Steve Watts
Splatoon 3 isn't quite as novel the third time around, but a great campaign, tons of multiplayer options, and a few new surprises make it much more of a good thing.
River City Saga: Three Kingdoms blends modern sensibilities into a decidedly old-school brawler style.
PowerWash Simulator is a novel and soothing chore-core game that only occasionally breaks up its own relaxing flow.
Mario Strikers: Battle League has all the makings of a great sports game, but there's not much there right now.
Triangle Strategy strips away some classic genre norms while adding extra nuances of its own and a stellar, if sometimes indulgent, story.
Grapple Dog is a light, breezy mascot platformer that hooks you with precise, simple controls.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is a significant reimagining of what makes a Pokemon game, with an exciting level of flexibility that's only slightly hampered by a slow early-game grind.
Nobody Saves The World is a fiendishly compelling action-RPG with creative ideas that all fit together for frictionless fun.
Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon combines familiar tile-matching puzzle mechanics with rogue-lite elements to make one of the best puzzlers in years.
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is a solid collection of mental exercises, but the focus on competition loses the game some of its friendly, self-improvement vibe.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are comfortably nostalgic, with just enough modern tweaks to smooth over the rough edges.
A charming little photo adventure all about leaving home and discovering beauty.
Wario goes back to his roots with a great character platforming-inspired take on the microgames concept.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart looks and plays better than ever thanks to new-generation hardware, but it's still the same lovable, goofy series at heart.
Bravely Default 2 brings the throwback RPG series to Nintendo Switch, but the loss of modern quality-of-life features make this a decidedly grindy experience.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury packages one of the best recent Mario games with a delightfully odd new experience.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is Nintendo at its toyetic peak, with a magical AR effect that nonetheless requires some elbow grease to find the fun.
Evergate is a sweet-natured fable that plumbs the depths of its inventive mechanics with precision and grace.
The classic Castlevania homage is back, and it brings Bloodstained's delightful sense of weirdness with it.
Ninjala is a unique melee-focused multiplayer live game with tons of style and depth, but for now it's light on content and heavy on microtransactions.