There’s a reason that the Nintendo Switch is one of the best systems in gaming history. It’s not just that the Switch lets you play console games on the go anywhere in the world. That only sells systems if there are games to play anywhere in the world. What makes the Switch so special is that Nintendo put everything they had into creating a lineup of titles that would knock fans’ socks off almost every single year. 2023 was originally viewed as a “lesser year” outside of a certain title. But now, with Nintendo’s last AAA title about to drop, we know how wrong we were to think that.
Nintendo Insider Stealth compiled a list of all the big 2023 games the Nintendo Switch had alongside their Metacritic rating. As you can imagine, some pretty high numbers were on the list. But when you look at all the ratings, alongside all the games that came out in 2023, you’ll see just how impressive the Switch’s roster in 2023 was and why gamers weren’t wanting for much:
Ironically, Stealth did forget to put a key entry on there, the DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The Teal Mask came out in December to a “66” on Metacritic, and The Indigo Disk comes out next month! So there is one more “item” for Nintendo fans to get before 2023 ends.
So when you include those two DLC expansions, you get 15 AAA titles released on the Switch in 2023, all of which were exclusives and had a pretty good reception. Oh, and no one counts 1-2 Switch, as that title was clearly rushed out and had a terrible development process by all accounts. Hey, no one said Nintendo was perfect!
What also should be highlighted here is that the lineup was rather spaced out throughout the year. Fire Emblem Engage came out in January, and the Super Mario RPG remake comes out tomorrow. Multiple games to “fill the void” existed between these entries.
That also doesn’t talk about how The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros Wonder was nominated for “Game of the Year” at The Game Awards, marking the second time in six years that a title with Mario and Link was BOTH nominated for such an honor.
The only real question is how many titles Nintendo has left up their sleeves for the Switch before the next console arrives. We know games with Mario, Peach, and Luigi are coming, but what else is left?
