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The best Nintendo Switch exclusives of 2022: 9 standouts from the console’s banner year

Bayonetta jumps in front of text that says The Best Nintendo Switch Exclusives of 2022.
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The Nintendo Switch turned five this year … and with that birthday came a wave of discourse. Fans are anxious for Nintendo to launch a new piece of hardware, whether that be a Switch Pro or a new console altogether. It’s an understandable request; the once magical Switch now seems a little less impressive in the age of the Steam Deck. However, this year once again proved why Nintendo can get away with aging hardware: its games are just that good.

Even without The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to cap it off, 2022 was a landmark year for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo delivered its best lineup of exclusive games since the console first launched in 2017 — though it’s no coincidence that some of this year’s best games were sequels to its first-year titles. We’ve put together a list of the best Nintendo Switch exclusives of 2022 below, but what’s jaw-dropping is that this doesn’t even include everything worth talking about. That’s a testament to Nintendo’s strong first-party support, which remains its unshakable secret weapon.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

A gorilla swats Kirby in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
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While the Kirby series is certainly inconsistent, developer HAL Laboratory has a way of churning out a bona fide classic every few years to remind players why the pink puffball is one of Nintendo’s top mascots. We were overdue for an entry like that, and HAL delivered with one of the series’ best entries to date: Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The platformer is an all-ages delight from top to bottom, featuring lovely visuals, tons of copy abilities, and a surprisingly deep endgame. Its perhaps most memorable for its hysterical Mouthful Mode, which cements Kirby as one of gaming’s best comedic talents. When he swallows an entire car, he’s a modern day Charlie Chaplin.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Noah and his team standing in a green field.
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When it came to RPGs, Switch owners couldn’t have asked for a better year. From ports like Persona 5 Royal to entirely new releases like Triangle Strategy, there simply weren’t enough hours in the year to play them all. If you only have time to catch up on one though, make it Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Developer Monolith Soft’s latest is its magnum opus, delivering the best iteration of the series yet. While I could sing its praises all day when it comes to its MMO-like combat or incredible soundtrack, its story is what sticks out the most. The heartfelt war tale challenges players to rethink the concept of good guys and bad guys, pointing out the real villains we should be fighting: oppressive powers that profit off of conflict.

Bayonetta 3

Bayonetta touches her glasses in Bayonetta 3.
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Well, Bayonetta 3 certainly had a weird year, didn’t it? As anticipation mounted for the long-delayed action-title, a convoluted voice acting controversy threatened to spoil the party. While it cast a dark cloud over the release initially, it ended up placing more eyes than ever on the series just in time for its best installment. Bayonetta 3 is a bombastic action game that revels in its own multiverse silliness. Though its narrative left some longtime fans disappointed, PlatinumGames made up for those shortcomings by dropping some of its most wildly creative ideas yet. From kaiju battles to 2D espionage interludes, Bayonetta 3 is simply out to surprise and thrill you at every turn.

Splatoon 3

Four Splatoon 3 inklings standing together.
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I played a lot of multiplayer games in 2022, from MultiVersus to Overwatch 2. Not a single one of those games is as rich with content as Splatoon 3 was on day one. While the ink shooter didn’t change much about its core online modes, it delivered a a suite of content so robust that I spent 100 hours playing its first season without ever reaching the bottom. I spent countless hours grinding my way up the ranks in Anarchy Battles. I completed every single level of its strong single-player campaign. I played the heck out of its improved Salmon Run mode, which is one of the finest PVE modes in gaming today. I was even addicted to Tableturf Battles, its new puzzle minigame that I would play on mobile devices in a heartbeat. Every single piece of content in Splatoon 3 is worth playing — something I simply can’t say for 99% of its competitors.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

An angry Wiggler ambushes the heroes from behind in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.
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I remember the first time I saw a leak that revealed Nintendo and Ubisoft were working together on a Mario/Rabbids crossover game. On paper, it sounded like a terrible idea. Here I am five years later though, and both Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle and now Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope are two of my favorite tactics games of all time. Sparks of Hope is especially impressive though, as it completely reworked its predecessor’s winning formula and only made it better. Few tactics games let you string together abilities as well as Sparks of Hope, allowing players to pull off strategically brilliant turns that feel downright impossible. Its not only one of Mario’s finest spinoffs; it might just be one of Ubisoft’s best games, period.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

Shez causes a purple explosion in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.
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In any year, there are always going to be great games that simply fall under the radar. There are just too many titles to keep track of. However, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes might just be 2022’s most underrated release. The action game isn’t just a bland Musou that uses the cast of Fire Emblem: Three Houses; it’s a full-blown sequel and a shockingly deep RPG in its own right. While I went into my playthrough not expecting much more than a mindless hack-and-slash, I came out with richer understanding of the characters I’d grown to love in Three Houses. Though its an understandably niche release, its worth diving into before Fire Emblem Engage takes the series’ spotlight in January.

Nintendo Switch Sports

The player throws a bowling ball in Nintendo Switch Sports.
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Nintendo Switch Sports didn’t exactly launch to rave reviews. Critics largely felt that it was a pretty bare-bones package that would have worked better as a free pack-in rather than a nearly full-priced new release. So why was it one of my most-played games of 2022 in terms of hours? For all its shortcomings as a package, Nintendo Switch Sports still reigns supreme thanks to the same intuitive controls that made Wii Sports a phenomenon all those years ago. Some of my favorite gaming moments of the year simply came from bowling against strangers online while playing some music in the background. It’s the ultimate low-stakes zone out game — and one that’s only improved since launch thanks to the recent addition of golf.

