Nintendo Switch

For emulators, see Nintendo Switch emulators and Emulators on Nintendo Switch.

"Switch and play."

The Switch is a handheld/console hybrid by Nintendo released in 2017, the successor to the failed Wii U. Even though it was less powerful than its rivals, it did much better commercially, and is Nintendo's best-selling system ever, even outselling their DS handheld line and Wii home console.

System Specs

Chipset: NVidia Tegra X1
Screen: 6.2" capacitive multi-touch, 1280 x 720 resolution. (5.5" for the Lite model)
Detachable controllers

Other details

Dock: holds, powers, and charges the system, and outputs video and audio from the system to a TV or external display.
Stand: A stand on the back of the main unit can be deployed to position the system upright in tabletop mode.
Media: Game cards
Video output: HDMI, up to 1080p resolution when played in TV mode, 720p in handheld mode.
Audio output: TV Mode supports 5.1 channel surround sound. Using the system's built-in audio jack, stereo speakers or headphones can be used when played in handheld or tabletop modes.
Battery: can last for more than three hours, but will vary depending on the software and usage conditions. Can be charged with the dock or USB Type-C.
Storage: 32GB of internal storage, expanded with microSDXC or microSDHC memory cards.
Other: USB ports on the dock can be used to charge accessories, such as the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and Joy-Con attached to a Joy-Con charging grip. The USB ports can also be used with a USB LAN adaptor to connect to the Internet.
Networking: Nintendo Switch can connect to the Internet via a wireless (IEEE 802.1 Iac) connection. Up to 8 systems can connect over a local wireless connection in compatible multiplayer games. While docked, Nintendo Switch can also use a wired Internet connection by connecting a LAN Adapter.
A handheld-only model of the Switch, named the Switch Lite, was released in September 2019. It is smaller and lighter, but excludes the ability the output to a TV.

Games

Note:	Exclusive or definitive version

Cart-Based

Have you played these games? They need a description to be added onto the list:

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout
Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy
Atelier Ryza 3

