Aside from JRPGS, puzzle games are best played on the Nintendo Switch. Most smartphones offer the same portability hence puzzle games are also numerous on that platform. However, the Switch has full games, void of annoying pop-up ads and energy meters that plagues the iOS and Android world.
The Nintendo Switch is just too perfect of a platform for puzzle games because of the nature of the genre. The portability allows gamers to play whenever or wherever they want. The simplicity of graphics and gameplay would also mean that the Switch’s hardware will not be too taxed. There is a long battery life of the gaming console when playing these types of games.
Here are the 10 puzzlers on the Switch that we highly recommend:
1. Tetris Effect: Connected
Tetris is one of the few video games that are literally perfect. Its gameplay loop is unbeaten and still as addictive as ever. Tetris Effect: Connected on the Switch allows players to experience the game that defined the Game Boy with all the modern features and fantastic production values.
Tetris Effect: Connected need not include gimmicky twists of the classic gameplay. What it did is wrap the game in an aural and visual spectacle that looks good on the portable console.
If you are a veteran Tetris player and you want to sharpen your competitive talents, this game may still provide that urge. A plethora of modes allows you to pit your skills against players around the world, or if you want to stay local, against your friends. There is also a ranked mode if you are that competitive. There are lots of reasons to keep playing this game even if you finished and aced all the levels, even in the highest difficulty setting, in Journey mode.
Admittedly, the oscillating degree of difficulty in levels may deter some of those who want to just relax, but the escalating difficulty is one of the main attractions of Tetris games, or puzzle games in general.
A leveling system is used across various modes to further enrich the replayability of the game, but it is not that great, to be honest. It’s satisfying to see the progress bar grow as you complete various tasks and events. However, the cosmetic awards don’t contribute much to the game and appear to be a more superficial method to increase lifespan rather than having an impactful reward.
- Developer: Stage Games
- Publisher: Enhance Games
- Release Date: October 8, 2021
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
2. Lumines Remastered
Lumines is one of the few games that can sit with Tetris and declare that they belong together. Lumines has obvious influences from Tetris but it was able to separate itself into a thing of its own due to its incredible gameplay and visuals.
Lumines debuted in 2004 on Sony’s PlayStation Portable, and the series has subsequently to other platforms, although never on a Nintendo console. Finally, that has changed with the release of Lumines Remastered on the Nintendo Switch.
This remaster of Lumines is the PSP original that has been overhauled with HD visuals, online leaderboards, HD rumble, and other features. Lumines is a fascinating blend of falling blocks, music, visuals, and art style that’s both unusual and entertaining. Lumines is the only successful attempt at emulating the block puzzle magic that Tetris introduced to the world.
Lumines’ gameplay is straightforward: when cubes fall, the blocks that constitute the cube will clear off the container when the latter group at four or more blocks. The blocks are arranged in randomized 22 cubes of two distinct colors or patterns. Depending on whatever button is pressed, the four tiny cubes that constitute the bigger one revolve either clockwise or counterclockwise.
The goal as the blocks drop is to match four like colors/patterns, which sounds simple enough, but there’s a twist. There is a timeline that sweeps over the screen serves. Starting from the left, this meter advances right, obliterating the matched cube sets as it passes over them.
- Developer: Q Entertainment
- Publisher: Ubisoft
- Release Date: June 26, 2018
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
3. Unpacking
Unpacking is such an ingenious puzzle game. No one would’ve thought of a puzzle game based on literally unpacking things until this. Finding precisely the proper location for every tiny object, piece of clothing, book, and so on is strangely soothing—especially in this specific premise of moving around. This is the only time unpacking is actually a calming and transcendental experience.
This is a game about the stories that may be inferred from what remained and what was left out from each unpacking. In the first level, which takes place in May 1997, you simply unpack a single child’s room. There’s a bunk bed with a desk below, a few shelves, and a tiny cabinet—not much furniture, but plenty for a couple of boxes of toys, school supplies, and clothing. Across twenty years, you will have new items to unpack and be surprised by some things that keep on getting hauled into the next place.
There are also somber moments when you know the owner of the items is experiencing the abyss in the cycle of life’s peaks and valleys.
If you get yourself struggling, you know there must be a solution, even if it’s not immediately obvious. The zen-like state that you reach in this game is surprising given the simplicity of it all.
- Developer: Witch Beam
- Publisher: Humble Bundle
- Release Date: November 2, 2021
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
4. Fez
Together with Super Meat Boy, Fez is the game that kickstarted the whole indie revolution in gaming. Even after a decade, Fez’s gameplay remains as fresh as it was during its release. It is great that it is introduced to new a new generation of players on the Switch.
