The Top 25 Switch Games of All Time w/ Logan Plant

[Music] Welcome to the All Things Nintendo podcast. I'm Brian Shay, and this is a weekly podcast to discuss all the biggest news and games from the world of Nintendo.

Over the next several weeks, we are going to be doing a lot of Switch 2 talk in the leadup to launch. And now that Switch 2 pre-orders are full steam ahead, I wanted to take this opportunity to commemorate our dear friend, the Nintendo Switch, and all that we've gotten over the last eight years. That's why this episode will actually have only a little bit of Switch 2 discussion, as we are going to spend this show shining a spotlight on the best games of the original Nintendo Switch. So, we will be collaboratively ranking the top 25 Nintendo Switch games of all time.

Joining me for that is someone who has kind of become like my go-to guest for these big ranking and draft episodes. He is the host of the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast and the database manager and playlist editor at IGN. It is our dear friend Logan Plant. Logan, how's it going?

Hi Brian, great to see you. We met in person recently, which was…

We did. Yeah, you were much taller than I anticipated.

Yeah. And hey, congrats formally on the return of Game Informer. That was just incredible to see, and I'm super happy for all of you.

Thank you so much. Yeah, it's it's been a long road to this point, but I'm so happy that we are back and very excited to have been the first person to go out on into like an event, which you know, we saw each other at for the Nintendo Switch 2. So that was very exciting, as a good way to come back I think into like an event space is going to a reveal of the next Nintendo console.

Wasn't that like a week after you guys came back?

It was something like that. We had we had given Nintendo a little bit of a heads up just because we knew that was happening. I think that… So, what was it?

April 2nd.

April 2nd. Yeah. So, we came back March 24th. So, that was a very fast turnaround.

Yeah. Very cool. Uh, but first things first, Logan, before we jump into the main part of this episode, which is going to be ranking the top 25 Switch games of all time, did you get your Switch 2 pre-order?

I did. I did get my Switch 2 pre-order. I'm a… I go to Best Buy for these things, and they were a little late to the party, but I kept F5ing, refreshing the Best Buy page. I knew they'd pop eventually. And yeah, I got it at like 9:32 Pacific, so right after they went up at Best Buy. And yeah, then I was up like 3 or 4 more hours, so I'm pretty tired today because like, getting a Pro Controller was such a pain yesterday, even though they were available. But yeah, I've locked in I think everything I want except for the Unobo amiibo, which just wasn't up anywhere, weirdly. That was the one of the seven amiibo that just didn't get listed anywhere. But no, otherwise it was chaotic and crazy and stressful. But no, I'm feeling better about it today. How about you?

So, um, yesterday, uh, we're recording this on Thursday, the day after the pre-orders went live. Yesterday, I was like, "Hey, I've got to get myself prepared for this." I went into my Best Buy, Target, and Walmart accounts. So, I recently moved, and I… I very rarely buy like physical stuff from those those stores. So, I was like, "All right, let's see like how outdated all my information is here." So, I made sure that like my address was updated, my payment information was updated. Like I think my Walmart payment information, like the credit card expired in like 2017, so like it… it's been a while since I pre-ordered Switch One.

Yeah, probably.

And so, like I did all of that. I had all the tabs open for the product pages. Uh, and then I was like, "Okay, I have a few hours here." Uh, I went and cooked dinner for my partner and I. We… she was like, "Hey, let's watch Conclave because that, you know, that's very relevant to the world events right now." And, uh, so we did that. We ate dinner. It was a little bit of a late dinner. We went for a walk. It was a lovely evening. And then like 10:30 rolls around. I'm in central time, so 11 p.m. was when the uh the pre-orders are about to go live. I very rarely will go to bed before midnight, let alone 11 p.m. And my girlfriend goes, "I think I'm just gonna go to bed. I'm really tired." And when she said that, I was at first like, "Oh, I'll just go downstairs and like play games or whatever until I'm too tired." And I was like, "You know what? That actually sounds really good. I'm going to go to sleep, too." And then I woke up… woke up at like 6:30 in the morning in a cold sweat going, "Oh, God." Like I felt like the woman… I felt like the mom in Home Alone when she realized that Kevin was left behind and just like the shot up that I did in bed and I was like… I blew it so hard. So I… and then of course I came down to work this morning and turned on my PC and all those tabs were sadly opened still on my PC and they all had sold out when I refreshed. So I… I as of now do not have a Nintendo Switch 2 uh pre-ordered. But I have had a few people reach out say, "Hey, I got extras. Like, I… I got some extras in case friends needed any. Like, let me know if you need like if you need a pre-order, I can probably like find a way to get it to you." And I'm like, "All right, I… I'll keep my eyes open." So, I'm still in… I'm holding out hope for that Nintendo lottery that they're doing.

Yes.

On May 8th.

Yeah. Yeah. So, if I don't have one by then, then I'm going to start going into kind of like panic mode of like, all right, I have not been able to secure one. I'm on the list to at least be considered to…

There will be more chances. They'll they'll pop in here and there.

Yeah, I didn't get my PS5 till like two weeks before launch and it still showed up on launch day. So, but yeah, long story short, I blew it big time.

That's a bummer. I had alarm set. I was ready to go. I was watching the clock all day. I had reminders on my phone, which is how I typically do like, oh well, I need to go like get ready for an interview or I need to go get ready for like a podcast or a meeting. I'll just do a reminder cuz I thought there was no world where I was going to be asleep by like 10:45. and I passed out so hard last night. I was… I was exhausted for some reason. So, yeah, I do not have a Switch 2 pre-order, but I… I… I have some contingency plans, so hopefully fingers crossed there. But I hope that the people listening to this show were able to get their Switch 2 pre-orders in because uh yeah, it seems like it was a war out there like trying to lock in any of these uh retailers… crashes, uh people having them in carts and then they go to check out and it's like, "Oh, it's sold out. Sorry." So, uh, yeah, wishing everybody who listens to the show the best of luck and congratulations to you as well, uh, Logan Plant, because we're all very jealous of you, those of us who had not secured one.

Yeah.

Yeah. No, we… we had in my old Toad Stool boardroom Discord community, which is still active even though the show is over, like people were… it was just like shared trauma yesterday of, "Oh my god, did you get one? It's my cart keeps crashing. Target crashed like 15 times in a row clicking checkout." Like, it was a mess. But I mean, I feel like a lot of headlines I've seen are like, "It was a disaster. It was embarrassing for Nintendo." I'm like, "Nah, this is just how this stuff goes." It's just… this is just like the reality of ordering highly sought-after new tech. It's like if the World Series tickets were on sale and the site crashed and you're like… a disaster. It's like… no, that's just a lot of people are going for it. So, doesn't Ticketmaster crash every time like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé put their tickets on sale?

Yeah, exactly.

So, yeah, it's… it's to be expected. It's not an embarrassment for Nintendo. Like I will call Nintendo out when they when they mess up. Like I think that like the $20 upgrade price for for Mario Party Jamboree and Kirby in the Forgotten Land or Kirby…

Yeah, Kirby in the Forgotten Land.

Um… if I think $20 is kind of ridiculous for those games, especially since the standalone is $80. Uh so I'll call them out on stuff like that. But this was the retailers that messed up. Uh now if the My Nintendo store has a similar thing and like they blow it with that, then we can call Nintendo out for it being embarrassing.

Did you see the thing today that they said uh it's not guaranteed for launch anymore through the May 8th thing? They said, "Oh, you might get your invite after launch." It's like, so yeah, that's a fallback.

Yeah, I saw yesterday Shintaro Furkawa put out the thing on on the company's Twitter account saying like, "Hey, like there's 2.2 million people registered in Japan alone, which, you know, they only sold like 2.7 million units uh in the first month of the Switch One worldwide. And now there's 2.2 million people interested in pre-ordering it in Japan alone. But yeah, it's… it's been like a very… it's been a roller coaster trying to track this uh Switch 2 launch… getting just to the starting line of this console has been kind of a nightmare trying to keep up with all the news and with the tariffs and all that stuff. Like it has been a a wild ride. I've never seen anything like this.

Yeah.

No, it's… it's super crazy. There's been a lot of good and a lot of bad and it's been… I think more than anything surprising. Just some… some of the roll out has just been messier than I thought it was going to be. I didn't expect that because they've been so on it the last eight years. We're about to talk about how great this generation was and it's been a little rockier. I mean, I'm still sure they'll get it all together, but yeah, just not really what I expected.

Yeah, I would agree with you there. Uh, you know who I had on the show last week? Seth Macy.

I did. I did have Seth Macy.

Yes. Yeah. Uh the former Nintendo Voice Chat host and uh when he stepped away, you slid into the hosting duties and you know it's been a few months now, correct?

Yeah. Yeah. Since February.

Yeah. Okay. So, how's that going? Because like this, you know, full-time hosting duties of, you know, a very popular Nintendo podcast. Uh you know, especially one under the IGN umbrella. That's… that's a pretty substantial step up in in your responsibilities. How's that going?

It's… it's so much fun. I mean, it's just like I got into this industry because I listened to Nintendo Voice Chat. Like, that's where I got my start was listening. And so, this has been like the goal for me for so long. So, I'm like just super grateful that… to finally reach this point. And yeah, it's so much fun and and for Seth to pass the torch right at the start of all the Switch 2 stuff. It just felt like really… really great timing. And yeah, I'm just so excited to be here for all the Switch 2 stuff. We met at the Switch 2 preview event. I was there with Brian Alano and that was a blast. So yeah, now we're just… we're just staring down the barrel of IGN Live, which is two days after the Switch 2 comes out.

Oh my goodness.

And SGF, I'm sure you'll be down there in LA for all that stuff, too. So yeah, it's… it's going to be a lot of fun. If… if you're in LA, come to IGN Live and I'll play you in Mario Kart World. I'll be carrying my Switch 2 around. I'll challenge anybody that wants to do a race. It'll be fun.

I'm gonna have to see because like if we're gonna… we… I don't know if IGN has any idea, but we do not have any idea of like when these Switch 2 review units are going to come in. So, it's like we don't know anything. It's… It's like, all right, well, maybe I'll just be staying home and reviewing the Switch 2 while everybody else goes off to SGF. Um, so we're gonna have to wait and see uh how that plays out or even get pre-orders. I pre-ordered my Switch 2 to pick up in LA on… on Wednesday night at a Best Buy in Los Angeles. So, I'm gonna have it on the show floor at IGN Live because like all my other co-workers are like, "I'm just shipping at home. We're not going to have time with all SGF and IGN Live." I'm like, "I will make time. I will find the time to pick up my Switch and play Mario Kart."

That's 40 chess right there.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I was like… I had to like divide up my cart. I'm like, "What am I shipping to LA? What am I shipping home?" And it was… Yeah, it was a lot. I made a spreadsheet because that's just… that's just what I do.

Wow. Yeah, that… that's intense. Uh, good on you, though, because I would… I mean… I… I plan pretty… pretty extensively for my trips, but nothing like that. So, uh, good work.

Thanks. Uh, before we jump into the main topic of discussion for this episode, just want to remind everybody you are listening to the All Things Nintendo podcast. This show is made possible by the wonderful Patreon members who allow me to continue doing this show week after week. If you would like to be a part of that, you can join the All Things Nintendo Patreon page, which offers bonuses like access to the community discord, priority to get your questions and comments read on the episodes, early and ad-free shows of this very podcast, and shoutouts at the end of every episode. If you want to join the team, you can go to Patreon and search for All Things Nintendo.

