There are games that are tailor-made for Nintendo’s hybrid console. We’ll tell you some of our personal favourites!
We sat down together again in the editorial team and thought about a certain question. Having already crowned the best open-world games of all time and the best story players of all time today are the very best – oh, small moment. We’re just getting something on the ear from the director. Uh-huh, so-so, all right.
This time it’s all about just
excellent games. And here’s the twist, hold on to your seats: these are games that you can easily play on Steam, but are even more fun on the Nintendo Switch than they are on the PC for a variety of reasons.
And what about the Steam Deck? we hear you shouting out loud now. Don’t worry, we’ve got that covered. But we’re going to go out on a limb and boldly claim that far more PC users own a Nintendo Switch than a Steam Deck. That’s why we can help a lot of people with this list – and for that, only for that, we rise from the crypt again every morning.
Happy reading and happy gaming!
Table of Contents
Hollow Knight
- Genre: Metroidvania
- Switch Release: Jun 12, 2018
Hollow Knight plays fantastic on every platform. I’ve already ventured into the depths of Saviour’s Nest on PC, Xbox, Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch (yes, I have a problem, so what?!). And nowhere does my very favourite Metroidvania play as well as on the Nintendo handheld.
I stress handheld. My praise is specifically for the portable enjoyment of Hollow Knight. The Nintendo Switch is lighter and easier to hold in your hand on the go than the somewhat heavy Steam Deck. I also own the Switch OLED. And my goodness, the spectacle looks fan-tas-tic on this display! Collecting a round of Geo on the couch? Priceless!
I don’t need to tell you much more about the game anyway. Or do I? Then send our podcast host Micha lots of requests from now on when Sören will finally be invited to talk about Hollow Knight and Metroidvanias for an hour and a half. Please!!!
Undertale
- Genre: Role Playing Game
- Switch Release: Sep 18, 2018
Every time I want to write something about Undertale I first sit in front of the PC for what feels like an eternity and don’t know where to start. In the entire history of gaming, there are few games that can match it in terms of creativity, surprise, humour, gameplay and story depth.
The premise is very simple: you play a small child who has fallen into the monster-inhabited underworld. Now you have to find a way back to the surface. How you go about this has a significant influence not only on the story of the game, but also on the entire gameplay. The random battles are fought in a mixture of turn-based RPG and bullet-hell shooter gameplay.
Will you murder every monster you encounter in cold blood? Or will you become friends and find out what’s really going on in the underworld? Undertale openly plays with common genre clichés, repeatedly breaks the fourth wall in an ingenious way and shows no mercy when it comes to the feelings of its players.
I own Undertale on three or four different platforms (and will buy it on three more if I have to). I prefer playing it on the Switch in handheld mode, though. On the one hand, the controller control is better implemented than on the Steam Deck, for example. On the other hand, it reminds me of the good old role-playing games from the Gameboy and Nintendo DS days. There’s just no competing with the PC and a big TV.
Slay the Spire
- Genre: Strategy Deckbuilder
- Switch Release: June 6, 2019
No one of my colleagues has noticed it yet, but whenever a list article like this one comes up (like the one with the best Roguelites), I write something about Slay the Spire, hihi. I still think it’s great and I still play it regularly – on my Switch! That’s why I don’t have a bad conscience at all about sneaking this role-playing game-deckbuilder mixture in here again.
The premise of this card-based dungeon crawler is simple: we fight our way through a tower of monsters with one of seven (including Downfall expansion) characters. The choice of hero is important, because the warriors sometimes differ significantly in their starting conditions and also in the way they fight.
The weapons are various cards that determine attack and defence options. There are weak attacks, but they might attack the armour of the opponent. Or very strong spells that cost several of the always scarce action points – of course, the cards are drawn turn by turn. Around 160 relics (bought from traders or captured from monsters) bring additional tactics into the game, because they provide additional action points or strengthen the armour.
Why does Slay the Spire work so well on the Switch? For one thing, because the action with the large, colourful figures and the strikingly designed maps always remains “readable” even on the small screen. And because it’s also an ideal in-between game that you can enjoy on the couch parallel to a series.