Title	Genre	Description
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim	Strategy Visual Novel	Fantastic sci-fi adventure by Vanillaware with dense writing and an excellent story. Gorgeous, hand-drawn 2D visuals and limited exploration are punctuated by semi-real-time strategy combat between mechs and combat in grid-based battlefields. The combat isn't too exciting, but the writing and thirteen-person cast are amazing, to say nothing of the art direction and soundtrack. Performance isn't perfect, but works fine.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection	Adventure	A port of the two Miles Edgeworth centric Ace Attorney games originall released on the DS, including the previously Japan-only sequel. These games are in more of a point-and-click style compared to the classic Ace Attorney series. You play as top prosecutor Edgeworth as you investigate crime scenes in an attempt to solve murders.
AI: The Somnium Files	Puzzle Visual Novel	Sci-fi detective adventure by Spike Chunsoft, with cel-shaded anime art style and very strong writing. Investigate crimes by entering and exploring the dreams of suspects, where you solve puzzles in fully-3D environments. Requires playing through multiple branching paths to get the whole story, but allows you to pick things up at any narrative branching point using a flowchart.
AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative	Puzzle Visual Novel	Sequel to the previous game, starring new dual protagonists. Another sci-fi detective adventure with colorful characters and an intriguing, near-future world. Allows you to play without spoiling the first game for yourself, but it's still recommended that you play them in order. Story and writing are equally fantastic, if not better than the last (with some bold twists).
Aleste Collection	Arcade Shoot-'em-Up	Compiles Aleste (Power Strike), Power Strike II, GG Aleste, GG Aleste II, and the brand-new (!) GG Aleste 3 developed by M2. These are all very old shooters, so don't expect to be blown away by graphics or sound, but the music is great and the gameplay pacing is refreshingly hectic. The new Aleste respects the style and presentation of the original series.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons	Life Simulator	Tom Nook scams you into building an island retreat for other villagers. Catch bugs and fish, pick fruit, mine rocks, pay off debt, you know the drill. New features include terraforming and the ability to build river-spanning bridges. Appears to be less feature rich than the previous 3DS game but Nintendo has implied continuous online updates will add new features over time.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy	Adventure Puzzle	Includes the original Apollo Justice game as well as the two previously 3DS-exclusive digital-only Phoenix Wright games, Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. While they don't hold a candle to the original trilogy, they are all solid adventure puzzle games in their own right, and fans of the series should enjoy them.
Arms	Fighting	Nintendo's newest IP, featuring a colorful cast of Overwatch ripoffs unique characters, each fitted with their own form of stretchable arms (and occasionally hair). Take on your opponent in a variety of modes, such as 1v1, 2v2, hoops, volleyball, and target smashing. It's being treated similar to Splatoon in the sense that it's going to have free monthly updates (stages, characters, new arms). If the motion controls don't tickle your fancy, you do have the option to play with a standard controller.
Astral Chain	Action RPG	Platinum Games keeps their fantastic reputation with Astral Chain. Create your character, a cop on a mission to take out beings from another dimension. The main gimmick here are your Legions, sort of secondary characters that are linked to you and you can use to wreck enemies, not to mention you can change it into 5 different forms to your liking and upgrade it. It's typical badass Platinum Games combat. It goes by a chapter by chapter basis, but you can still explore and do tons of sidequests. 30 FPS, but you get to used to it. A must play for action fans.
Bayonetta	Character Action	One of the best action games of all time. You play as a dominatrix witch who needs to rediscover her past by killing demonic angels and angelic demons.
Bayonetta 2	Character Action	One of the best Wii U games to make it to a console people actually own. The sequel to the game that put Platinum on the map. Simply put, it's one of the best action games ever made, though there is an argument to be made on how well it stacks up to its predecessor. The first print run of the game came with a download code for the original Bayonetta if you want to choose for yourself.
Bayonetta 3	Character Action	The third game in the acclaimed action series follows a multiverse timeline where an evil entity is going around to various universes and killing off their respective Bayonettas. You play as one of the last remaining Bayonettas and jump around various other universes trying to save her fellow witch counterparts. The combat gimmick here is that Bayonetta has an assortment of demonic summons she can utilize in battle to extend combos and do major damage. There are also missions where you play as the punk-rock Viola, who has her own unique moveset and summon. Some people did not care for the direction the story took but gameplay-wise the series remains strong with this entry.
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+	Dungeon Crawler / Shooter	The famous PC game gets a physical release on the Switch. It features all the content and DLC of the PC release (As of March 2017) and throws it on the Switch, for 40 bucks. While that price may seem steep, it's really worth it to play Isaac on the go, with the dungeon crawling and the shooting and all that.
Blasphemous	Metroidvania	Indie 2D Metroidvania by the developers of The Last Door, inspired by Symphony of the Night and Dark Souls. Features a Gothic and ultra-violent fantasy world informed by medieval Catholicism. Gorgeous sprite work and demented, baroque monster designs. More than a bit pretentious. Solid DLC expansion.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night	Metroidvania	Crowdfunded Metroidvania title directed by Koji Igarashi (of Symphony of the Night fame). A pretty solid entry in the "genre," with tons of collectibles, secrets and unlockables, though visual design is a bit all-over-the-place. Runs better on other systems, but the Switch version is perfectly serviceable.
Bravely Default II	JRPG	Traditional turn-based fantasy JRPG by Square-Enix, with a very fun job system that offers plenty of party customization. Decent story, with only vague connections to previous Bravely games. Charming, but unsurprising, visual style, and substantial campaign length. A solid option for genre fans.
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer feat. The Legend of Zelda	Rhythm Roguelike	Rhythm-based indie roguelike dungeon crawler where you move and attack to the beat of the music. Tough, but less complicated than it sounds. This spin-off features characters and monsters from the Zelda series, but otherwise offers the same gameplay and top-down, sprite-based presentation. Pretty unique.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker	Action Puzzle	Port of the Wii U puzzler based on the Captain Toad segments in Super Mario 3D World. Includes new levels based on Mario Odyssey and a co-op mode.
Catherine: Full Body	Puzzle	A port of the 360/PS3 puzzler from the Persona devs. You play as a man who deals with the nightmares derived from cheating on his girlfriend with another woman. These manifest as climbing and shoving large brainbending block puzzles. During the day you hang out with your friends at the comfy bar in town. Full Body features a new love interest and gameplay improvements over the original.
Cave Story+	Platformer	The classic PC game and indie scene godfather comes to Switch. Great story, amazing soundtrack, tight gameplay and cool metroidvania-lite exploration.
Dark Souls: Remastered	Action RPG	It's Dark Souls on the go. Its performance is a bit compromised, and the online was dead on day one, but it's a serviceable port of one of the most beloved games of all time and you can play it on a plane. As with all the remastered versions, it comes with the Artorias of the Abyss expansion content. Unlike the other releases, this version doesn't contain the controversial revised lighting and textures that have marred the reputation of the remaster as a whole. If you care about portability and don't mind 30 FPS (which is what god intended) this is one of the best, and most faithful, ways to play this classic.
Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition	Dungeon Crawler/RPG	Venture into the Darkest Dungeon, where the selling point is the stress system, in which your heroes will reach a breaking point if you do not take proper precautions, and pushes you into making harsh decisions. With the ability to play on the go, and the previous expansions adding variety to every campaign. The controls take some time to get used to, and the game will punish you if you venture unprepared.
Daemon X Machina	Mech Action/TPS	A sort of spiritual successor to the Armored Core games produced by a former producer of that series. You do missions for various dystopian corporate mercenary groups fighting rogue AI and other factions. If you damage enemy parts you can scavenge them for your own mech. It won't entirely fill the hole left by Armored Core but if you're desperate for a taste of that series then this does well enough. Skip the dialog, it really isn't worth it.
Dead Cells	Action / Platformer Rogue-Lite	Fantastic 2D rogue-lite with a Metroidvania feel. You play as a lump of reanimating cells occupying a corpse trying to end the cycle of death plaguing the world. Hundreds of possible builds with weapons, powerups, and abilities that can be unlocked for future runs. Tough but fair combat that can be made harder with various challenges you can find around the levels that grant more loot. Originally an e-shop only game that got a physical release sometime after launch. Game of the Year Edition includes all DLCs.
Deadly Premonition: Origins	Horror Adventure	Port of the open-world detective adventure that left reviewers scratching their heads. A surreal, low-budget game where you investigate serial murders in an ersatz-American small town strongly inspired by Twin Peaks, interspersed with lackluster, RE4-like shooting sections and bosses. Zany, and oddly fun, but occasionally tedious or frustrating.
Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise	Horror Adventure	Sequel to Swery65's zany detective adventure. Features the same basic open-world gameplay and exploration, now set in New Orleans, with slightly better action segments. You can skateboard everywhere. Runs like shit, but the framerate is at least bearable after the latest update. A future cult classic. Originally a Switch exclusive that has since been given a PC port.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze	Platformer	Port of the Wii U version, but with aditional Funky mode that adds little to none to the original game. Great gameplay, but more akin to DKC Returns than to the original trilogy on SNES. Be aware it is hard as fucking hell near the end, but completionists will enjoy.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake	JRPG	A remake of the third Dragon Quest game made in the HD-2D style. The game has a fairly non-linear story and fully customizable party (aside from the hero character) which includes a job-switching system that allows you to carry over all learned skills from one job to another. This version also adds a monster arena where you find monsters in various towns and hidden areas on the world map. There is also some expanded backstory to the hero's father not present in previous versions.
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition	JRPG	The enhanced version of DQ11. Considered among the best Dragon Quest games and among the best JRPGs of this generation. The gameplay is classic DQ. You control a party of effervescent characters roaming the world and fighting traditional turn based battles against various Akira Toriyama designed monsters. Really this is the closest you're getting to an old-school JRPG experience in a new game. Fortunately it's a pretty dang good one.
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen	Action-RPG	Port of the sleeper-hit, Capcom-developed action-RPG. Features a limited open world in a medieval fantasy setting with a pretty mediocre story that picks up towards the end. It really shines for its combat, which incorporates elements of Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry, and even Shadow of the Colossus on top of a super-fun job system and AI-controlled party.
Final Fantasy VII / VIII Remastered	JRPG	Physical release of two massively influential JRPGs. FFVII is a port of the PS4 remaster (not the Remake), while FFVIII is a brand-new remaster with HD textures and cleaned-up models. Both are classics of the genre (despite having their detractors), as long as you can put up with PS1-era gameplay conventions, turn-based combat, and lengthy campaigns.