All right, Logan, let's get into this ranking that we are doing this episode. As I mentioned at the top of the show, Logan and I are going to be ranking the top 25 Nintendo Switch games of all time. However, we're going to have some twists thrown into this formula here. We're not just going to be, you know, reading off some predetermined list. We are going to be going completely off script, off outline, everything. Uh, so there's a little bit of fun thrown into the mix here. For the first 15 entries, Logan, you and I will be taking turns choosing a game to slot into the spot that is currently up. So, we're going to start at the bottom. 25, count it down to one. Uh, for those first 15, we'll be taking turns choosing, which means that we will have to uh be very strategic in where we select these these games that we're going to be slotting into there. However, each one of us has one veto. This was a… a… a suggestion that you brought to the table here when we were planning this episode, one veto. And that doesn't mean that that game is not able to make the top 25. It just means that we are going to reconsider it for different placement. And then once we get to the top 10, Logan, you and I are going to work together to fill those in. So that's going to be a little bit of a paradigm shift there. Then at the tail end, I want us to circle back and see how we're feeling. uh we can talk adjustments, reordering anything. So, it's not like, all right, well, this game got drafted into 25th place. That's just where it's going to be. It's just… it's where it's the starting point and then we will go from there.

Yeah.

And then at the end, once we have that top 25 locked in, you and I can each give up to three honorable mentions of games that are still out there that we want to uh have just get… get a quick shout out that it didn't make our top 25, but it's still a really good game. So, uh, we're going to get started in just a second, but it is worth noting that if you're listening to the audio version, the video version on my YouTube channel is going to have the ranking visualized with box arts getting slotted into the tier, uh, the… the top 25 tier list here, uh, as well as box art for each game in consideration. So, uh, let's get going. Logan, as you are the guest, I will let you lead us off here with the number 25 Switch game of all time.

Oh, that's so nice. That means I get eight picks and you get seven in the first 15. That's kind. Okay. Uh the first pick, this is tough because it's like… I don't know. Whenever I think of like top 25 Nintendo lists, I tend to lean towards first party games or Nintendo published games. I don't know how many third party games I'm really going to pick. Like it's… Yeah, it's… it's really tough for me to kind of parse between the two. But I think that I'll get us started by adding Captain Toad Treasure Tracker at number 25.

Wow. Right off the bat. And it is a game I don't have on the list. So…

Oh, it is? Oh, no. I'm so sorry. I thought it would be on there.

No, it should be. It's a total oversight. The same way that when we did the uh our rankings of the top 25 or the… the best of 2024, I forgot to put… um… I forgot put Prince of Persia. That's why they keep bringing me back. I'm the back stop. Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. See, it's… it's easy. It's an easy fix.

Yeah.

If I don't have it on the list there. So, we have that up on the board now. And uh number 25. So, I mean, this is a game that I fell in love with for the first time on Wii U and then they brought it over to Switch and I still think it's one of the most underrated Nintendo games.

It's so underrated I forgot that it exists.

Yeah. This is a game like from the 3D Mario team, like a spin-off of their development studio, and it's just incredible. It… It takes the concept of the Captain Toad levels from 3D World, makes a whole game out of it. The Switch version added multiplayer and a whole DLC pack with new levels, and yeah, just the concept of like a Nintendo puzzle game that controls like Mario except you can't jump. Like, it's just genius and just leads to incredible puzzle box and puzzle solving moments.

Yeah, it is a terrific game. I mean, I… I bet a lot of people listening to this have not played Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and uh it is well worth checking out, especially if you've played Mario 3D World and you enjoy those levels. This is just more of that, better of that, and uh you know, just fun puzzle solving with the ability to jump.

Yeah. Uh so yeah, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. I think that's a good spot for it, too. You know, it's on the periphery.

Yeah.

but it's also definitely worth mentioning. All right, so number 24 is mine. And I feel like these first 15 entries are almost going to be more difficult because it's like, all right, it… I don't… I need to pick stuff that's not going to get a spot in the top 10 more than likely.

Oh man.

Um, I am going to go… I'm looking at a lot of uh third party games right now actually, but I think that what I'm going to go for is a game that we just referenced and that is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Oh, okay. Nice choice.

I'm going to put that up at number 24. And I… I… I don't know. I think that as we talked about a few… a few months ago, uh, Prince of Lost Crown, one of the best games of last year and one of the few like top games of 2024 that actually made their way to Switch. I think the Switch uh, the first party lineup was relatively lackluster compared to the rest of the years the Switch one had. Uh, the other eight years that we've had with the Switch One, but Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown, a great addition to the library. Um, it plays really well on the go. The only downside is you do have those pesky loading screens that you don't have on the other versions. Uh, but yeah, I mean, it's… it's the return of this beloved franchise in a really cool way. Um, it's Metroidvania, so also really precise platforming sequences, so it… it plays extremely well into that like existing Nintendo fan base. And I know you're a big fan of it as well. Like uh what do you have to say about this title?

Yeah, just any game that goes toe-to-toe with Metroid Dread for me, which is a game I'm not going to bring up until much later in this conversation. Like, that's just… it's one of the best modern Metroidvanias. And I just think that it's its power set is so cool. And it… it always feels so Zelda to me. The way it plays with time powers, like you… you could swap out all the visuals for like a Hyrule makeover, and I feel like the game would still just really work. Like the way you leave a copy of yourself somewhere and then snap back to it or or like pause an object midair. It just… it feels very… very Zelda in really… really good ways. And that's high praise for me as someone who feels like whenever something tries to be Zelda-like, it usually falls on its face. But Prince of Persia just… it's… it's gameplay. It feels like a Nintendo game in a lot of ways. So, it's… it's cool to have on this list.

It does. And I will say that uh I'm sure I've brought this up when you've been on the show even, but I brought it up on this podcast multiple times when the team behind Prince of Persia was on Reddit doing that AMA and they were like, "Hey, what's your dream game?" And they were like, "We want to remake Zelda 2." I was like, "Oh god, do that. Please, please Nintendo, you've worked with Ubisoft in the past. I'm sure like, you know, we may bring up their other collaborations that they've done on this list at some point. But like, man, there's… there's that relationship already. They had Starlink with the Star Fox content. They had Mario and Rabbids. It would be amazing if they would let that team, even though it's been a little bit disbanded, uh, work on a Zelda 2 remake. That would be so cred and a great way to bring that game that is much maligned and kind of a black sheep of uh the Zelda franchise in… in like a really cool way. So yeah.

Yeah, that is my pick. Number 24, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Logan, that brings you with the number 23 pick. This is getting so hard already.

I know. Yeah. What a generation. I don't know if anything will ever top this generation for me, honestly.

I think it's just… it's going to go down as one of the best of all time. I think that's got to be one of our drafts that I have you back in like the coming months is just overall game library tier list.

Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great. Let's do that at some point. Boys tier. My number 23 pick. This is a game I love that I feel like gets overlooked and like Captain Toad I feel like in the 20s here is a good place to put it. Uh, this was developed by a third party but published by Nintendo and it sure looks like a Nintendo game because it's Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, a game that I love so much. Uh, this is the… the prequel to Breath of the Wild that goes back a hundred years to the past and tells that story of the… of the Great Calamity but with some timey-wimey shenanigans and they… they twist it and they break canon. But I love that stuff. And I don't know, I just think of all the Nintendo Warriors games, this one sticks with me the most because of how well they infuse those Breath of the Wild elements, like using the runes or jumping off a cliff and gliding and all the characters you get to play as, getting to play as the champions. Yes, it does not run well. That's the big asterisk with Age of Calamity. But other than that, this is easily one of my favorite games on Switch.

Yeah. So, I played Hyrule Warriors back on the Wii…

U when it first came out, and I have it on Switch, but I never played like the Deluxe Edition, I think it's called Defend, too. Uh, I loved Hyrule Warriors. And then I got to Age of Calamity and I was like, "Let me play this." And then like it was right after launch and people were saying like, "Oh, it does it isn't actually canon and it doesn't like it's like alternate timeline type of situation." and I was just like, h, that's less incentivizing for me. Uh, so I never got super deep into this, even though, you know, I love Breath of the Wild so much and I'd love a a full-on prequel to it.

That's why I'm so excited for Age of Imprisonment, which is the other like the third Hyrule Warriors game that they've announced here for Switch 2. That is one that I'm very much looking forward to, but I feel like I should play Age of Calamity all the way through before I get to that.

Here's the thing that always bugs me about the big criticism of of Age of Calamity is that it's it's an alternate timeline. The entire Zelda timeline's an alternate timeline. Oh, shoot. Wind Waker is not canon because it branches off of Ocarina of Time. They all do that. So, to me, yes, Age of Calamity does not follow beat forbe what you see in Breath of the Wild, but to me, it's canon because all Zelda is canon because it's all alternate timeline stuff. That's what they do. So, I love it as an alternate take on what happens back then. And I think it's totally worth it for any Zelda fan.

Fair enough. But at the same time, it's like, man, this is like a an opportunity to tell the story that was like the direct leadup to Breath of the Wild and like there is so much story that they could explore there with that that fierce battle against Ganon. And to do it as like an alternate timeline was just it just felt like a little bit of a copout. I'm not saying it's disqualifying in any way. It's just like I'm so much more excited for Age of Imprisonment because it seems like they are actually going to address what was happening during the imprisoning war that we saw in Tears of the Kingdom, which you know is it did kind of feel like a missed opportunity not spending more time during uh that era, especially when it's like we see these big battle scenes playing out in the flashbacks and it's like, "Oh, I want to see that. Now we're finally going to get that." And how cool that like Zelda's taking the lead on a Zelda spin-off after getting her own game last year. Just super cool what they're doing right now. Yeah. So, I think that's a good spot for that. 23. So far, I don't think either of us have said anything that is necessarily controversial for like this is solid in the in the 20s here. Yeah. Oh, so that brings me to 22.

There are so many good games to choose from and some that I'm like, "Oh, that that belongs on the list, but not quite yet." So, yeah, same. Yeah. Maybe this is too soon. Actually, no. I'm not going to go with that quite yet. I'm gonna go with another Zelda spin-off actually. That is Oh, really? Cadence of Hyrule. Okay, cool. That, you know, I love video game music so much. And I like rhythm games. I I you know, I used to be a really good Guitar Hero player. I really like like Rhythm Heaven. That's a really fun series. I did not really get into Crypto the Necrodancer, but if you paint that with a a Hyrule like coat of paint, I am in. And there is so much great music in there. I love like I mean the same reason I love the Hyrule Warriors games is they have amazing music remixes in those levels. Like just like these adrenalinefueled like rock versions of all these iconic Zelda songs. Cadence of Hyrule doesn't really have like that flavor to it, but what it does do is it gives you these infectious beats as you're playing through this rhythm based Hyrule like top down Zelda game, which is so cool that they finally embraced that this franchise is so well known for its incredible music. I mean, they obviously have have instruments in almost every mainline Zelda game, but to finally just lean into it fully and give it to a studio that, you know, rhythm games are their bread and butter, I thought that was such a cool little project. And I'm disappointed we haven't seen more along those lines. Like, I would even love like Cadence of Mushroom Kingdom. Something like that would be so neat, even if it it does seem a little bit reductive after doing it the first time. But yeah, Cadence of Hyrule. Uh I think it's called Crypt of the Crypt of the Necrodancer featuring The Legend of Zelda. Oh yeah, something like that. It's a very dumb name if you don't call it just Cadence of Hyrule, which is what we're going to do from here on out. Uh but Logan, what were your thoughts on this game?

Oh, it's great. I I love this game, too. And I think Yeah, you nailed it that Zelda is so intertwined with music. And this was just a couple years after Breath of the Wild, which engages with music in a very different way. I wouldn't say it abandons it entirely, but music very much becomes more part of the environment than a main focus of the story in the game. And so to go just to the complete opposite end of the spectrum with Cadence of Hyrule, a game entirely about the music. The music is the gameplay. The music is the story. Really, really cool. And I just I just love seeing Nintendo trust an indie developer with Zelda. Like their one of their most cherished darlings that they hand out to somebody and trust like, "Oh man, I want them to do that more." like we've talked about like to Ubisoft like we were just saying earlier that it's just such a cool thing that feels like such a miracle in hindsight like wow there's an indie Zelda out there that's real and that's just so cool.