Pokémon Legends Arceus

Hisuian Braviary in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Nintendo

This was a big year for Pokémon, even if not all the attention it received was positive. The series got its next official mainline installment with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, a fun pair of games hampered by poor performance. Those weren’t the only Pokémon games released this year though, and some might argue that they weren’t the best either. Pokémon Legends: Arceus took the series in an entirely new direction, creating an RPG adventure more akin to Monster Hunter. While Scarlet and Violet may be the better games overall, Arceus opened new doors for the series with its completely revamped approach to catching, battles, and progression. I imagine that we’ll see some of those features in the next mainline Pokémon game, which may make Arceus 2022’s more influential Pokémon game in the long run.

Live a Live

A character causes a firestorm in Live a Live.
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It wasn’t just a big year for new releases on the Switch; it was also a banner one for rereleases. That was thanks in no small part to Square Enix, which seemed more eager than ever to revisit its deep history of RPGs. The biggest story of the year though, may have been Live a Live. The classic RPG is an incredibly influential one that has shaped some of the genre’s best games, but it had never been released in the U.S. until this year. The wait may have been far too long, but it was worth it. Nearly 30 years after its original release in Japan, Live a Live feels unlike any game I’ve played thanks to its multi-protagonist setup that has players doing everything from sneaking through a castle in feudal Japan to competing in a wrestling tournament. And all of that has been recreated in a gorgeous 2D-HD art style that makes it feel brand new again.

Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
The forgotten games of 2022: 7 sleeper hits worth returning to
Three Hopes characters on a stylized purple background.

These days, it's simply impossible to keep up with every great game that releases in a year. With such a mass of experiences to choose from, players have no choice but to curate. That means that every year is bound to produce what I've started calling "forgotten games." It's a term I use to describe sleeper hits that would have garnered attention in a less crowded year, but were simply lost among a sea of great titles.

"Forgotten games" tend to break my heart. Generally, they didn't do anything wrong -- save for maybe skimping on their marketing budgets. They're strong games, just ones that didn't generate conversation. Sometimes it's just that they weren't groundbreaking enough to break into "game of the year" discussions. They're not polarizing or controversial enough to generate discourse. These games simply aren't conversation pieces and that's a difficult place to be in during our social age, which makes them hard to prioritize.

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2022 was excellent for sports games, depending where you looked
The cursed golfer, hitting his shot surrounded by citizens of purgatory

Sports games are one of the most ubiquitous genres in gaming, as NBA 2K, Madden, and FIFA top sales charts every year. These franchises also happen to be some of gaming's most stagnant as their developers and publishers tend to focus on minor tweaks and changes year-over-year rather than significant innovations. The disappointment of games like Madden NFL 23 gives the genre a bad rap, but 2022 was actually one of the best years for sports games in a while. That's thanks to games that were willing to get weird.
Of course, the multi-million dollar mainstay sports franchises aren't going anywhere. That said, games like OlliOlli World, Rollerdrome Cursed to Golf, Windjammers 2, Roller Champions, What the Bat? and even Nintendo Switch Sports pushed the limits of what the genre can do. Sports inherently translate into solid video games, but this year highlighted how those games can go a step beyond, becoming kookier than what's possible in reality. That helped breathe some life into an otherwise stale genre.
Sports games get weird
When looking back at 2022, there are a lot of sports games worth calling out outside of the usual suspects. Nintendo Switch Sports is the hallmark casual sports game from this year, giving people an accessible and motion-control-based way to play golf, badminton, tennis, bowling, chambara, soccer, and volleyball with Nintendo's signature first-party visual flair. Though that was one of the more high-profile twists of the genre, indie developers led the charge, allowing the sports genre to shine this year.

Roll7's OlliOlli World, for instance, is one of my favorite games of the year. Skateboarding games have been a sports gaming mainstay since the 90s, but OlliOlli World realizes that formula in a way that's as fulfilling to play as Sonic the Hedgehog's best games. At its best, OlliOlli World is a colorful, fast-paced 2D platformer where each level has multiple paths that accommodate various player skill levels.
It's not trying to have accurate physics or recreate iconic real-world locations. Instead, it crafts its own vibrant fantasy world where everything is based on skateboarding, and the gameplay gives players enough wiggle room to experiment and possibly fail with flashy tricks. Roll7 didn't stop there, also delivering Rollerdrome, a game that combines score-based rollerblading with shooting to create an action-sports game mix players didn't know they needed.
Playing sports can give you an ultra-focused adrenaline rush, and a game like OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome can achieve that same flow state through gameplay. Meanwhile, other games interpret sports in a brand new way outright.

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A character from Lucky Luna stands in front of text that says 2022 Best Mobile Games.

Mobile games have a bad reputation due to many games on the platform utilizing overwhelming microtransactions and other questionable features meant to squeeze the most play time and money out of players. Despite that, plenty of awesome games still emerge on mobile platforms -- ones that don't use those practices at all. In fact, 2022 was a fantastic year for gaming as companies like Netflix and Apple continued to invest heavily in the space with more traditional video games.

As such, those who write off mobile gaming might have missed some truly great games that came out this year. If you're looking for some new mobile games to play when you're bored or need to kill some time, we recommend giving the following six 2022 standouts a shot.
Marvel Snap (iOS, Android)

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