Final Fantasy IX	JRPG	Physical release of a fan-favorite entry in the JRPG series. Not a remaster, but does feature some mild improvements. A more nostalgic and fanciful entry in the series, reminiscent of the SNES classics, but with the same visual flair and showmanship that Square was known for during the PS1 era. A great option for 16-bit JRPG fans.
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster	JRPG	HD remasters of the International releases of FFX and FFX-2 (plus Last Mission for X-2), both of which feature plenty of extra content and super-hard optional bosses. These are remembered as visually sumptuous JRPGs with extremely linear designs and questionable stories/voice acting, but are essential for fans of PS2-era JRPGs.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age	JRPG	Switch port of FFXII International Edition, which features various gameplay changes and improvements to the original game, and was (despite its title) never released outside of Japan. FFXII is a more "Westernized" take on the JRPG series, with a real-time party combat system, a beautifully-realized, free-roaming world, and tons of optional content.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses	Strategy RPG/Life Sim	Three Houses continues the post-Awakening Fire Emblem tradition of forgoing challenging but engaging strategy gameplay in exchange for waifu wars. In this one you play as a silent protag who serves as a teacher at a Hogwarts-like academy where all the rich trust fund kids in this medieval setting come to learn. You choose between one of the three houses(hence the name) to lead and form relationships with the students of that house. As a result there are multiple paths for the story to take. The gameplay is pretty shallow compared to the older games but that isn't anything surprising anymore. Highly recommended you start on the higher difficulties. That being said, the Hogwarts waifu stuff is surprisingly fleshed out and the characters all carry interesting depth that surpasses any of the previous 3DS games. The story goes in some interesting directions too and it's actually worth it to try multiple paths(or at least look them up because a full run through of any path is at least 30-40 hours). All in all it's worth checking out, but a game with more mission variety and challenge combined with the waifu school stuff would have been way better than what we got.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles	Adventure Puzzle	A pair of spin-off adventure games from the Ace Attorney series, taking place in Meiji-era Japan. Directed by the director of the original trilogy. Originally released only in Japan, they were finally translated for western fans and bundled together for release. Fans of the series who yearned for less reliance on gimmicks and magic will appreciate the game's grounded focus on intuition and clue-gathering to solve cases, while still maintaining the irreverent writing and characters.
Hades	Roguelite Action	Isometric hack-and-slash action game with roguelike progression. Escape Hades through procedurally-generated stages, acquiring permanent and temporary power-ups that suit your build. Colorful characters, fun (if Tumblr-y) writing, and a compelling story based on the myth of Persephone. Highly recommended for "roguelite" fans.
Katamari Damacy Reroll	Puzzle Action	HD remaster of the original Katamari Damacy for PS2. Roll a ball through stages cluttered with all sorts of objects, which you'll roll up to become progressively larger, rolling up bigger objects in turn. An extremely fun game and PS2-era classic, with psychedelic, super-flat visuals, and an unforgettable soundtrack.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land	Adventure Platformer	The first fully-3D mainline Kirby game ever, adapts the gameplay of the series to slightly more open (but still linear stages) set in a post-apocalyptic world reclaimed by nature. You can absorb and upgrade power-ups at a hub. Fully playable in local co-op. Quite easy as usual, though there's a tough secret boss in there.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe	Platformer	Remake of the Wii platformer. Play with up to four people as Kirby, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee. Features many copy powers for Kirby, each with a variety of moves and attacks. Motion controls are minimal and optional, while difficulty is low as usual. Has a surprising amount of extra content (and a weird twist at the end). The remake comes with a new graphical style and a couple of bonus abilities.
Kirby Star Allies	Platformer	Kirby finally isn't angry on the western box art. His first mainline series console game since Return to Dreamland on the Wii, and it's the same easy-yet-surprisingly-deep gameplay of RtD and Crystal Shards. Has the elemental mixing stuff from Crystal Shards plus your allies can also gain powers Kirby can use as well. It has 4-player local co-op so you can play with friends too.
La-Mulana 1&2: Hidden Treasures Edition	Metroidvania	Two non-linear indie platformers about exploring ancient ruins, done in the style of super-cryptic MSX2-era games. The first game in particular requires tons of experimentation (or a guide) to clear, while the sequel is ever-so-slightly more straightforward. Both are excellent, but challenging, entries in their "genre."
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	Action-Adventure	The long-awaited next 3-D entry in the series since Skyward Sword. The game reverts to its more aimless, adventurous Zelda 1 roots, ditching strict linearity for a focus on vague hints and exploration in an enormous open world map that's so varied and well made that it even manages to get Ubisoft towers right. Dotting the vast landcape are various gorgeous towns, a ton of peaceful horse stables, uncountable secrets and easter eggs, and a shitload of sidequests, all surrounding Ganon's gigantic lair in the dead center. You're gonna need to find a lot of those shrines to upgrade your hearts, stamina, and gear, too, because this is one of the hardest Zelda games released since Adventure of Link, with enemies that can and will one-shot you if you're not careful, especially earlier on. Weapons break after a while, but thankfully the game showers you with a wide arsenal so this is never a major problem. This is a game that'll hook you hard, and destroy dozens of hours of your time, hundreds if you want to go 100%. Also on Wii U (with slightly downgraded graphics and a bit more slowdown).
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom	Open-World Action-Adventure	A rare direct sequel for the series, Tears of the Kingdom picks up after Breath of the Wild where Link and Zelda witness the reawakening of a long-contained Ganondorf. It uses the same overworld map from the prequel, but with a lot of major differences and the addition of many floating sky-platforms and an underground world as large as the main overworld. It also brings back dungeons in the more traditional Zelda style. An excellent followup and an essential open world game.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening	Action-Adventure	A total remake of the 1993 Game Boy game with the DX dungeons included. Uses very pretty tilt-shift graphics. It's a pretty faithful remake with some quality of life upgrades similar to the Ocarina/Majora's remakes on the 3DS. Includes a time-attack mode and an underwhelming dungeon design mode.
Live A Live	JRPG	Originally a Japan-only Super Famicom game, Live A Live was finally released out west with this HD-2D remake. The game follows seven main characters from different time periods with each chapter having different gameplay elements making them all unique. Reminiscent of Chrono Trigger.
Luigi's Mansion 3	Adventure / Puzzle	Luigi and friends get invited to a Hotel for a free vacation. Little do they know the Hotel is actually haunted. Luigi has to go floor-by-floor to save his friends. You get a slime version of Luigi named Gooigi you send out to solve puzzles with. This also allows for local co-op. Probably the best game in the series.
Mario Golf: Super Rush	Golf	The Switch's entry in the golf spin-off series, featuring the classic mode as well as an underwhelming adventure mode where you play as a Mii. Most surprisingly fun is a new free-for-all mode where everyone golfs at once, racing to the ball while squashing each other with special moves and power-ups. A solid sports title.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Racing	The Switch version of the best selling Wii U game, this one includes every bit of DLC found in the Wii U version, along with some exclusive content of its own, such as characters, cars, etc. The graphics have been updated to run at a full 1080p 60 FPS instead of 720p and 59 FPS (though a few minor updates to graphics themselves are a slight bit better). Also includes a non-shit Battle Mode in this version, with a multitude of options to choose from. This is basically the definitive version of the game, all in one tight package.
Mario Strikers: Battle League	Arcade Soccer	The Switch's entry in the surprisingly gritty Mario soccer spin-off. Doesn't reach the heights of the Gamecube original, especially with the dearth of content featured at launch, but Nintendo has promised a stream of DLC in the future. Like with all Mario sports games, it's way more fun with friends.
Mario Tennis Aces	Tennis	Mario Tennis is back and it's pretty fun this time around. If you can think of a Mario character who could be expected to hold a tennis racquet they're probably in this game or upcoming as DLC. Nintendo has inexplicably supported this game for a long time post launch, adding new characters at a constant pace. The tennis is great too! Each character is one of a handful of styles that favors certain shot types and strategies over others. It's remarkably deep and made deeper by a feast or famine racquet breaking system based around the super shot abilities. Avoid the story mode like the plague. The premise is neat but the missions and gimmicks are terrible. Still the tournaments are fantastic and if you have the Switch's online playing with either a random or a friend is a lot of fun.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle	Turn-Based Strategy	The most unlikely crossover ever conceived! The Mushroom Kingdom is invaded by the Rabbids, and now it's up to Mario with a laser gun and his cosplaying Rabbid friends to set things straight in turn-based battles.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics	Fighting/Arcade	An incredible collection of Marvel arcade games made by Capcom. Includes X-Men Children of the Atom, MvC 1 & 2, and The Punisher.
Mega Man 11	Platformer	Mega Man returns after a long hiatus on his first 2.5D adventure! Introduces the Double Gear system, which allows to temporarily power up Mega Man's attacks or to slow down time, with the entire game designed after these new abilities, with the tried and true challenging but fair difficulty of the series.
Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2	Platformer	It's the 8 main Mega Man X games in one package. The box has a cart with 1-4 and a download code for 5-8 so you don't need to bother putting those on your Switch if you don't want to(and you probably don't).
Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection	Platformer	Compiles the GBA Mega Man Zero series (1-4) and the DS ZX series (ZX + Advent) for a total of six rock-hard Inticreates-developed side-scrollers. Includes new (optional) Easy Mode and Save Assist features to smoothen the experience. These games are hard, and will score you harshly, but MMZ3 and ZX Advent in particular are masterpieces.
Metroid Dread	Metroidvania	The first brand-new 2D Metroid in decades, and a sequel to Metroid Fusion. Recaptures the non-linear, power-up based exploration and platforming gameplay that gave rise to the Metroidvania "genre," along with new stealth sections that require you to evade unbeatable enemies. Developed by Mercury System. Flawed, but excellent game.
Metroid Prime Remastered	FPS / Metroidvania	A visual upgrade for one of the all-time classics. Samus explores an abandoned, contaminated planet taken as an HQ by the Space Pirates. Features a lovingly-crafted, seamlessly interconnected world. Includes the old control scheme, the Wii port control scheme using the joycons, and new dual-analog controls that make it feel more like a modern FPS.
Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom	Platformer	A long awaited brand new title of the long-running Wonder Boy series, Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom is a sequel that combines the best elements of previous games, with animal transformations like Wonder Boy III, plenty of equipment with different effects, and even graphics which are hand-drawn. If you're interested in the Wonder Boy series, or interested in the game in general, you should give it a try. It's also available for Steam and the PS4.
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate	Monster Hunting	An upgraded port of the 3DS game. May be the last "traditional" style MH game with the success of World. It's a fitting sendoff, letting you fight classic monsters from throughout the series as well as a couple of new monsters. Known as Monster Hunter XX in Japan.