It is. It very much is and I mean so many indie developers make Zelda it's just not called Zelda. So the fact that they actually got to do it is uh is really awesome and a testament to the fact that Nintendo really believes in that studio because otherwise they would not have licensed that out. Totally. Yeah. All right. So, uh, the I guess 21. We got two more in the 20s here. So, this is your final pick in the 20s, Logan.

This is a game that I like more than number 21, but I just feel like given the context of this list being about Switch games, it fits here. And because it's a remake, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was one of my favorite games of of last year. It's one of my favorite games of all time. I reviewed it. I gave it a nine on IGN. I just think it's still such an amazing RPG. such just a dream to see this game come back after people were clamoring for it for so long. And it's like a perfect remake. Yes, it runs at 30 FPS. I don't care. I still think it looks and runs great. Uh but just they added everything we would have wanted from like a quality of life standpoint. They kept all the quirky weird characters and story intact. It's super faithful but modernized in the perfect way. Like if you're looking at a framework for like what's a what's a perfect like faithful remake to the original, it's this game. The Thousand-Year Door nails it and it's still so much fun. and I have tons of friends that played it for the first time last year and fell in love with it like we did in 2004. So, this is a really special one and I hope that the Mario RPG series heads in this direction of the three games they put out in the last year and a half or so, this is the one that really stuck with me that I want to be kind of the framework moving forward. You don't want more of Oh, never mind. We don't bring that game up with you. No, we don't. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, having the RPG side of Mario further emphasized in recent years has been incredible because it seemed like Nintendo was almost moving away from that like in terms of like actual investment, but now, you know, in the in recent years, we've gotten Paper Mario Thousand-Year Door, we've gotten Brotherhip, we've gotten uh the Mario RPG remake, uh so many great opportunities and entry points for people who want to experience a Mario RPG, which if you said that back in the SNES days, like that would be you'd be looked at like a maniac, but then they put out Mario RPG and it ended up being amazing. So, uh yeah, I think that's good representation for that side of the Mario franchise.

Um all right, so number 20 is next. And I am having a crisis here in terms of like what to choose. I know. Oh, there's like I keep thinking I have what I want and then I see other games that I'm like, "Oh, no." But like it's not quite ready to go. Yeah. For for folks listening, we didn't talk or prep with each other at all. I have no idea what Brian's thinking apart from games that I just know he likes. I I have no idea. So, I'm I'm thinking here like I have 12 slots to fill. I really got to be smart about what I pick, man. [Music] Um, I am gonna go with a I don't want to go that one yet. Sorry to the listeners. I am I'm really doing this on the fly here. But let's go with a game that launched the Switch. This might be one that people say, "What? This launched the or was was a launch window title. I think it came out a month after the Switch came out." And it's one of the better indie games that still is Switch exclusive and that is Golf Story. I love Golf Story so much. Oh, that's such a good game. It's such a good game. I don't think it's like top 15 on the Switch, but this was a game that like I it got me so excited for like indies and like coming on Switch and and you know it has such like a a fun game play gameplay loop of you know the the retro style golf gameplay with like an RPG twist to it and like a narrative like an overarching narrative that is extremely goofy but also like really compelling and pushing you forward and you know you can explore this world that just revolves around different forms of golf and then like halfway through the game they're like, "Oh, guess what? Now you can play disc golf in addition to like regular golf and there's like mini golf." And it is so much fun. It's just like RPGs, but like instead of playing like instead of having like turn-based battles, you have turn-based golf matches. And it's such a novel concept. And it makes the uh sports story, the sequel of this game, so much more tragic. And uh there's a lot of stuff you can read into about like why that game fell well short of expectations following Golf Story, but Golf Story on its own, I think, is a top 20 Nintendo Switch game.

Yeah, I love that pick. This was one I wasn't going to pick, but I was just crossing my fingers hoping it would come up. Anyways, I adore Golf Story. It's still one of my favorite games on Switch. Also, I got the collector's edition from Fan Gamer with like the big trophy and the golf ball and everything a few years ago. This game's great. I've 100%ed it. When my buddy comes up to visit, we still play the head-to-head two-player on all the courses. This game's also hilarious. Like, it has just a very funny dry. It's like Australian, I think, is where it was developed and just has that type of humor. And yeah, it's just it's so so great. There's like a rap battle between a bunch of like senior citizens and then a bunch of punks who are trying to take over their golf course. There's a haunted house segment. Like what people love things like it takes two for or split fiction for where you never know what's coming next. It's always going to throw something random at you. Golf Story does that but in a golf game and just in a really quirky funny way. It's Yeah, I feel like this one is underlooked because I think it's up there with like the the Celestes and the Hollow Knights and the games people always talk about, but this one just doesn't come up as much. So, I'm glad it's here. I agree 100%. It is so good and I am uh I'm glad we got it on the list. Yeah. Great. So, that brings you number 19. We're in the top 20 now.

Number 19. Okay, I am going to go Okay, I'll throw a third party one out here because it launched as a Switch exclusive and it's a fantastic game. It's on other platforms now, but it was made for the Switch, and that's Monster Hunter Rise. Sunbreak, I think, is just one of the the or Monster Hunter Rise. Really, whichever it's fine. Uh, but Sunbreak's like the Iceborn like expansion. And this is a kind of a midgeneration Monster Hunter game. Like World is the main line, then Wilds is like the next generation mainline, and they always release another one in the middle. And Rise is just I still play it on Switch and marvel at how it looks. Like the monsters just look amazing. They act amazing. The gameplay is super tight and fluid. They introduce the wire bug mechanic where you're just like swinging around and grappling around and scaling mountains. And it introduced a palamute, which is like a a ridable mount for the first time in Monster Hunter, which Wilds then carried on. And yeah, Rise is just the amount they supported it was fantastic. Like it is one of the most complete Monster Hunter experiences and it started as a Switch exclusive. So, I think it's a it's a pretty big one for the story of the Switch. And Capcom even made a bunch of amiibo for it, which was really cool.

Oh, right. I completely forgot about the amiibo. Uh Monster Hunter has been a blind spot for me for a long time. And every time one of these like games that comes out and it's like this is the the best entry point for the Monster Hunter franchise, I tell myself I'm going to do it and I buy it and then I never play it. And I did that for World. I I even bought the Iceorn expansion when it came out and then I did it again for Wilds and I just have not had a chance to fire that up because well it came out around the time Game Informer was launching. So uh we were quite busy and playing other things. But yeah, Monster on Arise. I that's another one that's been on my list for a long time and I just haven't gotten to it. But number 19 that you think quite highly of it, it seems. I do. Yeah, it's it's amazing. All right, so that brings us to 18. And every time I pick one, I'm finding that like I'm extremely relieved that it's now your turn to pick one. Yeah, I know. Even though like oh man, it's like a fantasy sports draft. It's like, oh my gosh, my turn on the draft board. And then you just like go blank. Do I go indie or first party? That is my question.

First party. You go first party. All right. Um yeah, I don't want to pick that one quite yet. But man, but then I look at the other ones that are remaining and it's like if not now when? Because like we are we're already getting to the point where I'm looking at like the top 10 and it's like I can just with my eyes see the things that are going to fill that out. So, I'll tell you right now, I think I'm done picking non-first party things. Okay. Well, I'm going to go this might be my last first party one. I'm trying to think like is there another first party or third party game? Wait, last first or last? Last third party. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. If it was the last first party list going to be. Oh, wait. No, I have other indies that I want to throw up here. But I'm going to start throwing up some more indies here. Uh, we're gonna go Dead Cells. Oh, wow. Okay. You know, I for the longest time resisted the rogike and rogue light genres like they were the plague because I just could not get into like the all right, I'm doing all this work. I'm building the character that I want and then I get killed and then I don't get to carry forward most of that stuff that I did. and Dead Cells was the one that broke me out of that. And you know, I've played it on Steam, I've played it on PlayStation, but I think that my best experience has been on the Switch. Playing this on a plane, having it on the go has been terrific. Uh, and they've only expanded it in so many wild ways. Like, I never expected them to do a Castlevania crossover. and having all of this content they've put out post launch and they they they've put out content like as recent as last year I believe and it's like this game came out forever ago. I think this was like 2018 something like that. Yes, it was. So like the fact that they're still supporting it and it's still like one of the best indie games I've ever played. I think that's a testament that it belongs on this list.

Yeah. I've never played Dead Cells, but I respect it. I just I'm not a rogike or rogike guy. It takes a lot. It takes a Zelda code of paint and a music rhythm game for me to play a rogue light or rogike like Yeah, I just or or the Splatoon DLC, but I just don't play many of them, but I respect the heck out of Dead Cells. I think it's it's really really cool from what I've seen. Fair enough. I I think that you should check it out at some point if you are a fan of like I know you're a Metroid Vania fan and this is basically a procedurally generated Metroid Vania every single time you fire it up, but it's also like just incredible like sidescrolling action. Mhm. So, I mean, great boss fights. Um, you know, if you if you've played like games like Blasphemous, it's like I always describe Blasphemous 2 as like nonroglike Dead Cells. Okay. but also like with like the Dark Souls level of difficulty. Yeah. Nice. But yeah, Dead Cells it it it belongs on my list at least. Okay, what number are we at? And can you read what we have so far for me and maybe for the audio people?

We are number 17. And so far we are number 25, Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. Number 24, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. 23 Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. 22, Cadence of Hyrule. 21 Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door, 20 Golf Story, 19 Monster Hunter Rise, and 18 Dead Cells. Okay, we I am already feeling crunched here. Okay, I am going to pick I'm going to go with Luigi's Mansion 3 here at this spot. That's an interesting selection. I love Luigi's Mansion 3. I feel like this is the right spot for it. I feel like sometimes in conversation is it floats a little too high on the list. Like I don't think this is quite a top 10 Switch game. I think it's really really great and wonderful. Gorgeous. Still one of the best looking games on Nintendo Switch. But I just think when you talk top 10, like you said, I have what those are locked in in my head and this just doesn't quite make it. But all that being said, I love Luigi's Mansion 3. I think its puzzles are wonderful. I think that Gui is an incredible addition that just completely transforms how those games play. I think the hotel setting is just a great fit for that that strikes a nice balance between one, which is an entirely interconnected mansion, and two, which is the completely separated mansions that I didn't really like. Three has the different floors you're going to with they just get crazy with it. It's like a theme park in there with like a pirate land or an overgrown like garden greenhouse land. Like really cool. Luigi's animations are gorgeous. His He's adorable and he's just so charming. And yeah, this is like I just love games like this. It's like an adventure haunted house. It's like point-and-click action. It's just so cool. Luigi's Mansion.

Yeah, I feel very similarly about it to Captain Toad. Just like these puzzle games, these little like cute self-contained things that don't do anything totally groundbreaking, but are just so clever and unlike anything other people are really making. Yeah, that's I mean, I loved Luigi's Mansion 3 when I reviewed it for Game Informer. Uh I I I agree with you. The the hotel setup is so perfect for this game and the boss fights are are creative. the the puzzle solving and like environmental stuff is imaginative and it I don't think it overstays its welcome either. Like by the time we I reached the end I was like okay that was the perfect length. I didn't need anymore. Even though there was like the multiplayer stuff and everything I was perfectly content. It was a rare instance where I was like oh my god end already or I wasn't like that's it. It was like that felt perfect. and uh Luigi's Mansion 3. Um you know, just incredible gameplay. The I think it's the best entry in the series so far pretty easily. Mhm. Um but yeah, that's a good spot for it. 17. So far, neither of us have used our vetos. I think that's a testament to us being on the same wavelength. And you know, there's only six more spots that we can use those vetos because we're going to start collaboratively doing this once we reach number 10. Uh, I think I'm just going to burn through some indie titles now. Okay, I am at number 16 now. And I'm gonna go Vampire Survivors.

