The Switch is a handheld/console hybrid by Nintendo released in March 2017.
System Specs
- Chipset: NVidia Tegra X1
- Screen: 6.2" capacitive multi-touch, 1280 x 720 resolution.
- 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
- 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.
Games
Have you played these games? They need a description to be added onto the list:
- Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
Cart-Based
| Box Art | Title | Genre | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
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Arms | Fighting | Nintendo's newest IP, featuring a colorful cast of |
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Astral Chain | Action RPG | Platinum Games keeps their fantastic reputation with Astral Chain. You play as a Cop you create yourself which you can customize, and are 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. Its typical badass Platinum Games combat. It goes by a chapter by chapter basis, but you can still explore and do tons of sidequests. Only downside is its only 30 FPS, but you get to used to it. A must play for action fans. |
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Bayonetta 2 | Character Action | One of the best Wii U games made 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Dark Souls: Remastered | Action RPG | It's Dark Souls on the go. It doesn't run great and the online was dead on day one but its 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
| Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze | Platformer | Port of the WiiU version, but with aditional Funky mode that adds little to none to the original game. Great gameplay, but more akin to the DKC Return than to the original trilogy on SNES. Be aware it is hard as fucking hell near the end, but completionists will enjoy. | |
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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. |
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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Action-Adventure |
The long-awaited next 3-D entry in the series since Skyward Sword, and boy does it meet expectations. The game drops it's formulaic mechanics and goes back 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, 120 puzzle shrines, 900 hidden koroks, 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. Part of this difficulty is in its breakable weapons. Everything but armor breaks, and even the Master Sword wears out (though thankfully with a cooldown) if it hits too much or too hard. Also thankfully the game showers you with a wide arsenal so this is never a major problem. There are some major and annoying dips in frames in a few places, but never in combat areas. This is the first game in the series to feature voice acting, but for purists there's also an option which allows for mixing audio options and text languages. 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 available are DLC packs that include several new costumes, a really hard challenge gauntlet, hard mode, and best of all a new dungeon and extended story that itself adds another 10 hours to your overall playtime. Also on Wii U (with slightly downgraded graphics and a bit more slowdown). |
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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 59FPs (though a few minor updates to graphics themselves are a sight 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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). |
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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. |
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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. |
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Puyo Puyo Tetris | Puzzle | A quite unexpected puzzle crossover, thankfully it combines the two different gameplay styles remarkably well. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 artstyle to compliment the addicting gameplay. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 7 friends who like to have a good and possibly competitive time, look no further than this game. Also, as of writing this, there is a DLC fighter to grab (A FUCKING PLANT) and 5 DLC fighters to pre-order (including Joker from Persona 5, the Hero from Dragon Quest and fucking Banjo-Kazooie), each with their own stage and music (the 5 pre-orders, not the plant) |
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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. |
Digital
| Cover | Title | Genre | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Bayonetta | Character Action | The first Bayonetta is download only on Switch (outside of Japan). You can get a code with the original print run of Bayonetta 2 or just get it off the e-shop. 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. |
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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! |
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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. |
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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... |
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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. |
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Hollow Knight | Metroidvania | Beautifully animated Metroidvania, one of the best in the sub-genre. Pulls a lot from Dark Souls in terms of difficulty and story-telling style |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Pocket Rumble | Fighting | A stylish 2-button fightan inspired by the fighting games from the Neo-Geo Pocket. |
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Rogue Trooper Redux | 3rd Person Shooter | A remake/remaster of an awesome and strangely unknown game originally released for the PS2. Fight blue soldiers with machine guns and stuff. You know the drill. Also on PS4/XONE and PC. |
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Romancing SaGa 2 | RPG | Awesome remaster of the classic Super Famicom RPG, now fully in English! |
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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. |
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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. |
| Eighth Generation | ||
| Consoles | Ouya - Sony PlayStation 4 - Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Wii U - Microsoft Xbox One - Valve Steam Machine | |
| Handhelds | Nintendo 3DS - Sony PlayStation Vita | |