What an absolutely fantastic game! I could not give this game the praise it deserves if I spent all day. The visuals and art style are so aesthetically pleasing that I could just look at scenery and enjoy myself. The gameplay does everything to make for a fun experience, from climbing up mountains to surfing down cliffsides, fighting monsters and discovering new items, this game is just constantly a blast to play. The puzzles are challenging yet never impossible. Collectibles are abundant and always make you feel worthwhile for getting them which says a lot for a game with literally thousands of items. The biggest problem with the gameplay is the items occasionally breaking but if anything, I feel this keeps the game fresh and makes it so you really have to pick and choose what you want. Music is always pleasant on the ears and never interrupts the game experience, only adding to it. The storytelling is masterfully crafted so you never have to feel like it's a burden but you can keep discovering more and more, from memories to old relics. Some of the lore leaves more to be desired which is upsetting but gives further room to expand on the lore in the future. All around a perfect gaming experience and will even get someone who doesn't like Adventure-RPGs to beat this game.

Link's Awakening is a game I have really enjoyed in the past, so when I found out that there was going to be a remake of the game coming to the Switch, I was excited to find out what it would be like. Turns out, it's not exactly the game I remember, especially with an upres and an art style change, it made this game feel much more cheap. The gameplay is overall fine but as the game goes on, it becomes incredibly cryptic as to what you are supposed to do. I found myself painstakingly going through puzzles or desperately searching for another item because I HAD to in order to do the things I actually wanted to do, and not because I wanted to actually do the tasks. This game just feels like fetch quest after fetch quest to solve puzzles that would be fun if they weren't designed by a master locksmith. Not to mention, compared to the puzzles, the actual action is a breeze. Most bosses are easy to defeat and take no real time at all to understand. This is not inheritley a bad thing but I would love for the bosses to be more challenging, so the puzzles would not feel like the bulk of this game. Not to mention, the way this game feigns an open world. Most of the world is open to you from the beginning of the game, but it is very limited on what you can do until you actually complete the dungeons in linear order. The art style is my last gripe with this game has while it has some original quality to it, the toy art style always feels like when Nintendo does not really care. They did it with Super Mario 3D World, they did it here and it just feels gross. Obviously, there are some good parts to the game, the story is good, characters are okay for the most part, Link's movement and attacks feel natural and it's a fun game to run around in. This game should have really been changed in a lot of ways because the game feels outdated in many ways, which is a great appeal for some, but I would personally call it bad game design.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is the first instance of 'underrated gem' on the Switch. This game is so packed full of stupid humor and clever gameplay that makes this game an absolute blast to play through. The gameplay is fun and simple but can quickly become challenging as you begin to meticulously plan out each individual move. The game never feels unfair in any instance but never makes it too easy. Humor is pretty good, obviously a little childish because of the Rabbids character but definitely some funny moments. The story is pretty good, nothing too crazy complex but enough to keep you strung along through each battle. If there is anything that I truly believe is a problem is the memorability. The game doesn't entirely resonate with me in the way many other Mario games do and perhaps it's the different developers but there's also the fact that locales are fairly plain, enemies are generic and characters are about as complex as Mario characters come. Still a great time and definitely worth a shot if you're big into grid-based strategy games.

This game really puts the 'Ultimate' in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. This game has just about everything you could ever want out of a fighting game. The battles are able to be freely customized to fit whatever type of game you want to play, along with the silly modes that have become a Smash Bros. staple. There's tournament modes, challenge modes, stage builders and a full fledged Adventure mode that's almost as good as fighting games get. The gameplay finds a nice balance between the slower styles of Smash 4 and Brawl, while still keeping that action-packed pace that everyone loves from Melee. The Adventure mode is lacking in some major content and is fairly stale but is better than any other games Adventure mode, aside from the obvious Subspace Emissary. Many will say that it does not quite live up to Melee but when you consider Melee as a full fledged game, this does everything that game did and more. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is easily the best entry in the franchise, no questions asked.

This is quite literally, the ultimate Mario Kart experience. It's no surprise this game was rereleased on Switch as it was effectively perfect on Wii U, just needed a few tweaks. It's a great experience, whether online with friends or on your own completing the different cups. The driving is great and never feels clunky or awkward. The items always make for good fun and add plenty of strategy into the game and there's not that one that makes the experience too hectic. However, that's also my biggest problem with this game, it's focus on skill. Skill has always been a big factor in Mario Kart, no matter what entry you play but this one focuses so much on it that once you've mastered the game, it becomes almost impossible to be beaten which can detract from the fun occasionally. The older entries are a lot more chaotic and are typically better party games but as the best portable entry, it does well. A great time though, and will be playing this one with friends for quite some time.

A classic game that has, in all honesty, held up fairly well. Quite possibly the most influential game of all time, Super Mario 64 has so much to offer in such an old and small package. The main gameplay of the game is great, even for the Nintendo 64's awful controller but this game was basically made around that controller. The movement can be odd somtimes, as there can be dropped inputs all over the place, moves just not working right and times when you just question the game design. The game can be plagued with invisible walls and broken set pieces that just do not move as intended. However, it has so much charm in every corner, from the dialogue of toads, to the secret rooms, to the random characters you meet in your adventures. This game's main collections, the famous Mario stars, are incredibly fun to collect and almost each challenge can be completed while having fun. The story is bare bones but the lore contained within some of the castle walls is so deep that it makes up for it. Overall, a charming game to introduce Nintendo into the world of 3D and has captured the hearts and minds of player for decades. Give this one a try if you get a chance, it's an incredibly great piece of videogame history.