Okay, cool. This is a single stick game. It It's When I heard that, I was like, "Wait, so how is that fun?" And it's just like a if you've never played a bullet heaven, it's called uh it's an opposite of a bullet hell in that you are the character that is shooting out all of the projectiles and taking out thousands upon thousands of enemies every single run. And all you're doing is controlling using one stick and you're going around collecting pickups. And then as you level up, you get to choose a new skill or upgrade an existing skill. And by the end of it, if you do it right, you are just an unstoppable killing machine. just blowing through like easily thousands of enemies every single minute. And in Vampire Survivors, uh, for most levels, the main mission is to survive for 30 minutes. And it gets just so intense by the end of it. It's I always describe it as a cheat code for like a a long flight because you'll sit down and you'll be like, "Oh, let me play Vampire Survivors." And you'll fire it up and you'll just do a few runs and before you know it, you're landing whatever the whatever your flight is. that is one of my all-time favorite uh playing games. But also like if I just want like a chill like low stress experience and like I'm just like all right, what do I want to play for like the last hour that I'm going to be awake tonight? I will just fire up Vampire Survivors and it runs great on Switch. There's a lot of expansions, you know, they just announced that they're they have a Square Enix collaboration coming out. It's not Final Fantasy, it's Saga. But uh prior to that, they have a a Castlevania. They have um Contra, they have all kind. They have an Among Us collaboration. So, they're really supporting this as well. And the great thing is is like the game itself is only like $5 and then the expansions are like $2.99 each or something like that. So, even buying like the entire collection of expansions and there are non-colaboration expansions as well. It's like something like $25 or something to buy like the complete version with all the DLC. And that's not even on sale. And it goes on sale pretty frequently, too. I was looking the other day and it was like, "Yeah, Vampire Survivors, it's on sale for like 250." Like, how does this company make any money even at full price with all the DLC? That's only a few bucks more than a Kirby upgrade pack. It is. Yes, it is. Uh, so Vampire Survivor slotting at number 16. You're not being a Rogike or Rogue Light fan. Have you played this?

I have never played it. No. It's another one I I respect from afar. Yeah, just not my thing. Like if I'm going to play an endless game, I'll just play Mario Kart for

Two hours. Like that's just, yeah, that's just the gamer I am. But it's a cool pick. All right.

Well, that brings us to the top 15. Logan, you are going to kick that off with number 15. What do you have for us?

I'm trying to decide how much I care about my personal favorites getting on here and how much I care about just making like a good overall list. And I'm not sure what side of that line I want to end up on right now. So, that's what I'm debating. Um, but I think that I will go—I'll go with one that I think needs to be on the list, but that I'm not super passionate about, which is Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I think that a Xenoblade game needs to be on on the the Switch list. I just think the entire franchise is on Switch. There's two brand new entries on Switch. The definitive editions of the Wii and the Wii U ones, and Xenoblade 3 is an amazing RPG. It's a huge franchise for Nintendo. Monolith is one of their best developers. They they're wizards on that hardware. It's unbelievable what they do on the Switch hardware that nobody else seemingly can. They even help out with the open-world Zeldas because they're just that good at it. So yeah, and Xenoblade 3's story is amazing. Its combat is incredible, with just so many systems and layers. You're always learning new mechanics. So yeah, it's it's a really cool series that I'm trying to become a bigger fan of. Three is my favorite of what I've played so far, and I think it should be on the list.

I agree. And actually, when I asked you on to this, I was crossing my fingers that you would have at least some insight into the Xenoblade franchise because I know it belongs on the list. I just have no knowledge of the series whatsoever. So, I am actually very happy that you chose that, even though it's not like one that would make my personal list.

Yeah. No, that's the one. I think three is—uh, some people like different ones in the trilogy better. A lot of people think the first one is still the best, but again, if I'm making a Switch list, three is the the big defining one of Switch for sure. So, that is number 15.

I'm going to—I would imagine—choose my final indie game here with uh number 14 because I think it's getting to that point where it is going to be a lot of like first-party or at least Nintendo-published titles. We're going to go Batro.

Yeah. My—I mean, you people who listen to this podcast have heard me sing the praises of this. I don't think they need to hear me too much more, but I think it's one of the most perfectly designed games of the last five, maybe even 10 years. It again, it's like Vampire Survivors and that I can fire it up at any time and just lose an hour or two without even realizing it. And it reached that point shortly after launch where I've only had it happen a couple of times, and it's been like Zelda or Mario that I've been playing on a plane where the flight attendant will say, "Hey, I love that game." They said that with Bellatro. I was playing Batro like a—like probably two weeks after it came out on on my Switch, and the flight attendant like tapped me on the shoulder. He's like, "Oh my god, that game is so good," and we started talking strategies for like, you know, just a couple of minutes before he had to move on and do like, you know, flight attendant stuff, keeping the keeping the plane safe. Uh, but yeah, it was a fun little surprise that it was recognizable out in the wild and uh, you know, they keep doing fun stuff with it. Uh, the collaborations aren't as impactful as they are in things like Dead Cells and Vampire Survivors, but they're still fun to have, like Witcher 3 cards and everything that you can add in there. Uh, but yeah, one of my favorite indie games of all time coming in at number 14, I do love Bellatro.

This is one that they give me. I've played it probably 15 or 20 hours, so not some of the amounts—a lot of people have. But like I love the Dominion card game. Do you know that game?

Yeah, Dominion's like a—it's one of the original deck-builder card games. And it still gets new expansions every year. When I played Botro, like a lot of the same parts of my brain that like Dominion really like Bellatro of like, oh, how do I improve my deck? What card do I want to trash here to just make my my odds on the next draw a little bit stronger? Really cool. And the vibes are just so cool, too. That vaporwave CRT look is is super unique.

Oh, definitely. For sure. As I say, that's my final uh indie game. I'm still looking at some of the indie games on this list, and I don't know if you're going to choose any of these because I don't think I'm going to, but like there's a lot of great titles. I'm not a Hollow Knight guy. I mean, I know that people are like, "Where's Hollow Knight?" I'm not going to pick that. I don't like Hollow Knight from what I've played because I just can't get through the opening.

That's fair. But there's also things like Dave the Diver, which you know, indie—whatever. I don't know if that's indie or not. Uh, Dredge, um, Hyperlight Drifter, Hollow Knight, Hades, Inscription. A lot of these games are—

You still haven't said the one indie I am considering picking.

Oh, well, maybe I won't spoil the surprise then. Uh, it is number 13 though, and that means it is your turn.

Uh, number 13, I am going to pick—I think that—I think the first episode I ever came on was to talk about this game, Super Mario Party Jamboree.

Yes. This game belongs here. It—It's still the best Mario Party of all time. I—I felt that when I reviewed it. I feel it about 6 months later. I played this game for 120 hours or something like that. Something absurd like—

Yeah, it's—it's just so cool. Its depth in the board game is so much fun. And still screwing over your friends on the final turn of the game, it can still happen, and it's hilarious. And the mini-games are—it's some of the strongest set there is. It's just gorgeous, too. I think the presentation value is so high in this game, and it almost gets overlooked because it's just a party game, but like the camera angles and the design of the board and the character animations, like yeah, this is like, wow, Nintendo Cube leveled up for this one, and I just can't wait to see what they do next.

I guess what they're doing next is DLC for this game, which I played it at the New York event. It was not really what I look for in Mario Party DLC, but I'm glad that they're actually giving this game something new.

Well, it's not really DLC as much as it's just only in the Switch 2 version, right? Because it's like mouse and and camera stuff.

Yeah. But DLC for like people like us who own the Switch One game will pay the 20 bucks if we have the new hardware. It's, you know, it's messy like we talked about at the top. The camera stuff I could take or leave, but I enjoyed the mouse games. I played all six of the ones that they had at the demo station. And I really enjoyed like moving Toad through the electrified maze or like the pulling back of the cars and like having them shoot—Rumble felt so cool on that one.

Yeah, that was really great. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, Mario Party Jamboree. Fantastic game. I think the more I play of it, the more I'm on board with you where I'm saying this is the best Mario Party game that's ever existed. If not, it's probably the best one since the GameCube years at least.

Yeah, I think maybe N64. Um, like but like the N64 ones, if you go back and play them now, they're not nearly as good as Mario Party Jamboree, but like in terms of like the impact and everything, like you know that it's hard to weigh those against each other, but I was actually getting to the point where I was going to start considering Mario Party Jamboree. So, you took it off the board. That's—that's a great spot for it. Number 13.

We have two more that we are going to be alternating our selections for before we start collaborating. And neither of us has vetoed. I think I might be tempting fate with that though with my pick.

Okay, I am going to go Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

So, what would the veto do? I—I can only kick it to the top 10, right? I can't kick it off the list.

You c—you can kick it off the list. Uh, but it will probably be brought back up when we get to like—are we going to—Okay, but you can say like, no, I think that deserves higher. Um—Okay. No, I don't think this should be on the list at all.

Oh, wow. I mean, you could veto it if you won. I—I—Yeah, I would—I—I would veto this one.

Okay. All right. Well, we each get one. So, uh, maybe that'll end up being an honorable mention for me. Or maybe I'll—I'll really try to make a compelling case. If you'd brought that one up in the 20s, I would have let it slide. But this—ah, man. Okay. I'm kind of a hater of that game. I—I really—Yeah. Yeah. Uh, sound off in the comments if you disagree with Logan just like you did the a few episodes ago when he was about Mario Sunshine or whatever and New Super Mario Bros.

Yeah. Yeah, that one. Not the—not the RPG that uh shall not be named.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh man. So that throws a monkey wrench into this entire operation. Let's see. So do I want to—h—Well, you've used your veto. So now I could throw—Now you can do whatever you want. Now I could throw Mario and Luigi: Brotherhood on the list. Um, let's go with—Oh, I hesitate to put this anywhere but in the top 10, but I'm going to go for it: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

That worked out so nice for me. That was going to be my next pick. That was gorgeous. I was debating waiting for the top 10 on this one, but you know, given the circumstances, I am going to put it in at number 12. I think it's one of the greatest platformers that we've gotten over the last decade and uh it makes me super excited for the future of the franchise. Unfortunately, there has been no future of the franchise—of the Donkey Kong Country franchise. That is—it's just been backwards-facing stuff, either putting the OG trilogy, the Game Boy trilogy on Switch Online or porting over the Wii U or Wii games to the Switch. Um, we do have Donkey Kong Bonanza coming up in a few months here, which I'm very excited about.

Cool. But no Donkey Kong Country games. Um, that's kind of frustrating given how amazing Tropical Freeze is. I think the gimmicks in this game are phenomenal. I think that the level design, the the graphics, it's one of the best-looking games off of the Wii U, and they made it even better on the Switch. And uh, you know, the infamous Funky mode where you basically just surf across all the spikes. Um, you know, and they gave us that the joy of that meme of being able to take the—now with funky mode—and put it on something like, you know, Persona—Persona 3, now with funky mode. Uh, but no, yeah, absolutely one of the best games of all time on the Wii U, and I'm so happy that it made it over to the Switch.

Yeah, I think this is my favorite 2D platformer of all time. I replayed it this year and came away just blown away by it. I—I feel like it's one that—I loved it when I played it on Wii U. I loved it on Switch the first time, but then it always just fades a little bit in my memory for some reason. And then every time I revisit, I'm like, "No, this is just like phenomenal stuff." And yeah, you talked about like the the gimmicks, the mechanics, the set pieces are all amazing, but just the pure platforming is so good. The characters feel so great to control. Like the the classic Donkey Kong Country move of rolling off a ledge and then getting that midair jump and then bounce comboing off a bunch of enemies to grab like a Kong letter. Like, oh, it's just unbeatable. The soundtrack's incredible. Like the the narrative it weaves across the levels. Like the one I always bring up is like the the the juice factory where you harvest the grapes, you turn them into jello—, you freeze them into popsicles across like five different levels. Like it's—it's just insane. That game is amazing. I love Metroid Prime, but now I'm just like so of two worlds with Retro where I'm like, "Oh, they're making Metroid Prime. I wish they were making a Donkey Kong." But then I'm sure if they're making a Donkey Kong, I'd be like, "Yeah, but where's that Metroid Prime 5 though?" Like it's—they're just too good. They've never made a bad game. Like they just—they kill it every time.