Monster Hunter Rise	Monster Hunting	World-style Monster Hunter with great graphics (for the system), a much-smoother learning curve, and a colorful ninja-fantasy setting. Slay giant monsters and craft gear from their loot in local or online co-op. Lacking in content for a MonHun game, though the Sunbreak expansion and additional title updates largely fixed that. Highly recommended for newcomers and veterans alike, even if it's a bit easy for the latter.
NEO: The World Ends with You	Action RPG	The long-awaited followup to the DS cult classic from Square Enix. Excellently translates the 2D touchscreen-based gameplay to a 3D face and shoulder button based system which allows to lots of party customization and experimentation with the different attack types and elements tied to fashionable buttons from the various clothing brands around Shibuya. The story takes place a few years after the events of the original game and The Final Remix expansion released later. You once again play as trendy japanese teenagers dragged against their will into a game of survival in order to save the city from destruction. Like its predecessor, it sold very poorly, so don't expect any more of these for a long time.
New Pokémon Snap	Rail-Shooter / Photography	Long-awaited sequel to the N64 classic. As a professor's assistant you ride on rails through various settings taking pictures of Pokémon and utilizing tools to affect and maneuver them into higher-scoring photos. Aside from newer generations represented, the only other major change is day/night cycles and how they change the stages.
NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition	Action	Post-apocalyptic action game written by Yoko Taro and developed by Platinumgames. Celebrated for its deep narrative, branching storylines with 20+ endings, solid fast-paced action, and excellent music. The Switch version is somewhat pared down visually but does still run well. Comes with the bonus DLC originally sold separately.
No More Heroes III	Action-Adventure	Final entry in the irreverent, boss battle-centric Suda51 action series about an otaku with a beam katana becoming the world's top assassin. Features an open world with various mini-games to indulge in between stages, as well as unique boss mechanics and Suda's typically inane, referential sense of humor, coupled with somewhat janky action gameplay, graphical issues, and a tight budget. An acquired taste for sure.
Octopath Traveler	JRPG	A solid old school JRPG with beautiful graphics and music. With eight individual plot lines and a multitude of side quests, there is a lot of content to devour. Possibly due to it being a Switch exclusive, the story seems designed from a "pick up and play" standpoint, for better or for worse. The plot lines can be too disjointed for their own good, but they are generally enjoyable individually with all of them being significantly different from each other. The method for solving a main story quest can get formulaic, unfortunately, though at least the side quests tend to be more creative in how they can be resolved. The battle system is pretty good, which is vital since you'll be spending a good time grinding to the recommended levels. While a bit hard at the beginning, it's pretty easy once you get a knack of the job system and the myriad of ways to abuse it, at least until the true final boss is found.
Octopath Traveler II	JRPG	Another HD-2D JRPG by Team Asano. Like the first game, it involves eight progtagonists coming together while going through their own individual stories before a finale that unites them all in one. The storytelling is vastly superior compared to the previous game, and characters actually have some overlapping between individual chapters. There are some new additions to the combat and job systems as well that add a little more depth to both.
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD	Action-Adventure	An action-adventure set in the Oddworld universe starring a bounty hunter. You go on missions and collect bounties by engaging in first- and third-person shooting with various types of living, biological ammo. The gameplay isn't perfect, but the setting and tone are pretty compelling, as with all Oddworld titles.
Ori: The Collection	Search Action	Collection of two 2D Metroidvanias (the Definitive Edition of Ori and the Blind Forest as well as Ori and the Will of the Wisps) with gorgeous, hand-drawn graphics and touching, fabulistic stories. Don't be fooled by the tone and visual style, though, as these games get pretty challenging and intense.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door	RPG	Remake of the classic gamecube RPG. Has some quality of life improvements and the translation was changed to be closer to the original Japanese version, but is otherwise still the same game often considered the best Mario RPG.
Persona 5 Royal	JRPG	You got an assault charge for punching out a rapist, forcing you to transfer to the only school that's willing to accept you. On top of that you've gained the power to access the hearts of the corrupt, and decide to steal their darkest desires with the power of your Personas. Arguably the best entry of the Persona franchise, and widely considered one of the best JRPGs of all time, Persona 5 takes its tried and true formula and adds a fun Lupin the Third style heist element to keep things interesting. With gorgeous art design, a dark, gripping story, a monstrous length (over a hundred hours for the main story alone!), a bounty of sidequests, and a rock solid battle system, Persona 5 must not be missed. The Royal edition is a massive expansion to the base game. Including new characters, S.Links, combat mechanic changes and Skills; as well as an additional semester of game-play, story, expanded palaces and a whole host of quality of life improvements/additions too numerous to list. The Switch only got the Royal edition.
Pikmin 1+2	Strategy Adventure	Ports of the first two games in the classic series where you must guide Pikmin to gather resources in order to survive a hostile alien planet. In Pikmin 1, you play as Captain Olimar, who crash-landed on a planet that's implied to be Earth. Various parts of his ship have scattered across certain areas in a small part of the world (since Olimar's quite small himself). With the aid of plant-like creatures named 'Pikmin' you must retrieve the parts of your ship before the thirty-day limit is up. In Pikmin 2, you get a partner named Louie to accompany Olimar. You travel back to Earth to pay back a steep debt for your boss by collecting what seems to be various pieces of junk and trash. Once again, you need the help of the Pikmin to accomplish this, and this time, there are two more varieties than in the first game. Unlike the 1st game, there is no limited day system and the levels are much bigger. The focus has shifted from exploring the overworld and archieving as much as possible as fast as possible to dungeon crawling and treasure collecting.
Pikmin 3 Deluxe	Strategy Adventure	Fantastic-looking port of the Wii U third entry in the series where you commandeer a crowd of little alien guys to perform tasks, gather resources, and survive for one more day on a vibrant, hostile planet. Play as one of three captains and keep your campaign going for as long as you can find food. This version adds a new prologue/epilogue, full story mode co-op play, and a few more extras. A great game.
Pikmin 4	Strategy Adventure	Another fantastic entry for the planetary exploration series. You once again are tasked with exploring a planet and gathering resources in order to rescue your team as well as the missing Olimar. Two new Pikmin types were added as well as the excellent dog-like creature Oatchi, as well as the return of caves from Pikmin 2.
Planescape Torment & Icewind Dale: Enhanced Editions	CRPG	Shockingly good ports of two CRPG classics developed by Black Isle. Icewind Dale is a more combat-centric take on the "isometric D&D campaign" formula, while Planescape: Torment is considered one of the best-written games of all time, with less-stellar combat systems. Both are masterpieces of the genre regardless.
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined	Arcade Shooter	Remake of the fantastic Natsume top-down shooter with co-op play. Adds new gameplay features and unlockable characters. Charming fantasy-Japan setting and excellent chiptune music. Not a long campaign, but meant to be replayed for fun or score.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus	RPG / Monster Sim	A refreshing take on the Pokémon formula, taking place in a 19th century Sinnoh region from Diamond & Pearl. Cool new systems include a Breath of the Wild-esque open world, tweaks to combat, catching Pokémon right on the overworld and incentives for catching as many of them as possible. Dull graphics and a lack of multi-player sour the experience, but this is still the most exciting Pokémon game in years.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX	Roguelike	A nice remake of the classic Red/Blue Rescue Team games for GBA and DS, with a lovely 3D pastel watercolor art style. Get Isekaied as one of sixteen starter Pokémon, meet your new best friend and form a rescue team together to help Pokémon trapped in randomly-generated dungeons. It's essentially 'My First Roguelike' without the perma-death in a child-friendly Pokémon skin. Occasionally, beaten or rescued Pokémon will want to join the party, and can be permanently recruited at camps, so despite the genre shift it still has the familiar Gotta Catch ’Em All flavor. Also be prepared to be unexpectedly hit with the feels playing through the story.
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown	Metroidvania	Shockingly good metroidvania from Ubisoft. You play as a Persian elite soldier who must traverse a mountain-city in order to rescue the kidnapped Prince of Persia. Use your unique time-powers and unlock new abilities in order to advance. Might be most notable for its nice quality-of-life features to the genre, such as the ability to place a singular fast-travel point, and the ability to take screenshots and place them on the map in order to keep track of places to return to once new powers are unlocked.
Puyo Puyo Tetris	Puzzle	A quite unexpected puzzle crossover, thankfully it combines the two different gameplay styles remarkably well.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2	Matching Puzzle	Basically just improves upon the near-perfect original with improved online netcode, some new modes, and a more expansive, RPG-esque adventure mode. You should jump straight to this one if you haven't played the first game already; it's one of the best puzzle games on the system, if not ever.
Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army	Action RPG	A dame shows up at your detective agency and shit goes down. Find and rescue the dame as you uncover the mystery of the Red Cape, fightan demons and unearthing a conspiracy along the way. Skulk around Tokyo finding clues and using demon abilities to manipulate people and the environment. A remake of the PS2 Shin Megami Tensei spinoff. It comes with a laundry list of quality of life improvements to the combat system, such as having two demons out at once and the ability to lock on. Other additions include quick saving, fast travel and bunch of new demons you can summon. A welcome improvement to one of the jankier SMT games of its era.
Rayman Legends Definitive Edition	Platformer	The UbiArt Rayman games are some of the more overlooked gems of the previous generation. They are beautiful, have great music, and play great. Legends is the better of the two and the only one on the Switch. Has co-op up to 4 players so you can impress at your rooftop parties. Seriously though play this game.
Red Dead Redemption	Action / Sandbox	Port of the open-world wild-west classic from Rockstar. Play as John Marston as he goes on a revenge hunt for his old crew that betrayed him. The Switch version runs well both docked and handheld, but is not much of a visual improvement for the game and lack of multiplayer just like PS4 port. But includes the awesome Undead Nightmare zombie DLC.
Resident Evil: Revelations Collection	Horror Shooter	A pair of decent RE spin-offs. Revelations 1 is a solid horror shooter in the style of RE4 where you play through the campaign with a CPU partner. Revelations 2 is similar, but playable entirely in local or online co-op, and sees you switching between two pairs of characters where one is the "shooter" and the other is the "supporter." Also features a new Mercenaries-style "Raid Mode" with online co-op.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster	JRPG	Enhanced port of the PS2 JRPG classic. Boasts the moral path-based storytelling of mainline Shin Megami Tensei, informed by Christian eschatology and Zoroastrian mysticism. Devilishly challenging, turn-based combat system where you recruit and fuse demons to fill out your party. Stylish, minimalist presentation. Dante DLC sold separately.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance	JRPG	A rare mainline entry in the Shin Megami Tensei JRPG series. A stylish post-apocalyptic adventure with tough, turn-based combat and demon recruitment/fusion systems. Features more explorable stages and a more fleshed-out cast compared to previous entries, but don't expect Persona-style anime hijinks. Vengeance includes an all-new story path which diverts from the original plot and offers a much improved story and more interesting characters, as well as new side missions and boss fights. You can also play the original plot of SMTV if you want to see that content as well. There are also a handful of quality of life improvements, especially to the open-world exploration.
