This article is part of Tom's Guide's inaugural Gaming Week, an entire week of content dedicated to all things gaming. From insights into the latest hardware, guides to the best games you can play today, to the essential accessories we can't play without. Tom's Guide Gaming Week will guide you through the world of video games in 2025.
With the impending release of the Nintendo Switch 2, a new chapter in gaming history is about to be written. But before it gets here, there are a ton of awesome games you probably missed the first time around on the original Nintendo Switch.
Some of the best Nintendo Switch games include everything from Super Mario Odyssey to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You’ll struggle to find a Nintendo Switch gamer who hasn’t at least heard of these big names, but there are plenty of lesser-known games on Nintendo’s console that are well worth your attention.
As part of Tom’s Guide Gaming Week, I’ve gone through my library of Nintendo Switch games and pulled out my favorite titles from over the years that you might have missed.
Dragon Quest Builders 2
I’ve played (almost) all of the Dragon Quest spin-offs on Switch and this one is definitely the best of the bunch.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 combines the blocky world of Minecraft with an action RPG. As well as mining resources and crafting, there are also enemies and boss battles to take on. But my favorite thing about Dragon Quest Builders 2 is its story — you need to rebuild a broken world that’s overrun with monsters, and help all the people you come across.
Villagers in each area need shelter, beds, bathrooms, and more, and it’s awesome that you can make functional builds like shops and restaurants that villagers will use. You truly see the impact you’ve made on the characters’ lives as you rebuild the world from scratch, which comes with a real sense of accomplishment.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 also has multiplayer where you can visit your friends’ worlds and play together online. It’s just a shame that the Nintendo Switch’s hardware isn’t best equipped to handle this, as things can get a bit laggy in online mode — especially if you’re viewing intricate builds.
Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy Deluxe Edition
Professor Layton is one of my favorite game series of all time, so you bet I’m recommending this lesser-played entry on my list.
The premise of Layton’s Mystery Journey is simple: it’s full of puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles. Each brain-teaser is strung together with a cute story as you solve mysteries assigned to the Layton Detective Agency, with some light sleuthing and mini-games to break up your playtime.
Layton’s Mystery Journey stands out from the pack of puzzlers thanks to its stylized visuals (the illustrated backgrounds in particular look gorgeous,) memorable characters and well-written dialogue. And the puzzles themselves are well-constructed, with a variety of genres on show that put everything from your math skills to your logical reasoning to the test.
I’ve played all the Professor Layton games and while these puzzles seem to be on the easier side of the series’ offerings, that’s not too bad if this is your entry point — or if you haven’t played anything that tests your brain in this way in a while.
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise
Fitness Boxing is a fitness and rhythm game series that’s designed to make you sweat. You’ll work alongside a virtual trainer to punch, duck and weave your way through moving panels, aiming to hit each move with perfect form and timing.
I can’t deny that punching my inner demons away to Bananarama’s Venus got me pumped up.
I struggle to make myself get enough exercise at the best of times, but this game's ability to sync movements up to a beat with a scoring system gets my full attention. Sure, the Fitness Boxing series soundtracks are full of instrumental versions of cheesy pop songs, but I can’t deny that punching my inner demons away to Bananarama’s Venus got me pumped up.
When it comes to fitness games on Switch, most people will probably think of Ring Fit Adventure. Ring Fit Adventure is arguably the better package, as it comes with more varied workouts, and has a story mode to keep you coming back every day. But I like that Fitness Boxing requires less space and doesn’t need Ring Fit’s bulky Ring-Con accessory.
I also like that the different Fitness Boxing personal trainers have unique personalities that you can swap around to switch things up — most of the time, my favorite trainer Guy sounds like he’s as unenthusiastic about working out as I am, which I find cathartic.