In Fez, you play as Gómez, a white figure living in a tranquil 2D pixel art vertical village with a day and night cycle. The world is familiar for the most part, but the game takes a literal turn with a press of a button. Gómez is given a little red headgear, known as a fez, which allows him to view the various perspectives of his three-dimensional world, which had previously been restricted to a 2D plane. Gómez may now rotate the world, providing new ways to engage with his surroundings.
Previously, in a classic 2D platformer, everything is somewhat straightforward and angles are not taken into account. In Fez, sometimes you are faced with a dead-end and all you need to do is change the camera to see if you can overlap two platforms from that other perspective to make your way through. This is a fascinating puzzle game that has been created with such an innovative twist.
With 60fps handheld play, the Switch is a perfect new home for Fez. The Switch’s shoulder buttons feel great for switching viewpoints, and the rumble functions are excellent. There are times when switching between views may reveal a little flaw in the game’s architecture, and you may even fall through one, but that’s the nature of the beast when dealing with something as fluid but intricate as this, and these instances are rare and temporary.
- Developer: Polytron Corporation
- Publisher: Trapdoor
- Release Date: April 14, 2021
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
5. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2
There have been many iterations or gimmicky renditions of Tetris, but Puyo Puyo Tetris is the only one that works and is original enough to be considered in this list.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 combines two wonderful puzzle games, Puyo Puyo and Tetris, and adds a very basic yet absurd plot and a multitude of interesting to absurd game modes for both solo and multiplayer play. The game’s main attraction is its Adventure Mode, which introduces players to the setting, gameplay, and characters. As you progress through the game, you will master all of the fundamentals so that you may dive headfirst into the other modes.
The main new feature of the sequel is Skills Battle, which adds another option to play Puyo Puyo or Tetris in the Adventure or multiplayer modes. When either team clears Puyos/Tetrominoes, their health bar swiftly depletes. A match might be over before you realize it if you’re not quick. When you begin a match, you get to select which team of three characters you’ll employ, selecting whether you’ll be fighting Puyo or Tetrominoes.
Within multiplayer, there are six separate modes, each with its unique set of difficulties and characteristics. Versus Mode is the classic player-versus-player mode, but the others provide new and enjoyable challenges.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 does not need to reinvent the wheel, delivering the same fun and amazing mash-up of two of the best drop-puzzle games ever with an ever-expanding dose of content, both old and new.
- Developer: Sega
- Publisher: Sega
- Release Date: December 8, 2020
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
6. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a spinoff of The Adventures of Captain Toad, a mini-game found in Super Mario 3D World on the Nintendo Wii U. Following its release, Nintendo gave Captain Toad his own full game based on that minigame, which resulted in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker hitting the shelves in 2014 also on the Wii U.
Obviously, with the tech and control schemes between the Wii U and the Switch, Nintendo has to change some aspects of the game when it got ported to the latter.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a game inspired by “Hakoniwa,” a Japanese gardening technique in which little places are crammed with great detail. Each game level is a one-screen diorama in which the player must rotate and tilt the camera to examine the scene from every aspect imaginable while carefully maneuvering Toad or Toadette past numerous puzzle obstacles. Imagine Fez but in self-contained levels instead of an interconnected world.
Each level’s purpose is to collect all three jewels and reach the gold star, which marks the finish of the level.
While this may appear to be a simple task, it is more difficult than it appears. Some gems are well concealed, while others are visible but have no obvious means to get to them. Furthermore, Toad’s or Toadette’s gimmick is that neither of them can leap, allegedly because of the backpack they wear. This adds an added puzzle aspect since opponents and barriers must be conquered in novel ways.
- Developer: Nintendo EAD Tokyo
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: July 13, 2018
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
7. Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain
The Nintendo Switch is rife with mini-game collections. Most of them are more on the arcade anthology like WarioWare and 1-2 Switch instead of a puzzle compendium. Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain satisfies the category of puzzle games mini-game bonanza.
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is the more cerebral option. It’s not a game you’ll ever play alone but with some clever game design, it’s a title to enjoy with the whole family, no matter how young or old they are.
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is also not a full-priced game, so those who are frugal will like this game even more. This costs around half the price of comparable first-party Nintendo titles, and that’s exactly perfect.
While previous Big Brain games may have encouraged gamers to play every day in order to improve their knowledge, Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is solely for party gaming. It is possible to practice one of the 20 exercises on your own or to put your brain to the test and obtain an overall score, but honestly? The excitement comes from either online multiplayer, where you battle ghosts of other players or play against other people in your household.
Whatever you choose, you are to play the same 20 activities. They are organized into five categories: Identify, Memorize, Analyze, Compute, and Visualize. One task may demand you to identify an animal as it is gradually shown to you, while another may need you to properly memorize a string of numbers. Some involve basic math abilities, while others may need you to recognize a silhouette.
