21 Best Nintendo Switch Games 2020-2021 (Year 4)

hello there lovely people it's alex from nintendo life here and today we're going to be taking a look at the switch's fourth year its fourth year this year has undeniably been a little bit more port heavy than previous years but you know there is this there was this sort of thing going on that was kind of taking over everything and uh kind of meant that things didn't happen but we still got some cracking games and so we're gonna take you through the top 21 best switch games from its fourth year so that's any game that was released between the 3rd of march 2020 and the 2nd of march 2021 naturally this is not an exhaustive list and there is always going to be a degree of subjectivity when it comes to ranking or selecting any games for this kind of list but just to make it a little bit more interesting what we've done is we've got them we've got the list right here and i'm going to randomize them right about now there we go they are now in no particular order ponchi's excited but anyway that's more than enough waffling let's dive right into things there's been a bit of contention with paper mario recently and a lot of people say it's just not like it used to be and whilst that may well be the case paper mario the origami king it's a damn fine game whichever way you slice it pun intended the battle system may well not be everyone's cup of tea in fact it's it's not exactly mine but everything else about the game is just it's just wonderful it's this intoxicating inviting world with genuine thrills and spills and interesting characters and some of the best writing that i've seen on the switch full stop it's a brilliant game that deserves your attention even if it's not quite what paper mario used to be do you remember harvest moon do you remember how great that series was and then weird stuff happened and now the series is will not split but we've got the story of seasons and that's really what harvest moon is now but not officially story of season's friends of mineral town may sound familiar and that's because it was originally on the game boy advance and this is straight up a complete remake for some people by modern standards the gameplay may be a little bit simplistic but that's part of the wonderful charm of it whilst other games have gone down the complexity route and allowing you to do so many different things there's something simple and pure about this offering here the farming mechanics may well be simple but they're very satisfying to play and a wonderful way to just take a little bit of down time after you play the next game on our list it's a charming relaxing engaging and just overall lovely way to decompress after a long hard day of playing doom eternal now i loved the original doom 2016. that's it it's weird to call that the original because it really isn't but i love doom 2016 the fact that they got it running on the switch was fantastic and then when they announced that doom eternal would be coming to the switch at the same time as all the other platforms you better believe i was that didn't happen but it did finally come to the switch and this is just absolute mayhem i love this game to death i actually went back and tried to play the original and the original is still really good fun but it really the the doomed tunnel is just so much more frenetic in comparison it's actually baffling if you have played doom eternal and you haven't played the original for a while i encourage you to compare the two because my word this one's so much faster everything is designed to keep the flow of combat constant there is no breathing room and it's always trying to encourage you to use different weapons every single step of the way whether that be due to certain enemies weaknesses or more likely you've run out of ammo yet ammo is scarce and originally i thought that was going to be a bit of a pain but it forces much more interesting situations to emerge i'll be honest there were quite a few weapons in doom 2016 that i just basically didn't use and that is absolutely not the case with doom eternal here it's a shame that the multiplayer is a bit um lackluster but if you look at this as a single player game oh oh one of the best shooters on switch by far oh this is a weirdo little inclusion what the golf it's oh god this game is so bizarre and i love it to death on the face of it it is a golfing game you just play golf and you know it starts off fairly simple and then all of a sudden it starts changing the rules and it is always changing the rules whether it's all of a sudden you're no longer hitting a ball but you're throwing your club or something and you're still trying to get it into the hall maybe you hit the ball or you're trying to move the hole and honestly there are so many weird and wonderful things they do with the idea of golf i don't want to spoil too many of the mechanics that they use because it really is best experienced first hand but let's just say that this is definitely one of the most original bizarre and satisfying games on the switch right now if you like a golf game but you want something a little bit different whoa this is certainly different [Music] super mario 3d world on the wii u that was good wasn't it why wasn't it faster though and that's the question that clearly spawned this port super mario 3d world was already one of the best wii u games available and it took far far too long to come to switch i don't know why it took so long but it's here now and that's the most important thing and they have made it so much faster lots of little quality of life improvements here and there it feels like a much more sort of modern game it doesn't feel like they've just taken the old one and slapped it on the switch they've definitely improved a lot of small little areas in order to just make it overall a better game and what a game especially when you're playing as toad and you run like this and that's not all you've also got bowser's fury in here is a bonus mode and on the face of it you may sort of hear people say oh you can beat in three hours and stuff like that and you absolutely can but my oh my god what a three hours also if you're going for a hundred percent it's you can about double that realistically maybe maybe not exactly double but you do get a good number of hours out of there still it's short but sweet and as a result there is no faffing around there's no oh you know sort of little bits and you know there's no cat shines that feel completely pointless or just you know sort of