Hello ladies, gentlemen and those of non-binary nature, my name is Daibhi and this is the Gamerhub. The Nintendo Switch has been a groundbreaking console, despite severe limitations. It doesn’t have the best graphics capability, and the online store is badly organised at best, but it saved our sanity during the pandemic. Giving us the best of portable gaming combined with Wii-style home gaming, this games console is a console we at the hub think everyone should have, even if just for the Switch sports game. The console is readily available from pretty much everywhere these days, and it’s a console near and dear to my heart. Seriously, get one. But if you get one, what games should you get? Never fear gamers, the Gamerhub has got you covered. Here are the 10 I think you should get…
Number 5- Mario Tennis Aces
Tennis? Tennis?! What’s so good about the sport? Well, being in Scotland myself, Tennis is a big thing. We’ve just seen the arguable GOAT of the sport, Andy Murray retire, and he’s from Scotland. Besides it being a big sport, Mario Tennis Aces on the Nintendo Switch is a bit of a sleeper hit. When the game launched, it didn’t have that many people playing it. During the lockdowns however, this game got inexplicably popular with people playing it online. This led yours truly to give it a go, and I was NOT disappointed, it’s fair to say. This game mixes the best of competitive sports games with all the fun and malarkey you’d come to expect from a Mario game. Want to demolish your friends with devastating tennis serves playing as Bowser? You can. You can even serve shots so fast you break your opponent’s racket!
Mario Tennis Aces on the Nintendo Switch was released in 2018. It has had various characters added to it over the years, adding a big “family party” feel to it, being able to be played by up to four people at once. It’s got various game modes included inside, with my personal favourite being the Zone mode. The Zone mode allows you to value precision over power, which comes in handy when playing online. This is available in the practice sessions, and really helped me up my game. There’s a “simple rules” mode which is basically a normal game of tennis, which helps for noobs wanting to pick up and play. There’s also a story mode, which is okay, but not personally that great for me. Get this to play against your friends for bragging rights: You won’t regret it.
Number 4- Pokémon Legends Arceus
Pokémon. It’s a great franchise and arrived late on the Nintendo Switch. Now, there are a boatload of games on the Switch from Pokémon, but this is my hands-down favourite. The game is more like Monster Hunter than a traditional Pokémon game. In this game, your protagonist is sent back a thousand years to the Hisui region, to complete the first Pokedex. The Hisui region eventually becomes the Sinnoh region we first saw in the Pokémon Pearl and Diamond games. Before that happened though, your character has to catch and evolve the entire pokedex in the region. It’s not an easy task, with many twists and turns on the way. The tone of Pokémon Legends Arceus is a lot darker than other games in the franchise, and a lot of people didn’t like it for that reason. I loved it.
The true attraction of this game, however, is the world in which this game is set. The Nintendo Switch comes into its own here, as each part of the island is completely open world. This might seem contradictory to the format of Pokémon games, but then this game isn’t most Pokémon games. You can, theoretically, take on the boss of each area straightaway, but good strategy tells you not to. Then there are the side-stories. Each area is filled with them and they help you fill up the pokedex and give you more help as you work your way up to completing it. 242 Pokémon must be caught or evolved, so you really do have a challenge on your hands. Take my advice when playing this game: Take your time, complete the game thoroughly and enjoy. This is the Pokémon game I still play to this day.
Number 3- Luigi’s Mansion 3
Luigi’s Mansion 3 for the Nintendo Switch is the culmination of the previous games. A younger me owned the first one, and I reviewed the second instalment early in my career. This game takes the best of both previous games and ramps it up to 11. Instead of inheriting a hotel or winning it in a competition, Luigi starts by arriving in a veritable tower. The tower, just like in the last two games, is absolutely filled to the brim with ghosts. I really do mean filled as well. This game uses a non-linear progression system to confuse you as you do your best to free the tower of ghosts. Armed with the Poltergust and the Gameboy Horror, and with the help of Professor E Gadd, your mission seems easy. Trust me on this: it isn’t.
Nightmare Fuel!
The great thing about Luigi’s Mansion 3 on the Nintendo Switch is this: The game isn’t a walk in the park. This game will have you trying anything and everything to catch the ghosts, and it’s a challenge and a half! The one fun addition to this game that hadn’t been done before is Gooigi, which helps if you’re after some co-op play or you’re trying to solve a particular problem. This game also has an amazing multiplayer mode that allows you to play with three other players both either locally or online. The “Scarescraper” moder randomly generates either 5 or 10 floors that you and your compadres have to clear. The boss battles at the end are amazing and it is really good fun! Get this game, but try not to get caught up: This game is terrifyingly addictive.
Number 2- MarioKart 8
What would a Nintendo console be without a MarioKart game? Nowhere, that’s where. The Nintendo Switch’s version of this party favourite gets the “Smash Bros Ultimate” treatment, as there are more characters and tracks than ever before. There is sadly no “double dash” mode like the one featured on the GameCube iteration (which I have reviewed). Don’t let that get you down though, this game takes the format further and crazier than ever. Gliding through the air and releasing the blue shell of doom has never been more fun, and the DLC that comes with it is insane. For the first time, you can speed past your pals in Mariokart’s version of our world. I fully loved taking my opponents out whilst admiring Rome’s Colosseum fully realised in the background.
The greatest thing about this game, is the karts themselves. Each character has access to more karting options and karts as you gain more coins. The community of gamers playing this game has a whole reddit section devoted to arguing over the best combinations. Speaking of other gamers, you can play this game online with some amazingly funny results. Yours truly here plays this game regularly online, and the Nintendo Switch handles this perfectly. It takes less than 4 minutes from picking your kart/character combo to playing if you have a good internet connection. There’s one addition on the Nintendo Switch version of this game that I love- the Smart Steering addition. There’s always the one person at the party who can’t steer properly and gets stuck on the track. This addition prevents that from happening and allows for much smoother gameplay.
Number 1- The Legend Of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom
How do you follow up one of the best-selling video games of all time? Nintendo answered that with a follow up that’s arguably better than the first game on the Nintendo Switch. If you’ve played one Zelda, you’ve probably guessed the plot. You (Link) have to rescue Princess Zelda, defeat Ganondorf and save Hyrule. However, over the course of the decades, these games have got more and more complex and beautiful. Zelda: Breath Of The Wild blew us all away, but this game goes hard. There’s no other way of putting it, this game is phenomenal.
Hyrule has got more areas this time, and I often wonder how the Nintendo Switch can handle it. Hyrule has got a giant underground area, which most of the game takes place in. It has gorgeous graphics, amazing new gameplay mechanics and I defy you not to cry at that point in the game’s plot. So far for me, this game is my game of the year. Whether that stays remains to be seen.
Conclusion
So there we are, there are the 5 games I recommend that you play on the Nintendo Switch! I hope you all enjoyed it, and feel free to let us know on Twitter if you don’t like my choices.
Whilst you’re here, here are three things you might want to read:
–Gavin explains why Australia wants to host eSports competitions.
–Galadrius The Mighty reviews Retro Revengers
For The Gamerhub, I’ve been Daibhi, and you are all legends.
Don’t you dare red shell me!
