With Christmas less than a month away, Old School Gamer shares 10 Nintendo Switch games (in no particular order) that belong under your tree this holiday season.
Arms: It’s not going to win a ton of popularity contests, but Arms is a fun game that takes solid advantage of the Switch console.
Puyo Puyo Tetris: An early favorite among Switch owners, it’s still a value and a great game to take on the road or play at home.
Splatoon 2: An awesome multiplayer experience that shows some of the best visuals on the system to date.
Sonic Mania: If you’re a hardcore Sonic the Hedgehog fan, this is a must-own game. Although it was released on several other consoles, being able to take it with you on the Switch makes this the preferred version.
Thimbleweed Park: The minds behind Maniac Mansion have created a wonderful point-and-click experience that plays especially well on the Switch. It’s wacky plot and almost excruciating difficulty at times make it an awesome experience on the go and at home.
Skyrim: Although the Switch version doesn’t add much to the formula, getting all the DLC and being able to play the game on the go is a huge selling point. If you’ve never played Skyrim, picking it up on the Switch is a smart move.
L.A. Noire: The original was great, but with solid motion controls and touchscreen ability (you can play through the entire game basically without using the D-Pad if you wanted to) , this version is perfect for the Switch. In the end, that’s the way an awesome port of a classic game should be.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Curse: This may be the best remake of an action RPG, ever. Beautiful, difficult and wonderfully old-school, it looks amazing on the Switch screen.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Nintendo’s Dark Souls meets Zelda franchise is one of the best reasons to play the Switch and the additional DLC and amigo support mean that there’s still plenty of things to do after you finish.
Super Mario Odyssey: The “it” game on the Switch. A marriage of Super Mario Galaxy and even Sonic Adventure, this is a new Mario for a new console. Drink it in people, it rocks.
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Patrick Hickey Jr. is the author of the upcoming book, “The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult and Classic Video Game Developers,” from McFarland And Company. Featuring interviews with the creators of 36 popular video games–including Deus Ex, NHLPA 93, Night Trap, Mortal Kombat, Wasteland and NBA Jam–the book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of the most influential and iconic (and sometimes forgotten) games of all time. Recounting endless hours of painstaking development, the challenges of working with mega publishers and the uncertainties of public reception, the interviewees reveal the creative processes that produced some of gaming’s classic titles.
