It’s one of Samus’ most memorable adventures yet and one of the best Nintendo Switch shooters to play. That means that Metroid Dread was the first original 2D Metroid game to launch in 19 years, which is staggering to think about. The Metroid Prime trilogy is its own series, Metroid: Samus Returns and Zero Mission were remakes, and the less we say about Metroid: Other M, the better. There have been a handful of Metroid games since Metroid Fusion launched in 2002, but none of those games were actually direct sequels. The package is every bit of a must-own as Breath of the Wild for Switch owners. Players are getting two excellent Mario games in one that brings over 50 hours of content between them. That makes Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury one of the absolute best values money can buy on Switch. Bowser’s Fury is a fantastic entry in the franchise that goes well above and beyond its freebie status. Think Super Mario Odyssey on a smaller scale. The pack-in game is a brand new adventure that’s a mini open-world game. Nintendo upped the ante, though, by bundling it with Bowser’s Fury. On its own, it would have been one of the best games on the console. Nintendo could have simply ported this game onto Switch without making any tweaks, and fans still would have been happy. The downside was always that it was stuck on a console that few players bought. It features creative level design, chaotic multiplayer fun, and some of the best power-ups Mario has ever gotten his hands on. The Wii U platformer was among the best games the system and the franchise itself had to offer. Super Mario 3D World was already an excellent game before its Switch rerelease. Whether you’re a fan of Monster Hunter, Pokémon, or Fire Emblem, Monster Hunter Stories 2 covers a lot of bases. The action goes even deeper than that, too, as players can raise their kinship with their monster companions to unleash combo attacks. It’s a game that rewards observation, as studying monsters can help prepare players for any combat encounter. Players can counter an incoming hit by picking the right attack. The game is most notable for its excellent combat system, which builds on Fire Emblem’s “rock, paper, scissors” mechanics. For those who wish the Pokémon series would offer up some difficulty alongside its creature collecting, Monster Hunter Stories 2 might scratch that itch. That makes it more akin to something like Pokémon, as players collect and train monsters. It’s a turn-based RPG where players befriend monsters instead of slicing them up. While the former is a big-action RPG full of hacking and slashing, the latter is more tactical. We can’t talk about Monster Hunter Rise without discussing its foil, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin. Rise is a better entry point, making it one of the best games in the series for both old and new players. The main problem with the series has always been its complex RPG systems that can totally alienate anyone who’s never played a Monster Hunter game before. The real key to the game’s success is that it’s a little friendlier for newcomers. New features like the wirebug and Rampage quest types bring fresh content for fans who have already played hundreds of hours of World. The latest installment is one of the best entries yet. Now Capcom has capitalized on that success with Monster Hunter Rise, bringing the franchise to the Nintendo Switch. The game was a wider hit that started piquing more people’s interests. The tides started changing in 2018 with the release of Monster Hunter World. It was wildly popular in certain parts of the world, but the west simply hadn’t caught on. Go back just a few years ago, and Capcom’s action RPG franchise was a bit of a niche experience. Pardon the pun, but the Monster Hunter franchise is on the rise. With more characters, weapons, and secrets to uncover, Age of Calamity is a high-quality action game that sets a new bar for Nintendo spinoffs. While the game presents itself as a Zelda version of Rogue One, where you know that Hyrule is doomed, the story takes some unexpected twists that make for an exciting Zelda side story. It acts as a pseudo-prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and tells the story of the Great Calamity. Unlike the first game, Age of Calamity is part of the actual Zelda cannon. Nintendo capitalized on that promise with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, a more fully realized entry that opens the doors wide open for the series’ future. It wasn’t a replacement for mainline Zelda adventures, but it showed that the franchise had some untapped potential when it came to side games. The hack-and-slash game turned Zelda into Dynasty Warriors with larger-than-life battles. When the first Hyrule Warriors game was originally released on the Wii U, it didn’t seem like much more than a niche spinoff.
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