SPOILER WARNING: Be careful: No More Heroes 3 is a game filled with surprises, and sometimes boss fights don’t always go as expected. In other words, we recommend not reading the boss strategy until you’ve actually started fighting the boss to avoid spoiling some of the game’s best moments!
Gold Joe is your second major boss battle in No More Heroes 3. While he has some unique tricks up his sleeve, he’s not too tough once you know how to counter them. For more guides, be sure to check out our No More Heroes 3 beginner’s tips.
How to Defeat Gold Joe
Unlike Mr. Blackhole, Gold Joe is a small fighter who generally prefers to fight you at close range with his arsenal of swords. His sword strikes can be parried and dodged, giving you openings to really wail on him. However, you need to be careful when dodging around him because the arena’s edges are electrified and will cause damage. Be careful not to dodge or run into the wall, or you’ll be regretting it very quickly!
While it seems like it’s all fun and games with Gold Joe, make no mistake: he definitely means business.
Gold Joe’s specialty, polarity attacks, are among his most dangerous–but they can also provide a great opportunity to get in and do damage. You’ll notice that there are blue and red colored blocks all over the arena, and stepping on one will change Travis’s polarity. Gold Joe will create a forcefield around himself during a polarity attack and try to latch onto you with a magnetic attraction beam, dragging you into a damaging flurry of blades near his body. If you’re of the opposite polarity, you’ll be sucked in very quickly! The key to breaking this attack is to look at the color of the forcefield, then step onto a block on the arena that matches the color. Then, run towards him to repel him back into the damage wall. If you do it quickly and correctly, you will damage him and send him sprawling on the ground for some free damage. Use this time to try and activate your Death Reel!
Like most of the bosses, his attacks change at different health levels. At 2/3 heath, he will gain a new ranged attack. Lasers will appear in rows of straight lines around the arena. Move out of the way before they fire their shots, and you’re in the clear. At 1/3 health, he will attempt to turn the tables by implementing a new attack into the mix: using his polarity to repel you into the damage wall instead of drawing you in. To counter this, step on a tile of the opposite polarity to his, then run in to get some strikes on him.
Gold Joe is vulnerable to stuns, throws, and knockdowns, so some players might actually find this battle easier than the previous fight. Keep utilizing your attack opportunities with well-timed dodging and countering his polarity, and he shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.
SPOILER WARNING: Be careful! No More Heroes 3 is a game filled with surprises, and sometimes boss fights don’t always go as expected. In other words, we recommend not reading the boss strategy until you’ve actually started fighting the boss to avoid spoiling some of the game’s best moments!
Not long after you start No More Heroes 3, you’ll be up against Mr. Blackhole, a massive alien menace. He is the first big challenge of the game and will put your newly learned skills to the test. Read on for some tips on bringing this space monster crashing down to earth. For more guides, be sure to check out our No More Heroes 3 beginner’s tips.
How to Defeat Mr. Blackhole
Mr. Blackhole may be your first major boss fight, but he’s no tutorial-tier pushover! He comes to battle with various painful attacks and a sturdy, oversized body that can’t be suplexed. He’s also got the ability to create warp portals to launch objects (and himself) through.
Mr. Blackhole is your first big challenge.
A key thing to note: the back half of this fight becomes much more difficult, thanks to Mr. Blackhole planting many damage portals on the ground. This limits your movement and makes things harder to dodge. He also changes up his attacks, which we’ll talk about below. It’s crucial to go into this phase with as much health as possible.
Mr. Blackhole has four main attack patterns:
He will make three small portals appear in a concentrated area, then jab a fist through each one in turn. Since the area of this attack is small, you can quickly move out of range and use the time to recharge or eat. Be careful, though–once he is down to half his life bar, another two portals will appear after the initial volley to attack you where you’re standing and catch you off-guard. Once he changes this up, wait until you dodge the last set of hands before recharging.
Portals will open up across from you. After about a second, they will shoot a projectile straight in the direction they’re. At first, these aren’t too hard to dodge, but evading becomes more difficult after the arena becomes filled with damage traps. After three of these projectiles launch, Mr. Blackhole will move onto another attack.
Mr. Blackhole will either emerge from his portal or drop from the sky. (If you see a bunch of rising black lines in an area, do not remain standing there unless you want a flattened Travis.) After a brief wait, he may cry out and stomp the ground, creating a short-range shockwave around him. It’s pretty small and easy to dodge, so be ready to evade. It’s also possible he might not attack at all, but don’t let your guard down!
After he’s down to 50% health, Mr. Blackhole gets an additional, much longer-range attack that sends a giant pulse radiating out through the arena. He’ll start to use this and the small-range shockwave interchangeably.
