Nintendo Switch owners enjoyed a tsunami of great video games in 2018, including Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and of course, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but there are plenty of exciting games on the horizon. Nintendo is getting a range of new games ready for 2019, and fans who enjoy playing alongside iconic characters like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Samus will be thrilled to see what’s next for the Nintendo Switch. 1. Luigi’s Mansion 3 Luigi’s Mansion 3 isn’t even confirmed to be the final title of this game, but the trailer showcases a haunted hotel-like skyscraper for Luigi to explore that’s filled with mischievous ghosts. Luigi still has his trusty Poltergust vacuum cleaner to suck up nasty spirits, and if the discarded luggage seen in the video is any indication, players will likely have to brave the building to rescue Super Mario once again. If you’ve never played the GameCube original, Luigi’s Mansion was recently rereleased on the Nintendo 3 DS . 2. Metroid Prime 4 Metroid fans went crazy when a simple trailer announcing Metroid Prime 4 was shown at E3 2018, and while details are scarce, they can rest easy knowing the sequel will launch in 2019. Previous entries in the Metroid Prime series presented the space adventure through the eyes and visor of bounty hunter Samus, and Metroid Prime 4 is likely to follow that same formula. If you own a Nintendo Wii U, the original Metroid Prime Trilogy is available on Amazon for only $19.99. 3. Animal Crossing Animal Crossing enthusiasts were happy to play a mobile spin-off and to see Isabelle, the mayor’s assistant from Animal Crossing: New Leaf, become a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018. That was nice, but fans really got excited when Tom Nook, the raccoon shop owner of the Animal Crossing series, slyly revealed there is a brand new game in development for 2019. There is no word on the exact date for this mainline Animal Crossing game, so stay tuned! 4. Yoshi’s Crafted World Yoshi’s latest outing is a sweet and fuzzy adventure through a world of felt, cardboard, and paper, and the little dinosaur has never been cuter. Up to two players can cooperatively explore handcrafted miniature dioramas together as colorful Yoshis to uncover hidden collectables and tackle oversized bosses together. Yoshi’s Crafted World is slated to hit stores in spring of 2019, but if you can’t wait, check out the cuddly crochet playground of Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World on the Nintendo 3DS. 5. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe This game is actually a compilation of both New Super Mario Bros. U and the more difficult New Super Luigi U, both of which were originally released on the Wii U. This video game features a combined total of 164 levels and some new features, like the ability to play as Toadette, and handy reference videos to help with those extra-tricky stages. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is sure to keep Mario fans entertained for ages when it launches in January. 6. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order Hearing that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 would be exclusively available on the Nintendo Switch was a big surprise. Marvel fans will be excited to create their dream team of superheroes as they take down Thanos and a number of other iconic comic book villains along the way. Players will be able to pull together their favorite heroes, including Spider-Man, Hulk, and Iron Man, as well as a band of characters making their playable debut in the series, like Falcon, Groot, and Scarlet Witch. Stay tuned for when Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order will be released in 2019. 7. Bayonetta 3 SEGA and Platinum Games are hard at work to bring another surprising Nintendo Switch exclusive our way in 2019: Bayonetta 3. The third game in the Bayonetta series is sure to take everyone’s favorite Umbra Witch on a crazier and more intense thrill ride than ever before. Although there is next to no information available about Bayonetta 3 other than the fact that it’s coming in 2019, we expect to learn more about her latest action game soon. 8. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter Pass Sure, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate already has a sizable roster of 69 fighters, but Nintendo has laid the groundwork for five additional characters to join the fight throughout 2019. If you own Fighter Pass, these unexpected additions will automatically join your roster as they release over the next year. Fighter Pass holders will also receive five new stages, bonus musical tracks, and a Mii Swordfighter costume based on Rex from the Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Who knows what surprise guests Nintendo will invite to Smash in 2019? Arnold Carreiro is a writer for BestReviews. BestReviews is a product review company with a singular mission: to help simplify your purchasing decisions and save you time and money. BestReviews never accepts free products from manufacturers and purchases every product it reviews with its own funds. BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. BestReviews and its newspaper partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<doc-sep>Here comes 2019, and already the roster shows more than enough games coming out to keep us busy. From rollicking combat games to quieter indie explorations of the soul, here are 50 games (listed alphabetically) that we’re excited to see, coming in the year ahead. Given the nature of the game industry these days, it’s too early to read much in the way of trends from this list. Many games that we’ll see in 2019 have yet to be announced, or do not have a firm release date. Even so, it’s encouraging