Any game that is stylised looks better on the TV as it can scale upwards super well with clean lines and art.

Any game that tries to push visuals or realism... Better in portable mode as the small, low resolution display helps hide artefacts and limitations in the Switch's output, which otherwise would look blurry, barren and washed out on a TV.

All games "play" better on the TV... Joycons aren't great for us Adults with large hands... And a big panel really is hard to pass up.

I don't know if this is a hot take or not:
Certain games like Xenoblade Chronicles 1-3 and BOTW/TOTK look better in a lot of ways in handheld mode. Yeah, Xenoblade can get to really low resolutions in handheld. But I'd rather play a 720p or lower res game sometimes on a small 720p screen than a game that caps out at 720-900p on a 50 inch 4K TV. Maybe I have a weird setting on my 4K TV, but Tears of the Kingdom looks rougher than even I would've pictured on it.
JoyCon-only games are of course largely better in docked mode than tabletop.

2D sidescrollers and turn based strategy games are better in handheld mode.

My Switch never leaves its dock, it's basically a home console to me; I have no interest in handheld play as I prefer to relax in front of a big screen TV when I game.

I do handheld for the utility of it. If I’m in the living room, I’ll use the dock. If I’m commuting, in the hammock, or playing multiplayer games, it’s handheld.

In the same position, though on rare trips, I do bring it with me, while leaving the Joycons behind so I'm actually a tabletop player lol

Pretty much everything docked.


Portable sacrifices performance with minimal graphics hit for the portability feature which I dont mind.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is superior in handheld mode because of the access to up 8 or 12 player multiplayer without any split screen. The amount of fun and satisfaction that can be had in that regard is significantly higher than single player or online-only multiplayer. It transformed a Wii U game which (IMO) had about 3-10 hours worth of play, into a Switch game with 500+ hours worth of play.

In fact, I'd argue that most mutliplayer games are significantly better in handheld. There are certain co-op style games that are exceptions, though. But, co-op games like "Don't Starve Together" and Stardew Valley are (IMO) superior in handheld mode.

EDIT

To clarify, I think functionality is vastly more important than graphical considerations. That's kind of what I was trying to get at with the multiplayer thing. But there's also the "book" type games, that you want to curl up with on the sofa or a hammock - and these are your Phoenix Wright games, certain RPGs, and other types of adventure games that are text intensive.

I would say Okami is better in Handheld than Docked.

RPGs are better docked and shooters are better in handheld.