Sonic Mania Plus	Platformer	To put it simply, this is the Sonic game everyone have been waiting for almost 20 years! It features a mix of classic levels redesigned with new bells and whistles as well as completely new levels. Now with Mighty and Ray from that isometric Sonic Arcade game on their own special mode.
Stardew Valley	Life Simulation	Uber-popular Harvest Moon-style farming sim. Inherit a disheveled plot of land and turn it into a thriving farmland by tending to daily chores while working towards longer-term goals. Deepen your relationships with a host of date-able NPCs and even play online with others. Charming sprite-based presentation. One of the best in its genre.
SteamWorld Dig 2	Metroidvania	Another SteamWorld game, this time another Metroidvania. You dig down into dungeons to find enemies, loot, and upgrades. Has a grimy steampunk look and a really nice art style to compliment the addicting gameplay.
Streets of Rage 4	Beat 'em Up	A return for the 90s beat 'em up classic series. Plays similarly to the old games, a 2D side scrolling brawler with 4 pretty unique characters each with different moves and combos. With pretty slick hand drawn art and great music. A surprisingly good revival for the series.
Super Bomberman R	Action/Party	After a long hiatus, Bomberman finally gets another game as a Switch launch title! Nothing dark or edgy has been added in, it's just classic Bomberman action. There's a story mode where you go to different planets, defeating bosses and whatnot, it's ok. But everyone knows you play Bomberman for the multiplayer, and it's just the same as its always been, blow them to hell and back. There's of course, online multiplayer and local, so you can have some fun with friends either way. If you miss Bomberman and want a Switch, get this game. Now with new free DLC that adds more interesting and cool stuff with the promise of more to come.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury	3D Platformer	Enhanced Switch port of the underappreciated Wii U game, a linear 3D platformer for up to four players where a lot of the fun comes from inventive stage gimmicks and the chaos generated by multi-player mayhem. Features a brand-new, separate campaign that plays more like Mario Odyssey, though it lasts only a couple hours and features limited co-op.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder	2D Platformer	Arguably a return to form for 2D Mario games after nearly two decades of playing it safe with the New Super Mario Bros. series. Containes new odd powerups, including elephant, bubble, and drill powers. The major gimmick change for the game are the new wonder flowers, which after aquired, transforms the level, or the characters in a different and interesting way for each stage. Combined with fantastic visuals and tight controls, it is one of the best 2D entries in the series in a long time.
Super Mario Odyssey	Platformer / Collectathon	Despite the overly-ridiculous ratings (no, really, some sites went as far as giving it 11/10), this is indeed a great Mario game. It ditches the small, linear stages from previous games, with wide open areas which you can explore at your leisure and a new mechanic where you use your hat to possess enemies and use their abilities. Not quite as iconic as Galaxy, and feels shorter overall, mostly because collecting moons (the equivalent of power stars) doesn't take you back to a hub world over and over. It makes up for this by a lot of post-game content, including the extremely addictive Luigi's Balloon World, where you hunt down other players' balloons or hide your own for coins.
Super Mario RPG	JRPG	A remake of the beloved Squaresoft SNES classic. Includes new gameplay mechanics and cutscenes alongside sterilized visuals and new lower difficulty options. Might not be preferrable compared to the original, but it is a solid option for new players and makes for good nostalgia for fans of the original.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Brawler / Party	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the ultimate (heh) love letter to Smash Bros. fans. This entry in the series is the largest yet, bringing back EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER that has ever been in a Smash Bros. game, including all third party characters like Cloud and Snake. This entry also brings long-desired characters into the fight, such as the no-longer-too-big Ridley, King K. Rool, and Simon Belmont (who got a ton of love in the music department (unlike Cloud)). Along with these characters comes OVER 100 STAGES to fight on, as well as OVER 900 MUSIC TRACKS to listen and fight to. If you own a switch and have up to seven friends who like to have a good and possibly competitive time, look no further than this game. Also, as of October 2020, there is a ~~Free~~ DLC character for everyone who pre-ordered the game and redeemed their Gold Points in 2018 (A FUCKING PLANT) and two DLC packs called Fighters Pass (including Joker from Persona 5, the Heroes from Dragon Quest 3, 4, 8 & 11, fucking Banjo-Kazooie, Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury, Min Min from Arms and fucking Steve from Minecraft), each with their own stage and music (except for the Plant)
Tactics Ogre: Reborn	SRPG	A remaster of the 2010 PSP remake of the 1995 SNES strategy RPG classic. Micromanaging your team is now easier as units level individually. New controls and smarter AI make combat way less arduous and more engaging, making this the definitive version of the game.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection	Various	A huge collection of classic TMNT games. Includes Arcade/NES/SNES/Genesis/Gameboy releases, including both versions of Turtles in Time and all three versions of Tournament Fighter.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge	Beat'em up	A love-letter/followup to Turtles in Time by the Scott Pilgrim devs. Play as any of the four turtles or Spliter, April, and the unlockable Casey Jones. Longer than average beat'em up that has you running around New York fighting basically every iconic series villian. Multiple unlockable moves for each character further adds to replayability. You can throw enemies towards the screen.
Transistor	Action-RPG	Supergiant-developed, isometric action-RPG starring a mysterious singer and her talking sword in a rainy cyberpunk world. Real-time combat that's serviceable but unimpressive. Great music, accomplished ambiance, and intriguing story are the main draws here. A very solid single-player experience.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes	Action-Adventure	A stopgap between NMH2 and 3 that mostly plays as a third-person action game with various gameplay gimmicks that change with each stage. As usual, full of retro game references and Suda51's particular sense of humor. Non-fans of the series might be a little lost, and it feels a bit slight for a full game.
Trials of Mana	Action RPG	After 25 goddamn years, Square has resurrected a LEGEND. A complete 3D remake of 1995's JP ONRY Seiken Densetsu 3 for the Super Famicom / SNES. Already an absolute classic, Trials' combat system has been completely overhauled, and is satisfying, if a bit repetitive early on and easily cheesed in the postgame. If you want any sort of challenge whatsoever, you'd better be playing Hard mode. For newcomers, Trials is a fairly straightforward ARPG, except that you choose your playthrough's three main characters out of a roster of six, and the plot changes in both subtle and drastic ways depending on your party composition. For fans of the original, Trials is incredibly faithful in terms of plot, art direction, level design, and audio, the last of which includes beautiful arrangements of Kikuta's second masterpiece. Trials includes brand-new postgame content with a new dungeon and a FOURTH CLASS, as well as resolution for most of each main character's unresolved plot points.
Triangle Strategy	Tactics RPG	A tactics RPG with the same "HD-2D" visual style as Octopath Traveler, with turn-based strategic combat and class-based promotions similar to Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. A solid entry in the genre with a compelling dynastic story and gameplay that suffers from bloat/tedium in the latter half.
Unicorn Overlord	Tactics RPG	Strategy game by Vanillaware, inspired by the Ogre Battle series. Combat takes place in real time with the ability to pause, and battles play out based on unit attributes. Contains over 60 unique units. There is also an overworld and towns to explore and upgrade your units in, as well as partake in optional battles. Contains the gorgeous art and visuals Vanillaware is known for.
Untitled Goose Game	Goose Simulation/Stealth?	Unique little game where you play as a piece of shit goose with checklist goals to try and ruin as many people's day as possible. Almost has a Hitman-like quality to how you go about solving the unconventional "puzzles" by manipulating elements of your environment.
Valkyria Chronicles 4	Strategy RPG	A return to consoles for Sega's series, which combines turn-based tactics with real-time combat in a fantasy-steampunk setting. Is the best game in the series since the first, and playable without knowing anything about the previous games. Pleasant, toon-shaded style and compelling squad-based gameplay.
Wargroove	Turn-Based Strategy	Turn-based indie strategy game in a cartoon fantasy world, with various campaigns based on different factions and unit classes. Remarkably similar to Advance Wars in terms of gameplay and sprite-based visual presentation, though not as solid as those games. Still worthwhile for fans of the series.
Wild Guns Reloaded	Arcade Shooter	Enhanced port of the SNES arcade-style gallery-shooter, featuring two new characters and up to four-player local co-op. Cool Wild West steampunk setting. A great time despite the short campaign, which encourages playing for score.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	Action RPG	You are Geralt of Rivia, a witcher - that is, a monster hunter and mercenary. Travel around the world, helping or hindering others, while fighting the mysterious army known only as "Wild Hunt". While combat may vary in enjoyability from person to person, the real hook is the story. The switch verison looks and runs worse than any other platforms but works well enough if you really want to play on the go.
The Wonderful 101: Remastered	Action-Adventure/Hack n' Slash	No one owned a Wii U so it can be forgiven if you didn't play the original release of this game, but now its out on PS4/Switch/PC so you no longer have an excuse. A top tier classic action game from Hideki Kamiya and Platinum Games. You play as a group of superheroes that can combine together to make various weapons and fight aliens. Amazing boss fights. It's a (vague) spiritual successor to Viewtiful Joe and Kamiya is currently working on another superhero game to finish the psuedo-trilogy.
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition	JRPG	Remake of the sleeper-hit Wii JRPG, with revamped, more explictly "anime" visuals. A free-roaming sci-fantasy adventure with large, explorable environments and real-time, party-based combat. Solid story and compelling setting. Captures a real sense of adventure. Features some new story content as well.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2	JRPG	Since the backlash the last game took for being too focused on exploration, the guys from Monolith went for a more story-driven game, just like the first. Probably the best standard JRPG experience you'll get on Switch. Now with 300% more big anime tiddy. Be warned that you'll expend a lot of time playing having no idea how the battle system works (that freaking topple mechanic, I'll tell you what).
Xenoblade Chronicles 3	JRPG	Ditches the Blades system and rng elements from 2 but retains the anime stylings. The story revolves around an endless war where soldiers are lab-grown with a limited lifespan. Thematically similar to the previous games in the series, including an open world for exploration and a lot of sidequests, but now you can control up to seven swappable party members at a time in combat.
Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition	JRPG	A remaster of one of the last vestiges of the WiiU's library not already ported to the Switch. Features a heavier gameplay focus than the mainline series, as well as notably featuring controllable mechs, akin to Xenogears. Definitive Edition features additional story content and improved graphics.

