This is my first Nintendo system since the NES. I’ve never been a big fan of their first-party properties when I’ve played on others’ consoles, although I am interested in the Switch Zelda games.

We got Mario Kart 8 and Let’s Go Pikachu for my son (the Switch is for his birthday). I might try Let’s Go Pikachu but don’t really care for Mario Kart. I’m keeping an eye on the Ori games too.

What I’m mainly interested in is Switch games that you can’t play on the PS5 (which is my main platform). I don’t really do mobile gaming so the Switch will pretty much be a home console for all intents and purposes, so I’m also not really affected by games that are “good for Switch mobility” like Hades (as an example–I already own that on PS5).

Thanks!

  • i cannot recommend any nintendo product since they are the by far the most evil company in gaming industry. you would be pretty much happy with metascore nintendo switch list. i would return switch and buy steam deck oled with a little bit more budget and pirate all nintendo products using steam deck. heck, most switch games runs better on steam deck than it is on switch.

    • Wow, that’s certainly a take. How are they worse than Sony or fucking Microsoft? Microsoft was under IRS investigation at one point. They dragged thing out resulting in multiple millions of taxpayer money being wasted, ruined the professional careers of the lead names on the investigation, bribed politicians to cut so much funding from the IRS that another investigation of that scale is simply not possible, and bribed other politicians to sway laws in their favor to help make what they were investigated for much harder to pursue charges on.

      Do you have any substantive shit that the other big names aren’t guilty of as well? I’d love to hear it!

    •  ulkesh   ( @ulkesh@beehaw.org ) 
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      77 months ago

      hugs his Switch and the many physical Switch games he owns

      also hugs his Steam Deck

      The two aren’t mutually exclusive nor does one random opinion on the internet a fact make.

      OP asked for what specific games to get, not some anti-Nintendo rant.

      • How regularly do you use both of those devices?

        I was eyeing the steam deck for its portability but I rarely would have reason to use it so I held off. Same for the switch.

        When I’m at home I play on my desktop. When I’m not at home I’m mostly actively moving about or only waiting small periods of time which are not worth it to start gaming. The only reason I would have to really use them would be during vacations.

        • I’m in a position where I can’t access my desktop for a few months, and my Steamdeck is absolutely great for lazy couch gaming. It runs pretty much any game I play atm, and with some tweaking per game, the controls are almost always great.

          But I also use my Switch from time to time. It’s a bit more portable, it’s a kind of “just works” device where I don’t need to worry about controls or tweaks, and Tears of the Kingdom runs significantly better than it ever did on my Steamdeck, last time I tried.

          It sounds like a Switch would be the best option for your use case, if you’d have to pick one. Something the Switch does very well is being able to pause any game by just putting it in standby and not worrying about it. Makes it ideal to play in between doing other stuff.

        •  ulkesh   ( @ulkesh@beehaw.org ) 
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          17 months ago

          It’s a good point. I would say I don’t use them often enough to justify owning them, but I use them just enough to be okay with it. I go in spurts. I get on a Mario Maker kick and play a ton on the switch, and then I get on an emulation kick and load up a lot of retro stuff on the steam deck. But I have gone weeks or more without touching either.

  • Switch games not also on PS5

    Pretty much first-party Nintendo games and a handful of independent games. I had the same desires as you, so all I really had and played and liked was:

    • Animal Crossing

    • Tears of the Kingdom (Breath of the Wild was good but TOTK is basically the same game but 1000x better and after playing it I have no desire to go back to BOTW)

    • Super Mario Odyssey

    • Clubhouse Games

    And if I had known it existed while I still had the thing, I would have gotten Switch Sports.

  • No one’s suggested it yet, so I’ll say Fire Emblem: Three Houses - lots of gameplay hours, especially if you want to go through each of the four storylines, albeit can be a bit repetitive getting to that point.

  • Nobody mentioning the Xenoblade series? If you like long JRPGs with 100s of hours of gameplay look at Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3!!! Recommend starting with the second one, but it’s not neccesary to play them back to back

  • Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu

    FYI we got this game when we we got our Switch and it sat, untouched, for YEARS, until I finally picked it up a few months ago. Honestly, I REALLY enjoyed it! BUT… the first 30 minutes to an hour are very poorly done, and are soooo boring. After that it hooked me.

    As someone who’s favorite game in the series is the original Pokémon Red, I think this remake was quite well done. It looks great (much better than Sword / Shield in my opinion), and really trims out a lot of the fluff and grind of the classic games.

    Also if he’s playing, you can use the second controller to join him and casually help him catch and battle Pokémon. It’s cute. :)

    Let me know if you want any more in depth review or info.

  • My favorites:

    • Mario maker 2
    • Metroid dread
    • Mario Odyssey
    • Botw and totk
    • Metroid prime remaster
    • Advance wars 1+2
    • Mario 3d world + bowsers fury (really mainly just for bowsers fury, although 3d world is good too)
    • Cadence of Hyrule (crypt of the necrodancer x Zelda)
    • Pikmin 4
    • Mario wonder
    • Mario RPG
    • smash ultimate
    • probably some other wiiu ports I’m forgetting
  • Definitely agree with a lot of the listed games but wanted to add some I haven’t seen yet:

    • Monster Hunter: Rise. The Monster Hunter series’ most recent main series instalment sees you playing as a Hunter of massive creatures, carving them up and using the parts to craft stronger and better equipment. Multiplayer only available with multiple switches, but is still a very rewarding solo game.

    • Cadence of Hyrule. A Zelda and Crypt of the NecroDancer mashup that sees you play as Link or Zelda in a musical world where everything moves at the speed of the beat of the music. Very novel and interesting game, but relatively short.

    • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. This is a true roguelike and a remake of the first game in the offshoot Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series made by the same creators of the Shiren the Wanderer series. Gameplay is turn-based and grid-based, with randomly generated dungeons for you to conquer, and you play as a human who’s been turned into Pokémon alongside many others you can befriend.