You should start attacking as soon as you see Blackhole emerge from a portal or drop into the arena to maximize your damage. You can also mix in your powerful Death Kick attack, which won’t take too long to recharge. Just be prepared to dodge as soon as you hear him cry out or rev up… or, if your timing is on point, try to interrupt him with the Death Kick.
The rest of the fight should be pretty straightforward. Follow the path to Mr. Blackhole’s head, and once you reach the big space fight against him, keep locking on and firing your lasers until the battle ends.
The Psychonauts 2 adventure continues in Hollis’s Classroom, with Raz and the other interns venturing into the mind of Agent Hollis Forsythe for a chance to learn a new power: Mental Connection. You’ll need it to fully explore her mind (and to do some not-great things in there), as well as to uncover all the collectibles Hollis’s Classroom hides, to maximize your Intern rank.
Like Loboto’s Labyrinth, Hollis’s Classroom is still introducing new elements in Psychonauts 2. The big power you gain here is Mental Connection, which can be used to reach distant platforms and other locations–and grab collectibles.
Steamer Trunk Tag: Before you leave the classroom, check the outer ring of chairs on the lower level to find this tag.
Nugget of Wisdom: This ought to be your first Nugget in the game, and you’ll come across it as you use Mental Connection to climb out of the classroom. You can’t miss it.
Nugget of Wisdom: Continuing through the level, you’ll find yourself in the back of an ambulance driven by Hollis. When you return the way you came, you’ll exit in front of a hospital. Check the bushes along the wall bordering the left side of the area when facing the entrance to find this Nugget.
Hat Box Emotional Baggage: The Hat Box is in the corner of the parking lot to the right of the entrance. To get the tag to open it, use Mental Connection to reach the hospital’s roof and check the right corner right above where you found the Hat Box.
Steamer Trunk Emotional Baggage: While you’re up on the hospital roof, head to the left, just above the hospital entrance, and check behind the pipes to find the Steamer Trunk.
Half-A-Mind: The first of these collectibles you’ll encounter is inside the hospital, right in the center of the first room.
Half-A-Mind: Look for the other half of the Half-A-Mind on one of the platforms as you use Mental Connection to grapple through the air.
Memory Vault: After you connect the Death and Victory thoughts, you’ll access a hallway. The Vault is running just ahead of you; smash it to open it.
Nugget of Wisdom: The last Nugget in this stage is in Hollis’s church-like Quiet Room. Check the pew on the left side at the front to find the Nugget.
American Girl has released a very cool Xbox gaming set with miniature replicas of the Xbox Series X with various accessories.
The set has pretty much everything you could think of for an Xbox gaming set. The Xbox Series X even has a spot to insert pretend game discs, including the faux Ori and the Will of the Wisps disc that the set comes with. If you insert the game disc and press the console’s power button, it makes a sound effect. An American Girl Camp Quest faux game case and disc are included too.
Everything a real gamer needs
As for faux Xbox accessories, there is a black wireless headset that matches the Series X and also fits on a doll’s head. Additionally, two controllers are included, with one that has an attachment bracket for the mimic cell phone that has three interchangeable screens for mobile cloud gaming.
There are also two Xbox Game Pass cards, a miniature one as well as a real 30-day Xbox Game Pass Ultimate code for an adult to redeem. Other miscellaneous objects in the set are a faux blue fuzzy chair, water bottle, candy box, spinner toy, and sticker sheet.
The American Girl Xbox Gaming Set costs $60, but you also have the option to pay in four installments of $15. Back in 2018, Microsoft had a similar American Girl set for Xbox One S.
Goichi “Suda51” Suda, game director and co-founder of Tokyo-based developer Grasshopper Manufacture Inc., hinted that No More Heroes III might be the end of the series as a whole and Travis Touchdown’s story.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Suda51 said Travis Touchdown will “finally be coming to the end of his final battle” in No More Heroes III, suggesting the latest entry in the action franchise could be the last one–at least, for now.
“As hinted at with the ‘Final’ thing, Travis Touchdown will finally be coming to the end of his final battle, and will be embarking on a much-deserved, long journey,” Suda51 said. “Join him as he goes absolutely buck wild in the Garden–no, Cosmos of Madness. Now, carrying with it a thousand thoughts, I run along the Thunder Road once more. As one journey ends, the crimson bike falls into a deep sleep.”
While Suda51 hinted that No More Heroes III could be the series’ end, he doesn’t use explicit language spelling that out–indicating Travis Touchdown or the No More Heroes franchise may return in some other form in the future.