I know. And it—I—I almost wish that Nintendo would like invest super heavily in them so they could have multiple projects going at the same time. Maybe they have and they just haven't made it public, but it would be amazing to, you know, have them staff up and be able to do multiple franchises. I mean, I've talked multiple times about how great their pitch for Star Fox sounded—um, that surfaced from like the lead artist from like a decade ago or something. Like he—he tried to pitch a Star Fox game, and it sounded like, "Oh, that sounds like the direction Nintendo should go," and then like the higher-ups were like, "No, we're too busy with uh whatever game they were working on at the time, so they rejected it." But having—having multiple games in development by Retro would be like the best gift that anybody could—work—hope for from uh the Switch 2. So fingers crossed because like you said, uh Return, Donkey Kong Country Returns is a great game. Tropical Freeze, I think, is even better. And then all the Metroid Prime games they've done, have been uh quite good. And Metroid Prime 4, based on what I played at that Switch 2 event, uh seems really awesome as well.

Yes, it does. It feels like Metroid Prime in the best way. Like it's all I want it to be. Yeah. Uh, so that brings us to the final one that we are going to be doing in this uh taking turns method before we enter the top 10. Logan, what is number 11 on our list?

You know, I'm thinking about what's going to be in the top 10. I'm like, gosh, there's a lot of Mario platformers to talk about. So, do I put one of them here so we don't have to fill a bunch of slots? But I think I'm going to go with that—that final indie surprise that I haven't named yet. Uh, I think Celeste should go here at number 11.

I think you chose another one that I—I didn't even mean to leave this one off. Uh, I just totally—I guess I flubbed putting it on the the uh tier maker here. Like, have you—Do you like Celeste yourself?

I love Celeste. Yeah, I've beaten it. I—I—I played it when it—when it first came out. There we go. Okay. So, let me add this to the—All right, we've got it. Nice. Okay. My first pick and my last pick were ones that were not on our pre-list.

I know. Hopefully none of the top 10 will—will be—

I don't think so. No, I think—I think the top 10 is playing the hits. Yeah. But no, Celeste is amazing. I mean, enough's been said about it, but like when I said I think Tropical Freeze is now my favorite 2D platformer, the one unseated was Celeste. Like they go back and forth depending on which one I played most recently. Like I just think Celeste is such a good platformer. It's pixel art's amazing. I have the the soundtrack on vinyl, which is one of the greatest soundtracks I think in the last—in this console generation. Like I think it's just an amazing chiptune soundtrack.

So it is. Yeah. Incredible game. So indie games that we left off. I mean, I named some of them before. I think we're both done picking indies. Stuff like Slay the Spire. Uh, Stardew Valley. Yeah. Undertale. Tunic. Ukulele and the Impossible Lair. Uh, Hollow Knight, Hades. Hollow Knight, Hades, Inscription, Into the Breach. Uh, yeah, lots of—lots of great games on the Switch, believe it or not. Axium Verge.

Yeah, at least with most of the—pretty much all those you can play elsewhere, right? So it's uh yeah, they're not exclusively Switch games, but we have honorable mentions at the end that we can—we can throw some of those up there. But we have reached the top 10. I'm not going to use any of my vetos. Even though I think I would put Celeste substantially lower, I agree with you that it is incredible. But I also have, you know, noticeably been cooler on that game than most people. Even though I played it through all the way to the end, loved it. I think it was in my top 10 games of that year. But I—it just—Some people talk about it like, "Oh, this is like the greatest 2D platformer that's ever existed," and I'm like, I don't—I don't really see it quite in that way, but I—I again, I respect it, and I think it's an incredible game.

You're not going to veto it.

I'm not going to veto it. I'm gonna—I'm actually going to be nice here, Logan.

Oh no. Uh, do we—So now that we're in the top 10, the way that we're going to go about this is we are going to collaborate. And so I'm going to nominate something and you tell me what you think about this. We've talked—I—I—I think you're going to not like this because—Okay. You've already said that those last two games that made it onto the list, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Celeste, are two of your—if not your two overall favorite 2D platformers of all time.

Yeah, I think I'm okay with what you're going to bring up, though. I'm going to say Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Yes, I think that belongs in the top 10. Not near the top, but I think it's a very good game. And I think that number 10 would be a good spot for that.

I agree. I just—The only thing I want to bring up is Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Are we leaving one of these two games off?

No, I was going to nominate that for like number seven or eight, maybe.

Okay, cool. I like 3D World. I think we agreed on that on the Mario tier list.

No, Wonder. Okay. So, I just—I feel like this just sounds like I'm being convenient. My other favorite 2D platformer is Mario Wonder. I've played that game four times to completion. Like, I adore that game.

Yeah. No, it needs to be on this list. It's one of the most underrated first-party Switch games just cuz people act like it's not that good, but it really is.

It is. It—I—I think that a lot of people were turned off by the the lack of difficulty up until the end. Yeah. Like those final two stages were extremely difficult, but everything else was a little bit of a breeze. But the level of creativity on display with Mario Wonder—I think that it finally feels like the 2D side of Mario caught up to the creativity of the 3D side.

Yes. And agreed. I think this is the most creative a Mario—a 2D Mario game has been since Super Mario World.

World. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So, I love Mario Wonder. I think it is a top 10 Switch game, and that's where it's going. Number 10.

Cool. Do you want to just throw Bowser's Fury in like the number seven spot and then we can talk about it from there? It's going to include like 3D—3D World + Bowser's Fury.

Bowser's Fury um in the seven spot. That seems reasonable for now.

Eight. Do you want to put it eight? Let's—Okay. Well, I don't know. I'm almost tempted to just put a—Next. What do you want to put next?

Oh boy. Uh, let's put it at—Let's put it at eight for now, and then let's talk about what's still on the board here. Okay. Um, I am—I'm—I have my screen up, and I'm looking at—we have seven spot. How many spots do we have remaining?

Eight spots.

Eight spots remaining. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and nine. One, two, three, four, five, six. I think I know what seven of them—I think I know what they all need to be. And I don't know if we agree.

All right. Well, I can—I nominate one that might be on the bubble for you?

Yeah, please do.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

Oh, that was not even on my radar. I'm open to talking about it though. So, I know that like 2021, I think is when that game came out. I think that the—Or was it 2022? Well, either way, uh January 22. Okay. So, the two games that were kind of in contention for the best Nintendo game of that year, you have been against—cuz it was Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Pokemon Legends: Arceus. I've chosen—Neither of those are the best Nintendo game of that year. The best game of that year hasn't come up yet, is Splatoon 3.

Splatoon 3 is very good. Uh, I think Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the best Pokemon game of the last 15 years, and I don't think it's particularly close. Even though I will defend Scarlet and Violet to an extent, uh, if they can get a Switch 2 version of Scarlet and Violet running the way it needs to run, I think it will be a top-tier Pokemon game. However, as it runs right now, it does not belong on this top 25 list.

Yeah, Pokemon Legends: Arceus has performance issues, but it's not nearly as pronounced as the performance issues of Scarlet and Violet. And I think that Pokemon Legends: Arceus has the most satisfying gameplay loop of any Pokemon game since like the formula was established. And it was nice to see Game Freak trying something completely new with this formula because it—it really did feel like, all right, we get it. You go and fight eight gym leaders, and then you take on the Elite Four. You catch as many Pokemon as you can. This had, you know, exciting boss battles against uh—what are they called? The not like the souped-up wild Pokemon.

Sirens.

I don't remember what they're called. I don't think it's that, but yeah, it doesn't matter. But like—Yeah, like I don't know. I think that this belongs maybe in the nine slot.

I—Yeah, you—that's a good one. I just tend to think Pokemon on Switch has been a wash, but that's the one exception for me. I love Legends: Arceus.

No, I think that's a good pick. I'm just now looking at my list of eight, and I'm like, "All right, something's not going to make it, and we're going to find out what it is." But I think this belongs to be here. I'll put it at number nine for now. And again, we can adjust it once we get to the end. Uh, can we talk about Kirby for just a second? Because I said I was a hater on that game and didn't get to justify why. And so now people listening are just like, this—wow, this guy hates Kirby.

Hate away.

I love Kirby, and just—The Forgotten Land to me is a solid first attempt at a 3D game, but I don't know. I—I feel like the platforming itself is just boring. Like it's—there—there's not that many copy abilities compared to your standard Kirby game. Yes, you can upgrade them, but there's not that many. Mouthful Mode's cool, but they show you like all six Mouthful Mode things in the first world, and then there's no new ones for like the rest of the game. The thing I always say about Forgotten Land is I feel like it shows its entire hand in the first two hours and then it's the same thing for the next 10 hours. And it's just—it's just never fully clicked with me. Something like Planet Robobot, I think, is the best Kirby game of all time. I adore that game. It's just way more creative and clever. I don't know. Forgotten Land. It's like trying to be a Mario 3D World, but doesn't have the platforming chops to back it up. So, I just don't—I just don't quite think it's here. I think—

It's delightful, but I think there's 50 games that are delightful that could be on this list. Wow. I mean, I, you know, th-those are all valid points. I'm not going to argue with you. I had a little bit more fun with it than you did, it seems. But like I don't think it's absurd to say it's not a top 25 game on the system when you're looking at what other games are on this this in this library. Yeah. So I I I I think that's perfectly valid, and uh, you know, everybody can disagree or agree with that, and uh, I'm sure they will.

Well, I'll just throw one out there then for number seven. I think Splatoon 3 belongs at number seven. That's a good choice. The DLC for that is super fun. Uh, even though you don't like rogue-likes, it is uh, you know, it uses that formula in a very good way. Um, Salmon Run, they finally figured out how to make it so it's not like, oh, I didn't I missed like the 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. window. It's like, why was it then? Uh, Splatoon 2 was like they were still trying to figure out how to make everything work. Um, but yeah, Splatoon 3.

And can I just go to bat for like the single-player stuff of Splatoon? Yes, please do. Dating all the way back to the first Splatoon. I want them to to put a Switch 2 version of Splatoon 1 just because I want that single-player campaign on Switch. Uh, I think that this the the single-player stuff in Splatoon is so overlooked, and it it mirrors almost the creativity that Nintendo was having in the GameCube era. That's what it reminds me of is like this seems like, oh, these are all these design ideas we had for like Mario's Sunshine or Luigi's Mansion one, and we just didn't get to put it in. So, let's let's rework it and put it in this this game that you're all about like swimming through like pipes and and shooting ink everywhere and making a mess and like there's fun platforming challenges. The bosses are extremely creative except for when we get certain things where they just decide to reuse the same boss over and over again. Yeah. Uh, that's the only annoyance I have with that. But like the platforming is fun, the the wave-based battles, the the just the puzzle-solving feels great, and it's all wrapped in the kind of the the shell of this incredible traversal feeling that Splatoon brings. Like there are so few games that rival how good Splatoon feels when you are swimming through ink and like jumping from platform to platform as that's covered in ink. It just it feels so smooth. That feels so good to play Splatoon when when it it is hitting on all cylinders. I don't think there's a game that feels as good to move around in as Splatoon.

I agree. No, I'm a big game-feel person. I I really care about how good a game feels like how I just talked about with Kirby, but Splatoon's on the opposite side of that where it just feels amazing no matter what you're doing. And yeah, and Splatoon 3 is just it's one of the most content-rich Nintendo games of all time also in the amount they updated. I know some really hardcore fans had some issues with like the catalog and and how they kind of reused content, but I really didn't have a problem with that. But like there's a card battler in here. There's a locker you can customize with like toys, knick-knacks, and clothes to unlock and hang in your locker. The maps are really, really good. And the multiplayer is tighter than it's ever been. And the biggest thing of all, Brian, is that you can actually group up with your friends before you start a match.

