Even before everything that’s happened in 2020, the Nintendo Switch was a great family game console. It’s doubly, triply, quadruply more now. It’s also tough to find in stock. The original TV-connected Switch is the harder system to find, but it’s also the one I’d recommend for families, since it has better battery life, and it can connect and be used for home multiplayer games. On the smaller Switch Lite, you’d have to huddle around that tiny screen and buy extra controllers, no matter which Switch game you’re playing.
Assuming you only have one Switch, here are the best multiplayer Switch games that are worth gathering the family together to play. Nintendo’s newest Clubhouse Games is a collection of classic board games from around the world that’s playable online or locally. But there are plenty of other options, too. We’ll update this as we try more multiplayer games.
Note: Most of the links below are for the digital copies of the games, sold via Amazon. You can alternately buy and download all of these directly from Nintendo’s eShop, straight from the Switch. Just make sure you have a microSD memory card with ample capacity to store game data.
Read more: Find your Nintendo Switch friend code, share screenshots and more tips
Screenshot by Scott Stein/CNET
Nintendo’s new collection of family board games and retro games bundles 51 surprisingly fun worldwide classics, with online play and local multiplayer. The game also supports local Switch-to-Switch play with a free bridging app. Many games do two-player; a few do three- to four-player. A few games like Bowling are almost like a return to Nintendo’s Wii Sports. It’s a great instructional tool for games like backgammon, chess or even shogi, mahjong and hanafuda, and there’s a lot of stuff to keep entertained over the summer. It’s also equally good on a TV, huddled over one Switch, or played between several Switches.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has become an absolute phenomenon this year, and for a lot of people it’s now the game to buy a Switch for. The casual, calming, social community game just lasts forever, and a new multiplayer mode allows more than one player to wander around and play at the same time. It has a lot of ways to connect with other players and friends, too.
Also, Animal Crossing is an ideal multiplayer game for homes where any sort of group play becomes a battle royale. There’s no winning, just planting trees, catching fish and chatting with other players — an ideal video game scenario for the super-stressed. Just be forewarned that you can only make one island per Switch, so get used to sharing.
Read GameSpot’s Animal Crossing review.
Nintendo
Fans and newcomers to the Mario Kart series alike will never get tired of Mario Kart 8. The game’s dozens of tracks are excellent, and local four-player multiplayer can get crowded on a smaller TV, but it’s fantastic. It’s one of the very first games that we’d recommend for Switch multiplayer. It also has an online multiplayer mode, so your kiddos can play with fellow quarantined friends without actual interaction.
Read GameSpot’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe review.
Nintendo
Nintendo’s long-running Mario Party series is like a video board game with a bunch of wacky minigames thrown in. The Switch version also has a rhythm-dancing party game that’s a good little workout, too, and a collaborative game where players paddle down a river together. My family loves this one — it’s just overall an excellent game.
Read GameSpot’s Super Mario Party review.
Nintendo
You may get into some arguments, or you may find this builds teamwork. This party cooking game is madness, and it’s a perfect one for four players at once. Seriously, you’re going to get stressed. But it’s so fun.
Read GameSpot’s Overcooked 2 review.
Super Mario Maker 2
Josh Goldman/CNET
Besides being a Mario construction kit and mini-course on game design, not to mention being full of user-made levels to download, four players can play levels together too. It’s an endless fountain of things to try. By the way: if you’re playing directly on the Switch, a basic stylus (seen here) is a great tool to use.
Read our Super Mario Maker 2 review.
Nintendo/Screenshot by Alfred Ng/CNET
The Switch’s eight-player multiplayer game has a lot of fighting, but it’s of the cartoon kind. There are a growing number of characters to add to a roster that’s already at 75 and counting. This is another game that allows for online play, or you can join everyone in on one screen (it gets crowded).
Read our Smash Bros. Ultimate review.
Nintendo/Screenshot by Scott Stein/CNET
Nintendo’s version of Ghostbusters, but with Luigi — if you haven’t played, that’s the best way to think of this ridiculously charming, Disney-like haunted house game. A collaborative two-player mode works through the whole game and might be the best way to play.
Read our Luigi’s Mansion 3 review.
Nintendo
A cheaper Mario Kart, or perhaps Wipeout for the Switch, this futuristic hover-racing game was an early Switch launch title, and it’s really underrated. It does multiplayer wonderfully.
Read GameSpot’s Fast RMX review.
Nintendo
Mario Tennis is unforgiving. Mario Tennis has lots of characters and enemies. Mario Tennis has online modes, and it’s maybe one of the best Switch sports games. There you go. It’s Mario characters playing tennis with crazy power-ups.
Read GameSpot’s Mario Tennis Aces review.
Screenshot by Scott Stein/CNET
The sequel to an older console Marvel series of games, Ultimate Alliance 3 feels like Diablo or an arcade brawler, but with a roster of dozens of Marvel characters to play. It’s repetitive at times, but the joy of collecting characters is a lot of fun, and you can keep switching your heroes throughout.
Read our Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 review.
Two paper-things solve puzzles together by snipping pieces of each other. Or battling each other with snips. It’s a puzzle game with a lot of different play modes, perfect for two at a time.
Read GameSpot’s Snipperclips review.
Sega
Tetris 99 is a must-have Tetris battle-royale online game, but Sega’s other Tetris game works with four-player battles, and includes Puyo Puyo, which is another puzzle game worth your time. There’s a long story mode, too.
Read GameSpot’s Puyo Puyo Tetris review.
EA
Now that real sports leagues are on hold, either of these franchises are excellent stops to play out the season virtually and challenge your family. Depends on whether you prefer soccer or basketball (I’m picking FIFA here, just based on personal preference).
Read GameSpot’s FIFA 20 review.
Nintendo
There’s a Smash Bros. vibe running through this side-scrolling game, surprisingly, and the extra minigame and battle modes give this four-player co-op game extra life. It’s a better package than you’d expect.
Read GameSpot’s Kirby Star Allies review.
Ubisoft
If it’s hard to get exercise indoors, Just Dance is an active alternative to Ring Fit Adventure and works with the Switch’s included Joy-Con controllers. You could buy any version of Just Dance and be happy.
Nintendo
The cheapest great pick on our list, this is a co-op puzzle game with two- and even four-player modes. No-brainer buy — it’s currently $3.89.
Sarah Tew/CNET
This all-cardboard folding construction kit, which takes hours to put together, is as perfect a trapped-inside activity as you could ever find. Especially if it’s on sale. Once built, the wild inventions in each Labo kit have a ton of extra games and things to tinker with and try. It’s crafting and gaming combined. (While there’s also a very cool Labo VR set that’s worth trying, the original Labo 1 variety kit may be the best package to go for with several kids.)
Read our Nintendo Labo review.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Co-op dungeon-crawling, but with Minecraft. For kids who want a battle experience but aren’t ready for something as intense as, say, Diablo, Minecraft Dungeons is plenty of pixelated fun to play through. It’s a spin-off game, so don’t expect normal Minecraft. But it’s fun on its own terms.
Read our Minecraft Dungeons review.
Taito
This couch co-op is a lot of frantic fun for up to four players. The controls and gameplay are simple so that even younger kids can play and the level bosses are just challenging enough to keep things interesting but not impossible. It’s a good option if you’re looking for something to play in short bursts, but it does have 100 levels to get through and Taito will release additional content for download later this year, including new stages and the character Baron von Blubba. The original 1986 version of the game is included, too.
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