It’s possible No More Heroes could pivot to a different direction. Since its 2007 debut, Grasshopper has developed two spin-offs: 2012’s No More Heroes: World Ranker and 2019’s Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. While Travis Strikes Again is part of the mainline series, Suda51 doesn’t consider it a sequel to No More Heroes II, but instead a fresh start for Travis. Travis Strikes Again also introduces some noticeable changes to the franchise, particularly change the viewing perspective to top-down.
We scored the action-adventure game a 4/10 in our No More Heroes 3 review, with critic Richard Wakeling saying, “After an 11-year wait, maybe No More Heroes 3 was always destined to fall short of our expectations. But to end without so much as a touchdown is a mighty disappointment.”
An indie developer is stepping away from making games after claiming that abuse of Steam’s refund policy has prevented them from profiting on their latest title.
The developer in question, Emika Games, is the solo indie developer behind Find Yourself, Locked Up, and the recently-released Summer of ’58. Each of their games has positive reviews on Steam, including Summer of ’58. However, that hasn’t stopped players from refunding the game, which costs just $9, immediately after playing it. In most cases, that wouldn’t be possible, but because Summer of ’58 takes just an hour and a half to beat, it’s possible for players to request a refund through Steam.
In a statement on Twitter, the developer thanked people for their support but announced that “I’m leaving game development for an indefinite time to collect my thoughts.” According to Emika Games, the large number of refunds for Summer of ’58 has meant that they “do not earn anything to create a new game.” Emika Games’ upcoming title, From Day To Day, has likewise been delayed indefinitely as well, with the developer saying “this game will not see the light of day in the near future.”
If its refund policy was abused, this episode would highlight a major issue with Steam’s handling of refunds. The digital marketplace’s policy lets players get their money back after buying a game as long as it’s been played for under two hours. For larger titles, like Mount & Blade Bannerlord or Halo: The Master Chief Collection, this policy makes sense. However, it can be extremely punishing to indie developers, who, much like in Emika Games’ case, make shorter games that can be beaten quickly. The Epic Games Store has a similar refund policy, which lets users self-refund games if they’ve played less than two hours over the course of 14 days.
With the indie game explosion over the last decade or so, the survival game has gone from a relatively niche genre to one with mainstream appeal. Enormous games like Minecraft, which is among the best Xbox survival games and PS4 survival games, have found audiences with players of all ages, and despite the very basic element they share–avoiding death–survival games are enormously diverse. You can attempt to not starve to death on Earth, attempt to not start to death on Mars, or attempt to not starve to death on an underwater planet filled with dangerous sea creatures. Jokes aside, it’s more than just… Don’t Starve, as the elements, enemy factions, and even other players can spell trouble in the best survival games. We’re rounded up 20 of them below.
One of the premier survival games available on current-gen platforms, Ark: Survival Evolved certainly emphasizes the “survival” element of its name strongly. In addition to the common survival-game mechanics such as hunger and thirst systems, you also must contend with shifting weather conditions that can cause your health to deteriorate even faster, as well as both wildlife and other players. Sticking together can be the key to survival through the game’s tribe system, and you can also tame and train dangerous dinosaurs, which can assist in hunting or even be used as mounts when you have to fend off attackers. If you prefer, you can even rely on farming produce to survive without killing, though your enemies may not be quite as kind to you.
Well, that title gets right to the point, doesn’t it? A take on resource-gathering and crafting that doesn’t waste time with unnecessary preamble or extra fluff, Don’t Starve’s mix of 2D and 3D art–in the signature Klei aesthetic–makes it unlike any other game on this list, and combined with its addictive gameplay loop and punishing difficulty, it will certainly test your ability to adapt and overcome. With procedurally generated worlds, you will never experience the same game twice in a row, and the standalone expansion Don’t Starve Together lets you and your friends try to make it in the cold, unforgiving world as a group. Or, if you prefer, you can try your luck with random players online, which should test just how far strangers can go to avoid actually helping each other.
Zombie games are a dime a dozen, at least at first glance, but there is a reason that Techland’s Dying Light was such a success–and far better than its previous game, Dead Island. Instead of a more traditional movement system you’d expect from a first-person action title, Dying Light makes heavy use of parkour mechanics to allow for daring escapes that really emphasize the danger of a swarm of zombies much better than a game where you can just blast your way through the entire horde. That doesn’t mean you can’t still deliver some pain to the zombies with a variety of weapons like hammers, bows, and shotguns, but the balance of “fight or flight” creates something we just don’t see in many other open-world zombie games, and it exemplifies survival better than many games that take a more traditional approach to the genre.
