The 10 Best Party Games on Nintendo Switch – SwitchArcade Special Edition

We’ve got another SwitchArcade Special Edition for you, listing some of our favorite games on the platform. This time we’re going in a slightly different direction. Little by little, things are moving in a direction where gatherings can happen again. That means you might find yourself in need of some party games to entertain groups of varying sizes and shapes. Thus, we’ve decided to make a list of ten of our favorite multiplayer party games on the Nintendo Switch. The games are in no particular order, and are simply some of the party games we’ve had the most fun with. Feel free to mention any of your favorites we missed by posting in the comments below!

Super Mario Party ($59.99)

Well, sure. It’s right there in the title, isn’t it? The Mario Party games always prove to be a good time, at least as long as things don’t come to blows. You know how this goes by now, probably. Gather up to four players and roll the dice to travel around the board. Play a variety of mini-games and try to earn the most stars. This one packs in a whopping 80 mini-games and as of its latest update even supports online play for many of them. Still, as with most games on this list it’s a lot better with people in the same room.

Overcooked! All You Can Eat ($39.99)

If you only grab one game on this list, Overcooked! All You Can Eat should be it. This is a content-packed game that is fun for a variety of skill levels, ensuring that everyone has something to do. Prepare a variety of dishes and serve them up while all heck breaks loose in a wild assortment of stages. Cooperation is vital for success, but it’s all too easy to get in each other’s way. All You Can Eat includes both games plus all of their DLC, and I can assure you that it will keep you and your friends or family members entertained for ages.

Moving Out ($24.99)

This is another cooperative game that is suitable for players of all skill levels. The objective here is to move all of the designated objects out of each location and into the moving truck before time runs out. Said objects come in a variety of sizes and shapes, and many of them will require more than one person to properly move. There are also hidden objectives on each stage, giving you a reason to replay them. While it’s easy at first, some tricky shapes of both objects and locations demand proper coordination. Add in some extra obstacles as you go and this job gets busier all the time. Loads of fun for up to four players.

Heave-Ho ($9.99)

Imagine being a ball-shaped creature with no legs. All you have are your two arms and your rock-solid grip to get by. You need to get to the goal on a number of diabolical stages, preferably grabbing the bonus items on the way. Early on it’s simple enough to move hand over hand, but eventually you’ll need to start swinging and launching yourself. Even better, you can launch each other. The intuitive controls make this easy to pick up, but keeping your lefts and rights sorted when you’ve got four players all tangled up and holding on for dear life is a task all on its own. Hilarious and highly enjoyable, with its only flaw being its relative brevity compared to other games on this list.

Snipperclips – Cut it out, together! ($19.99)

This one is a bit better with two players than it is with four, but it does have support for four players in some of its modes. The idea here is that you each take control of a different character and need to snip pieces off each other to create the shapes needed to solve the various puzzles. It sounds easy, and at first it is. But you need to get clever and creative to make your way through some of the more difficult and varied challenges. What makes this game so fun is that no two groups of players will do things in quite the same way. It takes a little more skill than some of the games on this list, but it’s a real blast.

The Jackbox Party Pack ($24.99)

The folks at Jackbox Games have, in one form or another, been creating amazing party games for more than 25 years now. Suffice it to say, they know how to entertain a crowd. Actually, it’s more accurate to say that they know what to give a crowd so that they’ll entertain each other. There’s a whole series of these Jackbox Party Pack games, each with their own mix of mini-games to enjoy. They’re all a lot of fun, so grab whatever is cheapest at the moment and dig into great games for two to four players like trivia game You Don’t Know Jack, drawing game Drawful, the Balderdash-style lying game Fibbage, and so on. The Jackbox Party Packs tend to do very well with people who don’t normally play games, making them an ideal choice for mixed groups.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes ($14.99)

We’ve all seen that scene in Hollywood movies where some person on the radio has to talk the no-nonsense hero through defusing a deadly bomb. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes allows you to walk a mile in the shoes of both of these parties. One player has the bomb in front of them, a complicated mess with multiple parts that need to be defused with particular methods that can’t simply be deducted by looking at it. The other players have a manual in front of them on another display that explains how to defuse any bomb if they can identify it. The two parties need to communicate with each other to figure out which bomb the player has and how to defuse it. Time is ticking all the while, and mistakes can be very costly. You might burn out on this one a little faster than some of the other games on this list, but while it lasts it’s an absolute riot.

Super Bomberman R ($39.99)

Sometimes the old times are the best times, and when it comes to party games it’s hard to get any more classic than Bomberman. Drop bombs and try to defeat your foes, but be careful where you place them or you just might fall victim to your own explosions! There’s a Story Mode here where one or two players can work through fifty stages, and it’s fine. The real treat is the eight-player battle mode where you battle each other to see who will be the last to get blown up. With lots of characters and stages, plus a variety of interesting power-ups, Super Bomberman R offers up a heaping helping of ‘splode-em-up fun.

Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics ($39.99)

Depending on the type of crowd you’re entertaining, it might be best to pull out something a bit more traditional. It’s hard to find a better game for that than Clubhouse Games, which gives exactly what it promises: 51 classic board and card games that have stood the test of time, sometimes measured in centuries. These games have been around as long as they have for good reason. They’re accessible, interesting, and often endlessly replayable. Not every game on here can be played with others, but most of them can. From simpler games like Checkers and War to more complex ones like Riichi Mahjong and Chess, there’s plenty here for everyone to get into. There’s even a handful of action-oriented mini-games that echo the likes of Wii Sports.

1-2-Switch ($49.99)

One gets the impression that Nintendo wasn’t quite sure what the shape of the Switch’s audience would be when it launched the system. The company really threw out a wild scattershot of games to see where the chips would fall. Representing the more Wii-like part of that salvo was 1-2-Switch. Things ultimately leaned in a different direction, and it feels like 1-2-Switch has been largely forgotten. The funny thing is, this is actually a very amusing game to play with others that shows off some of the more underused elements of the system. It also has a wacky, charming sense of humor that evokes the likes of Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven. Most of the mini-games here are for two players, but those two will often entertain a larger crowd due to the antics they’ll have to engage in.

Interested in more lists? Check out our other recommendations!