Ni No Kuni
- Genre: RPG
- Switch Release: Sep 20, 2019
Ni No Kuni: The Curse of the White Queen looks like a mix of Final Fantasy, Pokemon and a fairytale Studio Ghibli film – and it plays the same way. The RPG completely enchanted me back then on the PlayStation: together with my game character, the orphaned boy Oliver, I travel a magical world full of creatures and wondrous discoveries, always on the lookout for a way to bring back his dead mother.
In the process, I help the kingdom’s quirky inhabitants heal their broken hearts, tame fierce monsters and gather a loyal band of allies around me. All of this easily takes 100 hours or more as you leisurely stroll around, exploring every new town down to the last cul-de-sac like I did.
And I don’t know about you, but I’m having a hard time sitting in front of the PC for so long now. That’s why Ni No Kuni is a perfect game for the Switch for me: the graphics are really pretty, but look just as good on the small screen as on a big monitor. And if your back hurts, you can just plop down on the sofa – or you can shorten a miserably long train journey with the role-playing game, because the air conditioning has broken down again. The sweet story makes my annoyance about this fizzle out immediately!
Hades
- Genre: Roguelike
- Switch Release: Sep 17, 2020
Diablo 4 is supposed to be the most hellish adventure of the decade? Bullshit, it’s still Hades for me! And as a roguelike, the (still) latest title from Supergiant Games perfectly serves the advantages of the Switch: the console is briefly taken out of the docking station, fired up during the lunch break and a quick round is played.
Hades offers me all the facets that I love in games: an insanely interlocked and almost organically growing story around Greek Olympus; countless combination options with weapons, their aspects and the gifts of the various gods; an optional increased difficulty level with different modifiers; and a speedrun mode to break out of hell as quickly as possible.
Speaking of weapons: The game lets you shoot through the enemy masses with a bazooka in best shooter style if you wish. You know, the historically accurate ancient rocket launcher? If that’s not a reason to lie on the couch and play Hades, then I don’t know what is.
Star Wars Episode 1 Racer
- Genre: Racing Game
- Switch Release: June 23, 2020
As the proud owner of a Nintendo Switch, I had to admit to myself at some point: It can’t be that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the only fun racer I play up and down on it. Fortunately, one of the best games of my childhood came to the Switch three years ago (how time flies): Star Wars Episode 1 Racer. And what can I say: just like back then, I couldn’t get away from the daredevil pod races set to John Williams’ epic War of the Stars soundtrack.
Why Episode 1 is especially fun on the Switch? The sometimes longer, sometimes shorter pod races are perfect for when I’m on the go, like when I’m squatting on an underground and don’t want to type pointlessly on a phone again. Besides, older games on modern computers tend to have their own problems. On the Nintendo Switch, I don’t have to deal with this and, if the worst comes to the worst, I don’t have to rely on the game sound – even if the impressive background music (as already mentioned) is missing, of course.
Star Wars Episode 1 Racer was a board over 20 years ago and still is today. With a bit of luck, you can get the game in one of the countless Nintendo Store sales for less than a beer in a Munich pub. And believe me: You’ll have fun with it for a lot longer!
Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection
- Genre: Adventure / Visual Novel
- Switch Release: July 27, 2021
Ace Attorney remains one of my absolute favourite games of all time. So please don’t take offence if I recommend it to you for the umpteenth time. But the fantastic story of Phoenix and his ancestor Ryunosuke can be experienced much better on the Switch than on the PC.
The very simple controls and lots of text mean you can play the adventures of the greatest lawyers of their time in the comfort of your bed, on the train, at the beach or outside in a hammock. Just like a really good book – only a little better and more immersive thanks to the gameplay.
Although Ace Attorney doesn’t have any co-op per se, the story and the guessing game about the lie of the person being interrogated can also be solved perfectly together with friends or family. Depending on the size of the group, this can also be done via the Switch docking station on the TV – and thanks to the Turnabout Collection, which includes a total of five games – for easily over 100 hours.
That was a paltry seven games! We’d bet our Switch OLED that there are far more titles that can be enjoyed better on Nintendo’s mobile daddlebox than on PC via Steam. And you know them, don’t you? Admit it! So share your knowledge with us and tell us your favourites in the comments!
