Luigi’s Mansion 3 is not only a graphical powerhouse and showcase for Next Level Games’ unrivalled mastery of video game animation, it’s also an immense helping of spooky fun as well. The amount of care and consideration poured into every facet of the game is abundantly clear, and it all results in one of the most enjoyable and attractive Switch titles of the year. It's also the undisputed high point of a franchise which – following this sterling release – will hopefully get even more love and attention from Nintendo fandom, and the gaming community as a whole.

Doraemon: Story of Seasons is an enchanting, relaxing romp through a world that is so much simpler than ours. With gorgeous visuals and a never-ending list of things to do, it’s unlikely that you’ll get bored while playing it. While its slow-pace might turn off some, it’s incredibly welcome to play a game where the fate of the world isn’t at stake, and you can instead just sit down and decide what plants you might want to grow for the upcoming year.

It’s hard to recommend a game such as Disgaea 4 Complete+, as it’s the sort of game that you either love or hate – there really is no in-between. On one hand, you have a mountain of engaging content, oodles of complex gameplay systems to learn, and a refreshingly irreverent tone to keep it all interesting for dozens of hours. On the other hand, these things are presented to you in an overwhelming and difficult to digest manner that will only appeal to a small subset of players. All that being said, we’d give Disgaea 4 Complete+ a high recommendation to veteran fans of the genre who are looking for something specifically geared to them. For newcomers, we’d still recommend it, but we’d also encourage you to do your research and make sure you’re prepared for what will likely feel like a demanding experience at first.

Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers is very much a "My First JRPG" type-affair. Its story is overly-schmaltzy and safe, the game world is small and disappointingly sterile and its cast of bad guys won’t give you too much trouble over the course of its short running time. However, the combat here is entertaining stuff, intuitively laid out and clearly explained, it’s filled with fun skills and makes light and breezy work out of systems that more grown-up JRPGS tend to get bogged down in. It has a likeable central cast of characters and, although there are many more exciting games of its ilk available on Switch, it does do a commendable job in providing a safe starting point for younger players looking to sink their teeth into the genre for the first time.

AeternoBlade II is a mess of overly-complex mechanics and ill-fitting systems that struggles at all times to keep up with itself. Its core combat is solid but it's marred by input lag, slow animations, messy enemy placement and a struggling framerate. The time-based mechanics are far too numerous, confusing and tedious, while its long and winding storyline – delivered by some of the worst voice-acting we’ve ever heard – is almost totally nonsensical. Somewhere under all of the technical problems and confusion here there’s a solid game, but there’s just far too much jank for players to be expected to wade through to get there and it's impossible to recommend that you commit yourself to trying.

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition is a content-packed RPG with plenty to see and do. Its evolution system feels wholly unique when compared to another monster-breeding game series you might find on Nintendo hardware, and while the grind may be too much for some, it’s comfortably one of the best creature-catchers on the Switch – although Pokémon still holds the crown, of course.

Anthill may be several years old at this point, but it’s still a fun little game that showcases Image & Form’s talents before the Steamworld series gathered, er... steam. There’s a decent amount of depth here as you explore various strategies to defend your anthill, and there’s good replay value with the delightful Infinity mode. It falls down a bit on graphics, as it can look a bit overly simplistic at times, and we would have at least liked the option to play on the TV, perhaps with pointer controls.

A Hat in Time is a hugely enjoyable take on the classic 3D platformer. The tight, familiar controls and varied, innovative levels result in one of the most fascinating and entertaining games out there. The issues with performance and the camera do little to wipe the smile from our faces while playing through this; if you adore the likes of Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, then you'll fall utterly in love with A Hat in Time.

Return of the Obra Dinn lives up to the hype, and then some. It’s a beautifully crafted and intricately constructed detective mystery unlike anything you’ve played before with a harrowing narrative at its centre. Unravelling its secrets takes time and requires patience, but you’ll be glad you allowed the story to play out at its own pace. What we have here is a thoroughly unique experience that will stay with you, and is among best this genre has ever had to offer.