At first glance, Escape From Tarkov looks like any other multiplayer shooter in the same vein as Call of Duty, but it’s a much more complex game with some interesting twists of its own. In addition to realistic injuries–you must account for things like fractures, hydration, and blood loss–you must carefully protect your scavenged loot because death also means dropping everything you’ve acquired. It’s not exactly an MMO but with a player-driven economy for looted items, the risk-and-reward dynamic in Escape From Tarkov adds an extra layer of tension to every battle, meaning you’ll need to watch out for deteriorating weapons, lest you have a gun jam right before you’re shot in the face. Of course, that can also happen to your enemy, letting you breathe a sigh of relief and live to fight another day.
To survive, you must always be one step ahead of whatever it is that wants to kill you. In the case of The Flame in the Flood, that includes not just predators, but the elements, as well. As you travel in a boat down a river and try to outpace impending rain, you’ll come across towns that you can scavenge for supplies to keep yourself alive during the journey, but this can lead to unintended encounters with the local wildlife. The Flame in the Flood’s dark premise is contrasted by its gorgeous, minimalist art style, as well as a beautiful, Americana-driven soundtrack by Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan. Even the most morbid, difficult moments are still somewhat calming, at least up until you die and have to try again.
A survival game that also combines elements of horror and cooperative open-world exploration, The Forest features a “fish out of water” setup in which you’re hunted by genetically muted locals while trying to survive the wilderness. The choice for how you do this is up to you, ranging from creating a robust fortress or sneaking around to take out the attackers stealthily. Like other survival games such as Minecraft, there is a day-night cycle, encouraging you to explore and scavenge while it’s light before retreating to the safety of your shelter at night. With friends by your side, things can be a little less daunting, but you’ll still need to find food if you don’t want to die by starvation–and that’s just as terrifying as the enemies.
Usually, survival games task you with surviving–as in you, either as yourself or a character. 11 bit studios’ Frostpunk, however, is a “society survival game” that sees a world plunged entirely into an endless winter. It’s up to you to keep your civilization from death, managing their resources and establishing the laws that will prevent total chaos and anarchy while still maintaining your people’s health and happiness. The decisions you make can have unintended and permanent consequences, both good and bad. Should you rule smartly, you can even invest in advanced technologies, returning people to some degree of normalcy. Available on last-gen consoles, PC, Mac, and even mobile, Frostpunk is also getting a sequel, though it doesn’t currently have a release date.
You don’t necessarily need some supernatural or science-fiction threat in order for the apocalypse to feel terrifying. In The Long Dark–another game that sees the world plunged into constant winter–in the story mode you must venture out, alone, searching for your companion after you’re separated. The separate survival mode offers more freedom, with surviving as long as possible being your only goal and permadeath looming over every decision you make. With every action you make, you spend calories that must be replenished with food, but the threat of the elements always balances out your need to go find more resources. Multiple difficulty settings mean that you can gradually ramp up the challenge if you’re new to the experience.
How could any survival game list not include Minecraft? Not only is it one of the most influential and successful video games ever made, but it’s also still damn good a decade after its launch. The procedurally generated world is filled–or can be filled–with plenty of unexpected areas, including veins of valuable minerals and clusters of enemies, and it’s up to you to decide how to protect yourself from the monsters and exploding Creepers that threaten your survival. Of course, if you want a break, you can always go into the Creative mode, instead, and focus exclusively on building the structure of your dreams. It might even give you some ideas for how you can protect yourself in the main game!
When it first launched in 2016, No Man’s Sky was a shell of a game. Most of its best systems weren’t even created yet, and the prospect of exploring for the sake of exploring didn’t exactly thrill many players. But Hello Games didn’t give up, implementing base-building, multiplayer, and a variety of other quality-of-life improvements to make No Man’s Sky the ultimate space exploration game. Finding new wildlife, establishing your operations on a planet, and seeing what it has to offer–all while monitoring your life-support systems–now feels satisfying and fulfilling, and continued updates have only made the game even better since then. It’s one of last generation’s biggest gaming redemption stories, and the initial reception shouldn’t turn you off from playing it.
Not a survival game in the traditional sense–you don’t have to tell us–but a game with mere survival at the forefront for nearly the entire journey, Resident Evil 7 reinvigorated a series that had gone so far off the rails, it didn’t even know what rails were anymore. Set largely in one big house, the game sees new protagonist Ethan Winters attempting to evade a family that seemingly can’t die. A twisted secret lies at the heart of this mystery, in true Resident Evil fashion, but the game feels noticeably different than the other Resident Evil games–especially everything from the current century. Running away is not only an option, but often the best option, and ammunition is scarce enough that you actually have to think about whether it’s worth defending yourself or finding another way to get where you need to go.
