The best deals on Nintendo Switch games right now

Taking place in a massive open world, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a much different take on the Zelda series, one that stresses exploration, experimentation, and emergent gameplay. BOTW is much tougher than previous entries in the franchise but presents multiple, unconventional ways to tackle the game’s more difficult challenges. Mastery of the game comes more from learning and exploiting the systems in the world rather than looting a bunch of sweet gear.

Years after its release, players are still discovering new wrinkles in the aging classic. While this isn’t the most recent title to feature Link, Breath of the Wild remains an essential entry in the franchise. It offers all of the hallmarks of a traditional Zelda title, including challenging combat and puzzles, but within a gorgeous, open-world design. Read our review.

The latest Animal Crossing game came at a time when many of us needed it most. This sim has been a popular choice to play during the pandemic because it provides a necessary escape. Animal Crossing: New Horizons lets you go outside and enjoy life with neighbors, pick some flowers, catch a few bugs, and just relish the moment.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons lets you build and grow your own persistent island and eventually handle the overall welfare of the cast of characters that will call your island their home. By harvesting resources and trading with other islands, you’ll slowly turn the vacant island into something truly unique. Read our review.

Nintendo’s latest brawler pits beloved characters from the company’s franchises (as well as plenty from outside of Nintendo’s own realms) against one another. While the high skill ceiling for this long-standing fighting franchise can be intimidating to newcomers, sucker-punching your foes as Jigglypuff has an almost universal appeal.

Since the game’s debut, the roster of fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has also expanded to include a massive list of 74 characters. Everyone from Solid Snake to Samus is here, and even lesser-known characters make an appearance (ahem, Wii Fit Trainer). Regardless of your level of skill, though, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the most fun you can have while battling your friends for bragging rights. Read our review.

Kirby is just one of those characters that provides an immediate hit of serotonin just by looking at him. The latest adventure for the adorable pink monster, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, is chock-full of lighthearted whimsy, clever puzzles, and fun platforming.

It’s a familiar formula, but one that comes with a handful of new features, including two-player, couch co-op, and a “Mouthful Mode” that allows Kirby to turn into objects that are just a little too big for him to eat. Whether he’s attempting to scarf down a traffic cone or a two-door sedan, this mechanic always manages to amuse. And while the game itself may not be particularly challenging to veterans of Nintendo platformers, this doesn’t detract from what is an overall excellent Kirby adventure. Read our review.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 updates the core elements of the original Tony Hawk games into an experience fit for modern consoles. The collection is a faithful remake of the original two games, and everything from the levels to the collectibles has been translated with remarkable accuracy.

The gameplay experience is largely unchanged, but what additions have been made are certainly welcome. Some extra objectives have been added to THPS 1 levels to be more on par with what THPS 2 offers, and there are larger meta-objectives to accomplish if you want to unlock different cosmetic options. This collection is easily the best way to experience — or re-experience — these staples of gaming history. Read our review.

If you’re into kart racing and love Mario, there’s no better mish-mash of the two than in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Switch. The popular racing title is packed with plenty of courses and characters, and 48 new tracks are set to launch over the next two years as paid DLC. This installment in the Mario Kart franchise is essentially a souped-up version of the original Mario Kart 8 that debuted on the Wii U, with better visuals, performance, and all the DLC from the Wii U version (and then some).

While the basics of this franchise have remained largely the same over its lifetime, Mario Kart 8 represented some of the best improvements the series has seen, and its remastered port only improves on the original with new modes, kart parts, and an adorable cast of drivers.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a remarkably deep, turn-based strategy game. While most games in this genre treat your units as disposable pawns, Three Houses forces you to become attached to these units by having specific characters lead them into battle. These characters each have their own distinct strengths, weaknesses, and personality quirks that become more apparent as you build relationships with them between missions.

This can make some missions extremely tenuous as you try to balance the benefits of bringing characters into battle, each with their own unique strengths while risking their potential death. This option can be switched off for a more relaxed experience, but this is one of the features that sets Fire Emblem apart from its peers. This latest entry in the Fire Emblem franchise is excellent for first-timers or returning fans. Its turn-based battle has never been sharper, and the characters and plot are memorable. Read our review.

Splatoon 2 is likely the most colorful shooter you’ll ever play. The multiplayer-focused game has players dousing maps with a variety of weaponized painting tools, ranging from paint rollers to airbrushes. It’s the perfect shooter for players that typically don’t enjoy shooters, namely because of its vivid color scheme and lighthearted approach to the genre.

While hunting down other players certainly has its benefits, victory in a given match and your personal score isn’t determined by how many players you knock out but by how much of the map you paint with your team’s respective color. This objective-based gameplay allows anyone, regardless of skill, to contribute to the success of their team. Read our review.