Digital

Title	Genre	Description
Abzu	~~Walking~~ Swimming Simulator/Puzzle	A mostly conflict free game a-la Journey where you swim and dive through some really gorgeous underwater environments. There are some rudimentary puzzles to solve but you're mostly here for the cool grafix and comfy.
Actraiser Renaissance	Platformer/Sim	A remake of the first SNES game, you play as a god who must reclaim lands for his believers to settle in by destroying the monsters that occupy them. The 2D action sections are fairly standard old-school action platforming with some new features like dodging added to modernize it a bit. The god-game townbuilding stuff is still the weirdly addicting awesome thing it was back in the day.
Alien: Isolation	Survival Horror	Shockingly good Switch port. Survive in a ship full of hostile aliens, malfunctioning androids, and paranoid crew mates out to kill everything that moves. One of the most faithful movie-IP games ever and one of the better big budget horror games ever made. Pacifist protip: the stun baton is a lethal weapon to humans.
Amnesia: Collection	Horror	A collection featuring The Dark Descent, A Machine For Pigs, and Justine. The Dark Descent is the one worth playing, a first-person adventure game with a survival horror theme, making excellent use of light and dark, as well as atmosphere and foreshadowing.
Animal Well	Puzzle/Platformer	Unique metroidvania where you play as a little blob exploring a pixellated world filled with different kinds of animals, some of which are hostile, others friendly. Has lots of creative ways to solve puzzles and unlock new areas, plus multiple layered endings beyond the initial goal.
Ape Out	Twin Stick Monkey Murder	You play as a gorilla that breaks out of captivity and needs to escape. It's a top down twin stick game in the same vein as Hotline Miami except you can only melee or grab and throw gun-wielding enemies. You kill almost everything in one hit but it takes only 2-3 hits to kill you. Fantastic percussive soundtrack throughout the game raises the tension. Long loading time on startup but after that it's pretty snappy.
Astlibra Revision	Action RPG	2D action RPG developed by a single japanese salaryman in his free time because he felt there weren't enough games in his favorite genre. Features amazing combat with multiple build styles and deep endgame. Also available on PC.
Astlibra Gaiden: The Cave of Phantom Mist	Action RPG	Originally released on PC as DLC for Revision, this was put out as a standalone spinoff on Switch. This is essentially a rogue-like based on the endgame of the original where you play as the baker's daughter as she delves into randomly generated dungeons. Has a heavier emphasis on the great gameplay. Definitely pick this up if you liked Revision.
Atom RPG	RPG	A turn-based isometric post-apocalyptic RPG set in a nuked-out Soviet Russia; very heavily inspired by the first two Fallout games. Tons of different character builds and skills allow you to tackle the main plot and large number of random encounters in multiple ways. Considered by some to be the real Fallout 3. Probably best played on a pc but this port works just fine.
Axiom Verge	Metroidvania	Extremely atmospheric metroidvania heavily inspired by the Metroid series. Tons of cool upgrades and secrets to discover and an interesting story to go along with pretty pixel art.
Axiom Verge 2	Metroidvania	Nice followup with a plot focusing on parallel dimensions and set in a much brighter setting based on ancient Sumerian art and culture. The gameplay is even more exploration focussed than the first, and combat has been made easier and many bosses can be avoided entirely. Both Axion Verge games can be bought together in a bundle.
Baba is You	Puzzle	Brainbending puzzle game where you assign values to objects by manipulating word rules tiles in order to solve each level. There are a lot of extremely clever puzzles that make you feel like a genius whenever you solve them.
Bastion	Action	The first Supergiant game, known for its amazing art and music. The gameplay is fine if nothing special, use different weapons to kill enemies. The atmosphere and more famously the narrator who reacts to your every move is the big appeal.
Battle Brothers	Tactics RPG	A low-fantasy tactics RPG where you play as a mercenary band going through procedurally generated encounters. A deep customization system and rough difficulty keep things fresh.
Battle Chef Brigade	Brawler/Puzzle	You play as a chef you must go out into the world in order to defeat enemies to gather ingredients for your chef battles. The world exploring is a fun brawler and the chef battles is a tile-matcher. It's a strange genre mix that works remarkably well and has a fun story to tie it all together.
Blaster Master Zero	Platformer / Metroidvania	Excellent remake of the original NES classic done in retro style but including lots of stuff. DLCs are available which allow you to play with the likes of Gunvolt and Shantae!
Blazing Chrome	Run and Gun	Heavily inspired Contra clone. Cool pixel art and awesome music combined with challenging gameplay. Can be played co-op locally with a friend.
Bloodroots	Action/Puzzle	Fun little action game where you play as a crazy lumberjack hobo who can use almost any object in the world as a weapon to murder those who wronged him and left him for dead. Has some pretty cool finishing moves with tons of objects and some interesting boss fights.
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon	Platformer	Originally released as a promotional game stretch-goal for Ritual of the Night's Kickstarter campaign, Curse of the Moon takes its inspiration from the original NES-era Castlevania games. Play as a samurai trying to kill a demon in a spooky castle filled with monsters and traps. You can recruit various characters along the way who you can then switch between on the fly. Some make the game way easier and others harder. Arguably the better Bloodstained game depending on your genre preference.
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling	Turn-Based RPG	Since Nintendo fucking refuses to make another traditional Paper Mario RPG, some randos from Panama decided to just make their own and it's great. The writing isn't quite at peak Nintendo quality but it's very charming and funny and the gameplay is the Paper Mario RPG style we haven't gotten in 15+ years.
The Case of the Golden Idol: Complete Edition	Puzzle	Similar to Return of the Obra Dinn where you play a detective in the 1800s trying to identify the whos and whats of a series of events by observing a snapshot of them as they happen, albeit in 2D. Features a unique artstyle and clever puzzles. Complete Edition includes the two DLCs released for the game, The Spider of Lanka and Lemurian Vampire.
Castlevania Anniversary Collection	Action Platformers	A compilation of the old classic Castlevanias. Includes 1-4, the two original GameBoy games, Bloodlines from the Genesis, and for the first time in English, Kid Dracula. A great collection of fantastic games.
Castlevania Advance Collection	Metroidvanias	A collection of the GBA games Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, as well as a port of the SNES game Dracula X. Aria is the real gem but all the games are worth a go.
Castlevania Dominus Collection	Metroidvanias	Collects the three NDS Castlevania games: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia as well as Haunted Castle, the arcade game. For the seals in Dawn of Sorrow that originally had to be drawn with a stylus, you can either use the Switch's touch screen or the game offers the option to press the face buttons in a sequence instead.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition	JRPG	A remaster of the PS1 game. Features over forty obtainable party members, a grinding-free level-up system, and a philosophically-inclined story. Very easy. Sublime ambient soundtrack and gorgeous, pre-rendered stages with dreamlike art direction. A controversial and ambitious game. The remaster comes with AI-generated background upgrades and newer models, but there is an option to stick with the classic graphics. Also features the Radical Dreamers prequel visual novel in its first western release, which helps bridge the gap from Chrono Trigger than the original release ever had. There is a very limited physical copy out there.
Contra Anniversary Collection	Action Platformers	Like Castlevania above, Konami surprisingly dropped a very nice collection of old Contra games. Includes Contra 1-3, plus arcade and JP versions. As well as GameBoy and Genesis games.
Cuphead	Run and Gun	Awesome run and gun game most famous for its 1930's cartoon aesthetic. You play as a humanoid cup who made a deal with the devil out of greed and now you gotta kill all these characters in order to work off your debt. There are some platforming sections but the primary bulk of the game are the awesome boss fights. The game is gorgeous but the gameplay is also fun as hell and shockingly hard as fuck given how popular the game is.
Cyber Shadow	Action Platformer	A 2D sidescrolling platformer heavily inspired by the old Ninja Gaiden games, published by the company that made Shovel Knight. It has a similar oldschool gameplay meets modern design schtick to that game, as in it has checkpoints and is way more forgiving. Has awesome music and a sweet aesthetic.
Devil May Cry	Action	Introduces DMC's "stylish action," high-stakes gameplay, where fluid use of an arsenal of moves and weapons is required to survive challenging enemies. Fixed camera angles, Gothic settings, and a slightly more sober atmosphere associate this game more closely to Resident Evil than later DMC titles, but it's still a different beast. The writing and story are famously over-the-top. Stands the test of time nicely, but has some frustrating boss battles. Skip DMC2, it's awful. Also available on Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition	Action	One of the best action games ever made. A certified classic. After the disappointing DMC2, Dante's Awakening (a prequel) takes the ridiculous action and style of the first game and turns them up to eleven. Combat has been beautifully refined with four different overarching fighting styles and new, unique moves and weapons, while the RPG-esque character progression remains the same. The story lays the groundwork for the series, combining action-movie stunts with occasional melodrama. The Special Edition adds many extras, including the ability to play as fan-favorite series antagonist Vergil, and crazy difficulty modes. Furthermore the Switch version includes in-game stance-switching, which opens up avenues for combat and combos not possible before. Thus making it the definitive version of this game. Also available on Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut	Adventure RPG	"What kind of cop are you?" An incredible isometric adventure game about a drunkard cop who wakes up in a small town where they were supposed to be investigating a murder but had instead been going on a booze bender. You're so far gone that you can't remember your name, or even what you look like. The RPG character building is unlike anything else, where you spec into certain personality traits, which manifest themselves as internal dialogs based on how you build out your character. The writing explores a wide range of topics ranging from personal identity to various political theories and surrealist existentialism. All of this is encompassed by a gorgeous hand-painted art style and an excellent soundtrack by the English band Sea Power.
Donut County	Puzzle Adventure	Quirky little indie game where you play as a hole that goes around eating everything in the world. Very charming but also very short. Worth a go if you have 1-2 hours.
Downwell	2D Shooter / Platformer	A neat game where you fall down randomly generated vertical levels with guns attached to your boots with the end goal of making it through while racking up combo points. Really challenging to do well but really satisfying when you do.
Duck Game	Party Fighting	Fun four-player party fighter where you play as duck's in various silly costumes and the last duck standing wins. Fight in various arenas with a bunch of random weapons. A whole lot of fun with friends.
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights	Metroidvania	Atmospheric metroidvania where you play as a cute anime girl traversing a bleak world in an attempt to purify the corruption that plagues it. Rather straightforward fare for the genre but has a good artstyle and fun gameplay.
Enter the Gungeon	Bullet Hell / Roguelike	Fast-paced run-based twin-stick bullet-hell. Play as one of four different characters trying to find the gun they need in order to kill their past. Fuck tons of different creative gun types. Has co-op as well.
Fast RMX	Racing	Ultra-fast futuristic racer in the same vein as Wipeout and F-Zero. Makes us wish Nintendo would make an actual F-Zero...
Fight'N Rage	Beat 'em Up	A fairly standard but pretty fun beat 'em up. Has a handful of characters with unique moves and combos. Cool graphics and lots of different endings.
Freedom Planet	2D Platformer	Before Sonic Mania, this was the closest thing fans of the old 2D Sonic games had to a modern entry into that series. It's as shameless as it is fun. Some of the Sonic Mania devs are working on the sequel.
Front Mission 2	Strategy RPG	This entry in the classic mech RPG series finally sees a release outside of Japan in the form of this remake. Taking place over a decade after the first game, the story follows the perspective of three characters fighting in a coup attempt of the OCU state from the first game's campaign. Greatly improves on the famously bad loading times from the original game, and comes with a full in-game translation, which was never achieved even by fans of the series with the PS1 version.
