Best Nintendo Games Of 2024

Best Nintendo Games Of 2024

Summary

  • 2024 saw a slowdown in new Switch games as Nintendo prepares to launch new hardware in 2025.
  • Despite this, releases like Princess Peach: Showtime and Mario & Luigi: Brothership surprised audiences.
  • Games like Endless Ocean Luminous, while lacking impact, still offer unique experiences for players.

2024 was an interesting year for Nintendo. As the company prepares to launch the Switch’s successor, the number of new titles developed for the current console has slowed down significantly. While there were still solid games throughout the year, none of them felt as monumental as Tears of the Kingdom or Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

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Despite the slower release schedule, Nintendo was still able to put out more than a few surprises to help the Switch maintain its momentum. There were a ton of fun surprises, but it’s clear the company is holding back for the next console. From unexpected sequels to remakes of classic titles, these are the best Nintendo games of 2024.

10

Endless Ocean Luminous

The Endless Ocean series first appeared on the Wii as a niche duology of games that put you in the flippers of a scuba diver tasked with exploring underwater regions and researching aquatic ecosystems. Almost fifteen years later, a new entry finally emerged for the Nintendo Switch, but it barely made a splash due to its repetitive gameplay and lackluster story mode.

Swimming underwater toward mysterious landmarks and colonies of fish should be a relaxing experience, but Endless Ocean Luminous makes it more frustrating than it should be. Randomly generated maps make it nearly impossible to find what you need to progress, and the multiplayer mode feels incredibly restrictive and dull.

9

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition

The Nintendo World Championships were in-person events held by Nintendo in 1990, 2015, and 2017. These tournaments brought bright-eyed players onto a stage to compete against each other in various games like Super Mario Bros and Breath of the Wild to see who would come out on top with the title of World Champion.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition attempted to bring that competitive energy to the Nintendo Switch in 2024, but the absence of a proper leaderboard and a slim variety of games prevented it from being in the zeitgeist for more than a week. It’s worth picking up if you love NES games and want to test your skills in games like Ice Climbers or Metroid, but the whole package would’ve been much better if it felt like you were actually competing against other people.

8

Another Code: Recollection

While there were plenty of new Nintendo games in 2024, the year was also filled with a handful of remakes that brought older titles back to life with a new coat of paint and quality-of-life updates. Another Code: Recollection includes two puzzle-based adventure games: 2005’s Trace Memory and its sequel, Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories, which was never released in North America until now.

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Both titles combine elements from visual novels and adventure games to create a unique experience that blends relatable drama with the supernatural to varying results. You play as a young woman named Ashley Robins and must solve puzzles with a special device known as a “DAS” to learn more about her mysterious parents in both games. Though these two games feel very different to most Nintendo games, they aren’t incredibly exciting, and some of the puzzles are either too hard or too boring.

7

Princess Peach: Showtime!

Nearly two decades after Super Princess Peach gave the damsel-in-distress a chance to shine as a main character, she finally snagged the spotlight again in Princess Peach: Showtime. After the Sour Bunch takes over a local theatre, Peach must use a variety of costumes and powers to squash their evil plans.

Developed by Good-Feel, the creators of Yoshi’s Wooly World and Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Princess Peach: Showtime is a cozy platformer that has plenty of good ideas, though it feels like it never reaches its full potential. It’s clearly designed for younger audiences, but there is still a ton of charm and some creative levels that are fun to blast through.

6

Mario vs. Donkey Kong

The original Mario vs. Donkey Kong launched on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as a spiritual successor to the 1994 Game Boy game, Donkey Kong. Two decades later, it swung back onto our Switch screens as a full remake with a new multiplayer mode and a large batch of new levels to get lost in.

After Donkey Kong steals a bunch of items from Mario’s Toy Company, it’s up to the business owner to navigate his way to the end of each level by using limited resources and tools. If you love solving puzzles under pressure, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a great package that you can play in short bursts before bed or during transit, but it doesn’t have much to offer to anyone else.

5

Mario & Luigi: Brothership

The Mario & Luigi series was a staple for Nintendo’s handheld consoles for almost 15 years before the developers, Alpha Dream, filed for bankruptcy and shut down production on its next project. While many fans assumed the potential for another entry disappeared with the studio, Nintendo surprised them with a new entry for the Switch in 2024.

Developed by Acquire, the team behind the Octopath Traveler games, this new adventure continues the legacy of Mario & Luigi for better or worse. The combat is incredibly satisfying and the dialogue is funnier than it should be, but this RPG loves to hold your hand, even when you don’t want it to. It can be extremely chatty, and certain sequences feel like they drag on forever.

The duology of Famicom Detective Club games originally launched on Famicom during the late 80s before they were remade for international audiences in 2021. All of these years later, a third game in the series was developed and quickly became one of the most unique Switch experiences of the year.

With the help of a viral marketing campaign that briefly shows a man wearing a paper bag on his head and trenchcoat standing in front of a projector, The Smiling Man instantly hooked audiences with its spooky aesthetic, and the game itself delivers a spectacular and spooky story that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat until the last moment.

3

The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom

While Princess Peach had already starred in a game before Showtime, Zelda has been mostly relegated to a secondary character role in almost every game that isn’t a spin-off or Zelda’s Adventure for the CD-i. Echoes of Wisdom finally turns the tables by letting Zelda become the protagonist after Link mysteriously disappears during the game’s opening moments.

This top-down adventure may look like A Link To The Past or Link’s Awakening at first, but the way you interact with the world couldn’t be more different. As Zelda, you can use the Tri Rod to create echoes of objects and enemies that you later summon to solve puzzles and defeat bosses. Though it might not reach the same heights as Tears of the Kingdom or Link Between Worlds, it’s still a fantastic game full of interesting puzzles, innovative mechanics, and a remarkable amount of freedom.

2

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Mario has starred in a plethora of RPGs, but none of them are remembered as dearly as Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the Nintendo GameCube. Its phenomenal cast of characters, deep battle system, and riveting narrative all work together to create one of the funniest and most exciting adventures Mario has ever had.

The 2024 remake for the Nintendo Switch features improved graphics, tweaked mechanics, and quality-of-life updates that improve the overall experience. After Origami King, The Thousand-Year Door was a pleasant reminder of what the Mario RPGs used to be like. Here’s hoping that the success of this remake will influence the next Paper Mario to go back to basics.

1

Super Mario Party Jamboree

The Nintendo Switch has become a Mario Party machine in the best ways possible. From the older titles on Nintendo Switch Online to newer titles like Super Mario Party and Mario Party Superstars, you can destroy your relationships with your family and friends with a variety of options.

The Mario Party series has been on an incline recently, and Super Mario Party Jamboree continues that trend by including a ton of single-player and multiplayer modes, hilarious minigames, and the largest cast of characters yet. The whole package feels like a celebration of the Mushroom Kingdom and its many inhabitants, and there is enough content here to keep you busy for hours at a time. One of the best things about Super Mario Party Jamboree is that even when you’re losing, you’re still having fun.

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