And thank God for that one too. Yeah. That alone makes it the best Splatoon ever. It does. Yeah, I would agree with you there.

Oh man, do I want to really like do I want to get to this point in this ranking here? That's my question. Uh, we're we're I mean we're at the point where it's like we've got to start slotting in some of these iconic games. Yep, we are. We're all dancing around it. Okay, can we have six spots left? Yes. I I was going to say, is this where Animal Crossing goes? Does Animal Crossing even Okay, that's that's what I was thinking. I was I was wondering if you were going to just be like, "No, it doesn't belong on this list."

Oh, it 100% does. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it's a phenomenon. It It was It's the number two selling game in Nintendo Switch history, and it is uh, you know, it was the game that took the world by storm when something else was taking it by storm simultaneously. Yeah. And I'm not talking about Doom Eternal. Um, but Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it's just like the it's the best Animal Crossing game in my opinion, and it's the game that finally got me to put a a ton of time into the series after like dabbling a little bit with the 3DS game. And uh, yeah, I mean, just for mainstream consciousness alone, I think it belongs on this list. But on top of that, it's just a really perfectly timed game in terms of the release date. Uh, they delayed this game out of 20 uh 2019, and that turned out to be super serendipitous because it hit at the exact right moment when everybody needed something super cozy, super relaxing and also uh with a social element.

No, totally. Yeah, it's it needs to be here. It's an iconic Nintendo Switch game for sure. You can't tell the story of Switch without it. I love it. It's my second favorite Animal Crossing. I like New Leaf on 3DS just a little bit more for a few random reasons, but I mean it's it's so much fun designing your island and yeah, what a time it launched as we all know that just will always forever come up I think whenever this game comes up.

Absolutely. And I think we might have a problem here, Logan. We have a problem. We have six games for five spots. 100%. Because the games that I think this list cannot go without are Mario Odyssey. Yep. Smash Ultimate. Mhm. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Mhm. Tears of the Kingdom. Yep. Breath of the Wild. Yes. And I'm blanking on the other one. Metroid Dread. Metroid Dread. 100%. Those are the six left. Those are the big six. So, we got a bump. And I think we're missing a seventh. I I think Pikmin 4 needs to be on our top 25 somewhere. Um.

All right. Well, before we fill in these top five slots. Yeah. What are we willing to sacrifice to get at least one of those games on the list? Are we thinking You've almost vetoed me on Celeste. Veto me on Celeste and we can drop everything else down one and then we have six slots for these six games. How about I would You're going to hate me for this. I would almost rather veto you for Age of Calamity. That's fine. You can do that. All right, let's let's knock that down. Let's let's just We're not going to knock it completely off the list. We'll put it in honorable mentions right now. That's where we'll knock it down to. I'll also throw uh Kirby in that list just in the honorable mentions just so we have that as like those are the vetoed ones. Okay. Then then if you veto me on Age of Calamity there, can you move Celeste to that spot? Oh, I was just going to bump everything down one. Um Okay. I I wanted to put Pikmin here. Oh, wait. No, we we can't. We need uh We need the spot. Never mind. We need the spot. We don't have room for Pikmin. So, let's just bump everything down once. That puts Cadence of Hyrule at 23, Paper Mario at 22, Golf Story at 21, Monster Hunter Rise at 20, Dead Cells at 19, Luigi's Mansion 3 at 18, Vampire Survivors at 17, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 at 16, Balatro at 15, Mario Party Jamboree at 14, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze at 13, Celeste at 12, and then would that do we bump Mario Wonder out of the top 10 or do we Well, I You got to put Legends there. You got to put Legends there. Or do we put Pikmin 4 at 11? No, cuz then we didn't we didn't mix. This is hard. It is hard. Yeah. All right, let's put Legends Arceus. I can live with that. Okay. At 11. At 11. So that that leaves Mario Wonder at 10. And then we have nine is vacant, Mario 3D World plus Bowser's Fury at 8, Splatoon 3 at 7, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons at six. I would almost uh advocate for us putting either Animal Crossing or Splatoon 3 at nine. I would prefer Animal Crossing. Let's do that. Okay. I I I'm okay with that because there are some heavy hitters that are not on this list yet. We miscalculated, but not not overly we didn't get to like number three and be like, well, we haven't put a Zelda game on yet. No, it's it's cool. We are completely in agreement of what the six the top six are. This is 100% it. When I think of the Switch, it's these six. So, I'm going to move those up onto the the number one spot and we are going to systematically move them out of it. Okay. Um, so that puts let's see where is Okay, so we have Breath of the Wild going up there. We have Tears of the Kingdom going up there. We have Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Smash Ultimate. Where is Smash Ultimate? There it is. And then last but not least, Metroid Dread. Maybe last. We'll see. Maybe last. Yeah, it might be. I mean, it's last for me. I'll just throw that out on the table right now. Mhm. Um, so yeah, that that's our final six here is Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Smash Ultimate, and Metroid Dread. That's a murderer's row of games. Yeah, that's crazy. I would say I'd put Metroid Dread at six. Yeah, I can live with that. I don't Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. I mean, it it was so great to have Metroid Dread come back or the Metroid franchise come back in a 2D game. The first one in a very long first all-new one in a very long time. I'm still kind of upset that uh we didn't get Metroid Samus Returns on Switch. We got it on 3DS and they never ported it because why would they do something that makes a lot of sense? Yeah. Uh, but yeah, Metroid Dread, fantastic game. Um, I still prefer some of the more offensive Metroid games instead of like having to sneak around and hide from the the EMMI robots. But uh, Dread, one of the best Metroidvania games I can recall.

Yeah. No, this is the one that finally got me in the door as a Metroid fan. I dabbled for years and years and years, but when I was growing up, Metroid was dead. It was Other M and Federation Force and nothing else. Like, oh gosh, there was nothing. So, Dread finally got me in. I adore that game. And again, we talk about game feel. Samus feels amazing to control in that game. She is very fast. She's got that that slide she can do to get under. So, you don't have to morph ball under everything; you can slide through and keep running. She feels great. Her powers are great. It looks amazing. The bosses are so memorable. It's one of the best final bosses in any Nintendo game. Like that fight is so good. Yeah. So, and now I've played every Metroid. I love them all now. But Metroid was the one that got me through. So, Well, hey. Yeah. But it's it's number six, though. The top five are definitive. Yeah. The top five it's about the order. Something monumental to dethrone any of these games.

Yeah. Let's just count backwards, I guess. Number five, I think it's I keep saying like, all right, well, it's got to be Mario Kart or it's got to be uh Smash Brothers, but then I think like is it Tears of the Kingdom? Not for me. I don't think so either, but like I know some people have a lower opinion of that and like the fact that the other four games that are remaining are so iconic. Um, is it Smash Ultimate? I think. Okay. I think we we got to compare. We have to decide which Zelda we like more. I know what you're gonna say. It's different from what I'm gonna say, but I'll defer to you. It's your show. And then we have to decide which of the like party games is better, Kart or Smash. I think Smash is better. They're both similar in their approach, though, because it's like this. They both have the everyone is here uh approach. And in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's uh case, it's the everything is here because the booster course pass. Yeah, for me, Smash is so polished and has so much content, and no offense to Mario Kart, it just takes more to make a great fighting game. And there's so much attention to detail. Like to add a new character into that roster and balance it to the level they did is way more impressive than them porting mobile tracks from Mario Kart Tour into the booster course. And also, it was a port in the first place cuz it was on Wii U. I mean, obviously, the battle mode is substantially better in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe than it is in Mario Kart 8 on Wii U. But I think that is enough actually now that you've brought that up. Smash Ultimate is an all-new entry for the Switch. The DLC is more impressive. Even though they did like probably a higher quantity of DLC for Mario Kart 8. Yeah. I think I'm comfortable putting Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at number five.

Yeah, that sounds good. This is like dark having to like basically like just be like, "Yeah, this is one of my favorite games of all time. It's one of the bestselling video games of all time. The fifth best game on the system, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, right?" Yeah, it's crazy. It's the best entry in the Mario Kart franchise by a long shot by, you know, pre-World. Who knows how World's going to turn out, but I don't think that'll change. I'll say it. I think it's still going to be better. I I like what I played of World a lot. I'm not down on it at all. I thought it was great, but just it's their first shot at something brand new. And Mario Kart 8 is just such a perfect representation of what Mario Kart's been forever that I don't see them quite topping it yet with the next one.

Yeah, I've said this a few times where I was like I've I've repeatedly wondered where does Nintendo go with both the Smash and Mario Kart franchises after these games. And I do think they figured it out with Mario Kart World. Like I think they figured out a way that it's it's not just bigger and better Mario Kart. It's like they found a cool way forward that doesn't feel like a step back even though they are dialing back the content quite considerably. Yeah. For now. Who knows? Maybe they'll support it and it'll get there. Yeah. I I mean they will 100% as long as it doesn't like completely flop, which doesn't seem like it's going to based on like how pre-orders went. Yeah. Um does that mean that Smash Ultimate lands at number four? I think so. Yeah. I mean, how do you break into that top three? I mean, Smash Ultimate, an all-time great entry in the world of Nintendo, but so are the other three that are remaining. Smash is the bestselling fighting game of all time. Smash all. Oh, I did not know that factoid. I know a lot of the sales factoids. I did not know that. Um, but yeah, I mean, everyone is here. What else do you need to say? And not only that, but they kept going and they ended on such a high note. I'm not a Kingdom Hearts guy, but I know that that was like outside of maybe Goku, that was the best way to end the DLC for Smash Ultimate. Putting putting uh um Sora, God, why couldn't I think of his name? Uh, again, not a Kingdom Hearts fan. I The only reason I know Sora is be Sora is because uh it's also the name of the development studio that uh that Sakurai runs, which is very funny as well. Yeah, it is fun. That had to be fun for them that that's what they ended on as well. Yeah. So, we got three remaining here. And I think that almost anyone would agree this is the big three of the Nintendo Switch. We have Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom. I'm gonna And you're going to disagree because I you've hinted how you're going to go. I would say Tears of the Kingdom would be my number three. I can live with that. But it it we can we can compromise here. What would your number three be on this list? Breath of the Wild. Oh, jeez. For sure. So, I know. Okay. How about this? You want Breath of the Wild to be number one? Yeah. Yeah. I want My order would be Tears of the Kingdom, Odyssey, Breath of the Wild. Your order would probably be Breath of the Wild, Odyssey, Tears of the Kingdom. So, average it out. It all ties. It's all ties at an average of two. Why don't we do this? Put Odyssey at three. Mhm. Tears of the Kingdom. I'm I'm I came into the show knowing Breath of the Wild would end up at number one, and I'm okay with that. You came in knowing I was a ruthless dictator who was going to No, I I I'm open to it because like I think that Tears of the Kingdom is a better game potentially. I think the dungeons are way better than they were in Breath of the Wild. The final boss is definitely way better than it was in Breath of the Wild, but the impact that Breath of the Wild had just makes it higher for me. I would be open to hearing your argument for Tears of the Kingdom at number one, but can we agree that Mario Odyssey goes at number three here?

