9 Best 3rd Party Exclusives On Nintendo Switch

Astral Chain

PlatinumGames was one of the few third-party Wii U developers before the Switch. Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101 gave the studio ample hardware experience to help build Star Fox Zero on the system.

After a good connection during this tough time, PlatinumGames’ announcement that Astral Chain would be a Switch-only game wasn’t surprising. The Switch’s most undervalued action-adventure game lives up to the developer’s reputation.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

Even though the first two Marvel Ultimate Alliance games made for Sony and Microsoft consoles, the fact that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is only available on the Switch is still strange. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 eventually ported to the Wii, but the series wasn’t usually associated with Nintendo.

After ten years since the last game in the series, fans of the franchise were happy to hear the news. It made by Team Ninja, and you can play as more than thirty Marvel characters, like Rocket Racoon, Slope Game and Nightcrawler, who are favorites among fans. Ultimate Alliance 3 is best played with others, but it’s entertaining to play alone.

Snipperclips – Cut It Out, Together!

One of the best things about buying a Nintendo Switch when it first came out was being able to play a great selection of games right away. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch were the best-selling games in the Switch’s first week, but other games like Fast RMX and Snipperclips also caught people’s attention and became early successes for the console.

Snipperclips started out as a prototype on Adobe Flash, but its creators, SFB Games, would later show it to Nintendo. This cute puzzle game showed how the Joy-Consused and how easy it was to give the controller to someone else so you could play with them. All of the puzzles in the game are very creative and can only be solved by working together.

Tetris 99

For a long time, Nintendo was the only console maker whose players didn’t have to pay to play online with other people. That changed in 2018 when they released Nintendo Switch Online, a paid service that lets you play games from Nintendo’s older consoles and use online features in games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros.

Shortly after the launch of Nintendo Switch Online, it announced that subscribers would also be able to play Tetris 99. In this battle royale, 99 people play Tetris against each other, using either offensive or defensive strategies. It’s a simple but brilliant twist on one of the best games ever, and you can unlock themes from Metroid and Pokemon.

Bayonetta 3

It’s still hard to believe that Bayonetta now a Nintendo-only series, just like Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The first game in the series came out on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and because of its style and unique premise, it quickly gained a cult following. Sega cancelled the game’s sequel, but Nintendo decided to help fund it. Bayonetta 2 made exclusively for the Wii U and later ported to the Switch.

Bayonetta 2 shocked critics and fans alike, and it took eight years for Bayonetta 3 to come out as another exclusive for the Switch. Even though the story quickly goes in a different direction than expected, Bayonetta 3 has some of the best action scenes and music since it first came out.

Golf Story

Golf Story is another great Switch-only game that came out in 2017 and showed again how much indie developers could do with the console. It supposed to be a Wii U game at first, but Golf Story kept getting bigger and bigger, so Nintendo had to help pay for it so it could be released on Switch.

Golf Story isn’t like most golf games where you move from course to course. Instead, it’s more like an RPG with interesting characters, side quests, and other things. Golf Story also has an unexpectedly moving story that reminds me of the first Harvest Moon games or Stardew Valley. If you get tired of regular golf, you can play mini-golf, disc golf, and more in this game.

Shin Megami Tensei V

Due to its many spin-offs, like Persona and Devil Summoner, the Megami Tensei series may be one of the most confusing in the gaming industry. In 1992, the first Shin Megami Tensei game came out on the Super Famicom. After released on other systems like the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, the series started to be available only on Nintendo’s handheld consoles around 2009.

Shin Megami Tensei V is the most ambitious game in the series, and it looks great on both TV and handheld. It’s the first Shin Megami Tensei game since 2003’s Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (and its remake) can played on a TV. Which makes it much easier to finish this nearly 50-hour JRPG.

Cadence Of Hyrule

Nintendo doesn’t often let other game makers use their well-known characters in their own games. Still, it’s happening more often now, and it gives the franchises a chance to try out new ideas and genres. Brace Yourself Games, the same company that made Crypt of the NecroDancer, made Cadence of Hyrule. It brings the rhythm-based action they known for into the world of Hyrule in a beautiful way.

You can play as Link, Zelda, or Cadence as they try to stop Octavo from using his magical flute to cause trouble all over the land. The remixes of classic Legend of Zelda music are creative. And this ưill get you tapping your feet quickly as you play through the exciting campaign of Cadence of Hyrule.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope

Ubisoft’s 2017 Switch game Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle met with skepticism. Mario and his friends worked with creatures that looked like Minion-like creatures. Most people surprised by how well-made and fun the turn-based adventure ended up being when it came out.

A few years later, Ubisoft made a sequel that better in every way than the first one. Sparks of Hope may have one of the best soundtracks of any Switch game. The combat much more open and can played in many different ways. Each character has a unique personality that shines through the campaign. It’s great that Nintendo is letting more developers use their characters and intellectual property. So far, this has led to some of the most interesting and fun games on the Switch.