This game is an odd one to me. I originally played this game as I played it fondly as a kid but see it for it's flaws now. The game is nothing extraordinary, especially compared to older and newer 3D Mario games. That being said, this is still a game that saved the 3DS as it began to flop in it's early years. The gameplay is obviously the meat of a Mario game and in this entry it plays fine but lacks any real excitement or precision. I often find myself wishing a move like a true version of the long jump or triple jump were in this game as along with the speed that Mario and Luigi run at makes the game slow to play. The difficulty in the gameplay is less so about actual difficulty and more so limitations that are arbitrarily put in place, such as the collectibles that make the game just that much more tedious to play as a portion of them are required. The story is incredibly lackluster and just makes you question what the point of it is but the way it's told is fairly nice. Most of the post game content is really unnecessary and just there to pad out an already short experience. This game is good if you like Galaxy or the New Super Mario Bros. series but if you are someone looking for a good 3D platformer, this is about as generic as they come.

Super Mario Odyssey is still one of my favorite games of all time so be aware of my bias when going into this review obviously but I have my reasons for loving this game. I have now played through the game around 5 times and each time I have played it, I loved it and yearn for the days when I experienced this game blind for the first time.

Super Mario Odyssey returns to the various small sandboxes that were beloved in both Super Mario 64 and Sunshine. While 64 failed to truly capture what was possible with those sandboxes as it effectively invented them and Sunshine could not quite capture the magic of 64's better levels, Super Mario Odyssey does its best to combine the two, as well as elements of every other Mario game before it. Taking the Sand Kingdom as an example, as I believe it's one of the best in the game, and allows me to analyze these levels without spoiling anything. The Sand Kingdom drops you off as it's being placed under attack by Bowser and it's up to you to figure out why the Kingdom has frozen over. To your right is a small pond area which you can explore freely with few enemies and a few platforms, also allowing you to get used to the ice mechanics, the flower springs, and even a few secrets to discover. To the left, is a vast wasteland filled with hills to run and jump over, and a few secrets to discover. But immediately in front of you and where most players will look and move towards a small, yet vibrant town, where villagers can explain the main conflict, how to get there and what you may face. This gives new players a direction to go and a framing as to what they should do while allowing experienced players to really go wherever, as the pool of poison or large structure in the background may already have the mind of an experienced player racing. The platforming is simple, yet open which lets experienced players make their own fun, while funneling new players so they do not feel lost. This seems to be a lesson that Super Mario 3D World had taught the devs, with its very linear platforming that left experienced players feeling alienated in certain levels. Finally, there are multiple challenges and even a boss beyond the main boss which leaves the world feeling fresh and explorable, and leaves more to do for completionists without alienating standard players.

Movement is literally heaven in this game and when it combines with the platforming. Mario moves at just the right pace, and with the variety of movement options at your disposal, it becomes hard to remember they even exist. Fortunately, there is a movement guide and Cappy reminds you of each move between kingdoms, which while it can be annoying for experienced players, it can be very helpful for newcomers and even intermediate players alike.

Of course, the new capture mechanic is one of the most important aspects of this game, and honestly, it's hard to miss the old Mario power-ups with these around. They offer so much variety to the already diverse moveset in the game that the movement never gets boring. Capturing something new will always see you have a fun new way to solve puzzles or cross the sandboxes. It does add probably the only negative part of this game, which is the motion controls, which start to get invasive when playing in handheld mode. Moving as fast as possible requires shaking the entire console in handheld mode, and making a save could have you throwing your remote around like an Uncle playing Wii Sports for the first time. While it's hard to say this ruins the game, it certainly brings down what was advertised of the Switch, which was an accessible console where you can play all the games you would play at home, on the go with no restrictions.

The presentation in this game has finally been mastered, as we are officially out of the period where Mario looks like a toy and more like a real person exploring real worlds. The environments are beautiful, the soundtrack is addicting, effects look so lifelike and it has never been more fun to watch Mario get hit by a cactus and get needles caught on his nose as it produces accurate jiggle physics.

This game is all-around beautiful and while I believe the new Bowser's Kingdom mode in the Super Mario 3D World port has topped it in terms of a fun sandbox Mario experience, I will always have good memories with this game. It will always be my immediate recommendation for a must-need Switch game.

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What can I say about this game that has not been said before? This is quite literally the ultimate Mario experience, with so much content and quirks that it makes the game hard to hate at all. The gameplay is easily the best in the series, with solid fluid movement that makes the game fun to just run around in, which is good for a game with so much to do. You can run right to the end in the blink of an eye or you can stop and truly enjoy the world and it's environments. Each environment is filled with different content, characters and charm that it is an absolute blast to play this game. The collectibles are great fun to find and the amount you have to find is about 1/8 of the actual amount of collectibles in the game. Nothing feels restrictive, however some paths such as how you make your way through each area of the game can feel linear but rarely detracts from the overall experience. I completed and did everything this game has to offer about two years ago and I still return to it just to play around with the physics. The story is limited but good for a Mario game, while just barely missing the mark as the grand plot of Galaxy. Overall, this is an absolutely amazing game with some blemishes here and there but it's nothing that detracts from the overall experience.