Melding survival game elements with an open-world RPG, Outward may look like a sword-and-sworcery power fantasy at first glance, but you actually play as a pretty pathetic little weakling. Even a disease can spell the end for you in Outward, alongside thirst, and no playthrough will ever be exactly the same. The game also makes sure you don’t manipulate its systems by constantly auto-saving in a similar manner to an MMO, but with perseverance and some careful planning, you can become a hero. If you want, you can even join a friend–both in person or online–and attempt to not get killed by the most trivial of enemies together.
A survival game that should be right up the alley of any Prison Architect fans, RimWorld follows a small group of colonists–unwilling colonists, we may add–who have crashed onto a new planet and must attempt to rebuild and thrive in their serendipitous situation. They aren’t alone on the planet, with raiders and wildlife alike seeking their heads, but you can also tame your own beasts to do your bidding and set up defensive positions to blast anyone who comes close. Injuries and disease are tracked to specific body parts and you can even get a prosthetic limb if need be, and combat isn’t just based on stats. Instead, there is an actual cover system you can manipulate through your structures’ placement and design.
Rust, created by Garry’s Mod studio Facepunch–has had an interesting journey. In early development, it seemed too eager to imitate other survival games, even including zombies at one point, but it gradually established its own identity as a straightforward and addictive survival game. With an island full of wildlife and other players, the latter of whom can either help or hurt you, you need to always be on your toes, and finding allies you are comfortable with can be the difference between life and death. Thanks to a relatively recent popularity surge caused by streamers, the game has gotten a second wind, and there is even a separate console edition if you don’t have a PC.
Fully customizable and with enough difficulty options for every kind of player, Starbound mixes science-fiction exploration and adventure with survival elements to create a charming and inspired take on the genre. There isn’t a set end-goal, though you can find your own victory by battling enemies or venturing out to take over other planets. On the Hardcore difficulty setting, you’ll need to eat to survive and if you die, you’re dead for good, while Survival difficulty replaces this with an “items drop on death” feature for a little more flexibilty. With mod support further letting you personalize the experience, Starbound is quite literally what you make of it.
Getting mauled to death by land creatures is scary enough, but there is little more terrifying than dying underwater. In Subnautica, you have no choice but to venture into the murky depths of a watery planet in order to survive, and ironically, you still need to find water to drink because salt water will only kill you faster! You’ll have a chance to upgrade your vessel’s hull in order to protect it from the increasing pressure as you venture deeper into the abyss, and you can even establish bases and build other vehicles to assist you in your research and exploration. This isn’t a simple “survive” game, however, with a mystery to uncover at its core, so those who aren’t into the basic “dont’ die” gameplay loop may still enjoy Subnautica. A sequel, Subnautica: Below Zero, was also released in 2021 and takes place two years after the original game.
Enjoy city-building games but wish you had more control over individual people and didn’t have to do with boring old Earth? Surviving Mars might be just what you’re looking for, then, as the game has you build up an early human colony on the titular planet while also having to deal with the people who make up your civilization. Each one has its own AI, meaning you won’t be able to make universal, sweeping decisions that have the same impact on everyone, and their problems can become your problems if you don’t manage them effectively. But it’s more than just survival, as you can discover the hidden mysteries of Mars itself, some of which may not be pleasant.
If you took Minecraft and turned it into a 2D game, it would look a whole lot like Terraria, though the focus is on more than just survival and building structures here. Venturing into the deep caverns of the randomly generated worlds you explore could lead to rare resources and materials to let you craft something truly amazing, or it might just make for a great anecdote about the dangerous areas you encountered, instead. Where Terraria differs from games like Minecraft is by also putting a significant focus on how the game feels, playing more like a retro action game for those who want to focus on combat.
One of the darkest games on this list, because it sheds fantasy and sci-fi for the realistic horrors of war, This War of Mine puts you in control of the civilians caught in the middle of an armed conflict, unable to escape danger and merely hoping to survive by the time the battles have ended. You’ll need to gather basic supplies to survive, but the risk of being caught in the crossfire can deter you from getting what you actually need, and the decisions you need to make aren’t easy. Who is worth sacrificing for the good of the group? Can such a choice even be made?
A surprise hit on Steam that managed to outperform some of the biggest PC games, Valheim scratches the survival game itch without being locked into some of the genre’s core elements. The fantasy game puts you in a procedurally generated world where you can work cooperatively with up to nine other players, and you can build a house and even an entire settlement alongside smaller items like weapons, armor, food, and–seeing as this is a Norse world–mead. The combat is also a little bit more advanced than similar survival games, with mechanics for dodging and blocking attacks, and you can also venture out into the sea and test your skills as the captain of a vessel. Only $20 and with the Hearth & Home update adding even more content to the game, including new furniture and food items, it’s a refreshing take on survival.