Yeah, I think so. Okay, let's give it its dues first. And it's, in my opinion, the greatest 3D platforming Mario game of all time, which might make it in conversation for the greatest 3D platformer ever for me. Uh, it did for me what Breath of the Wild did for me in that I was like, "Okay, yeah, like Mario 64 impacted me so profoundly when it first came out on the Nintendo 64 that I just thought that that feeling of like excitement and like experimentation and and just overall joy was never going to reach that level." And Mario Odyssey feels like a spiritual successor to 64 in so many ways. And then it expands it in all the ways that you would hope it would in creativity like with the the capture system is just unlike anything that I've ever seen in a video game before. Like it it basically made Mario like Kirby on steroids. Like you can like cap like the things that you can capture in this game are absurd. It's not just like oh I threw it on a Goomba and I can run around or I threw it on a Hammer Brother and I I can throw hammers now. It's like no, you can the things you capture at the end of Mario Mario Odyssey just completely flipped this game on its head and and like you know they they knew that as well because like the first look that we got at Mario Odyssey was him capturing a photorealistic Tyrannosaurus Rex. Yeah. Which that was when I was like oh this is something completely different. Um, so I it is a game that I never expected to like as much as I did. And then by the time I finished it, I was like, this is uh I mean, where is it? I I put a put together a top 50 list of all time uh for myself. Let me see where I put it. I I did it over on the Patreon uh to close out my Patreon show. Uh, Super Mario Odyssey is a number it's number 15 on my favorite games of all time list.

Very nice. So yeah, I obviously think very highly of it. Um, but tell me what you love about Mario Odyssey. Yeah, it's like it's not my favorite game of all time. That's Tears of the Kingdom. Uh, but it's like when people ask the question like if you could erase one thing from your head to do it for the first time again, my answer is is Mario Odyssey. Even though it's not my number one thing, just because it is pure joy and that that feeling of experiencing it for the first time is unmatched. Just it's a roller coaster ride of what's going to happen next and the answer is almost always something better than what you just did. Like just the the intro is bombastic. Then you go to Cascade Kingdom which is gorgeous. You capture the T-Rex. Eventually you find yourself in New Donk City where you do the festival which is a top five moment in Nintendo history. That is one of the greatest things they have ever done. And then the final boss and what happens after that is also one of my favorite moments in Nintendo history. It's incredible. And we're kind of getting a weird sequel to it in Donkey Kong Bonanza. I know I've seen some people comparing the two. It's very true. But yeah, it's 100%. They thought of Donkey Kong Bonanza when they were making that ending for Super Mario Odyssey. Guaranteed. Also, can I just say that I I forget who it was and I wish I could give them the shout out here. If there is a level in Donkey Kong Bonanza where you go to New Donk City and you do the festival from his perspective, I will lose my mind. Yeah, that would be so cool. Or like even just interrupt the festival as like 3D Donkey Kong. Yeah. Like and like capture Pauline like that would be unbelievable. But any any reference to that moment since that was the first time Donkey Kong has appeared in a mainline Mario game in in how long? Like ever? like since like Donkey Kong like Yeah, I think ever. Oh my gosh, I never thought about it that way. That's crazy. This is wild. But yeah, like if they could figure out a way to like have one of like the worlds that Donkey Kong goes to in Bonanza be New Donk City and you actually get to like crash the festival or like even just throw barrels at Mario while he does the festival. That would be a 10 out of 10 reference to Mario Odyssey. Yeah, that'd be so cool. Oh, that'd be awesome. I'm so psyched for Bonanza, by the I think it's going to be the game of the year. I think it's going to be that good. Yeah, I'm really really high on it from what we played as well. Odyssey is just great. It's just you already mentioned how great the capturing is, but the platforming is just so tight, too, with all the things, all the maneuvers Cappy opens up for Mario is just really, really fluid and expressive. The speedrunning community for that game is is wild. Like, yeah, it's it's an all-timer. It's the best Mario game hands down for me. It's like not even close.

Oh, yeah. It's in my top three Mario games behind World and probably three. Nice. Yeah. But, you know, I grew up with 2D Mario. You grew up with the 3D Mario stuff. Like, when I was when I started Mario, 3D Mario didn't exist. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so I'm very old. Um, let's And also, the only thing I'm upset about with Mario Odyssey is we never got meaningful DLC. Hey, you don't like Luigi's Balloon World? I'm just saying the stage was set for them to like add like Isle Delfino or like any of the other like just any other kingdom would have been amazing and like it makes so much sense because it's like automatically segmented. They didn't have to like come up with some weird way to like oh it has to fit into the world in this way and like suddenly this new land mass. No, it's just you add another thing to the menu and uh that would have been great but no we never got that. That's why I still maintain that I think the next Mario game is going to have a lot of ideas from Mario Odyssey left over put into that game.

All right, let's get into the blood bath here that is going to be deciding Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. I'm glad that these are the last two though because I think they are my personal last two. Um, convince me on Tears of the Kingdom. I just think Tears of the Kingdom like it's just one of the most impressive games ever made from a technical perspective with just the physics interaction and everything they pulled off and how it they fully realized this mission of it being a sandbox and that started in Breath of the Wild with

Magnesus and Stasis, and all the interactions you could do. But I just think the world is unbelievable. And the organic moments it leads to—of stuff that will happen to you that feels like it didn't happen to anybody else, but probably did, but maybe sometimes it didn't. It's just unlike anything else. And I think that the world is just so much richer. There's more meaningful side quests to do and find.

Like the Lucky Clover side quest with Penn at all of the stables is great. And I think Ascend is completely bonkers that it works. They add this whole cave system for you to explore caves, and then instead of having to walk to the exit, like what if you could jump through the ceiling? Who thinks of that? Only this team thinks of that. And they pulled it off here. And not only that, but when you jump through the ceiling after shooting a bubble frog and getting the gem, and you pop out at the top of a mountain, oh, there's someone there ready to tell you about your next quest. He's looking off into the distance at Even Tide Island, and then you're shipped off there and you're fighting pirates in a cove. Like the way it just guides you. I think Breath of the Wild has that, but I think this just has it tenfold.

And that's without even mentioning the sky and the depths and the improved dungeons and the boss battles that actually feel like Zelda boss battles, which nothing in Breath of the Wild ever did. The finale of Breath of the Wild, to me, fell so flat. I was like, "Really? That's the cap to this 100-hour journey I just went on?" And Tears of the Kingdom, you sit there stunned in silence after you finish that game because of how remarkable it is.

So, I just feel like all the pain points for me of Breath of the Wild—like not much enemy variety, some areas a little bit too empty, lame dungeons and boss battles—Tears of the Kingdom is like, "Okay, here you go." And it just gave me everything that I ever wanted. The only thing I will say about the dungeons is the fire one stinks in Tears of the Kingdom. I hated that one so much. The rest of them are quite good though, like the sky one is awesome. Uh, I'm not a big fan of the water dungeon boss either. No. Um, overall I think the dungeon was fine, but the boss battle I was like, uh, not a fan of this reverse Splatoon fight that you have to do. It just didn't work for me. Um, but yeah, that final approach. I will say that I think that the final approach to the final boss in Breath of the Wild is better than in Tears of the Kingdom. Okay. Um, like storming Hyrule Castle in Breath of the Wild. If you count that as like the end of that game, I think it is a much stronger thing than if you're just like, "Okay, well, once you got to Ganet and then fought Dark Beast Ganon, like, yeah, that did fall a little bit flat." It was pretty cool. Uh, if you had all the dungeons completed, all the divine beasts completed, and you see this grotesque Ganon like hatch out of a cocoon and then the beam from the champions just rain down on him and take away half of his health. That was great, but it's not nearly as cool as—spoiler alert for the final boss in Tears of the Kingdom—but when you're fighting Ganondorf and the health bar breaks through the side of the screen, unbelievable. Oh my god, that is a top five Nintendo moment potentially. Like, oh my god. And I mean, Mario Odyssey also, like speaking of Nintendo moments, like the ending of that is also incredible, with the song and everything. Like I don't want to spoil multiple endings in this video or this episode, but you know.

The one counter that I will have for Breath of the Wild is since it was first in this duology of this style of Zelda games, it had a substantially greater impact on me and showed me that I could be freed from the thinking that I was never going to feel the way that Ocarina of Time made me feel when I first played it on the N64 back in 1998. And I never thought I would have that feeling again. Uh, it also rewired my entire brain of how an open world can exist. Yeah. And I know that Tears of the Kingdom also does that. Like Tears of the Kingdom has many of the same open-world design conventions as Breath of the Wild, but they even went even further because they have things like Ultrahand and Ascend. Mhm.

And I just like the moment that it clicked with me in Breath of the Wild because I remember playing Breath of the Wild at E3 2016 and being like, "I don't think I like this very much," because it's a hard game to demo in like 45 minutes. And I remember just being like, "Ah, it doesn't feel that great. Like I don't know, like the combat isn't the best." And then like once I really started digging into it when the Switch came out and I was playing it on launch day, I started like walking around and I was like, "All right, let me climb this wall. Oh wow, there's something really cool up here. That's interesting." Yeah. Normally like you'd climb to this thing and you would be like, "That's okay, I get a good view and I can jump off this and maybe glide somewhere cool, but like there's nothing cool up here." Breath of the Wild did such a great job of making it so if you found an area that maybe like nobody else would think to look up, there's going to be something cool waiting for you at the top of like that weird cliff that looks like you're not supposed to be able to get there, but you figured out a way to like chain all your abilities and stamina together to get to that top. Yeah. Mhm.

And the moment that sticks out for me is claiming the Master Sword in Breath of the Wild because yes, it's very cool the way you claim the Master Sword in Tears of the Kingdom, but the way you claim it in Breath of the Wild—and you don't know how many hearts you need to grab that out of the pedestal—and you are pulling it, and you know the first few times you do it, if you don't look up how many hearts you need, you pass out. And there's like that tension of like, "Is this going to be the time? I finally have another heart. Is this going to be the time? No, I have to come back." And then the moment it actually unseats and Link has the Master Sword and you feel like you have just unlocked the most iconic weapon in gaming history because you have—because the Master Sword is the most iconic video game weapon to ever exist, in my opinion. I can't think of one off the top of my head of like better. No, me neither. But you know what? I will concede that I think I don't know. I feel like you don't want to. I don't want to concede. I will. I will concede because I think that your points are well made. I think that Tears of the Kingdom does take a lot of the stuff that Breath of the Wild did to the next level.

The only counter I will have, as far as a negative on Tears of the Kingdom, is the depths just feel not as well thought out as the sky islands or the main level of Hyrule. I like that completely, like going down there. Like I do think that it's incredible that the roots that you have to activate are exactly lined up with the shrines above. I think that is an unbelievable touch. The rest of it just doesn't feel as well-designed as every other part of that game. And because you have to go down there so frequently, especially for like the really cool temples and everything that are down there, I ding it some points there. That said, I acknowledge that even though it didn't impact me the same way that Breath of the Wild did, because it had the unfortunate thing of coming after Breath of the Wild, if these games were flip-flopped and Tears of the Kingdom came before Breath of the Wild, it would be the same way for me where it's like, "Oh yeah, Tears of the Kingdom is the one that impacted me and overtook Breath of the Wild." I think that's the only reason that I would put Breath of the Wild over Tears of the Kingdom, just because it came first and it established the formula. If we are sheerly talking about the best game, I will concede that Tears of the Kingdom could very well be a better game. Yeah.

To talk against my own side for a second, just in favor of Breath of the Wild, I do think that Tears of the Kingdom is a much messier game than Breath of the Wild in a lot of ways. Like Breath of the Wild is very immaculately designed because it's a lot simpler than just the crazy off-the-wall stuff they tried to go for in Tears of the Kingdom. So, I think it all just comes down to a feeling of what you like. Breath of the Wild is very, very meticulous, methodical. Like you said, you go somewhere, you're going to be rewarded. Tears of the Kingdom is, "Okay, I'm going to spend an hour gluing fans to this log to try and fly it across this river," and then you laugh at what happens and then you probably stumble into something cool on the way. Like they're—I think people always say they're very similar. I think of these games so differently from each other and how they actually play and feel. And I get why people like Breath of the Wild more because Tears of the Kingdom is like, "Oh, I'm going to glue a fish to this sword and then throw it at a Lionyl just because"—like the stuff you can do is crazy and funny and hilarious and like improvisational. But I agree, the depths are messy. They're not the best. And I think that the story in Tears of the Kingdom, I like the highs of it more, like the Master Sword moment and then the finale, but I like—we criticized the champions earlier or the sages earlier. Like those cutscenes are bad, like when you beat the dungeons and you see the same cutscene four times, like it's not good. And like I don't know, I just think there's a lot of missed opportunities with the story. And yeah, it's just like Tears of the Kingdom is like a theme park of just Hyrule's yours to dominate, and Breath of the Wild is like this desolate wasteland that's yours to uncover. They're very, very different. I can see the argument for both. I think for the dungeons and boss fights alone, I will give it to Tears of the Kingdom. Okay, there it is. And also the—I mean, they're both extremely ambitious in their own ways. Yeah. And you're right, the fact that Tears of the Kingdom runs on a Switch One is absolute witchcraft. Yeah, it's crazy. Like I think I brought this up with Seth last week when he was—because Tears of the Kingdom is his favorite—and he was—we were just talking about how all these developers came out after Tears of the Kingdom came out. They're like, "How does this run on a Nintendo Switch? Like there's no reason this should ever—this should bring the system—like it should melt the fan basically, as the heat that it is giving off.

