2018 was a fantastic year for Nintendo Switch owners.
While the Switch boasted some pretty solid titles in the past since its debut like Mario
Odyssey, this year has been ground breaking for the gaming giant, with Nintendo debuting
new titles in some of their core franchises that have been out of this world.
So today, we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 best Nintendo switch games
of 2018.
And trust us, choosing was no easy feat.
Several games on this list are Nintendo exclusives, while others are big indie titles that have
made our jaws drop.
So with that in mind, let’s get to it!
10 Captain Toad Treasure Tracker Give it up for Toad!
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is a puzzle adventure game that offers hours and hours
of fun thanks to well thought out level designs and charming characters.
Treasure Tracker is a game that flailed on the Wii U, but, in classic Nintendo behaviour,
the company learnt from its mistakes and really came through with Treasure Tracker on the
Switch, making it a relaxing yet challenging game that appeals to all ages.
9 Octopath Traveler Octopath Traveler was one of the first RPG
games for the Switch outside of their core franchises.
And oh boy, did it deliver.
A JRPG, the title often finds itself in the pitfalls of that genre, but still manages
to entice players with it’s eight parallel stories and eight intriguing playable characters.
Perhaps it’s most ground breaking element though is it’s mechanics, specifically its
break and boost features, which covert boss battles into long form puzzles for players
to tackle, making the game more challenging in a unique way that hasn’t really been
done before.
Plus, the score, oh my.
So darn good.
8 Mario Tennis Aces Whodathunk a tennis game could be this darn
good?
Well, leave it to Nintendo.
Mario Tennis Aces might not be your cup of tea if you’re looking for a game with a
well thought out narrative, but what it provides in terms of local multiplayer is stellar at
best.
It’s also a new way to look at tennis, since a lot of the gameplay pulls from what feels
like fighting game mechanics, giving it an interesting flavour.
While the game has been criticized for a lack of roster balance, knowing Nintendo, it wouldn’t
be surprising if the game has DLCs coming down the pipeline to help buff and nerf certain
characters; but hey, at least for now Waluigi can be the best at something.
Bless him.
7 Gris Gris is a crazy beautiful game that feels
a whole lot like Journey.
The protagonist of the game loses her voice at it’s start, and sets out on a journey
to reclaim it.
Similar to Journey, it’s a game that doesn’t have any dialogue, and not a whole lot of
instruction, all of which makes it that much more enthralling and mesmerizing.
It’s not a game with combat, either; rather, it’s about grief and self discovery, and
feels a little like an interactive animated film with it’s beautiful watercolour artwork.
It’s arguably one of the most stunning games to have come out this year.
6 Nintendo Labo The Nintendo Labo is quite revolutionary.
It’s a really neat way to play, aside from being kind of gimmicky, and lets players use
card board creations to turn their Joy Con controllers into much, much more.
Pairing the virtual and the physical together, Nintendo Labo manages to make video game peripherals
relevant again.
The downside?
It’s a bit pricey if you want to collect a bunch of the different Nintendo Labo creations,
but that being said, it definitely provides a ton of fun, with part of that fun being
the creation of your card board pieces, and the imagination that goes into this outside
the box concept.
5 Donut County Donut County is one of a handful of games
on our list that isn’t a Switch exclusive, but it definitely excels on the platform.
Taking place in a world filled with anthropomorphic animal characters, you discover that your
pal at the local Donut shop you work at is responsible for opening up holes in the ground
thanks to an obsession with a mobile app, causing you and other members of Donut County
to fall 999 feet below the surface of the earth.
It’s premise is simple; you move a hole in the ground around to swallow objects, making
your hole increase in size; something that many critics called incredibly therapeutic
and enthralling, despite it’s minimalistic concept.
4 Super Mario Party Super Mario Party is another one of Nintendo’s
exclusive prosperities that has been around the block many a time.
This game, the first in the series released for the Switch, really improved upon it’s
past mishaps and failings to provide a game that really makes couch co-op a blast.
Filled to the brim with exciting mini games, compelling game boards and all of the Mario
characters we’ve come to know and love, it’s replay-ability is astonishing, and
makes for one hell of a solid party fixture whenever you have guests over.
Plus, it’s just as fun on the go; something that really makes use of the capabilities
of the Switch and ultimately makes it shine.
3 Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee The Pokemon franchise is one with a long,
long history, and plenty of generations of new Pokemon that have sprung up over the years.
The core RPG games have always operated on a similar formula, with improvements in graphics,
new mechanics and new Pokemon always being added to the mix.
But Let’s go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee is a series overhaul of sorts.
A revamp of Pokemon Yellow, the game introduces brand new mechanics pulled from the widely
popular Pokemon Go and mixes them in with a new way to grind in order to train your
Pokemon and become the very best.
It’s refreshing, and while it only focuses on Generation 1 pokemon, this new format is
something that many are hoping will eventually be adapted into revamping Pokemon Gold and
Silver with gen 2 Pokemon.
Overall, for gamers who have played multiple of the Pokemon RPG titles, Let’s Go provides
a fresh and exciting new take to a storyline that has been repeated time and time again,
and makes it really fun again.
2 Celeste Celeste was the only indie game nominated
for Game of the Year at the 2018 Game Awards.
And while it was beaten out by God of War, it did manage to go home with Best Indie Game
of the year, which was very much deserved.
A platforming title, Celeste is a Canadian game that was initially crafted up during
a game jam, but ending up taking a whole new life.
It follows a young woman named Madeline who climbs up Celeste Mountain, ignoring warnings
from the people who live nearby.
After climbing, she has a dream, a dark reflection of herself, that attempts to stop her from
climbing the mountain.
It also won the award for Games for Impact at the 2018 Games Award, with the title exploring
mental health and having received a great response from players who struggled and empathized
with many of the things that Madeline encounters and deals with in the narrative.
1 Super smash Bros Ultimate Super Smash Bros Ultimate is by far the most
detailed and upgraded of Nintendo’s core franchise games to date.
And detail is key; that’s what makes Smash Bros Ultimate so damn good.
Not only does it provide a comprehensive game play experience with every single character
that has ever been a fighter in the series available to play, but it also has improved
upon every one of those characters, along with all of the other mechanics in the game
in order to provide a seamless and entertaining experience.
Talk about listening to feedback.
It’s perhaps the biggest crossover title to have ever existed, and even introduces
more new characters into the fray, with the promise of additional ones coming out in DLCs
lined up until 2020.
There’s even a campaign mode that manages to have a pretty decent story; something that
previous Smash games have always struggled with.
All in all, the fighting game has received universal acclaim, with critics praising it
for its improved gameplay, larger cast, stages, options, soundtrack and much more, with one
critic even noting that the game brilliantly mix gargantuan content with nostalgia.
That’s pretty spot on.
There we have it friends!
Which of these titles is your favourite?
What other games for the Switch that were released this year did we miss out on?
Give us a shout in those comments below and let us know all of your thoughts!
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playlist we currently have flashing on your screen for more best of lists of 2018.
In the meantime though, thanks for watching!
I’ll catch you all in the next video!