“Happy Birthday, Nintendo Switch! Red’s Top 5 Faves From The Past 5 Years”

It’s hard to believe that 5 years ago, my wife and I scoured local shops for a Nintendo Switch with a 1-year-old baby in tow. The Switch wasn’t always the easiest to find and it’s certainly not the strongest console on the market (it’s a tablet, folks… remind yourselves when people compare its screenshots to those of a PS5 that the Switch is a glorified Barnes & Noble Nook), but that hasn’t stopped the little hybrid that could!

Here we are 5 years later and the Switch has been a roaring success for Nintendo. I was skeptical that Switch could beat out Wii sales, but here we are. Sales don’t mean much more than flexes for fanboys, so on the consumer side, it’s been a delight to see the return and even rebirth of long-running IPs. I’ve said before that Nintendo’s problem (one of them) is they simply have too many kids, too many mouths to feed. They have so many IPs getting attention, but many more sitting in a corner forgotten. Maybe it’s time to get those to other studios to handle.

Meanwhiles, it’s time to reflect back upon the back half-decade with this handheld console hybrid. These are my top 5 favorite games from the past 5 years, years I spent predominantly playing games on Switch. What are yours? Don’t forget to sound off in the comments and let me know if we share any similarities.

I decided to focus on Nintendo franchises for my list!

Super Mario Odyssey

Games don’t often give me goosebumps, or as a friend of mine likes to say: “Video games have made me feel nothing but hungry.” Odyssey landed the magic and wonder of the series, the joy of its titular character, and the energy of his gameplay. It felt like a capstone and homage to all of the Mario games I’ve enjoyed since, combining 2D and 3D platforming elements. However, it was a celebratory scene of fireworks and that catchy “Jump Up, Super Star!” song that got me to break a smile. In many ways, a flagship title for the console. It’s immediately timeless and doesn’t care if you’re 3 or 33 or 66.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Literally the ultimate version of Smash and everyone is here. I can’t tell you the excitement I felt knowing that my boy Mega Man would be present after I skipped out on the Wii U generation and missed his debut. More characters than you could possibly imagine and one of the greatest crossover events in gaming history, Nintendo and Sakurai and team should be very proud of their party-fighting game accomplishment: a monument to the competitive spirit of gaming and a celebration of many of its beloved characters, icons, and franchises.

Metroid Dread

Fans waited for years for a new Metroid game and for this fan, the wait was well worth it. Metroid Dread is a game I played over and over and over, and I typically never do that. I explored all of its depths and difficulties, and even spent time discussing its difficulty in-depth, but I’ve yet to try the new content for it, like the boss rush mode or permadeath run. There’s only so much dread one can take. I eagerly await the next game, Metroid Anxiety.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

My pandemic game. When the lockdowns hit and my wife and I were unemployed, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was there. I spent a ridiculous amount of time in this game over the years, many times wrestling with its stubborn inventory management systems, its crude god sim methodologies, its cumbersome multiplayer mode, and its general sluggishness, but there’s little doubt in my mind that this was an important game for me and personally a favorite. 600 hours spent on my own private island is proof. I still take a trip to get away now and then.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Making many top 5 lists, I’d imagine, Breath of the Wild is as definitive as any launch title and an astronomical success for the Switch getting off the ground. By and far one of the most popular games on the system, it’s the kind of game I love to lose myself in. It hearkens back to a time when I was a boy when it was enough to simply be in a game world, to experience it in the moment, rather than beating it as quickly as possible so I can cross it off my busy to-do list and get to the next one. Inviting, Breath of the Wild makes exploration and rewards for curiosity front and center, not chasing down cutscenes or icons on a mini-map. It is the original Legend of Zelda, at heart.

Honorable mentions

Honorable mention to Stardew Valley which got yet another 500-hour playthrough from me thanks to handheld mode. Octopath Traveler, Monster Hunter Rise, and Pokemon Legends Arceus also get mentions here and might’ve made the list, too, had you caught me in another mood.

How’d we do? Any similarities? What are your top 5 favorite Nintendo Switch games?

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.