Furi	Action / Twin stick Shooter	Fast-paced stylish action game where you fight duel after duel against some amazing bosses(designed by Takashi Okazaki of Afro Samurai fame). The gameplay kicks your ass and the presentation is top notch.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective	Adventure / Puzzle	Port of the DS game by the writer of the Ace Attorney series, and set in the same universe to boot, according to him. You have been killed and became a ghost with amnesia and the ability to possess objects. You have 'til dawn to discover your identity and why you where killed using your powers to set ridiculous Rube Goldberg machines in order to save people from dying. Well known for its really great characters and solid writing.
Ghosts 'N Goblins Resurrection	Action Platformer	Arthur is back in his first real adventure in 15 years. The game's default difficulty is the classic fuckhard GnG style where getting hit twice will kill you and there's only one checkpoint per level. It does add lower difficulties but you're doing yourself a disservice if you engage with them. The graphics are ugly as hell, like a bad attempt at a storybook vibe. That said you're here for the gameplay, and its an incredible old-school asskicking.
Golf Story	Golfing/RPG/Sim	An unexpected twist in the RPG genre, this game is the golf equivalent of Harvest Moon. But unlike that one, Golf Story has an actual ending. The golf part is great and the characters are all likeable. A must for those who don't want to spend more than $20 on a game.
Grim Fandango Remastered	Adventure	Set in a "day of the dead" themed afterlife, Grim Fandango involves a Film-Noir style plot revolving around a salesman and a conspiracy in the Department of Death, an organization that helps guide souls from death to their eternal rest. Well known for its excellent in story, art style, music, characters, and dialog, this 3D adventure game is considered one of the finest in the genre.
Gunlord X	Platformer	Turrican on steroids! Originally a Neo Geo homebrew, this version was all souped up (tweaked levels, new bosses, improved graphics, and so on).
A Hat in Time	3D Platformer	An adorable throwback to the PS1/N64 era 3D platformers. Collect various hats that provide different powers in order to stop a motley crew of weird characters and power your timeship. Fun gameplay and oozes charm.
Hollow Knight	Metroidvania	Critically-acclaimed indie Metroidvania that combines platforming and non-linear exploration with RPG-style progression and a Dark Souls-esque penchant for environmental storytelling. Optional content gets very challenging. One of the best entries in its genre, with quite a bit of worthwhile DLC.
Hyper Light Drifter	Action RPG	2D top down action game that is kind of an amalgamation of Zelda and Souls. You use your magic sword to kill monsters and gain new weapons and abilities in order to advance. Gorgeous art and music.
Ikaruga	Shoot-'em-up	A mysterious artifact is unearthed (see Radiant Silvergun further below) and a small nation uses its unlimited power to conquer the world. Awesome shmup with a puzzle-like polarity system: enemies are either light or dark, while you change your ship's polarity at will to absorb attacks of equal polarity, and deal double damage to enemies of opposing polarity. Super balls to the wall hard but extremely gorgeous and stylish.
Into the Breach	Puzzle Strategy	A turn-based strategy roguelite game where you know exactly what the enemy is going to do on its next turn. Your goal is to use your team of three mechs with various abilities in order to mess up the enemy's turn. Each mission takes place on an 8x8 grid and if you lose you can send one mech back in time in order to try all over again.
Just Shapes & Beats	Rhythm	Fast paced Rhythm game with bullet hell elements. Simple art style that they do a lot with and a really cool soundtrack that keeps you in the zone. Has co-op too so you and all your friends can confuse each other as to who is who. Still a lot of fun with friends.
Katana Zero	2D Action Platformer	Sidescrolling action platformer with a late-80s to early-90s noir aesthetic full with VCR rewind effects and synthwave soundtrack. Insta-kill and insta-die combat and snappy movement keeps the game going at a brisk pace. Also has a cute conversation system that has gameplay and story implications.
Kero Blaster	2D Platformer	From the creater of Cave Story, play as a business frog trying to get to work. Has the same mix of fantastic platforming gameplay and extremely charming writing that made Cave Story so damn good.
Lethal League Blaze	2D Sports Fighting	High-speed 2D fighter where players are trying to deflect a ball at one another in order to strike and eliminate them with it. Extremely stylish tone with a killer soundtrack. Can be played with up to four people.
Lumines Remastered	Puzzle	The PSP classic is back. It looks great and the amazing soundtrack still holds up. It's a tile-matching block dropper like Tetris except blocks are cleared to the beat of the music.
The Messenger	Action Platformer	A silly 8-bit platformer inspired by the original Ninja Gaiden series. Cute silly characters, a cool look, and fun gameplay. There's a big twist halfway through that was spoiled to hell and back around launch but if you can manage to go into it blind it's neat.
Mighty Gunvolt Burst	Platformer	Sequel to the IntiCreates crossover and basically everything that Mighty No 9 should have been. Awesome stages, bosses that aren't cheap and tons of customizations for both characters.
The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories	Puzzle-Platformer	Gaming's favorite weirdo SWERY made a surprisingly touching game about depression, love, sexual orientation, and self-harm. You play as a girl looking for her friend/lover. The character gets hit by lightning and finds out she can't die. She needs to do terrible bodily harm to herself in order to solve puzzles.
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight	Metroidvania	Fun bite-sized metroidvania. Play as a priestess trying to find a queen in the hopes that she'll save the land from a curse. Plays like a dream with some awesome boss fights.
moon	RPG	Originally release in 1997 in Japan only, moon is kind of an anti-rpg. You basically follow the footsteps of a typical JRPG hero, who has gone from town to town killing animals for xp and breaking into houses for items. You have to go around and save those animals' souls and lift the spirits of the dejected villagers. Quirky and charming, but has some antiquated mechanics that come with ambitious games like this.
Mr. Driller DrillLand	Action / Falling-block hybrid	Originally released in Japan on the Gamecube in 2002, the 5th Mr. Driller game finally comes to the west. As always, the gameplay involves drilling downward through colored blocks while keeping an eye on your air gauge, but this time the game is separated into different attractions, each with differing rulesets and playable character(s).
The Mummy Demastered	Metroidvania	Great metroidvania by WayForward, loosely based on that awful Tom Cruise movie. You play as a generic spec-ops soldier, and when you die your corpse becomes a zombie so when you load the game you're playing as another soldier who then must kill the now zombified soldier to retrieve all the gear you collected.
Never Stop Sneakin'	Stealth	There are plenty of games with throwback styles to the 8 and 16-bit eras. Never Stop Sneakin' decided to make a love letter to the early 3D era with a purposefully low-poly low-resolution look. The game itself is an ok snappy stealth game but the MGS1 aesthetic is worth a look alone. From the creator of Dust: An Elysian Tail.
Nine Sols	Action/Platformer	Difficult action-platformer with a gorgeous Eastern mythology inspired artstyle that directly cites Sekrio as an inspiration for its deflection-heavy combat. Borrows a lot from Hollow Knight such as it's mix of combat and platforming plus its character design, however it is more linear than a traditional metroidvania. The action gameplay is the key focus, and it is excellent.
Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection	Action	A collection of the 3 "enhanced" versions of the Ninja Gaiden games, Sigma/Sigma 2/Razor's Edge. Neither Sigma game is considered as good as the original but are both acceptable if you can't play the originals. Don't bother with any version of 3.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound	Action/Platformer	This 2D platformer from the Blasphemous devs serves as a revival to the series 8 and 16-bit origins. You play as Kenji, a ninja defending Hayabusa Village from a demon invasion. Traverse levels with your ninja skills, taking out enemies, maintaining your combo meter and building up stronger attacks to use against stronger enemies. Later on you meet Kumori from the Black Spider Clan, and Kenji can gain her abilities with ki powers and ranged weapons. After every level you are graded on killing everything as quickly and efficiently as possible while completing various challenges in the stage. Become the Ultimate Ninja.
The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors	Beat 'em-up	A remake of 1994's Ninja Warriors. Play as one of five ninjas who has to save the day from an evil dystopian corporation. Each character plays totally different and have a bunch of awesome moves and combos to play with.
No More Heroes	Action	A port of the Wii classic by the creator of Killer7. Play as an ordinary loser who mail-orders a lightsaber katana and sets out to become the world's best assassin, for which he'll have to take out the current top ten first. Stylish, cel-shaded graphics. The game revolves around its exhilarating boss battles; the rest is rather empty and lacking in variety, though there are some mini-games and side-quests. Has a cult following for its sense of humor and presentation. Unlike the original release, the Switch port is fully uncensored in Asian and Pal regions. This and the sequel were ported to Switch in anticipation for the release of the third game on the console. Has Joycon wagglin' controls if so desired and if you want to do the wrestling moves the right way, then you'll want to use them. Also on PS3 and Xbox 360 (JP only and often considered worse than the original), and PC.
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle	Action	As with the first game this got a nice port to Switch complete with Joycon wagglin' support so you can do cool suplexes the way they were meant to be done. Travis is back (with a few sections as two other assassins) but after a 3-year fall from grace, must once again be #1, but this time, it's personal. This time the non-killing side-jobs are pseudo 8-bit styled (except Suda trolled us all by having the only 3D one be the fucking scorpion-collecting one from NMH1). The ranking matches no longer cost anything, but are still cleverly designed, and there's even more now. Seems notably easier than the first but it's still one hell of a ride. Also on PC.
Nuclear Throne	Roguelike/Top-down Shooter	Awesome twin stick roguelike with a wide variety of weapons. Fast-paced and challenging. One of the better roguelikes out now.
Odallus: The Dark Call	Metroidvania	Combined Castlevania III aesthetic with later-series Metroidvania gameplay with some modern quality of life enhancements. Challenging but fair.
Okami HD	Action-Adventure	HD port of the classic Zelda-like from Capcom. Play as a wolf god who must save her wood-print styled world from an evil demon bent on corrupting it. Use brush-stroke powers and various weapons acquired over the course of the game to solve puzzles and clear dungeons.
Onimusha: Warlords	Action-Adventure	Port of the PS2 game. Boasts similar gameplay to the Resident Evil series, with fixed camera angles, tank controls and tight resource rationing, but takes place in a fantasy feudal Japan and focuses on melee combat with various magical weapons. Though not particularly flashy, the game builds tension nicely and presents a beautiful setting, along with some awesomely grotesque monsters.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus	Arcade	The fast-paced version of Pac-Man comes to Switch. Still a great twist on a classic game and can now be played on the go.
Party Golf	2D Golf	Goofy little game that plays like a phone golf game. Where it shines is in its ridiculous amounts of customization and multiplayer modes where everyone can try and golf at the same time. Having 4+ people all trying to play the same course at the same time is a lot more fun than you'd think.
Penny’s Big Breakaway	3D Platformer	Eclectic and colorful yo-yo-themed platformer from some of the developers behind Sonic Mania where the character must complete stages while trying to maximize their yo-yo trick combo meter for as long as possible, a-la Tony Hawk.
Pentiment	Adventure	Story driven Adventure game by Obsidion, where you play as a man attempting to solve a series of murders in a small Bavarian community in medieval times. Notable for it's unique art style, based on manuscripts and tapestries from medieval times, as well as a branching narrative that changes heavily based on player choice.
Persona 3 Portable	JRPG	Port of the PSP version of the original Persona 3, with further new features such as difficulty selection and quicksaving. This game features a school life/dating sim portion where you establish relationships that influence your party's abilities. The other half is dungeon crawling, featuring a streamlined version of the Press Turn system from Nocturne. Probably the preferred way to play the non-remake version of the game.
Persona 4 Golden	JRPG	Port of the Vita version of the acclaimed RPG. This time you're the new guy in a sleepy, rural town solving a supernatural murder mystery with your Persona-using friends. It's more unabashedly Japanese than P3, as you will quickly discover, and takes even more time time to get going than its predecessor.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy	Adventure Puzzle	Three of the best adventure games of all time in one slick package with upscaled art. Solve crimes for your silly clients alongside a zany cast of weirdos. Also available on Xbox One, PS4, PC. Android, iOS, and 3DS. All are pretty similar.
