It’s been seven years since the launch of the Nintendo Switch, and despite the hardware being on its last legs, Nintendo is still pumping out quality titles. In fact, plenty of Nintendo Switch games came out in 2023, and we’ve compiled a list of the best of them.
In my eyes, as long as the game is released on the Nintendo Switch from January to December of this year, then it’s viable for this list. Obviously, there are going to be a plethora of Nintendo games on this list, and I wanted to keep this list to a clean five games, so a lot of games had to be left on the cutting room floor. Metroid Prime: Remastered is a fantastic remaster of one of the best GameCube games ever made, and the very underrated PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries on Honjo, a slick visual novel I think more people should play, are just a few of the Switch games I had to leave off this list.
Fire Emblem Engage
It’s always a treat when a new Fire Emblem game is announced, and while this game may not be as phenomenal as the last entry, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem Engage offers up some solid and satisfying strategy content for players. If you’re going into Engage expecting a powerful narrative, look elsewhere. It’s the gameplay that makes Fire Emblem Engage so captivating. The game offers tons of customization, whether it be for the party members you can bring into the battles, the various Emblems you can equip on them, or the series well regarded leveling and progression system. Plus, most importantly, the game never comes across as punishingly as other Fire Emblem games, making it a great entry point for newcomers.
Despite its accessibility for new players, Engage is meant to be a celebration of the franchise as a whole, as it pays homage to every game in the series, even the ones that were never released in the West. Yes, at times, it can become cliché, and there are moments when the celebratory content feels cheap and could have gone further, but seeing characters like Lynn and Lucina again really adds a lot to the paralogue chapters, which are sections that offer up some of the game’s stiffest challenges. For those who were expecting Three Houses but more (if that’s even possible), you’ll probably be disappointed, but if you want a back-to-basics Fire Emblem, then Engage fits the shoe perfectly.
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code
Danganronpa is a franchise very near and dear to my heart, and I’ve been looking for a way to scratch that itch for years. I tried World’s End Club to disappointing results. AI: The Somnium Files came close, but it lacked that bright and colorful aesthetic that made the series fascinating. So, of course, when the original team gets back together to make a spiritual successor in the form of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, I was an easy mark. And yeah, it’s pretty great.
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code is a mystery game through and through, with several different cases to solve, each of them being incredibly satisfying. Each case is pretty meaty, too, and with a healthy amount of DLC, there’s a satisfying amount of content to keep players hooked here. Everything that made the Danganronpa series great is here, whether it be the colorful visuals or Masafumi Todaka’s score. The game’s story is overall very satisfying, though the Labyrythn sections can get a bit repetitive, but as a spiritual successor of a visual novel, that’s to be expected in some regards. It’s a shame that Master Detective Archives: Rain Code will be overlooked, given its niche status, because it’s easily one of the most entertaining Switch games of the year.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
A remake that was long anticipated, Advance Wars is exactly what you should do when remaking some classic handheld titles. The first two Advance Wars games are remade in all of their glory, still delivering satisfying strategy content while polishing up the visuals with the levels of polish you would expect from Wayforward. There are minor touch-ups here and there, like adding in map customization and local multiplayer, but the core Advance Wars experience is still here and going strong.
There’s honestly not much more to say about the game besides it’s an incredibly faithful remake that retains everything about what made the games so enjoyable two decades ago. The maps are small and concise yet can offer a fair amount of challenge for those just getting into turn-based strategy games. There’s a ton of content in the game, which will keep players happy for quite some time, yet the game never feels repetitive or dull. There’s always some new enemy unit or Commanding Officer to go up against, giving players fresh challenges with each new map. It may have been fifteen years since the last Advance Wars game, but please don’t let it be too long until the next.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the first time in a long time I’ve felt excited over a 2D Mario game. For the past several decades, we’ve received generic New Super Mario games that seemed to recycle the same content again and again, just for different systems. Super Mario Bros. Wonder feels fresh and exciting, rarely reusing any elements and just throwing a barrage of ideas and creativity at the player. No one stage is the same, and the shorter length of the stages does a lot to keep the energy of the game going.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is just a reminder that Nintendo isn’t afraid to shake up its biggest franchises and take bold risks. Sure, it’s still a Mario game at heart, and you’re going to make your way right to reach the end of the stage, but it’s all in the presentation, and the presentation is simply stellar. If Wonder is going to be the new standard of 2D Mario Switch games moving forward, then I think I’ll start to like Mario games more than Sonic games.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
I’m personally not the biggest fan of Tears of the Kingdom. I think that it retreads a lot of the same ideas and territory that Breath of the Wild did. Some of the new mechanics it introduced also don’t appeal to me since I rarely used them in my playthrough, and the introduction is probably one of the worst intros in any Zelda game, and I will die on that hill. So, by the end of the game, I just felt worn out and tired, while Breath of the Wild left me excited and energized. Despite all of that, Tears of the Kingdom is still a monumental achievement in game design that lives up to the years of anticipation that gamers have had towards it.
It’s very easy to get lost in the grand world of Hyrule, and I mean that in the best way possible. I can wander around for hours upon hours and find something new to do or people to interact with. Whether it’s in the sky, on the ground, or in the depths, I never had a shortage of things to do and places to do. At times, it can be a bit overwhelming, but the detail on display with Tears of the Kingdom’s level and world design is something to behold. The fuse mechanic offers an interesting layer to combat despite how much I still don’t care for breakable weapons, and the idea that you can build any type of vehicle or object to help solve puzzles is liberating. I loved those “AH-HA!” moments in Tears of the Kingdom when I cooked up some hair-brained solution to a puzzle.
Those moments are what make Tears of the Kingdom shine. But despite my personal issues with the game, I can at least take a step back and acknowledge that Tears of the Kingdom is a brilliantly well-made game that is not only one of the most critically praised games of the year but one of the best games on the Switch period. Time will tell if it will stand the test of time just as well as Breath of the Wild, but there’s certainly a lot going for it.
For more of our Best of lists for 2023, check out the following:
Best Action-Adventure Games of 2023
