24) Metroid Prime Remastered
The long wait for Metroid Prime 4, which definitely, probably exists, goes on, but to tide us over Nintendo has finally put the original on Switch, and while Metroid Prime is more than 20 years old, Samus’ first 3D outing somehow feels as fresh now as it did then. Tallon IV remains one of the most intricately designed settings in all of gaming, and exploring it through the legendary bounty hunter’ eyes is a thrill whether it’s your first time or fifteenth.
Metroid Prime Remastered isn’t technically a ground-up remake, but the GameCube classic has had a serious glow-up here. It’s easily one of the best looking games on Switch, while the modernised twin stick control schemes are a much appreciated addition, even if some may still choose to go old-school. What hasn’t changed is the game’s refusal to hold the player’s hand, meaning you’re bound to get lost now and again, nor has the slightly unforgiving checkpointing. And yes, there’s a lot of backtracking. But few games can match Metroid Prime for atmosphere and its pitch perfect combination of platforming, exploration and first-person combat. It was a masterpiece then, and nothing has changed in 2023.
25) Super Mario Bros. Wonder
We’ll admit. When Nintendo announced in the summer of 2023 that its next Mario game was a 2D entry, our heart sank a little bit. Where was Super Mario Odyssey 2, we complained. Now we feel guilty, because Super Mario Bros. Wonder is not only the best 2D Mario game since the SNES era, but it’s every bit as imaginative as one of the plumber’s three-dimensional outings.
The introduction of the trippy Wonder Flower power-up gave Nintendo’s design wizards license to get weird with their ideas, and what we got in return was a smorgasbord of joyous platforming creativity. Add to this a seemingly Dark Souls-inspired online multiplayer component and a fun badge system that changes the way Mario traverses each level, and you’ve got a 2D platformer for the ages. And we haven’t even mentioned the fact that Nintendo’s moustachioed mascot can turn into an elephant in this game. That’s how good Super Mario Bros. Wonder is.
26) Pizza Tower
It’s a bit disappointing that the best Wario Land game on the Nintendo Switch doesn’t star anyone named Wario, and isn’t made by Nintendo. But Pizza Tower is a fittingly unhinged love letter to the spin-off series that (along with the far less ignored WarioWare games) made Mario’s proudly unpleasant nemesis a household name.
Pizza Tower’s playable antihero is the excellently named Peppino Spaghetti, a deranged Italian chef who must climb the titular Pizza Tower in order to save his restaurant. It’s a 2D platformer that fuses the running and jumping of a Mario game with Sonic the Hedgehog’s speed, with every level culminating in a frantic escape sequence that sees you retracing your steps within a time limit.
All the genre staples are here: power-ups, challenging bosses and lots of well-hidden secrets that encourage repeated playthroughs. And it’s all complimented by an incredible hand-drawn art style and brilliantly bonkers soundtrack. If Nintendo isn’t going to give Wario a new platformer of his own, Peppino is more than happy to fill that gap.
27) Sea of Stars
The Nintendo Switch is the perfect console for RPGs, and with developer Sabotage Studio citing the likes of SNES classics Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG as a source of inspiration for its throwback take on that particular era of the genre, there’s arguably no better place to play Sea of Stars. While not as sharply written as some of the games whose ideas it draws from, pretty much everything else about Sea of the Stars is bang on the money, from the sumptuous pixel art to the rock solid turn-based combat and incredible music.
While clearly in love with JRPGs from the 16-bit era, Sabotage Studio also wisely strips away the elements of the genre that have aged decidedly less well, like random battles and tedious grinding. What you get is a modern take on a classic that is so effective that it can make you feel nostalgic for the good old days, even if you weren’t there for them.
28) Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Mario is no stranger to an RPG, but ask a long-time Nintendo fan which Mario RPG is the best of the bunch, and you’re probably going to get one of two answers. Some will say it’s Super Mario RPG, which was remade in style for Switch at the tail end of last year. The rest will insist that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the undisputed all-timer – but all those people had to have owned a GameCube, because until the game’s recent makeover it had never been ported to another Nintendo console.
Thankfully you can finally play Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on the Switch, and it feels as fresh as it did when it first launched 20 years ago. A lot of the more recent Mario RPGs excel in one area while falling short in another, but Paper Mario: TTYD gets pretty much everything right. The turn-based battles are deceptively deep, the story is great fun, and the script is probably the funniest Nintendo has ever produced. Its papercraft reimagining of the Mushroom Kingdom is a bit of a stunner in HD, too. Sure, some of the backtracking can grate a bit, but as 20-year-old games go, this one holds up and then some. A masterpiece, finally available to all and better than ever.
29) Balatro
Brilliant indie games come to Switch all the time, but very few become an instant phenomenon in the way that Balatro did. This deckbuilding poker roguelike takes one of the most well-known card games in the world and respectfully asks you to break it. And yes, that is as fun as it sound. And yes, such fun is perfectly suited to handheld play on the Switch.
Poker might be at the core of Balatro, but you definitely don’t need to be a poker player to lose countless hours of your life to its endlessly compelling loop. You’re playing real poker hands against the computer in each stage of any given run, sure, but the point of the game is to level up those hands to balloon their values, while amassing a series of increasingly bonkers joker cards that combine with others in your deck for dizzyingly huge scores. It’s asking you to cheat, essentially. To play poker, but also to ignore it completely, and once it gets its hooks into you you won’t be able to put it down.
30) Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
The Switch is home to some of the best Metroidvania games ever made, and to be honest, when it was announced we weren’t expecting Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown to join that group. But Ubisoft Montpelier’s reimagining of one of gaming’s longest running series’ really is that good. Controlling protagonist Sargon (note: not the prince of Persia) feels fantastic, which is just as well given how tricky some of the platforming sections can be. Combat is often less of a focus in Metroidvanias but here it’s excellent, letting you pull off all manner of combos both on the ground and in the air, and serving up consistently thrilling boss battles that force you to make use of all your abilities.
A mention, too, for the Memory Shard system, which lets you take in-game screenshots of locations you want to return to later when you have the required ability and easily find them on your map. Every game in the genre should have this. You can play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and all platforms, but it runs at a smooth 60fps on Switch and feels made for handheld play.