Spirit Hunter: NG is a fascinating, dark and brutal game which is hugely gripping thanks to its strong plot, spooks and protagonists. Sadly, the Switch version of the game is scuppered by crippling technical problems which make it borderline unplayable at times. The core game is strong enough that it is still worth a look if you can endure these issues, but you should play this on something else if you can – or hope that the developers can fix the issues in a future update.

Freedom Finger is a completely unexpected retro shooter banger. Its unique hand-drawn style, amazing soundtrack, highly offensive humour and various unique and clever gameplay mechanics all come together to deliver a beautifully anarchic ride through a madcap campaign that backs up its brash stylings with solid and challenging gameplay. The humour and difficulty absolutely might not be for everyone, but if you love a properly tough shmup – and don’t mind a constant stream of politically incorrect filth and abuse being hurled in your direction by some of the biggest names in video game acting – this one comes highly recommended.

Cat Quest II is a charming little action RPG. Its simple mechanics result in a game which is hugely enjoyable for literally anybody to pick up and play, all backed up by some fantastic design work and infectious humour which never fails to bring a smile to your face. Diehard RPG fanatics might find it's a little on the easy side, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's genuinely good fun to play.

Tangle Tower is an exemplary addition to the point-and-click genre, providing superb puzzles and very well written dialogue, backed up by some of the finest voiceover work in recent memory. A few of the character interactions may drag on a bit too long in places as you try and uncover every piece of evidence available to you, and there’s little reason to play through the game multiple times. But to be honest, these are very minor gripes considering just how much fun we had in the company of Detectives Grimoire and Sally.

Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip is everything you’ve come to expect from a lazy movie tie-in. Its gameplay is mechanically competent but it’s bland beyond belief, short, cynical and lazy. It has the most tenuous of links to the actual film it portrays and is ultimately a very basic twin-stick shooter with a tired-looking Zombieland skin tossed carelessly on top – it also costs far more money than it has any right to. If this was a free mobile game you might get an hour or two of braindead time-wasting out of it, but as an almost full price console release, it’s pretty much indefensible.

If you're a gym addict you probably shouldn't throw out your membership card just yet, but for everyone else looking to get fitter, this is a fantastic way to do it that won't bore you senseless. Play it properly and you'll definitely feel it the next morning – a sure sign that it's at least doing you some good – while the compelling adventure mode with its RPG elements will ensure that you'll keep coming back for more.

Instead of being a brand new platformer, Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure feels like a remaster of a game from the early 2000s, and not a very good one either. On the positive side, the level design is pretty good, with areas connecting to one another in a way that feels large-scale, but remains comfortably linear. Otherwise, Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure completely lacks challenge, is extremely repetitive and runs on the Switch about as well as Manny the Mammoth runs after gorging on a bunch of peaches. In short, it's exactly what you’d expect from a licensed game of this type.

Killer Queen Black does for Nintendo Switch what TowerFall Ascension did for PS4, offering up a 2D multiplayer extravaganza that’s easy to pick up but devilishly tricky to master. The support for local multiplayer (through split Joy-Cons and/or wireless play) really sells this as a crazy couch play experience, while the inclusion of online play and a Spectate mode gives room for a potentially vibrant competitive scene. The learning curve is steep, and it's chaotic to track when playing on anything other than a massive TV, but with cross-platform support it’s likely to become a cult mainstay for indie multiplayer aficionados.

Dragon Quest III might be slightly more expensive than its two younger brothers on the Switch eShop, but it stands tall as a great way to explore the world of Dragon Quest for the first time. Even when compared to modern JRPGs, Dragon Quest III still stands tall as one of the best in the genre. If you had to pick just one of the three rereleased Dragon Quest games, pick Dragon Quest III – we can promise that you won’t be disappointed.

There’s a lot to be desired for Dragon Quest II, both as a game and as a port. Considering the final stretch of the game, it’s a difficult one to recommend and spend your time on when Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest XI are on the same system. While it's great that Switch fans now have access to more Dragon Quest goodness than ever before, this one is a reminder that even the best franchises experience growing pains, and is only suitable for diehard Dragon Quest fans only.