The creative team behind the popular mockumentary American Vandal are working on a similar project that skewers video games, and specifically eSports.
Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault have reached a deal with Paramount + for an “eSports mockumentary” called Players, according to Variety.
The show follows a fictional League of Legends professional team looking to win their first championship after a string of near misses. “To win it all, they will need their prodigy, a 17-year-old rookie, and their 27-year-old veteran to put their egos aside and work together,” reads a line from the show’s description.
Yacenda is directing the show, while Funny Or Die’s Joe Farrell and Mike Farah are executive producers. League of Legends developer Riot Games is in on the joke, as it’s also a producer.
American Vandal ran for two seasons on Netflix. The first season was a spoof on true crime, tackling a high school story about painting penises on faculty cars. The second season involves a person putting laxatives in lemonade. Before that, Yacenda and Perrault made mockumentaries poking fun at ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series.
Mario’s 35th anniversary has come and gone, but there’s never a bad time to play the best Mario games on Nintendo Switch. While the Switch lacks the deep Virtual Console library that defined the retro offerings of the Wii and Wii U, Nintendo’s hybrid console has built up a solid catalogue of Mario games over the years. Some of those are completely new games that are still receiving support. Some are Wii U games that got the port treatment. And many are NES or SNES games available through Nintendo Switch Online.
If you’re just getting into the overall-clad plumber’s oeuvre, we’ve got the biggest hits. And, if you’re looking for deeper cuts, we’ve got you covered. Nintendo has been making Mario games for nearly four decades, and many of the mustachioed Italian’s best games are available on Switch–if you know where to look.
The Nintendo Switch is home to some of the best Mario platformers, including the superb Super Mario Odyssey and enhanced ports of earlier greats like New Super Mario Bros. U.
Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario Odyssey
Four years into the Switch’s life cycle, Super Mario Odyssey remains the only entirely new 3D Mario platformer available on the platform. And that’s okay because it rules. In Super Mario Odyssey, the lovable plumber swaps out his standard red cap for Cappy, a living hat that can take control of anything Mario chucks him at. As a result, Super Mario Odyssey has terrifically varied gameplay. In any given level you could be playing as a T-Rex, a frog, a 2D version of Mario, a Goomba or a Chain Chomp (and many more). Add in the fact that the ability to throw Cappy greatly increases Mario’s roster of jumps and moves and you have a Mario platformer for the ages.
Released earlier this year, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury combines an excellent 3D platformer that was previously Wii U-exclusive with a bold new open-world take on the Mario formula. Originally released back in 2013, Super Mario 3D World is maybe the most underrated 3D Mario game. With a lengthy campaign that works just as well in single-player as it does in four-player co-op, Super Mario 3D World is tons of fun. Bowser’s Fury is significantly shorter and some of its ideas feel a little half-baked, but it’s a fun and interesting experiment that’s well worth checking out.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe offers a pretty traditional Mario experience, carrying on in the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” tradition of the New Super Mario Bros. games available on DS, Wii and 3DS. Basically, as we noted in our review, there isn’t much new here. But, it’s still a strong entry in a series with one of the most consistently high bars for quality in gaming.
Super Mario Maker 2 does what it says on the tin: it lets you make Super Mario levels. This sequel builds out the scale of creation, allowing players to move beyond individual levels in favor of entire worlds. Plus, an update added Zelda characters and art, as well.
The Nintendo Switch is home to a pair of Mario Kart games as well as a couple of fun Mario sports titles.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Like a kart boosted by triple mushrooms, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe just won’t stop. Despite being a port of a game already available on the Wii U, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the top-selling Nintendo Switch game, and only Animal Crossing: New Horizons comes close. It’s one of the best racing games of all time, and the fact that it stars Mario and friends is just an added bonus.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit isn’t a traditional Mario Kart game. Instead, the 2020 racer takes the action into the real world, requiring that players assemble their own tracks, which they then can use to race RC Mario cars around their home. The game trades in the pulled back perspective of previous Mario Kart games for a behind-the-back camera positioned on your plastic car. It’s a unique experiment that isn’t quite as successful as the other Mario Kart game on this list, but still might be worth checking out if–for some reason–you find yourself spending a lot of time at home.
The newest game on this list, Mario Golf: Super Rush is a fun take on the sport, but doesn’t introduce too much that’s novel (aside from Speed Golf, which is pretty cool). But, if it’s your first time playing Mario Golf? This is great fun in single-player and multiplayer, though not as action-oriented as other games on this list.
