Habroxia is a pretty bland and curiously straightforward little shmup with nothing about it that stands out as being worth recommending. The handful of little flourishes it introduces – such as switching between horizontal and vertical traversal or its three different fire modes – just don’t add any kind of fun to proceedings because the game hasn’t been designed in a way that makes them neither interesting or necessary. The Switch is absolutely drowned with fantastic old-school shmups with lots of unique little quirks and clever design decisions that make them deliciously moreish to play and really, and at the end of the day, you’d be much better off choosing almost any of them than spending time with a game that seems perfectly content to let you glide through it without providing any incentive, narrative or challenge whatsoever.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to emulate another game’s success, as long as it’s done effectively. Paper Dolls Original borrows every horror trope under the sun, but fails to implement them in any meaningful way. It’s painfully boring, and considering its price is comparable to other, more accomplished horror games on the eShop, you’d be best off leaving this ghost in its mansion.

Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast has an opening five chapters that will test your patience to its absolute limit. In some ways, this is down to its age and in others it's just bad design coupled with the odd decision to hold back the game’s best aspects for such a long stretch. This poor pacing is the one thing standing in the way of us giving this a hearty recommendation. However, If you think you’ve got the fortitude to push on through to the good stuff – a trial worthy of Yoda himself – you’ll be handsomely rewarded with some top-notch Star Wars action. It’s a shame the multiplayer fun has been excised here and we did run into that save file bug but, all in all, if you can persist with the dark you’ll be rewarded with the light and – for at least half of its duration – this old classic is still just about as good as Star Wars games ever got.

Despite the bumpy setting and plot, Rebel Cops is a great game to take on the go for a little bit of tactical action. It stands up with stalwarts of the genre, and offers enough challenge and replayability to make you come back for more. Where the game falters is in its UI and quality of life options, but some instances of small text and slightly finicky menus do not take away from what is a solid turn-based tactics game.

It’s quite frankly a bit boring, and should you decide to control your character directly, there’s little more to the game than just moving around and automatically swiping your sword at enemies. We were admittedly rather impressed with the sheer amount of customisation options available, but this is almost rendered moot by such bland gameplay. We suspect it would work much, much better on mobile devices, but for Switch owners, this is an incredibly shallow experience.

The post-apocalypse schtick was worn out long ago, so any game using it as a thematic backdrop is always going to have an uphill struggle, but Overland attempts to set itself apart with its diorama-style maps and its McCarthy-esque road trip. While it lacks the more focused combat and systems of the very similar Into the Breach, there’s a lot to like about its bleak combination of fellowship and sacrifice. But with a procedural generation setup that doesn’t always play in its favour and a shallow inventory, its take on Armageddon can be more frustrating than fun.

As far as beat ‘em up brawlers go on the Switch, Castle Crashers Remastered is one of the finest titles available for the platform. Tight controls, many multiplayer modes, a great art direction and a wealth of replayable content make this an easy “ol’ reliable” game that you’ll surely be revisiting with friends for years to come. All the same, it’s also far from a perfect experience, as the repetitive nature of combat and the reliance on damage-sponges to pad out the runtime make for a title that can tend to overstay its welcome in extended sessions. Still, for a relatively cheap price at the time of writing, it’s pretty tough to argue against the raw value proposition being made here between the amount of content and overall fun factor; if you’re looking for another great co-op game to add to your Switch library, look no further.

Track & Field remains as endearingly entertaining as it was when it first appeared 36 years ago. It's a little on the pricey side considering it only has six events, one of which (the high jump) is a bit of a stinker, and is obviously a one-trick pony given its subject matter. But it still does that one trick better than most games that have succeeded it, so if you're looking for a quick button-basher this is a good choice.

Deadly Premonition Origins is chock-full of major issues that in any other series would be reason enough to be cautious of its upcoming sequel. Despite this, the characters and the world of Greenvale are more than enough to make you forgive its fundamental technical flaws, as you can’t help but fall for an absurdly fun narrative and a protagonist that keeps you invested throughout. You may play the game and utterly hate it, but we'd advise you at least give it a chance. It's such a strange and captivating experience that we wager many of you will become lifelong fans regardless of its myriad problems.

Untitled Goose Game boasts more inventiveness, creativity and charm than the vast majority of titles on the Switch eShop, and offers a believable game world that's a real pleasure to explore, investigate and – of course – cause merry havoc in. Superb physics, excellent controls, surprisingly robust AI and unique presentation all combine to make this a real highlight in the Switch's library – it's only the brevity of the experience that lets it down, but this really is a case of quality over quantity.