thrown in there every single one of them is just like yes yes yes it's just a pure it's a lean experience should we say there's there's no gristle or cartilage it's a very pure very original very exciting mario experience and it's all in one world like it's all there you can just run around wherever you want it's refreshing if this is a glimpse into the future of mario it's a glimpse worth having this one's a bit bittersweet yes super mario bros 35 oh my word they you think you'd think after all these years there wouldn't be any more original ways to play super mario bros the original nez one well think again you play the original game with 34 other people and every enemy you defeat gets sent to another person's game meaning that you end up with screens like this i love this game i think it is one of the most original and just downright interesting ways to play the original game and it gives it so much more substance you know most of us have played super mario bros to death by now but this this gives it a whole new lease of life which is really ironic considering they're killing it yeah if you're watching this video after the 31st of march 2021 this game in theory according to the information we have at the moment and what nintendo has said it will no longer exist and you know what that is that's a pile of poo it's because it's part of the whole mario 35th anniversary celebration and they wanted to make it a limited time thing and god knows why but if you're watching this before it's been pulled then please give it a go quickly whilst you still can because it's so much fun oh bit of a cheeky entry yes this is technically three games in one but realistically it's it's just the first one on here that really makes this worth being on the list bioshock the collection is bioshock bioshock 2 and bioshock infinite 3 fantastic games or at least 2 exceptionally excellent games and bioshock 2 which is just very good the original bioshock is undoubtedly one of my favorite games of all time and for the longest time i've always wanted to be able to play it on the switch because i've got it on the 360 but i have to get it out and stuff like that and uh the 360 is a bit slow and awkward by modern standards it's not like just turning the switch on so i can just turn the switch on now and there's bioshock oh easily one of the best stories in video game history i remember playing it for the first time and being absolutely blown away bioshock 2 is is pretty good as well it's the combat's a bit better but bioshock infinite it completely turns things on its head and it takes place in the sky can you imagine it's a very different game but still a very very good one so even if you just want to get any one of these games i'd say get the first bioshock but if you can get the collection you'd get the collection now wouldn't you can you think of a game that's cathartic irreverent and just silly it's no more heroes too the original no more heroes was very much a commentary on video games as a whole and how you know the direction that they were going and as a result it was very good at that job however it also just playing it sometimes was a tiny bit of a chore when you had to do the literal chores no more heroes 2 on the other hand it still has an element of that absolutely but it trims away so much of the fat you don't have to drive around or anything like that you just go and you you do the combat and it's fun and cathartic and kind of rude and really extremely violent especially if you play this version the pal version for some reason didn't have any blood which is a bit of a bit of a weird choice but this is great it's stupidly stylish stupidly good fun and just overall an amazing time before anyone says it i know this isn't the best rollercoaster tycoon game under the original two are better but this was on the switch roller coaster tycoon 3 complete edition i am just i'm a complete rollercoaster tycoon fanboy i love the series to death and i hate what they've done with it recently but this this is roller coaster tycoon 3. this is a really really good game as i previously said maybe not quite as good as the one and two but i never really got a chance to play roller coaster tycoon 3 growing up because my pc was too crap as a result this is an absolute joy for me i've never played most of these things and the fact that the the peeps now have physics and everything so you can plow roller coasters into them and what's more they actually managed to make the controls really good take a little bit of time to get used to absolutely but when you've got it down it's it's actually functional they got like a game like this to run well on a console with a controller it's bonkers one of the best sim games on switch by far very much tied for me very neatly with two point hospital but that came out in february last year so i couldn't include it hyrule warriors age of calamity the hackens slash-a-thon with link and all his friends certain spoilery aspects aside this is it's a warriors game what do you expect but it's one of the best warriors game because it's got a breath of wild skin over it it's really impressive how they managed to take so many different elements of breath of the wild and implement them in a warrior's game in a way that doesn't feel forced or shoehorned at all these games can be quite divisive amongst people because depending on who you talk to the combat is either a little bit too simplistic or a little bit too complicated but it's really good fun extremely cathartic and just the idea that you can take out so many blooming enemies in just such a short space of time oh how can you how can you go wrong a short hike one of the shortest games on this list by far and oh my word one of the sweetest and most enjoyable this game is just so indescribably well refined you basically just run around as a bird and you've got to do some stuff and it's it on the surface to describe it sounds really really boring but the fact that you've got all this freedom and you just you just go and you do things in very much a breath of the wild fashion maybe with just you know no direct objective beyond one it's just absolutely wonderful there's so many secrets hidden around the island is just an absolute joy to explore the writing and dialogue is fantastic it's an absolute steal as well it's so cheap if you've got some gold points burning in your pocket this is one of the games that i would recommend the most highly because realistically whilst yeah as i said before it is a short experience it is so