The debut of the Mario Tennis series on Switch is a marked step up from 2015’s poorly received Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash. Aces offers deep tennis mechanics, a suite of modes, and competitive multiplayer.
This Nintendo/Sega collab was released way back in November 2019, half a year before COVID-19 made it to the States and nearly two years before the real-world Olympics actually happened. Despite the weirdness around its name, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is a pretty traditional entry in the long-running series. That said, it’s the best entry yet, with a slew of simple yet fun minigames and accessible design that makes this an easy game for people of all ages and skill levels to pick up and play.
Plenty of great Mario spin-offs have released for Switch, including turn-based tactics games, role-playing games, fighting games, and more.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
This Ubisoft Milan-developed crossover event is a surprisingly great tactics game in which players assemble squads of Mario characters, Rabbids, and Rabbids who look like Mario characters for kinetic turn-based battles. A Donkey Kong Adventure expansion launched a year later, so there’s plenty of content here for strategy fans. Plus, a sequel, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, is due out next year.
Some longtime fans of the Paper Mario series were disappointed that, with The Origami King, Nintendo refused to return the series to its RPG roots. The Thousand Year Door this is not. But what this game does have is clever, funny writing and a unique ring-based battle system. The mechanics aren’t as deep as in early entries, but this game is far from paper thin.
Mario’s brother and perennial sidekick takes on a leading role in this ghost-hunting adventure, wielding a vacuum he can use to suck up ghosts. Rescue Mario for a change in this well-received 2019 Switch exclusive.
Whatever your opinion of Mario Party–the series in which the mustachioed plumber and friends take turns rolling dice, hopping around a board, playing minigames and collecting stars–Super Mario Party is unlikely to change it. The series’ 2018 Switch debut is pretty similar to previous entries in the series, but if you like what the series is, or, at least, think it’s a fine-enough time while hanging out with friends, it’s a good one of those.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a Mario game in the same way Avengers: Endgame is an Ant Man movie. Sure, he’s there , but it’s not really about him. Mario’s relative unimportance to the series notwithstanding, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of the best multiplayer games of all time, with the most expansive roster of any competitive game ever. Part party game, part museum tour, part action-oriented fighter, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is action-packed fun that can liven up any get-together.
A significantly more difficult arcade version of Super Mario Bros., which we discuss in more detail below.
Arcade Archives Mario Bros.
Arcade Archives Mario Bros.
This is the arcade game Mario Bros., which we discuss below. You can pay for this version, or play it as part of Nintendo Switch Online’s collection of NES titles.
Nintendo Switch Online Mario games
Nintendo Switch Online
There are tons of classic Mario games available to play for free for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Switch Online costs $20 per year for an individual membership or $35 per year for a family account that supports up to eight users. If you’re in a nostalgic mood, check out all of the SNES and NES Mario games you can play on the service below.
SNES Online Mario games
There are five Mario games available on Switch Online that originally debuted on Super Nintendo, including the wonderful compilation Super Mario All-Stars.
Super Mario World
Mario’s Super Nintendo debut boasted a generational leap forward in graphics, introduced Yoshi and the spin-jump and is just a ton of fun to play. Plus, it’s got save functionality built in, which sure is nice compared to its NES predecessors.
Super Mario Kart
The first Mario Kart game feels pretty different from every Mario Kart game that followed. While Mario’s racing adventures have been rendered in 3D since Mario Kart 64, Super Mario Kart fakes 3D with Mode 7–an effect used in a variety of SNES games to create faux 3D on a 2D sprite-based plane. As a result, rather than feeling like you’re driving through a 3D space, it kind of feels like you’re steering a toy car around a paper map. If you love Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and want to see the roots of the series, it’s worth checking out. Thankfully, you can do so at no added cost if you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Mario’s Super Picross
This game, a sequel to Mario’s Picross, was originally released only in Japan and the Switch version, puzzlingly, remains untranslated–despite being available on the North American eShop. The tutorial and all text are presented in kanji, so this one is a little difficult to get into unless you can read Japanese or already know how to play Picross.
Super Mario All-Stars
A remaster collection from decades before remaster collections became a common thing, Super Mario All-Stars gathers the NES Mario games (Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and Super Mario Bros. 3) and gives them a SNES coat of paint, with new graphics and music.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Despite the name, Yoshi’s Island is more spin-off than sequel. As Yoshi, the green dinosaur introduced in Super Mario World, you platform through colorful stages while caring for Baby Mario. Basically, the game is one long escort mission, but through inventive level design, gorgeous pixel art that foreshadowed the arts-and-crafts style of games like Paper Mario and Yoshi’s Wooly World, a killer soundtrack and exceptional controls, it manages to be one of the best games in the series.