If parachuting onto an island with 99 other people (or, alternatively, staring at a black hole for hours) is your exclusive definition of Battle Royal(e), we can be fairly certain that you weren't around at a time when Kunio’s 8-bit, 4-player multitap-enabled Famicom rumbles coined the expression. If you're a fan of Kunio and want the most up-to-date entry of the series' fight-and-exploration games, WayForward’s utterly brilliant River City Girls should be your first port of call. If, however, you grew up with the Famicom Kunio games and are lucky enough to still have your friends around from those simpler days, River City Melee Mach!! is a reasonably priced nostalgia trip that's worth going on.

BDSM is a perfectly fine example of the twin-stick shooter genre, but it falls down a bit thanks to its rudimentary graphics and overall lack of polish and fluidity. It’s much more fun on higher difficulties with an increased number of enemies, but the boss battles can feel a bit unbalanced and you’ll often find yourself dying without really knowing what actually killed you (and be prepared for some lengthy load times before you’re back in the action). Still, it’s worth a go if you’re in need of a decent run-and-gun title after the intensely disappointing Contra: Rogue Corps.

Into the Dead 2 is a pretty fun, well-made auto-run zombie survival game that arrives on Switch at a ludicrous price point that makes it very hard to justify picking up. The central gameplay loop is satisfying enough for a few minutes but it’s as deep as you’d expect to find in a game that originated as a free-to-play mobile experience. It’s been padded out with a bunch of extra modes, and they’re all perfectly serviceable, but you can never escape the core truth that it’s just the same thing over and over again in slightly different settings. If you’re an absolutely massive fan of running through endless waves of zombies whilst very slowly unlocking weapons to make it seem as though you’re somehow changing that experience, fill your boots, but everyone else should maybe check this out for free on a mobile device first instead.

At its heart, Overwatch on the Switch was always going to be a bit of a tough sell. Those who somehow haven’t played it yet could easily buy a better-performing version on other platforms, while those who have played it to death may be put off by the weaker performance and the lack of shared progression. Even so, having the capability to play a match of Overwatch while using the restroom is 2019 living at its absolute finest, and the kind of flexibility offered up by the Switch’s portability is not something to be understated. We’d give Overwatch a recommendation, but with the caveat that you should consider first why you’re buying it. If you intend on playing it plenty when undocked, we can’t recommend it enough, but if you intend on mostly playing on the TV, consider first buying it elsewhere.

Rabi-Ribi is a fantastic Metroidvania that injects a whole heap of originality into a genre that's arguably a bit overdone at this point. The bullet-hell boss battles are thrilling, the soundtrack is absolutely superb, and the RPG mechanics are really useful without being overwhelming. On the negative side, the storyline fails to excite, and we would have liked a bit more variety with the character design, but overall this is a great, 'feel good' game that deserves to be played if you're after a different flavour of Metroidvania.

StarBlox Inc. is a fun and unique little experiment of a game, let down only by the results of that experiment that don’t quite come together. At the same time. the sheer satisfaction that comes from victory helps overcome some of the fundamental flaws in the concept and the net result is an original, if convoluted, puzzle-fighter. Ultimately, this is a still an enjoyable title that gets a qualified recommendation.

Stranded Sails offers some terrific farming simulation which does the majority of the game's heavy lifting, but it’s held up by middling RPG-esque mechanics. Mixing things up and throwing a selection of genres into a pot to see what comes out is arguably commendable, and there’s an awful lot to like about Stranded Sails, but some frustrating and bizarre choices in regards to recipes and the energy meter system hamstring the game for those hoping for a less taxing castaway experience.

In an era where every RPG - and every genre that’s assimilated roleplay mechanics into their DNA - have used grinding and oversized maps to extend their playtimes into figures only a select few can truly undertake, Little Town Hero has confidently opted for a shorter experience that’s more akin to the pace, style and sedate pace of Animal Crossing than a traditional RPG or JRPG. However, with a battle system that trades XP levelling for a purer sense of tactical planning and experimentation (albeit with an unpredictable spike difficulty), Game Freak proves that a ‘casual’ game can still have plenty of imagination, even on a smaller scale. It's far from essential, but if you love CCG-style combat and can't stomach another 100-hour RPG, there's much to like in Little Town Hero.

Unfortunately, the technical issues and art do take away enjoyment from playing this otherwise fantastic retro throwback. While diehard fans of the series may enjoy it, a more casual player might be a little bit lost when faced with its 30-year old design.