GoNintendo’s Favorite Switch Games of 2024

The Switch is deep into its seventh year, but you wouldn’t know that from the software output. Against all odds, the Switch’s game library saw a ton of fantastic additions this year that made it look more like a system with plenty of life left, rather than one most likely stepping aside in 2025 for a successor.

Switch in 2024 brought us a heaping helping of remakes, a plethora of chart-topping indies, brand-new installments in years-dormant franchises, completely original outings for Nintendo’s big-name characters…the list goes on and on. Truth be told, outside the NES and Game Boy, it’s damn hard to think of another Nintendo platform that continued to remain so relevant and supported this late in its life.

With 2024 being such a stellar year for Switch, you really don’t have to look long or hard to find a game worth your time and money. That said, the GoNintendo crew still wanted to shine a light on our top picks for the platform before 2025 kicked off. Read on to see the games various staffers named as their overall favorite Switch title of 2024, along with some insight as to why.

NinTimDo’s Pick – World of Goo 2

It would be easy to go with an obvious choice like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, or The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, but my personal Switch game of the year is World of Goo 2. I feel like it came and went with little fanfare, but it’s the perfect iteration of an already perfect concept. The puzzles are challenging, the visuals are beautiful, and the story unfolds in such a uniquely World of Goo way that you can’t help but smile while playing it. If you haven’t given this game a try, you should make it a weekend project for yourself in the new year. As I said in my review, it’s a spectacularly ooey goo’d time!

AlternisLiz’s Pick – Mario & Luigi: Brothership

2024 was a rather quiet year for Nintendo, but that didn’t stop them from releasing some fantastic games. Case in point, my favorite Switch game of the year, Mario and Luigi: Brothership.

This game offers a fresh take on the series, and that goes for music, characters, and a whole new world. I loved how expressive the characters were, along with the wonderful music of composer Hideki Sakamoto. I also adore how this game is accessible to newcomers, with knowledge of previous entries not needed to enjoy the experience to its fullest As a longtime fan of the Mario and Luigi series, I can’t recommend this marvelous adventure enough.

Jack’s Pick – Unicorn Overlord

Entertaining my little nephews over Christmas reminded me I’ll never truly grow out of playing with toys, and I think that’s a big part of why I enjoyed Unicorn Overlord. Great presentation, fun characters, and an interesting open world structure would be enough to carry most games into “game of the year” territory, but those aren’t what makes this game special. The true core of Unicorn Overlord’s appeal lies in how it lets you create your ideal squads of action figures and then bash them against other others until you create the “perfect” unit. This system effortlessly balances intuitive team-ups with deep min-maxing to create the perfect environment for endless tinkering. I spent almost as much time playing around with my units as I did actually playing the game, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Quence’s Pick – The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is probably the most obvious pick for Switch game of the year, but there’s good reason for that! This game’s 2024 announcement and release were a total surprise, coming right on the heels of the long anticipated Tears of the Kingdom, and while it didn’t make nearly as big a splash, it’s equally worth celebrating. In fact, one of my favorite things about Echoes of Wisdom is how it takes aspects from Tears and Breath of the Wild (UI elements, enemy camps, cooking, etc.) and injects them into the framework of a classic top down Zelda game with full on dungeons. On top of that, it brings in the completely new mechanic of creating echoes, which has provided me with dozens of hours of fun, inspiring me to be creative within a structure that’s less intimidating than Tears of the Kingdom’s sprawling, open-ended playground. Oh yeah, and you get to play as Zelda! And talk to cats! This game is proof that there’s still plenty of juice left in the classic Zelda formula, and I can’t wait to see how Nintendo iterates on it in future entries.

JMaldonado’s Pick – Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

While some may argue that a remake should not be a contender for game of the year (and in some ways I’m inclined to agree). but this is such an important game to me that I knew there could be no other choice. Everyone has those foundational pieces of media they experienced in their youth that made them the person they are, and I’m proud to say TTYD was one of mine.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door expands the simple world of Mario into something that’s as grand and touching as it is hilarious and whimsical. The Switch remake not only retains all the incredible moments and gameplay that made the original classic, but makes improvements to the game’s design that ensures new players will be just as pleased.

While a part of me wishes this remake added more bonus content, I can’t deny the things they did add felt carefully and respectfully chosen. I won’t spoil anything, but there are certain moments the remake adds that felt like fan-mods; changes that would really only matter to the people who loved the GameCube version to death and you wouldn’t expect to see in an official product, yet here they are on Switch.

I haven’t had this much faith in the Paper Mario series in so long, and it feels really good to have hope again. Even if this is a one time thing and the next title returns to the more limited gameplay and storytelling of modern Paper Mario’s, I’ll forever be grateful that more people have the chance to experience one of my favorite gaming stories ever told.

ZJMaster’s Pick – Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club

One beautiful aspect of life is how, when you least expect it, an experience comes out of nowhere and impacts your whole being. Emio: The Smiling Man was that for me. Beautiful, smart, high production values, and with an equal dose of respect for your intelligence, Emio presents a murder mystery that goes further beyond its initial premise and leaves you not only with the satisfaction of a fantastic tale, but also with lessons and feelings that you’ll no doubt experience in your life. A masterpiece that will cast an everlasting shadow in your world thanks to its pitch-perfect storytelling, Emio must be played by absolutely everyone who gets the chance.

RMC’s Pick – 1000xRESIST

If you read my review of 1000xRESIST or you listen to the GoNintendo Podcast, you saw me picking it as my 2024 game of the year from a mile away. Just to be clear, while this entire feature focuses on the crew’s top Switch games of 2024, 1000xRESIST is also my top pick across all platforms this year, and most importantly, my favorite game of all-time.

To label 1000xRESIST as a monumental achievement for all of gaming grossly undersells it, as the title is an astonishing creation in terms of art and entertainment…period. Story, voice acting, soundtrack, you name the area and 1000xRESIST excels. In my 36+ years of playing games, nothing has moved me to the degree that 1000xRESIST has. This is a life-changing experience that will stay with you for the rest of your days, and to think that it was created by sunset visitor 斜陽過客 as their first project…well, that might be the most unbelievable revelation 1000xRESIST has to offer.