NES Online Mario games
There are even more Mario games (including some you may not recognize) on NES Online.
Super Mario Bros.
The game that started it all. While Mario was introduced in Donkey Kong, and appeared alongside his brother, Luigi, in Mario Bros. and Wrecking Crew, Super Mario Bros. set the template for every 2D platformer that would follow. Aside from the one-off gimmickry of World 7-4, which requires extensive guesswork or an Internet walkthrough to complete, Super Mario Bros. still holds up and Nintendo Switch Online’s suspend save functionality means that you can much more easily see it through to completion.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Originally released in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levelsplays a dark joke on players who think they know what to expect from a Mario game. With extreme difficulty and in-game tricks (like poison mushrooms that look like power-ups), Nintendo decided the game was too difficult for North American audiences. As a result, players in the United States got the next game on this list instead, and had to wait until 1993 to play The Lost Levels as part of the Super Mario All-Stars collection.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Instead of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, North American audiences got this series outlier as the sequel to Super Mario Bros. This sequel isn’t really a sequel at all. Worried that Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels wouldn’t go over well with Western audiences, Nintendo altered an existing Famicom game, Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, by adding Mario characters. The resulting game has mechanics, like picking up and throwing vegetables to hurt enemies and extensive vertical platforming, that would not be iterated on in successive entries. Instead, Super Mario Bros. 2 stands as a bizarre one-off, a numbered Mario game that wasn’t really a Mario game at all.
Super Mario Bros. 3
Platformer fans have long argued over which 2D Mario–Super Mario World or Super Mario Bros. 3–is truly supreme. But if you have Nintendo Switch Online, you can play both superb titles at no extra charge. Problem solved.
Dr. Mario
While younger fans likely know Dr. Mario from the Super Smash Bros. series, the character’s 1990 debut is a magnificent puzzle game that’s well worth checking out. Gameplay will be familiar for anyone who’s tried their hand at Puyo Puyo or, to a lesser extent, Tetris. Dual-colored medicine capsules fall from the top of the screen and must be arranged by color at the bottom to destroy sets of pre-arranged viruses. Match four and they disappear. To complete a level, you need to destroy all the viruses, and in later levels, those viruses venture much closer to the top of the screen. It’s a frantic puzzler with the perfect soundtrack for virus extermination.
NES Open: Tournament Golf
This NES golf game, starring Mario, is a little more difficult to parse than the mascot’s modern outings on the links. Picking this title up after spending some time with the recent Mario Golf: Super Rush, it’s striking how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. Play switches between an overhead perspective, which gives you a sense of the hole in its entirety, and behind Mario’s back, where you line up your shot and hit the ball in time with a moving meter; all pretty similar to the modern game. But completing a hole is much more confusing and there’s no tutorialization to help you understand the rules. If you end up checking this one out, be sure to also look up gameplay videos on YouTube.
Donkey Kong
These days, Mario is significantly more famous than his giant gorilla frenemy. But Donkey Kong gave Mario his big break. This proto-platformer cast players as Mario (then called Jumpman) on a quest to save Pauline (not Peach). As you might expect from an arcade game made in 1981, it’s tough as nails. But, thankfully, Nintendo Switch Online lets you create save states so you can topple Donkey Kong regardless of your skill level.
Mario Bros.
The first game to feature “Mario Bros.” in the title, this 1983 arcade game looks a little different than the platformers bearing those words today. Like Donkey Kong, all the action is confined to one screen, as opposed to the side scrolling action of Super Mario Bros. It’s a fine game, but in the Mario series, it’s a bit of an evolutionary dead-end; mostly worth checking out for historical curiosity.
Wrecking Crew
A fun early Mario spin-off–and the origin of Mario wielding a hammer–Wrecking Crew is an action-oriented puzzle game in which Mario must destroy blocks and breakable ladders while avoiding enemies and fireballs. It’s pretty fun and figuring out how to navigate each space–you may actually need that ladder you just destroyed–is an engrossing challenge.
Discontinued Mario games
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Didn’t see a game you were looking for in the list? Unfortunately, it may have been discontinued. In celebration of Mario’s 35th birthday, Nintendo launched a pair of limited time games on Switch: Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which collected Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy; and Super Mario Bros. 35, a free battle royale take on Super Mario Bros. World 1-1. As of March 31, 2021, neither is available anymore, though you might be able to find physical copies of Super Mario 3D All-Stars online or in the wild.
