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Forums - Nintendo - Your top 3 Switch console exclusive games?

Jumpin on 13 November 2020

Animal Crossing New Horizons, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Golf Story off the top of my head.

On a the other discussions in this thread about the value of exclusivity:

I think exclusivity is irrelevant if people want to play the game on the Switch; especially when it is the definitive experience for playing the game. The vast majority of third parties are going to release their content where it can come out, unless it has some kind of deal like Golf Story. Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 on Wii U are irrelevant; few people associate either game with Wii U.

What changed about Mario Kart 8 on Wii U being one of the least relevant and most coldly received Mario Kart games of all time, to being perhaps the best received Mario Kart game of all time? In essence, Wii U was kind of a soft-launch for the game, it found its body and soul on Switch and went from a 6.8 game to a 9.5 game.

On a game like Stardew Valley which was also very well received on PC. While it’s not exclusive, the hybrid experience for it happens to be. The Switch experience cannot be understated, that appeals to people who might not be interested in playing it on PC or a phone.



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Lucas-Rio on 13 November 2020

That's a tough choice. I would say:

1) Xenoblade 2

2) Mario Odyssey

3) Smash Bros Ultimate

With Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing being very close from that top.



Lucas-Rio on 13 November 2020
Jumpin said:

kind of deal like Golf Story. Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 on Wii U are irrelevant; few people associate either game with Wii U.

What changed about Mario Kart 8 on Wii U being one of the least relevant and most coldly received Mario Kart games of all time, to being perhaps the best received Mario Kart game of all time? In essence, Wii U was kind of a soft-launch for the game, it found its body and soul on Switch and went from a 6.8 game to a 9.5 game.

What you say about Mario Kart 8 on Wii U is not true. It was widely acclaimed and regarded as one of the best ever Mario Kart. It was much better than Double Dash, DS, Wii and 8, Super circuit isn't even in the discussion.

It was the already the best Mario Kart and by far the best selling game of the Wii U with a more than 50% attach rate.

Wii U was an exceptionnal failure which reduced the sales of all games published on it, but Mario Kart 8 quality was never in doubt.



curl-6 on 13 November 2020

Wii U games brought to Switch are not exclusives, period.

It doesn't matter that the Wii U didn't sell well, the fact remains that these games have been officially released and publically available for years on a system other than the Switch.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 13 November 2020

Cerebralbore101 on 13 November 2020

Fire Emblem Three Houses

Xenoblade 2

Super Mario Odyssey



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Jranation on 14 November 2020

1. Splatoon 22. Fire Emblem 3 Houses3. Animal Crossing New Horizons



Pocky Lover Boy! 

curl-6 on 14 November 2020
AngryLittleAlchemist said:
curl-6 said:

Honestly, as much as I love the Switch, and I own 28 games for it so far, if it has a weakness it's that it does kinda lack a great amount of exclusive content.

You can play almost all the best Wii U games on it, along with many superb titles from PS4, Xbone, and 7th gen platforms, but combing through my collection so far only 4 of them are exclusive so far. 

That said, with games like Monster Hunter Rise, BOTW2, and No More Heroes 3 upcoming, that should change as Switch's life progresses.

It's weird... I wouldn't say the problem is a lack of exclusive content. It's more like a lack of exclusive content that doesn't feel underwhelming, or at least extremely disappointing in certain regards. Like between the major Switch exclusives I've played, Mario + Rabbids and Fire Emblem Three Houses were very disappointing, Splatoon 2 was downright mediocre, Xenoblade 2 was pretty good but super heavily flawed (and after finally playing 1 with DE, a big step down from that game might I add), Astral Chain was a pretty nice start for a new IP but surprisingly rough around the edges mechanically, and Arms and Yoshi's Crafted World were so blegh that I spent virtually no time with them. And then there's games like Odyssey or Smash Ultimate or Animal Crossing, where I like the skeletons of the game a lot but they are either a bit too surface level or they just lack a reason to keep coming back. A lot of the issues with those games stem from things like Nintendo's content delivery service, where the games feel a bit incomplete at launch and they slowly add content over time ... which I dislike. Or just that the online is bad, like with Smash Ultimate, which I'd probably play a lot more if it had good online. They feel a bit too rough or incomplete. That's also why I didn't get Aces despite enjoying the gameplay when there was a free trial for it, the campaign felt rushed and half-assed. 

But if I enjoyed all those games as much as the average person did, I wouldn't really complain about quantity overall for the Switch at this point in it's life. Which is weird, because I definitely think that experiencing 2018, 2019, 2020 first hand there were definitely some moments of droughts ... but like, especially when including third party support, it became less and less each year for me. By 2019 half of the year was jam packed back to back with big titles and by 2020 there was enough third parties + backlog games for me to be satisfied even in months with not too many games (I have other platforms though, to be fair). 

I'd say including cross-gen games and remasters for the top 3: 

1. Super Mario Maker 2 

2. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (kind of a weird one to put as I don't really associate it as a major game for the Switch even compared to other remasters/ports, but it's probably the 2nd best game on the system for me) 

3. Breath of the Wild 

Not including cross-gen games: 

1. Super Mario Maker 2 

2. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition 

3. Paper Mario: Origami King 

Not including cross-gen games or remasters: 

1. Super Mario Maker 2 

2. Paper Mario: Origami King 

3. Link's Awakening Remake 

Honestly not including remakes would make the list a lot sadder though .... since the games I listed are basically the extent of titles I really, really, really enjoyed

I'd probably have Luigi's Mansion 3 super high up there too but I haven't put much time into it. 

While there are definitely Switch exclusives I find unappealing, like Animal Crossing, Smash, Pokemon, and Fire Emblem, I really enjoyed Splatoon 2 and found Mario Odyssey to have more than enough depth to keep me engaged. I agree Xenoblade 2 is heavily flawed, but for me its strengths are enough to ultimately outweigh its weaknesses.

I'd definitely recommend giving Luigi's Mansion 3 a good go, especially if you enjoyed the first two.

For me, the Switch has shone mostly thanks to its multiplatform titles so far, which is really weird for a Nintendo platform. Most of my favourite games on it are stuff like Doom 2016, Witcher 3, Hellblade, Ori, etc. In fact, I'd say it's unique in this regard, as every other Nintendo console has been defined primarily by its exclusives in my book.

Who knows though, maybe that will be true of Switch as well by the end of its life; there's certainly plenty of exclusives still to come.



Wyrdness on 15 November 2020

I'm going by the notion that by exclusive you mean games only on the platform.

Astral Chain

Xenoblade 2

Super Mario Odyssey



noshten on 15 November 2020

Splatoon 2 and Breath of the Wild for me



curl-6 on 15 November 2020
noshten said:

Splatoon 2 and Breath of the Wild for me

Breath of the Wild's not a Switch exclusive, it is also on Wii U.