Fitness Boxing 3 seems to have an even bigger focus on the trainers themselves, and I’m looking forward to picking up a copy once I feel like I’ve seen all that Fitness Boxing 2 has to offer.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Ace Attorney is a series I’m convinced everybody needs to at least try. In The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, you’re placed in the shoes of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, a Japanese lawyer operating in Victorian England. Between the streets of London and the courtroom, you need to investigate, interrogate witnesses and make logical deductions to defend your case.
The storylines and characters in this game are extremely memorable, with some tough legal battles that seriously made me sweat. This is also probably the funniest entry on my list, as Naruhodo’s sarcastic reactions to the rest of the cast’s antics never failed to make me laugh.
I can attest that The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a good entry point into the series, as it’s the one I started with.
It’s a prequel that’s unconnected to the rest of Ace Attorney for the most part, but once you’ve played this one, you’ll definitely want to give the rest of the games in the series a shot. (And handily, all the other major titles in the Ace Attorney series have seen Switch ports, so they’re easily accessible.)
Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition
Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition is the only thing that could satisfy my cravings for a new Animal Crossing game after I’d had my fill of New Horizons.
In fact, for me, Disney Magical World 2 felt like it had so much more to offer that I’d take it over New Horizons any day — fight me.
Disney Magical World 2 felt like it had so much more to offer that I’d take it over New Horizons any day — fight me.
Disney Magical World 2 is part life sim, part café management sim. As well as collecting furniture and clothing you like just for fun, you also have incentive to improve your café with new decorations and dishes to continue progression.
The titular Magical World is expansive, with lots of Disney-themed lands to explore, characters to meet, and mini-games to play. You can try your hand at everything from gardening to ballroom dancing, and there’s even a meaty dungeon-crawling action RPG segment where you can fight boss battles.
Some of the RPG levels could be balanced better, and you may struggle to find rare crafting ingredients if you forgo using a wiki. But this game has an addicting gameplay loop and a ton of cute items to collect and decorate with, meaning it’s well worth picking up for gamers who love Disney.
(I also recommend Disney Magical World 2 over the other Disney life sim on Switch, Disney Dreamlight Valley. Sure, Disney Dreamlight Valley has more modern visuals but it’s also stuffed with microtransactions. I much prefer Disney Magical World 2 as it gives you a life sim that’s full of content without hounding you to spend any more money.)
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp deserves way more attention than it got on release. It’s a strategy RPG that puts you in charge of a legion of soldiers, tanks and other militia and tasks you with taking back your land from your enemies.
Once I got the hang of its combat system, Advance Wars had me seriously hooked. Some of the missions were tough and had me coming back several times for retries, but the satisfaction that came with victory was more than worth the struggle.
I loved how the difficulty built upwards throughout the game. Each mission introduces new obstacles to get to grips with, and each Commanding Officer you face in battle has unique abilities that switch things up.
There’s plenty of replay value here, as you can redo missions with different characters that you’ve unlocked to try and beat your previous scores. This game’s presentation is fantastic too, with attractive cartoony visuals, a stellar soundtrack and plenty of well-written, voice-acted dialogue.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Princess Zelda steps up to the plate as the heroine of this adventure, attempting to save Hyrule from getting sucked into a dark void. Armed with the Tri Rod, Zelda can wield the power of Echoes to copy objects in order to solve puzzles and defeat enemies.
This game packs in a large overworld to explore that’s stuffed with secrets, puzzles and tricky boss battles. It’s an extremely entertaining ride that gets you to really think about how to go forwards using the options you have available to you. And it deserves bonus points for its adorable diorama-style visuals.
There is a big flaw to contend with in Echoes of Wisdom, however, and that’s its menu system. The Echoes menu is constantly used to select objects and monsters. However, each Echo is organised in a single straight line, and it takes forever to scroll through if you’re struggling to find a specific one. Better sorting options and a search function would have been much appreciated.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is arguably the most well-known game on this list, but if you missed it in the shuffle of other Zelda titles, it’s a ton of fun and you should definitely give it a shot. As long as you don’t mind spending a chunk of your playthrough searching through your list of Echoes to find that Fire Wizzrobe you’re after.
More from Tom's Guide
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