Golazo! is a competent love letter to '90s arcade football games, accurately capturing both their strengths and weaknesses. Playing alone against the CPU can be a frustrating affair, but get some pals involved and this one's got post-pub entertainment written all over it.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening was a technical marvel when it first released back in 1993. Easily one of the great Game Boy releases, it was a first bash at a handheld Zelda that took the formula as perfected by A Link to the Past, jammed it all onto a tiny portable console and, somehow, managed to make it all work while adding a host of new features and concepts to the mix. This beautiful Switch remake rebuilds all of this from the ground up in fine style. It adds modern conveniences, a dungeon creator, amiibo support and lots of little quality of life improvements whilst infusing every single square inch of Koholint – every secret passage, Piranha, Pokey and Pig Warrior – with a level of detail and depth that totally reinvigorates both its timeless story and classic Zelda gameplay for a whole new generation of gamers.

With over 100 cars and more than 25 different racing venues set over five distinct disciplines (as well as bonus DLC ones like destruction derby and drag racing), GRID Autosport is that rarest of beasts: a jack of all trades that doesn't sacrifice quality as a result. The addition of all previously released paid console DLC – right down to the cynical XP boost – is extremely welcome, but the complete removal of all local and online multiplayer features means this a strictly solo affair, and that might be a turn-off for many. Still, that doesn't change the fact that this is one of the best racing games on Switch.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is the video game equivalent of Prince: it’s extremely short and its journey maybe ends a little sooner than you’d hoped, but it packs so many varied and beautiful ideas into its brief life and masters so many different styles that even though there’s a real disappointment it’s over so quickly, what it did give you will remain with you for an extremely long time. A true creative masterpiece.

While LEGO Jurassic World does nothing particularly ‘new’ or exciting to distinguish itself from other platforms (other than being portable, which it pulled off three years ago on PS Vita anyway), it’s impossible to not be swept up by its charming recreation of the Jurassic saga. With a greater focus on puzzle-solving than combat, even the youngest of players will find it a safe and engaging place to muck around with Danish bricks. Much like every other LEGO release, its relevance to you comes down to your connection to the franchise, but if you have a penchant for clever girls and staying out of the long grass (and you haven't played it already), this port is bound to sink its claws into you.

Jet Kave Adventure will be on nobody's Game of the Year lists, but that really doesn't matter. What it does do is provide a reasonably solid 2.5D platformer that will keep you entertained for a few hours (and beyond, if you want to try to beat all the optional objectives). At a little under $20, it's a bit steep for what's on offer, but if you've been craving a no-nonsense platformer that offers a decent selection of levels and looks pretty while doing it, you could do far worse – of course, you could arguably do a lot better, too.

Gun Gun Pixies is a bad game. It’s a terrible third-person shooter, a clunky platformer and an incompetent visual novel, all wrapped up in an embarrassingly puerile attempt at titillation. Usually, this type of game can be saved somewhat by at least having some humour about itself or some level of self-awareness as to how bonkers or puerile it's being, but Gun Gun Pixies can't even manage that. It’s hard to believe anyone would choose to offend themselves with this kind of thing but, if it is your bag, you should still be put off somewhat by the fact that everything it attempts to do, on a purely technical level, it does very badly indeed.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is an experience unlike any other on the Switch, expertly blending standard RPG tropes with a heartwarming story, innovative art style, and an immersive soundtrack composed by some of the best in the business. In more ways than one, this is a ‘dream project’ that’s very existence is a gift to fans of the genre the world over; the privilege of experiencing it is something that shouldn’t be understated. Even so, it also notably falls short of being an undisputed masterpiece, as pacing issues and shoddy AI drag down an otherwise pitch perfect experience. Those issues aside, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch still proves to be lightyears ahead of most other RPGs currently available on the Switch. If you consider yourself a fan of the genre – or even if you’re just looking to get your feet wet – you owe it to yourself to give Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch a shot.

Star Wars has finally come to Nintendo Switch. While it might not be in the form that appeals to everyone, that doesn’t make it any less accessible. With short and snappy missions, it’s perfect for bursts of short play on a commute or longer sessions in search of high scores and holocron shards. Switch-exclusive features such as the Career mode, the updated Galactic Struggle, an unlockable soundtrack and support for vertical play make this a fine addition to the platform’s growing pinball library, and a silly yet authentic ode to all things Star Wars.