sweet so wonderful and just it's so it's so cheap you know he just sort of it's the sort of game i feel like everyone should play why just have one game when you can have 51 games in one yes 51 worldwide games or 51 world clubhouse games 51 worldwide classics or whatever it's called in america on the face of it this seems fairly run-of-the-mill and absolutely yes i would say that you know at first glance it is that but when you actually get into the games they are so so beautifully realized and so gorgeous to look at there are basically no loading screens there's online play which is overall pretty good but not entirely perfect it's kind of like the wii sports or the switch it really takes advantage of certain elements of the switch that other games don't like the joy con and even allowing things like bowling which is really good fun and whilst none of the games are like extra mega in depth or anything like that they are all seriously good fun and as i said before beautifully realized the art direction just the graphical fidelity oh just you know what it is is basically what all shovelware should be side-scrolling beat-em-ups are very much a product of their time but they've been having a little bit of a renaissance recently and that is no more evident than in streets of rage 4 which wow there's a 26 year gap between this and streets of rage 3 and it is just the best that the series has ever been the graphics are ultra crisp the controls are stupidly responsive and the movesets whilst they are familiar are beautifully refined the hand-drawn graphics are just drop dead gorgeous the animations are faithful but yet they're modern at the same time they've really managed to walk that line between making a streets of rage game and yet also making it modern and accessible they've done superbly do i even need to talk about this one animal crossing new horizons oh my great goggly goodness wowzers trousers and everything else without a doubt this is easily the best animal crossing game that has ever been released and flat out one of the best switch games that has ever been released you do very much what you do in all other animal crossing games except you can do so much more here as well i mean you can put things outside outside and it's not just that the outside is yours to construct as well you can move buildings you can actually change the landscape you can make multi-levels you can make rivers you can make lakes you can oh my word i can't really explain everything that makes this game amazing i mean realistically i imagine most people will already know but even so i really heartily recommend you check out the review where you just look more into the game whatever if you want to learn more about it if you don't for whatever reason somehow you haven't learned this is just a spectacular game and look at it is it not just the prettiest little sausage you've ever seen okay whilst i don't take back what i said about animal crossing being the prettiest little sausage i've ever seen this is also a contender going in totally the opposite direction visually hades is a visceral like cells it's not is his cell shaded it's kind of comic book block color style and it is gorgeous but more than that it's bloody amazing the headlining feature is definitely the combat it's gritty it's flexible vibrant it's exciting it's varied and yet that's not all there is there's also the wonderful soundtrack there's also the actually quite good narrative overall you know which is um always pleasant in a video game it's a roguelite so you will be dying often but every time you come back you're going to be a little bit stronger and it's just that you just want to get right back into that combat and right back into things progress the story it's it may well sound like many other roguelites and roguelikes out there but at the same time this is done to such a ludicrously brilliant degree that you don't necessarily maybe need many others if you're watching this and you're even remotely interested with what you see my god i cannot recommend this enough what about the 16th game on our list well i'm really feeling it xenoblade chronicles definitive edition if you've played any of the other xenoblade games this is well maybe not where it all started per se but it's very much where xenoblade chronicles started and in my view whilst the other games are very very good this is still the best one i had the original on wii and i've got this version as well and it's actually impressive how much they've improved the graphics because the wii version looks like rubbish in comparison now good for a wii game don't get me wrong but wowzers trousers those rose tinted spectacles definitely need some polishing it sounds very unimportant but one of the things that i've always loved so much about xenoblade is the fact that the cast is from the united kingdom and that sounds like a very minor thing but for such a big major game to have a fully well nearly fully uk based voice cast that's incredible and that's something it just sings to me as a result i genuinely identify with the characters in a way that i maybe wouldn't do entirely if they were us-based as so many other so so many other rpgs are combine that with interesting fluid combat a load and i mean a load of quality of life improvements over the original uh the previously stated much better graphics which you're probably not going to be able to fully appreciate because youtube hates the grass in this game for some reason and what you're left with is one of the most original interesting and just downright original rpgs available on the switch right now lordy it's got a new chapter as well which um isn't as good but it's there and it's more content so yeah the main game is flat out amazing though a microsoft game on my nintendo switch it's more likely than you really yes orion the will of the wisps in lieu of nintendo ever releasing a new 2d metroid game we have others creating beautiful wonderful games in the metroidvania genre and this is one of the best by far it's a sequel unsurprisingly to ori and the blind forest and it is glorious it definitely changes things up to a degree over the original and introduces certain um hollow knight aspects should we say but i mean come on that's no bad thing holland is one of the best games ever but the most important thing the movement it's still here in full force and it's arguably better than the original and it's so so good it's also unsurprisingly an absolute visual delight and more than that even it's actually a very