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The holiday shopping season is winding down and Nintendojo is here to help the last minute shoppers of the world. Read on to find out the perfect games to buy for the Nintendo fans in your life!
Yoshi’s Crafted World
From our review:
“Easy doesn’t mean a lack of fun, and if Yoshi’s Crafted World is anything, it’s fun. Good Feel has very nearly perfected its quirky practice of hyper-stylized visuals fused with quality gameplay. As ever, the pure joy of hurling eggs at encroaching Shy Guys and Piranha Plants remains one of the biggest draws in all of video games.”
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
From our review:
“A few slight tweaks to the early game difficulty curve and earlier access to a few mobility oriented powers would have been nice, but those are small hurdles in lengthy, and fun, enough experience that will almost certainly keep you interested beyond the initial playthrough. Altogether, it’s the worthwhile successor many fans have been waiting for.”
Super Mario Maker 2
From our review:
“Overall, this is a truly astounding accomplishment by Nintendo. The suite of tools is easy to learn and use, there are a ton of elements and features to employ, and with the ability to play what is practically an endless stream of new stages, this is a triumph of Nintendo’s creative spirit.”
Resident Evil Origins Collection
Resident Evil Origins Collection contains both Resident Evil HD (a remake of the original Resident Evil on PlayStation) and Resident Evil 0 HD. The former is a digital download code while the latter is printed on a cartridge. While RE0 is a fun game in its own right, RE takes the cake. From our review: “No other survival horror game has managed to channel the same compelling level of tension. If you’ve ever played Resident Evil in any of its incarnations in the 23 years since its original release, you’ll know exactly what to expect: one of the most genuinely unnerving games the industry has ever produced.
Resident Evil Triple Pack
Another must-have compilation featuring Resident Evil 4, 5, and 6. RE4 is the lone physical game, while RE5 and RE6 are both digital downloads. All three are excellent, but RE4 is the true headliner. From our review: “Overall, however, RE4 is a stunning achievement that has shown minimal wear since 2004. Whether reliving the game or playing it for the first time, players will be astounded by the meticulous care that went into RE4’s creation. A wonderfully cheesy narrative, brilliant level and character design, stunning art direction, and some of the best shooting mechanics ever made all coalesce into a legend of the video game industry.”
Tetris 99
From our review:
“There’s one thing to keep in mind for those who might be doubting Tetris as a multiplayer title: Tetris 99 is genuinely tough! Playing 99 other people simultaneously really hammers home how much skill it takes to come out victorious. I’ve been playing Tetris my whole life back to the NES iteration and I’m reminded every time I load up the game that I’m a very small fish in a very large pond.”
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered
From our review:
“Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is a game good for dozens of hours of gameplay, and while it’s not an original property for Switch, it is a really glorious addition to the system’s library. Players who enjoy JRPGs with lots of style and even more heart will find this to be well worth the purchase. Highly recommended.”
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
From our review:
“As a whole, Ultimate Alliance 3 is an immensely enjoyable game that really reminded me how much I love Marvel’s wealth of characters. The roster is huge, the combat is gratifying, and it all looks slick running on Switch either docked or in handheld mode. There are some blemishes in terms of player progression, a bland soundtrack, and the unwieldy camera, but it’s nothing that should stop anyone from going out and giving Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order a download.”
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
From our review:
“The heart of Link’s Awakening is here, but more accessible than ever. Combat has greater complexity, the graphics are stunning, and the new arrangement of the classic soundtrack sounds spectacular. It’s unfortunate that performance can lag at times, but it’s so unobtrusive that it doesn’t weigh the game down.”
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt— Complete Edition
From our review:
“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Complete Edition isn’t quite perfect: it suffers from somewhat muddied visuals and slightly unresponsive controls at times, but they still don’t totally detract from what is one of the most engaging, entertaining, and fun games I’ve played in a long time. There were nights where I found myself up at least a couple of hours longer than I intended to be awake because I was having such a good time with this game.”
Luigi’s Mansion 3
From our review:
“Luigi’s Mansion 3 is one of the best games I’ve played in years. I spent every moment of its campaign gaping in awe at set piece after set piece. Raging dinosaur skeletons, suites overrun with plants, a kaiju battle, and a towering pyramid in the sand are but a handful of the sights to take in while playing Luigi’s Mansion 3.”
These are the top games to buy this year for Nintendo Switch owners. What else would you add to the list? There’s a ton of software that dropped in 2019, so there are certainly many other titles worthy of being on the list. Tell us in the comments and on social media!
Luigi’s Mansion 3 ended up being my Game of the Year, and that surprised me because while I enjoyed the first two I never considered them upper tier games, more mid-tier. But LM 3 is the most ‘Nintendo’ game there is. The variety in the different floors of the hotel, the enemies and of course the silly but fun story. It was just a great experience.
And Link’s Awakening is a game I can’t recommend enough. For younger people who may have never played the game before it’s a classic that has one of the best stories in the Zelda universe, and for older players like myself the quality of life changes make it more than worth a revisit. I truly appreciated some of the stuff they were able to do because there are more buttons on the controller to work with and the art style is brilliant. Having classic Zelda on a tv again is also nice.