With 2020 drawing to a close (finally!) And fresh 2021 staring us from the horizon, it’s time to take a look back at the best Switch games released in the last 360 days.
In what turned out to be an extremely tough year for many people, there were positives to be found – at least in terms of video games! A release schedule that was essentially Animal Crossing at the start of the year and a ton of empty spaces belies a large number of top quality games released within a few weeks of their surprise announcement.
But what were the absolute best games of 2020? Well, we asked you that same question and tomorrow we’ll be publishing the top 50 picks according to Nintendo Life readers. But today we share from Team Nintendo Life our selection of the best Switch games of 2020. It wasn’t easy – the shortlist we drew up was certainly not very short! – but after each nomination from our personal top 10 points awarded, we’ve rounded up the following ten Switch games that cumulatively represent our absolute favorites of 2020.
As for the reader-voted Switch GOTY 2020 list, there is still time to squeeze in ratings before publishing tomorrow, but remember that as with our other reader-ranked lists, you can rate your favorites and get that ranking. to influence after it also goes live – arguably the perfect activity to sit on a Christmas afternoon couch, full of turkey and regret.
But the below? This one is set in stone forever. Let’s take a look at the top 10 Switch games by NL employees of 2020 …
Publisher: SEGA / Developer: Two Point Studios
Just sneaking into the top ten thanks to very enthusiastic votes from two team members, Two Point Hospital is one of the Switch games we had the most fun with this year. It’s a great port that doesn’t lose anything in the transition to Nintendo’s console and captures Bullfrog’s wacky spirit Theme Hospital. Other games had us thinking about the existential abyss in Werner Herzog style, or crying while taking a deeply emotional journey – Two Point Hospital gave us a very welcome shot of pure fun and comedy.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Koei Tecmo
In a year when we’re both eager to escape to a kingdom full of natural wonders and beauty and also channel our impotent anger into beating hordes of ne’er-do-wells with the Master Sword, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity managed to kill two birds with one stone. It may stumble performance-wise, but that’s got our pleasure from this prequel / side story Zelda title and its mix of Dynasty Warriors hack-and-slash action with the characters and kingdom of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. A satisfying and irresistible appetizer as we wait for the full Breath of the Wild sequel that we hope to hear more about in the coming year.
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Publisher: Whippoorwill / Developer: Adam Robinson-Yu
A short walk offered a wonderful short reprieve from everything else in our considerable backlogs. Combines the charm of one Animal Crossing with the exploratory spirit of a bite-sized one Breath of the wilderness (not to mention a blob of 32-bit nostalgia with its visual style), there was still a lot to do after you climbed the mountain, but developer Adam Robinson-Yu produced a feel-good mini masterpiece that just came up. the right time. One of the best indie games of the year, or any year for that matter, and absolutely deserves the 10/10 we awarded.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo
“Her Tetris 99, but with Mario. “
We imagine the field Super Mario Bros. 35 was a short one, but the fact that everything hangs together so well belies the complexity of the design and thought that has gone into this online multiplayer take on the grandfather of platform games. For Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, Super Mario Bros. 35 a timely and fitting tribute to the plumber’s legacy. The worst we can say is that we’re disappointed that Nintendo plans to shut down servers on March 31, 2021 (presumably to make way for ‘The Legend of Zelda 35’ or something similar). But then again, maybe its fleeting nature makes us enjoy it all the more …
Just kidding. Leave it, Nintendo. You know it makes sense.
Publisher: iam8bit / Developer: Moon Studios
Our hearts may be Nintendo, but we are avid video game fans regardless of their home platforms and while we loved it Ori and the likes of the wisps on XBox One, the chance that it would follow its Switch predecessor seemed extremely unlikely to us. 2D Metroidvanias may be worth ten cents on Switch, but this one does things at a technical level that puts it seemingly out of the reach of Switch’s relatively modest specs.
And yet it came. Moon Studios went above and beyond to run this at 60fps on Nintendo’s console, and the fact that it doesn’t feel like a truncated or compromised version in the slightest is testament to the developer’s skill and desire to create a reach the widest possible audience. with this wonderful game. Play it.