touching game a very touching story it's very subtle in its narrative and how it presents it maybe not quite as subtle as the original but it doesn't like shove it in your face it is just so lovely and so wholesome and delicate and just it's just wonderful it's like a cozy blanket that can sometimes make you feel sad at first glance cybershadow may look a little bit like a lot of other games out there but not many can boast quite the level of just sheer brilliance and sheer commitment and sheer understanding of this particular genre the level design the presentation the tight controls the high difficulty you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was an actual nez game that had somehow been dug up and re-released on switch if maybe not for the constantly sort of flickering and disappearing sprites but regardless this is a game that is going to suck you in and kick you right up the bum it is bloody hard this game but as a result it's all the more satisfying when you actually manage to make progress and it's not it's not unreasonably hard i want to make that clear it is fair in its difficulty but it does not pull any punches at the same time definitely inspired by things like ninja gaiden i'm sure if you're looking at this game you're probably either thinking ah that's not really my thing oh yes that looks like my thing in which case you've kind of already answered your question as to whether you should give it a look in i'd say give it a look in a slightly contentious one because nintendo's pulling this one from the eshop as well yes super mario 3d all-stars we don't like the fact that nintendo are pulling it don't get us wrong but at the same time oh my word it's three 3d mario games in one package super mario 64 super mario sunshine and super mario galaxy and every single one of these games is absolutely amazing there have been a few tweaks here and there to improve things mario 64 has maybe got the fewest of these but at the same time it's mario 64. it's still going to be good fun no matter how you play it galaxy has been relatively accessible for some time now but is still wonderful and really manages to completely nail what made galaxy galaxy and put it on the switch make it feel like it lives there as well but super mario sunshine that's that's kind of the headliner for a lot of people myself included it is definitely the jankiest of all three of the games but there's something weirdly appealing about that you know there's lots of little exploits and glitches that you can take advantage of and now you can do it from the convenience of your switch just make sure you get hold of it before inevitably the price absolutely skyrockets because nintendo's going to stop production of physical cartridges and remove it from the eshop come the 31st of march so whoa who's ready to feel sad spirit fairer is a gorgeous wonderful engaging i mean just look at the hand-drawn graphics is there anything even remotely as pretty yes other games on this list but that does not stop this from looking gorgeous shut up the actual gameplay is arguably a little bit simplistic for maybe some people's tastes but that's not it you know the platforming may well be straightforward but at the same time that's kind of not the focus of the game the game is about the relationships that you experience and my heart i don't want to say too much because it's one of those games that you really need to experience firsthand to properly properly appreciate it but this is an extremely moving game and it really really does not let up with the sad i cannot express that enough one of the most original games on this list by far one of the most intoxicating and one of the most heartfelt as well it really makes you care about the characters in the game somehow despite them being so blooming tiny on the screen you really care about them and that's a difficult thing to do pikmin 3 deluxe it's finally here few people played this on the wii u because few people owned a wii u i've always absolutely adored the pikmin series and i think from an objective point of view pikmin 3 is probably the best i mean obviously there's going to be personal biases and things like that but realistically this is the best looking the most functional when it comes to gameplay controls and things like that it's multiplayer blooming multiplayer now as far as i'm aware no other game has even tried to be a little bit like pikmin i mean there may well be examples out there but realistically this this is an entirely original concept and no one else has managed to do it and it's available on the switch and you get to play yourself and there's more storyline stuff where you can play as olimar and louis and then more bonus challenges this is undoubtedly one of my favorite wii u games and as a result it's one of my favorite switch games i love the charm i love the pikmin themselves i love playing as olimar and super smash bros ultimate even though i still can't blame very well pikmin in my view is one of those undersung heroes at least maybe in the broader spectrum of nintendo i'd certainly say the hardcore fans were a little bit more aware and a little bit more sort of praiseworthy of it but i really cannot recommend this game enough if you look at this and you think oh that looks interesting that looks exciting please give it a go there was a demo is there still a demo add text on screen confirm or deny it's gorgeous it's lovely it's challenging it's accessible it's it's a nintendo game and in my view on the switch at least it's one of the best and there you have it those are in our humble opinions the 21 finest games to come out in the switch's fourth year did your favorite game miss the list then let us know what it is in the comments down below thank you so much for watching if you like this video then why don't you throw a pikmin at that subscribe button and be sure to check out intendedlife.com for all sorts of lovely nintendo related content thank you again for watching bye [Music] oh i can't believe i never thought of that as a subscribe button thing yet ponchy's excited you smushy bugger off your pop

Channel: Nintendo Life

Views: 972,946

Rating: 4.6728444 out of 5

Keywords: Nintendo Life, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Switch, NX, New 3DS, Nintendo UK, Alex, best switch games, switch games, switch 2021, switch 2020, best switch 2020, new switch, biggest games, reviews, free switch games

Id: Dvkcwzd5JwA

Length: 26min 33sec (1593 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 04 2021