Yeah. Uh, but all right. Do you want to do honorable mentions or do you want to count down the top 25 list first? Up to you. Your choice. Uh, we have two honorable mentions already. We have Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. That means we each have two honorable mentions we can throw up there. We've used our vetos, so we can't veto each other's honorable mentions. Yeah. Uhu. Uh, yeah. So, what is your—what is one of your honorable mentions? Well, I think I'd like to make a swap if I can swap my own pick out if you're okay with that. It was the one you almost vetoed. I want to swap Celeste and Pikmin 4 and make Celeste one of my honorable mentions. Okay. I just think Pikmin 4 needs to be here. We can do that. So, that puts Pikmin 4 at number 12. Yeah, I love that. I think that's a great spot for it. All right. Well, give a little bit of shine to Pikmin 4 before we go to honorable mentions. Yeah, it's just like every other dang Nintendo franchise on Switch. Pikmin 4 is the best one. It. I don't know how they did it this generation, but Pikmin 4 just has the caves from Pikmin 2, the multiple—or the—all the Pikmin types from one, two, and three combined. It has a new night tower defense mode. It's absolutely beautiful. The collectibles to find are great, like a Game Boy Micro that you haul back with all your little Pikmin. That's just cute. And yeah, I just think they nailed every aspect of it. It's the biggest Pikmin ever, which doesn't always mean it's the best, but everything here is just so great. And there's like an entire campaign to do after you roll credits originally with so much content. I just think that yeah, Pikmin 4 was this mythical game for like 10 years. Miyamoto's like, "Yep, we're making it." And when it finally actually came out, like it delivered. Like that game is—it's almost a 10 out of 10 for me. Like I think Pikmin 4 is just phenomenal. Well, and there it is behind your other favorite game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Yeah, I do love that game. I do really love that one. Yeah. All right. So, you have two honorable mentions: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Celeste. That means, let me throw an honorable mention up there. I'm going to go with—this might be a little bit of a controversial pick—throwing it on the honorable mentions, I'm going to do Super Mario Maker 2. Oh, okay. Cool. I love Super Mario Maker. I agree that without the gamepad's touchscreen, it does lose a little bit of something in the translation to just having the controller, unless you're playing in handheld mode. That said, if they port Super Mario Maker 2 to Switch 2 and add the mouse functionality, it—we're back, baby. We are back. Like, this is like instantly going to be one of my favorite games on Switch 2. If they can, if they do that, which why wouldn't they? Because that is such an easy obvious answer for what they could do cool with the mouse functionality.

So, we each have one honorable mention remaining here. Uh, I'm looking at—there's so many that I could include here that, you know, I'm between four. Oh gosh. For my last one. Um, yeah. Well, we haven't put a Fire Emblem game on. I'm not a big Fire Emblem guy. Yeah, Three Houses is probably missing from our list, but I'm also kind of lower on that one. I think the 3DS era was kinder to Fire Emblem than the Switch one. Wow. People love Three Houses. They do. I am tempted to do Metroid Prime Remastered. That's a good one. Oh man, that's a good one. I finished that like last week. Other ones that I'm thinking of include the most on-brand one that I could choose, which is Sonic Mania. Oh, that's good, too. Uh, another on-brand one I could choose is Persona 5 Royal. Oh, I forgot that's even on Switch. Oh my god. Yeah, it's so good. Um, Blasphemous 2 is another one that I could consider there. Oh boy, so many good ones to choose from. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania. That's on my short list. I was thinking about it. And that's a Switch exclusive, too. Um, yeah, that makes it—I know people are screaming at their podcast app, Rocket League or Octopath Traveler 2, maybe. Are people screaming Rocket League? Maybe. I don't know. Like, that game is still going strong. Yeah, I just think of that as like a PlayStation game. That's fair. Yeah, you know, I can go. I think I'm ready for it. If you want to—if you want to save yours for last, I think gosh, I've narrowed it down to two. I want to do Banana Mania, but I don't think I will. That's a hard one to squeeze onto what is essentially going to be a top 31. Yeah, I'll do Dragon Quest XI S. I think that's like my favorite RPG, and the Switch version—it made it other places, but um, all the Switch content came out first in that version, and it has like the 2D mode, and it's just one of the best JRPGs of all time. And yeah, I love that Switch version to death. Man. Yeah, that's a good choice. And it rounds us out a little bit with some RPGs because we—right now I think is Mario RPG the only true RPG that we have on this list? Like I mean, if you squint you could make Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom. Yeah, Xenoblade. You're right. Okay. Um, yeah, we probably are missing Fire Emblem: Three Houses from this list. I'm not the guy to put that on there though, unfortunately. Me neither. Yeah. So, I'm gonna say screw it. And we are going to put—Oh, man. Snipperclips is another—another OG one. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. That's a—that's a good one, man. Yeah, Snipperclips is great. I had a lot of fun with that game. Yeah. Uh, I'm gonna put Persona 5 Royal. It is a—Let me see what my list is. I think it's a top five game of all time for me. It is. What's number one of all time for me? Yeah. Breath of the Wild. Okay. Nice. Yeah. My top five is Breath of the Wild, Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy X, Super Mario World, and Persona 5 Royal. Okay. Nice. So, I got to throw that in the honorable mentions. Uh, I mean, I guess I should, by that logic, put Final Fantasy X remaster on there, but we're not going to do that. That's too old to make this list at this point, even though I love Final Fantasy X with all of my heart. Um, so yeah, our honorable mentions: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Celeste, Super Mario Maker 2, Dragon Quest XI S, and Persona 5 Royal. And shall we count down the top 25 and see if there's any last-minute changes we want to do? Yeah. All right.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker at number 25. Number 24, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. 23, Cadence of Hyrule. 22, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. 21, Golf Story. 20, Monster Hunter Rise. 19, Dead Cells. 18, Luigi's Mansion 3. 17, Vampire Survivors. 16, Xenoblade Chronicles 3. 15, Baldo. 14, Super Mario Party Superstars. 13, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. 12, Pikmin 4. 11, Pokémon Legends: Arceus. 10, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Nine, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Eight, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Seven, Splatoon 3. Six, Metroid Dread. Five, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Four, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Three, Super Mario Odyssey. Two, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And one, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Beautiful. How are you feeling about that list? Any last-minute adjustments you want to make? I feel great about it. I just know people always hear the ones that aren't there, like Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Hades, like these. But I just don't think we're the people for those, which is fine. So many good games. This is one—this is just a weird lame one I want to throw in here that doesn't even belong in my honorable mention category. But I do really love Skyward Sword HD. I'll just say that I love that remaster of that game, but I didn't bring it up at all today. And I just want to give you one last chance. You told me Breath of the Wild's your number one of all time. Do you want to flip one and two? Because I would be totally fine with that. We are—we're keeping it. Even you with your Breath of the Wild poster behind you, uh, we are going to stay the course. I do want to shout out the Mario + Rabbids games. Those were a lot of fun. I don't think they belong on my top 25 even though they are quite good, and I think everybody who has a Switch should play it. I also want to acknowledge, yes, we are falling short on the Fire Emblem representation. And I know a lot of people have a lot of love for Laura and the Laser Eyes. Um, that did not make our list either. Astral Chain, people love. I have—I forgot to put that in the box art list as well here, but I wasn't gonna pick it. Um, the AI games are fantastic. Sea of Stars. So, a lot of great games that did not make the cut here. Uh, the 99 games, Tetris 99, F-Zero 99, those are exclusive to Switch. Um, but yeah, I think I'm feeling pretty good overall about our top 25. Yeah. And if you are listening to this or watching it on YouTube, you absolutely can chime in with your own top 25, top 10, top five, however you want to approach it. Or you can just nitpick our list. Uh, that is also something that people love to do. So, have at it. That's what these lists are for—is to start conversations. So if you're on Spotify, there is a comment section on Spotify. Feel free to pick that apart. Uh, if you are on—I'm actually going to throw a poll as well, uh, what your number one Switch game would have been. Uh, so vote in that poll if you're listening on Spotify, sound off in the comments on YouTube, and uh, yeah, also, you know, I'll have my contact info here on the outro. But uh, yeah, let me know your thoughts on our top 25 list, and uh, maybe we'll bring up some of those comments in a future episode. But uh, Logan, thank you so much for joining me for this very fun episode of All Things Nintendo. That was super fun. Can I ask one more question? Yes. Are there any games not out yet that are going to be on this list in a couple of years? Because we're not quite done, even though we're moving on to the Switch 2. Rhythm Heaven Megamix, Metroid Prime 4. Like, stop. Yeah, I love Tomodachi Life. Oh, me too. Yeah, I love the original 3DS. Oh my god, it was—it's—I think I've said it's a top five 3DS game for me. Oh, wow. I love Tomodachi Life. But I thought about that, right? I thought like, all right, well, like, you know, Metroid Prime 4 is still coming out. Pokémon Legends: Z is still coming out on Switch. I think that once the Switch 2 hits, a lot of people aren't going to care. Like, although we've seen Switch 2 games, like Breath of the Wild's a Wii U game, but we don't talk about it like it is. Yeah, exactly. I was going to make that exact comparison of like if somebody asks you, "Oh, what's your favorite Wii U game?" I'm probably not going to say Breath of the Wild, even though it's my favorite game of all time, because I just think of it as a Switch game. And I know that isn't technically true because it was a cross-gen game, but like I think so few people played it on Wii U. I never touched the Wii U version. I just played it on Switch. So I think that I'm just going to mark the Switch 2 launch as kind of the cutoff. Yeah. And once—because I mean, I'm probably gonna play Tomodachi Life on Switch 2 even though it's coming to Switch 1, and I'm sure it's gonna probably run a little bit better, and like I don't think anything is coming out between now and June 5th that is going to dethrone anything that's on this list. Yeah, same. But Logan, I think that's an episode. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. This was super fun. And thank you so much to everyone for listening. As you know, the Patreon and the associated Discord server are the best ways to get any questions or comments in. But you can also get in touch with me at Brian at allthingsnintendo.com or hit me up on Bluesky or Instagram, Brian Pichette. That is also the YouTube channel name. If you would subscribe, it would help the show out a lot. Logan, tell everyone where they can find you online. Yeah, I'm mostly using Bluesky these days. Also still on X at the same handle, but at Logan JPlant.

Tune in to Nintendo Voice Chat every Friday at 6:00 a.m. It's—I mean, it's up there with the best Nintendo shows to ever exist. I won't say it's the best show because I—I don't want to—I don't want to sully the name of this great show, but if I'm honest, you know, it's it's it's it's as good, if not better than this show.

So, I love coming on this show. It's super fun. And we still got to get you on NBC around the Switch stuff. It'll be fun. I'm always down. I love Nintendo Voice Chat. So, I'm super happy to have you on, have Seth on, anybody who's involved with that show. Love having them on this show. Uh, but thank you again, Logan. That is our show for this week. Thank you so much again for listening. Take care. We'll see you next time. [Music]

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