Pizza Tower	Platformer	Your name is Peppino Spaghetti, a struggling Italian pizza chef that has decided to climb the titular Pizza Tower in order to prevent a floating pizza named Pizzaface from blowing up his restaurant with a giant laser mounted on top of the tower. An excellent Wario Land inspired game that has plenty of emphasis on movement, exploration and a score attack to better your rank on each level, the game also features an art style reminiscent of cartoons from the 90s and a killer soundtrack worth listening.
Pocket Rumble	Fighting	A stylish 2-button fightan inspired by the fighting games from the Neo-Geo Pocket.
Radiant Silvergun	Shoot-'em-up	A mysterious artifact is unearthed and wipes out mankind. As their vital resources dwindle, the only survivors are forced to return from their space station and find that, even so, they are not alone. The predecessor to Ikaruga, and one of the best shmups ever. Has a level system: all six weapons are available at any time, and the more you use any of them, the more powerful it gets.
Rain World	Survival Platformer	Brutally difficult platformer where you play as a slugcat, a small rodent trying to survive in a harsh ecosystem where they must scavenge for food while avoiding larger predators trying to kill them and try and get back to shelter safely before getting washed away by the rain that floods the map after a certain amount of time. Beautifully animated game with a gorgeous pixel art post-apocalyptic aesthetic.
Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth	Metroidvania	Symphony of the Night-inspired Metroidvania based on the series of novels and anime. Has an Ikaruga-style color switching mechanic that changes how much certain elemental attacks do. Not the most innovative or challenging game but plenty fun and pretty short.
Resident Evil 4	Survival Horror	Revolutionized Resident Evil and survival horror in general, for better or worse. RE4 features RE2's Leon Kennedy saving the President's daughter from a backwoods European zombie death cult. Tank controls and static camera angles are gone; this a shooter with an over-the-shoulder perspective. Ammo is still scarce, but you will mow down hundreds of zombies before you're done, and are generally encouraged to fight. Gameplay is excellent, and the story is dumb in an entertaining, possibly satirical way. Also had fantastic graphics, quite a bit of extra content, and while it wasn't really scary anymore, it was still tense and gory. Also available on practically every system made since the PS2/GameCube with varying levels of enhancements.
Rogue Legacy	Roguelike Platformer	Combines Metroidvania-like exploration with a randomly-generated castle which changes every time you die. Whenever you die, you pick the next in a line of descendants which comes with it's own particular traits. Not only you'll die A LOT but you're also expected to, since all money you collect goes to the next character, allowing to upgrade your home castle and granting permanent upgrades.
Rogue Trooper Redux	3rd Person Shooter	A remake/remaster of an awesome PS2 hidden gem. Fight blue soldiers with machine guns and stuff. You know the drill. Also on PS4/XONE and PC.
Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered	JRPG	Port of the PS2 remake of the original Romancing SaGa on the SNES. Choose between one of eight possible protagonists before the world opens up for expansive exploration with little guidance. The remaster includes additional features not present in the PS2 remake, including new recruitable characters, enhanced bosses, and new game plus.
Romancing SaGa 2	JRPG	Awesome remaster of the classic Super Famicom RPG, now fully in English! A 3D remake, 'Revenge of the Seven', is forthcoming.
Romancing SaGa 3	JRPG	Much like Romancing SaGa 2 above, this remaster of the original Super Famicom classic from Square finally releases outside of Japan. Follows the same format as the previous games. This includes selecting from a handful of possible protagonists, a wide range of player choice, and character growth not being tied to a traditional leveling system.
SaGa Frontier Remastered	JRPG	A remaster of the first PS1 SaGa game. Highly customizable characters and a fast-paced battle system; suffers from high difficulty. This remaster includes content that was cut from the original PS1 release, as well as a new selectable protagonist.
The Sexy Brutale	Puzzle Murder Mystery	A fun little mystery solving game where you have to solve a bunch of murders that all happen in real time, which means you can only solve one at a time per loop. Has a lot of clever and unique ideas.
Shantae	Platforming / Metroidvania	A cult-classic metroidvania originally released on the Gameboy Color that has since spawned a bunch of sequels. Play as a sexy-cute half-genie who can change into various animals and over the course of the game gains various upgrades to increase exploration. If you like this try the others.
Spelunky	Roguelike Platformer	The game that kicked off the indie roguelike and platformer. Tight controls that let you navigate randomly generated dungeon levels to survive and try and get as deep as you can. A classic.
Spiritfarer	Management Sim	Play as Charon's replacement as the ferrymaster for the dead. Sail the seas picking up wayward spirits and ferry them to the afterlife. Along the way you will need to manage and upgrade your ship to fill the various spirit's needs. Might be a little too tumblr-core for some people but if you can manage that it has a good tearjerking story.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	RPG	Albeit vastly outclassed by its sequel(do NOT play the Switch version of KOTOR2, it was abandoned by the devs before they added the promised restored content DLC), the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is still a solid RPG and Star Wars game. It is the bridge that gaps the Bauldur's Gate and Mass Effect eras at Bioware, featuring real-time-with-pause combat but in a behind the back third-person perspective. There are a number of different class-styles, but you'll likely want to play as a lightsaber-weilding Jedi. It lacks the deep narrative and interesting characters of the sequel, but it also is best played before diving into the second one, which makes numerous references to this game's plot. Had a limited physical release.
Star Wars: Republic Commando	FPS	Interesting Star Wars game originally released on the first Xbox where you play as the bad guys. Features a squad-based system where you command teammates to perform specific tasks. Very enjoyable campaign, but mediocre multi-player. Also on PC.
Steel Assault	Action Platformer	Bite-sized retro style action game with nice art and a good soundtrack. It's very short, about an hour long, but pretty difficult and a lot of fun.
Stubbs the Zombie In Rebel Without A Pulse	Action	Another original Xbox game ported to Switch decades later. Silly action game where you play as a zombie with a host of corpse-based abilities and the power to "turn" hapless humans, eventually commanding a small army of the undead. Has a Happy Days-inspired, faux-fifties setting, and a great sense of humor.
Super Meat Boy	2D Platformer	The grandpa of the indie platformers. Super tight controls offset by 300+ super hard levels. It's a classic at this point.
Superhot	Puzzle FPS	SUPER. HOT. Innovative game where time only moves when you do, and the goal is to kill all the enemies coming after you. Basically play as an action god in slow motion. Stupidly fun and satisfying.
Thumper	Rhythm	You'll want to wear headphones for this one. High speed rhythm game where you play as this buglike creature on a track flying through what can only be described as a psychedelic metal album looking hellscape. Extreme percussion-based soundtrack described by the developers as "Rhythm Violence" to get you in the zone to navigate the levels. The best way to beat the game is to completely engross yourself in the music and almost use instinct to time your maneuvers correctly.
Timespinner	Metroidvania	A pretty shameless Symphony of the Night ripoff, but hey, not a bad game to rip off. If you've played all the other metroidvanias that grabbed your eye, this one is worth a go.
Tiny Metal	Turn-based Strategy	Since Nintendo refuses to make more Advance Wars games some indie studio tried their hand at a ripoff and the results are hit and miss. It looks nice but has a pretty lame story and some missions can be a real drag. Also no multiplayer. Still if you're desperate for a new Advance Wars or want a less complicated Strategy game then it's a serviceable substitute.
To the Moon	Adventure RPG	Heartwrenching game about two doctors that allow their patients to live a brand new life from the start, but only in their heads, and the procedure kills them. So the doctors perform the operation on people in their deathbeds. You in turn follow the dream life of a dying person through the perspective of these doctors. Fucked up but great story.
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered	Action / TPS	Well-done remasters of the original three Tomb Raider games, flaws and all. Recieved texture and model uprades, with the ability to switch back to the original polygonal graphics. A good way for new players to experience the games and great nostalgia for old-school fans.
TowerFall	Party Fighting	A game in the same vein as Duck Game or Smash Bros where you and friends all fight on a single screen and last one standing wins. Art style might not appeal to everyone but it's a lot of fun with friends.
Ultimate Chicken Horse	Platformer / Party game	Clever party game where every player chooses from a randomly generated set of obstacles or platforms to add to a stage so that they think that they can finish the stage while their opponents will fail. Enables some clever course building and good platforming skills. Lots of fun with friends.
Valkyria Chronicles	SRPG	Port of the PS3 strategy RPG. Allows you to manually control each unit on their turn, in third-person shooter form. A very anime story that dips into drama, romance and comic relief with a pseudo-magical wartime backdrop. Every recruit has their own traits and personality. Pleasant watercolor-like visuals and sound effects. Definitely a successful genre experiment with somewhat unbalanced difficulty (leaning towards overly easy), worth a look for SRPG or RPG fans. 2 is stuck on the PSP and 3 never came out in the west. See above for 4. Also available on PS3, PS4, and PC.
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action	Adventure / Bartending Sim	Comfy "talking sim" based in a 90s-style cyberpunk Japan. Make drinks for you customers and listen to their stories. Has a PC-98 style and just cool vibes all around.
Vampire Survivors	Bullet-hell/Roguelike	Join the Belpaese clan (alongside a host of other crazy characters) on their never-ending vampire-slaying crusade. Become the bullet-hell as you mow down hundreds to hundred-thousands of foes with an ever-expanding repertoire of weapons! Has loads of secrets in the base game and throughout numerous DLC's. Very addictive.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider	Action	2D-pixel indie inspired by Shinobi and Strider. As with all the other retro-revival games by this dev, it has nice art, fun and challenging gameplay, and great music.
Void Bastards	FPS Rogue-like	Basically what if System Shock was a rogue like. You roll as a prisoner who has different traits each time(some with upside some with major downside) and try and navigate ships with a wide variety of gimmicks and enemies. Probably best played on PC with m+k but this version is a fine alternative.
Volgarr the Viking	Action Platformer	Old-school style platformer notorious for its difficulty. Art isn't anything to write home about but if you're looking for a challenge this is for you.
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season	Adventure	The game that made Telltale a household name and predicated their downfall as they desperately tried and failed to replicate its success. It was successful for a reason though. A fantastic zombie apocalypse story and probably the best thing to come out of this property. Series also available on most platforms.
What Remains of Edith Finch	Walking Sim	Quaint little walking sim about a girl investigating the mystery of her family curse where everyone for generations has died young and tragically. The whole game is at least cool, but there's one sequence that'll just smother you in the feels and it's worth it for that one alone.
What the Golf?	Golf Nonsense	A silly little game where you start out just hitting the golf ball towards the hole and eventually your objectives progressively get more ridiculous. Fun for a jaunt.
Windjammers	Arcade Sports	One of the best NEOGEO games has since been ported everywhere. Basically a mix between volleyball and air hockey set in a 1980s Miami Beach setting. A fucking blast to play local with friends.
Windjammers 2	Arcade Sports	The folks behind Streets of Rage 4 also revived another classic. It has the same basic rules and vibe of the original game, but with some added gameplay elements that complicate things such as super meters and jump moves. It loses a bit of the pick-up-and-play style of the original, but for those who played a bunch of the original this adds something fresh to the formula.
World of Horror	Adventure / RPG / Roguelike	A monochromatic roguelike adventure game with rpg elements heavily inspired by horror manga. Navigate through a few dozen different Lovecraftian scenarios each containing creepy encounters and multiple endings. Find different weapons and tools required to defeat the horrible cosmic creations you run into on your journeys.