They’re all quite straightforward at first, but as you finish more of them as the clock counts down, things get much more difficult as the pressure mounts. The higher difficulty levels truly put a challenge not just for children but also adults.
- Developer: Nintendo EPD
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: December 3, 2021
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
8. Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido
There are a lot of puzzle games on the Switch but none of them is like Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido in terms of narrative. Indieszero’s gloriously funny cartoon puzzler is a little wackier than your regular match-three title. As the title indicates, you’ll spend a lot of time striking your opponents with sushi.
Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido is the perfect pick-up and play game. You do not need an entire afternoon of sessions to have fun. You can briefly play this game before work, during lunch break, at the toilet, on the commute, or practically everywhere while doing anything.
The gameplay is a pretty basic match-three: match up same-colored plates to have your hero consume an abundance of delicious sushi. When you have a stack — or run out of room on your table — you hurl these plates at your opponent, who is aiming to do the same to you.
After defeating your wounded and battered foe, you’ll acquire valuable experience points and progress through the game’s satisfyingly ludicrous tale. However, as the game progresses, new objectives and obstacles are introduced. You’ll also begin gathering Sushi Sprite, a cute creature that gives your hero extra power like a health-replenishing dessert and electrified plates, among others.
- Developer: Nintendo EPD / indieszero
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: June 8, 2018
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
9. BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL!
HAL Laboratory is one of the most prolific game developers in history. The first three Smash Bros. titles, Mother, and the Kirby series are just a few of the games developed. It is a shame that BoxBoy!, their puzzler game series, is not that popular given its incredible gameplay.
BoxBoy! has been one of Nintendo’s ongoing series first appearing on the Nintendo 3DS. In Boxboy!+BoxGirl! there is a multiplayer aspect introduced through co-op gameplay. There is still a single-player story mode which you can use either Qbby or Qucy. The two-player co-op portion of the game is where you play both, each player controlling Qbby and Qucy. There are a considerably large number of levels and on top of that an unlockable story mode when the main ones are beaten.
BoxBoy! follows in the footsteps of its forefathers. Plus BoxGirl! is a puzzler that appears to be simple on the surface. The way it works is that your controlled character is assigned a certain amount of boxes to spawn at the start of each level. Some levels allow for as little as two, while others need at least five. These boxes may be stacked in a number of designs to help you progress through each step. When you consider your box spawning limit, you may start to piece together how to approach the level. Sometimes you only need one to erect a bridge across a spike pit, and other times you’ll need to build steps to close a gap.
- Developer: HAL Laboratory
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: April 26, 2019
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
10. Picross S2
Nintendo’s Picross series has been around almost as long as Nintendo has been producing video games. Picross is extremely addicting while having gameplay so simple even little children can play them.
For those unfamiliar with Picross, the goal of each puzzle is to determine which blocks on a grid should be filled out by using numerical values supplied to each row and column. You’ll gradually expose the grid by spotting patterns and eliminating them, revealing a pixelated picture beneath it. When filling out squares, the game gives you several options to help you along.
Some of the options are filling up a square if you believe it is correct, marking a square to indicate that it is a possible option, or crossing one out to indicate that it must remain blank. Coupled with an optional prompt to use a “Hint Roulette” at the beginning of each puzzle to aid you by filling out both a row and a column at random, the game ensures that it’s never intimidating enough at the expense of the player hard-quitting.
There are over 300 puzzles spread across multiple modes to keep you entertained. Picross and Mega Picross return from Picross S, with the former being a stripped-down version of the classic and the latter including “Mega Lines,” an additional difficulty in which two adjacent rows will have a number that is split between them and must be calculated correctly. A new addition found in Picross S2 is Clip Picross, a mode where 5 puzzles are available but are instead made up of various smaller puzzles.
There are lots of Picross S games on the Switch, but S2 is the one that introduced new things that were built upon by the succeeding titles. Also, the quality gap from Picross S to Picross S2 is so large, Picross 2 became the default “return to form” game as a recommendation.
- Developer: Jupiter
- Publisher: Jupiter
- Release Date: August 2, 2018
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
Conclusion
There are still a number of puzzle games that are available for purchase on Switch. We made a conscious effort in excluding point-and-click adventures with puzzle elements like Catherine: Full Body and the Ace Attorney series since they fit more in the adventure genre than a puzzle.
These puzzles should offer almost infinite replayability. They are fun, simple, and affordable as compared to other games available on the platform while having the polish and incredible gameplay loop. They may not look like the next AAA game with all the bombastic graphics but the cutesy art style is still a looker be it on the regular Switch screen or the OLED ones.