Regardless of your opinion of Ubisoft’s Rabbids, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is an amazing turn-based strategy game that owes much of its success to games like XCOM and Fire Emblem. Kingdom Battle brings the delightful cast of Mario and Co. into an isometric strategy game with a surprising amount of challenge, even for veterans of the genre.

While the game certainly shares the aesthetics of other Mario titles with its gold coins and Piranha Plants, the similarities end there. While Kingdom Battle doesn’t share the same sprawling meta-strategy layer as its peers, there’s still plenty of depth and nuance to its tactical gameplay. This makes Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle a fun and surprising addition to the genre. Read our review.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is best described as Dynasty Warriors by way of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This title shares a similar aesthetic to the 2017 hit but is drastically different in terms of its gameplay. In it, you’ll take control of a cast of familiar characters from Breath of the Wild, like Impa and Zelda, and guide them through a linear narrative that leads up to the events that precede Breath of the Wild.

You can swap between characters during battles to make use of their combos and special abilities, but you’re also responsible for directing legions of soldiers to assist you in completing your objectives. Age of Calamity provides fans of Breath of the Wild with more backstory in a game that feels wholly different but strangely familiar in the best ways. Read our review.

Inspired by classic beat’em ups like Streets of Rage, Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game takes the events of the Bryan Lee O’Malley’s landmark graphic novel and translates them into a video game where you punch absolutely everything. The Complete Edition of the game doesn’t add much, but it includes an additional playable character.

In the game, you take on the role of Scott, Stephen, Kim, Ramona, or Knives in a quest to destroy Ramona’s seven evil ex-boyfriends. In addition to your typical arsenal of light and heavy attacks, the game also includes a fairly robust combo and weapons system. You’ll even find a scattering of liberal RPG elements in there as well.

The aesthetic of the game is largely inspired by the pixel art of the 16- and 32-bit console era, and includes a number of excellent nods and Easter eggs tied to classic gaming. The cherry on top, however, is Anamanaguchi’s chiptune soundtrack, which consists of 24 original tracks that just ooze video game nostalgia.

Mortal Kombat 11 is a title synonymous with fighting games. The same gratuitously violent, combo-based gameplay is on display here, but the latest entry in the franchise builds on that legacy by fine-tuning many of the technical elements. This makes MK11 arguably the best entry in the franchise to date, with tight gameplay that’s easy to learn and difficult to master.

In addition to the roster of 25 characters from Mortal Kombat lore, MK11 includes DLC for fighters from some unexpected IPs. So if you were ever curious about how the Terminator would fare against Rambo, this is your chance to find out. Each fighter can also be customized with different moves and gear, meaning that you’re unlikely to fight against the same character twice.

Immortals Fenyx Rising is a game that takes the open-world gameplay and color palette from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and slaps it on the mythology from God of War. The design might be iterative, but the result is amazing. In true Ubisoft fashion, the massive, vivid environment is chock-full of collectibles, activities, and puzzles to strengthen your character.

One aspect that sets this title apart from its obvious inspirations is the combat, which combines simple, RPG-like skill trees with a variety of godly powers earned from aiding various deities. A decidedly more comical and lighthearted approach to the Greek pantheon, Immortals Fenyx Rising is a fun and witty open-world game that wears its inspiration on its sleeve. Read our hands-on impressions.

Axiom Verge, an ambitious Metroidvania developed by a single person, has gone on to become an essential entry in the genre thanks to its clever level design, spectacular soundtrack, and awesome boss battles. And while the game is clearly inspired by classic entries in the genre like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, it still manages to do its own thing.

Much like other games in the genre, Axiom Verge has you exploring a map that gradually expands as you defeat bosses and gain new abilities, allowing you to traverse previously inaccessible areas. A large part of what makes this game unique, however, is the title’s setting and aesthetic, which lies somewhere on the spectrum between hellish and surreal, leaving us with something that feels like the works of HR Geiger if he were given a 16-bit palette to work with.

While there are plenty of other contemporaries that draw on this same formula, including Hollow Knight or the more recent Metroid Dread, Axiom Verge is an excellent title that won’t disappoint fans of the genre.

Burnout has always been a series that’s about wrecking cars, going fast, and causing wanton destruction. Burnout Paradise continues that proud tradition by unleashing you on an open world that’s littered with stunts, races, and — of course — lots of crashes.

Burnout Paradise may be a couple of console generations old, but it never lost its charm. The nauseatingly fast game always has something for you to do, and while the lack of real-world cars is a bummer, you’ll never have a better time jack-knifing your sports car into a fuel tanker at 300 miles per hour.