 2023, it had reached 22.40 million copies by December 2025 and took Best Action/Adventure at The Game Awards that year. Wikipedia gets the link because Nintendo does not publish to Steam.

A Wii U game that sold 8.46 million copies became a Switch game that had sold 67.35 million by 31 December 2024, which settles which version matters. Deluxe is the definitive edition: two-item holding, a five-mode Battle suite including Renegade Roundup, and 48 Booster Course Pass tracks. Not sold on Steam, Nintendo hardware being exclusive by design; Wikipedia files Deluxe inside the Mario Kart 8 entry.

Eighty-nine fighters, including DLC, is an absurd number to balance, and Masahiro Sakurai's team did it anyway for the 7 December 2018 release. World of Light is the mode I expected to skip and finished twice, mostly because the spirit-loadout system turns each fight into a small puzzle. Around 36.24 million copies had shipped by 31 March 2025. No Steam page exists; the roster's licensing alone makes it exclusive to Nintendo.

Monolith Soft's first production group started this in August 2018 and released it on 29 July 2022, and it is the most emotionally serious game Nintendo published on the platform. Interlink fuses paired characters into Ouroboros forms mid-battle, gated by a Heat Gauge, which is the only reason a party this large stays legible. Around 1.86 million copies had sold by March 2023. It isn't on Steam; Nintendo's role-playing output stays exclusive to its consoles.

Producer Yoshio Sakamoto tried this on Nintendo DS around 2005 and shelved it twice, once after an E3 2009 prototype, because the hardware could not make the antagonist frightening enough. The E.M.M.I. robots finally manage it: two narrow counter windows stand between capture and death, and I missed both repeatedly. Released 8 October 2021, it passed 3.07 million copies by December 2022. Not on Steam, since MercurySteam's Metroid is exclusive to Switch.

Island Designer App is the tool that broke people: cliffs, rivers and paths become yours to move, and a village turns into a landscaping project you cannot stop tweaking. Nintendo launched it 20 March 2020, timing nobody planned, and it had reached 49.91 million copies by 31 March 2026. There is no Steam version and never will be; Nintendo's simulation is exclusive to its own hardware.

Supergiant Games launched 1.0 on 17 September 2020 on Windows and Switch the same day, which is why the Switch build never felt like an afterthought. The Pact of Punishment, which lets you raise your own difficulty after the first clear, is what kept me going past thirty runs. It won Best Narrative at The Game Awards 2020, BAFTA's Game of the Year in 2021, and the first Hugo given to a game. Steam sells it.

Intelligent Systems built four campaign routes that share a first act and then disagree violently about who the villains were, which is why people replayed a long strategy game three times. Koei Tecmo collaborated, the release was 26 July 2019, and 4.12 million copies had sold by December 2022, the series best. Sold only through Nintendo's eShop and at retail, so the link here is Wikipedia rather than a store page.

Knockout Tour is the mode that justifies the open world: one long race across the whole map with eliminations at six checkpoints, and being last on the first stretch means nothing if you survive. A Switch 2 launch title from 5 June 2025, it had sold 14.03 million copies by 31 December 2025. Nintendo does not publish to Steam, so Wikipedia carries the details.

Destructible terrain sounds like a gimmick until you punch straight down through three biomes because the direct route is faster than the intended one. Nintendo EPD's Switch 2 exclusive arrived 17 July 2025 and had moved 4.52 million units by 31 March 2026, second among Switch 2 titles. Metacritic ranked it the seventh-highest-rated game of 2025. Nintendo hardware exclusivity means there is no Steam page, only an eShop listing.

Badges change how a 2D Mario level reads: one Action Badge equipped before you enter, and the same course rewards a different route. Wonder Flowers do the rest, warping pipes into worms mid-jump and turning the screen against you. Nintendo released it 20 October 2023, and 17.15 million copies had sold by 31 March 2026. Wikipedia stands in for a store page, since Nintendo publishes its platformers only to its own eShop.

Salmon Run Next Wave is where I actually spend my time: four players, escalating waves, and Golden Eggs to haul out of the water. Nintendo shipped it 9 September 2022, and Japan bought 3.45 million copies in three days, a domestic record; total sales reached 11.96 million by 31 March 2024. No Steam release exists, because Nintendo's shooter is exclusive to Switch.

Retro Studios finally delivered on 4 December 2025, and the game shipped on both Switch and Switch 2, with the newer hardware getting the sharper version. Psychic abilities let Samus bend her own beam shots around cover, which is stranger and better than it sounds; critics split over the companion characters and I am with the sceptics. Over a million copies sold across both platforms by February 2026. Not on Steam, exclusive to Nintendo hardware.

Mouthful Mode is the most Nintendo idea of the generation: Kirby swallows a car, a vending machine, a traffic cone, and controls them badly on purpose. HAL Laboratory's first fully 3D Kirby arrived 25 March 2022 and became the series' best seller at 7.52 million copies by 31 March 2024, with a Switch 2 edition following on 28 August 2025. Not on Steam; Kirby has no PC version and never will.

Oatchi does the thing every previous Pikmin game needed, carrying your squad across a map so you stop micromanaging pathfinding and start planning. Night Expeditions flip the formula into tower defence with Glow Pikmin, which I liked more than the daytime work. Nintendo EPD and Eighting co-developed it for a 21 July 2023 release; 3.48 million copies had sold by 31 March 2024. There is no Steam edition, this being exclusive to Switch.

Team Cherry's Kickstarter raised over A$57,000 from 2,158 backers in 2014, and the 24 February 2017 PC release passed a million copies the day before the 12 June 2018 Switch port arrived, which sold 250,000 in a fortnight and is how most people I know played it. Hallownest reads better on a handheld than on a monitor. Border case, since it lives on PC first; Steam is the honest link.

LocalThunk built the whole thing alone and Playstack shipped it to Switch on day one, 20 February 2024, alongside PC and both console families. Jokers are the entire game: a scoring engine you assemble out of side effects until a single hand does absurd damage. It took Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game and Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2024, and passed five million copies by January 2025. Steam has it.