From its opening moments upon a prison ship bound for Fort Joy to non-stop adventures that take you across the high seas to the Reaper’s Coast, Nameless Isle and beyond, Divinity: Original Sin 2 simply dazzles. In its seemingly endless parade of well-written characters, hilarious narration, deep and rewarding physics-based combat and the myriad ways in which it allows to you to engage and toy and with its systems, this is a truly epic RPG that revels in choice more than any other that’s come before it. It takes the old-school isometric style of Baldur’s Gate, layers it with an unparalleled level of attention to detail and fuses it with a thoroughly modern take on meaningful player decisions, resulting in one of the greatest role-playing games available on any platform; and it’s all here, present and correct on a portable console.

While it’s carried over its fair share of clunky elements in the transition to Nintendo's console, The Sinking City on Nintendo Switch is a fully-featured and mostly well-optimised port. The mixture of psychological horror and detective skills is a positive step beyond the developer’s previous work on Sherlock Holmes titles, and while its sanity mechanic doesn’t quite hold up to the likes of Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, and it's not without bugs, it offers an enjoyable if not particularly scary descent into madness and delirium.

AI: The Somnium Files starts out slow but once you've traversed a few of its delightfully surreal Somnium dreamscapes and got to an ending or two, working your way back through your flowchart and striking out in different directions, it becomes an engaging and tense affair. Fans of the Zero Escape games will feel right at home here, and director Kotaro Uchikoshi’s talent for putting the player into increasingly unsettling circumstances ensures everything takes flight in a very satisfying way as you work your way through the many strands of the loopy central mystery towards its various different endings.

As a standalone game, Super Kirby Clash holds up well to the Kirby series standard with its impressively diverse boss roster, straightforward RPG-lite mechanics, and deep potential for replayability. Though the online multiplayer is an unstable and unreliable mess, this hardly stands as a reason for you to not at least download the game and give it a shot. As a free to play release, Super Kirby Clash also manages to smartly handle its monetization and doesn’t hold back too much, offering you a fair amount of time-gated content relative to how much you feel like paying. We’d give Super Kirby Clash a high recommendation even if it was a low-price budget release at retail, but considering that it literally costs you nothing but your time, do yourself a favour and go download this as soon as you can.

None of it quite meshes together as effortlessly as the games from which it takes influence, and there are some minor frustrations to take note of. Primarily, unlocking new levels requires a set number of crystal skulls which are hidden among stone blocks – these can be quite tricky to find on your first visit, so you’ll likely need to replay levels two, or maybe even three times to unlock enough to progress further, which can prove irritating after a while.

At its core Daemon X Machina is a solid mech action game that controls well and gives the player a generous helping of customisation options. Its mission structure can get repetitive, and its plot is so difficult to grasp it may as well be soaked in grease, but as long as you’re willing to put up with these and get through its initially bewildering array of gauges and icons you should have a good time with it.

On the surface, NBA 2K20’s changes to its own formula might seem less substantial, but spend more than a few hours with its laser accurate recreation of modern b-ball and you’ll soon realise how refined it has become. Changes to Virtual Currency earning and progression take the edge off grinding, new additions to The Neighborhood and Pro-Am help bridge the gap between the two and a few welcome changes to MyTeam help facilitate move space for natural growth (even with the ever-present microtransactions). It’s not faultless, but those looking to play the full NBA experience on a handheld platform can do so with confidence and Visual Concept's approach to Switch is truly laudable. Simply put, there's no better basketball game out there.

Even in its relatively unfinished state, Risk of Rain 2 proves to be an exceptionally well-designed take on the gameplay that made its predecessor popular. The transition to 3D gameplay has been pulled off flawlessly, and the sheer diversity of gameplay options combined with the strong online multiplayer ensure that this is one you'll keep coming back to for quite some time. Even so, there are some issues that the developers will hopefully address in the lead up to the official launch, such as the frustrating navigational issues and the poorly optimized UI. Those matters aside, if you're in the market for a quality 3D roguelike action title for your Switch, Risk of Rain 2 is one of the finest purchases you can make; we'd give this one a high recommendation.

Hyperforma was well-received when it released on IOS last year and it's a genuinely inventive and stylish little puzzle game that adds enough to the tried-and-tested block-breaking format to make it worth seeking out, if this type of thing is your cup of tea. Unlocking skills as you progress does render a little of the challenge obsolete as you can choose to let tactics take a back seat and just blast away at blocks to brute force the victory but, if you play within the rules and try to clear all those tricky side challenges, you'll find a tasty little puzzler here that's well worth the small entry fee.