to see a measure of variety in this list, which encompasses franchise shooters, roleplaying games, adventures and a few oddities. It’s worth mentioning that this list does not include certain big name games that might well come out in 2019, but have not been confirmed yet. Those include The Last of Us Part 2, Metroid Prime 4, Halo Infinite, Beyond Good and Evil 2, a new Pokémon and any number of big franchise possibilities, including Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age games. We’ve also skipped annual sports franchises and remakes of old games, as well as games that are currently commercially available and playable in early access. It’s also possible that we’ve missed some diamonds. If so, please feel free to steer us right in the comments section. Windows PC — 2019 Triumph Studios’ strategy series has previously restricted itself to standard fantasy lore of goblins, wizards and knights. This time, Age of Wonders is going science-fiction with a Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri-like tale of planetary colonization involving mechanized weaponry, aliens and genetic engineering. Planetfall is a turn-based hexagonal combat game, in which factions develop technologies, construct armies and expand their borders. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — 2019 First announced back in 2015, Ancestors is a third-person, action-adventure survival game, produced by Patrice Désilets’ studio, Panache Digital Games. Désilets is best known as the creator of the Assassin’s Creed series. This new game is set in the early years of humankind’s evolution. Set in a lush, beautiful Africa, it’s the story of colonies of apes and proto-humans at different points in our evolutionary journey, interacting with their environment, including now-extinct beasts of yore. Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch — 2019 It’s been five years since the U.S. release of Animal Crossing: New Leaf on Nintendo 3DS, so it’s high time for a return to Nintendo’s much-loved village-life series. This new game was announced during a Nintendo Direct in September, in which storekeeper Tom Nook told us to make ready for another bout of farming, fishing, finding, home decorating and generally being nice to the neighbors. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — Feb. 22 BioWare’s Destiny-like multiplayer sci-fi action game has an epic feel, with a focus on characters and dialog, as well as online shooting. Four classes of human-controlled mechs, called Javelins, roam an open world, completing story missions and engaging in public events, in which online players work together to complete an objective. Published by Electronic Arts, Anthem will be one of the year’s most lavishly produced releases. Nintendo Switch and Windows PC — Feb. 7 Ape-Out is an attractively humorous escape game with a distinctively brash art style. It merges with an inventive score to create a mad world of stylized blood and gore. It’s a top-down combat game in which a gorilla thumps and sneaks its way through enemy-infested mazes. Ape-Out, published by Devolver, looks like a hyper-violent, neatly-paced action game with lots of grim humor. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — 2019 Back in May, Moscow-based Mundfish released one of the best trailers of the past year, for its first-person shooter-brawler Atomic Heart. Based in a Soviet-era installation, it’s a creepy combat game, packed with Fallout-esque monstrosities and a distinctive visual wit. PlayStation 4 and Windows PC — 2019 Announced at E3 earlier this year, Babylon’s Fall is the next project from Japanese studio PlatinumGames, the company best known for the action-intense Bayonetta series, and Nier Automata. The trailer shows an ominous future timeline of mightily powerful forces clashing in a fight for civilization. There’ll be a lot of magical weapons-wielding for slickly intense slashing and dodging. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — 2019 We got our hands on this game at PAX West, and came away impressed with its martial-arts combat. It’s being developed by Experiment 101, founded by Stefan Ljungqvist, best known for his work on the Just Cause series. BioMutant is an open-world action-RPG featuring mutant forest creatures which can be altered and enhanced. Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — 2019 This Kickstarter-funded project from former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi is pitched as a spiritual successor to that notable series. Originally set for release in 2017, it’s a side-scrolling action game that makes heavy use of gothic horror imagery. It’s being published by 505 Games. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — 2019 Code Vein is an anime-style action roleplaying game from Hiroshi Yoshimura, the director of many of the God Eater games. The vampire-themed combat adventure has drawn comparisons with the Dark Souls series, which publisher Bandai Namco handles outside Japan. Code Vein focuses on exploration in dank locations, one-on-one combat and difficult bosses. Windows PC — mid-2019 Real-time strategy gets the Conan treatment in this production from Petroglyph Games, which is also working on a 4K remaster of early Command & Conquer games. The team includes C&C veterans from Westwood Studios. A trailer released a few weeks ago shows Conan defending a castle under attack from hordes, including giant spiders. But Conan calls upon a massive warrior god to come to his aid. Petroglyph tells us to expect a fast-paced game. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — 2019 Remedy Entertainment, best known for Alan Wake and Quantum Break, is back with another high-tech, supernatural third-person action adventure. Control was shown in a trailer at Sony’s 2018 E3 press conference, in which a young woman, armed with a futuristic gun, explores a shape-shifting world. She is also armed with telekinetic abilities. Windows PC and Xbox One — Feb. 15 Originally scheduled for release in 2016, this oft-delayed open-world game is finally confirmed for February, five years after it was first mooted. Crackdown 3 is all about mayhem and destruction in city environments, most especially in multiplayer environments where destruction is more free-flowing than in the campaign. The development story is its own tale of mayhem, with various comings and goings. But, the good news is that it’s cross-playable on both Windows PC and Xbox One. PlayStation 4 — Apr. 26 Sony Bend’s zombie-apocalypse adventure is set in the Pacific Northwest, where a motorcyclist bounty hunter uses stealth, guile, traps and brute force to lure large numbers of the undead into choke points. In Day’s Gone, the zombies are individually stupid, but they work together to challenge the player. They also come in various models, demanding shifting strategies to defeat them. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — Mar. 8 Capcom’s outlandish and uninhibited combat series is back, with Dante and Nero (as well as a new character called V) taking on gruesome enemies. Weapons include giant swords, powerful firearms, and just about anything else the fighters can get their hands on, including motorbike-chainsaws. Special moves and transformations are also available. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — Mar. 15 The Division 2 takes us from the wintry New York environs of the original game, to sweltering Washington, D.C, seven months later. It’s set in a post-terror attack America, ruled by a dictator and riven by civil war (but don’t call it political). It’s a third-person online combat open world, in which players can go it alone, or work together to defeat enemies. Post-launch downloadable missions will be released for free, featuring eight-player raids. PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One — 2019 Bethesda and id Software’s sequel to the well-received 2016 shooter franchise reboot is aiming for even more speed and combat fluidity. Weapons shown so far include a shotgun attached to a tether, with extra “glory kills” added to take on a greater variety of demons.<doc-sep>Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age is coming to Nintendo Switch next year, in Japan at least. At this weekend’s Jump Festa event in Japan, Square Enix released the first teaser trailer for Dragon Quest 11 S for Switch, showing off Japanese-language voice overs for the game. When Dragon Quest 11 was originally released in Japan on Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 4, the role-playing game did not include voiced characters. Square Enix added English-language voice over for the North American release, as well as a handful of new gameplay options. When Dragon Quest 11 S is released in Japan next year, the game will include something new that affects the ending of the game. [Warning: Spoiler alert!] Now, instead of being locked into a single marriage choice, players will have the option of choosing their bride. Players can also choose to live with two male characters, Erik or Hendrik, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii said in an interview with Famitsu. Square Enix said it plans to reveal more details on the Switch version of Dragon Quest 11 during a livestream in January. We’ve reached out to Square Enix for an update on the North American release of Dragon Quest 11 S on Switch and will update when the company responds. Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age is available now on PS4 and Windows PC. The JRPG came in at No. 30 on Polygon’s best games of 2018.<doc-sep>
Nintendo Switch: Over 1,000 games available to play The Nintendo Switch console-handheld hybrid can both be played at home and on-the-go. Part of the Switch’s success is in part due to the vast volume of games the platform supports. And gamers will be treated to a number of new titles in 2019, according to Nintendo’s latest Indie Highlights video. As anticipated, Nintendo unveiled a variety of new games heading to the Switch in the coming months in today’s latest Indie Highlights reel. Uncover top-quality experiences from independent developers with Indie Highlights! Nintendo Nintendo showcased nine new indie titles for the versatile gaming console. And a some of the releases are even available to download today. The big news from the Indie Highlights presentation was the SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamesh announcement. READ MORE: Overwatch Chinese New Year skins: FIRST LOOK at new skins Nintendo Switch: The Indie Highlights presentation has unveiled several new titles SteamWorld Quest: The game's release was the presentation's big news SteamWorld Quest – the latest game in Image & Form's genre-spanning series – is a deck-building role-playing game with fantasy and steampunk themes in its hand-drawn universe. The steampunk-fantasy RPG sees gamers choose cards to perform action. Although no release date has been confirmed, the game is believed to arrive on the Nintendo Switch in only a few months. Nintendo also announced a release date for Wargroove, the Advance Wars-style turn-based strategy game from Chucklefish. Wargrove is being talked of as the spiritual successor to Advance Wars. READ MORE: Niantic teases regional exclusive swap After following very public delays, the Wargroove is finally slated to land on the Nintendo Switch on February 1. And those who have been long awaiting the release can already pre-order it from the Eshop. While those two eagerly-anticipated titles are not yet available, some of the new titles are available to download right now from Nintendo Switch. These including the ridiculous Goat Simulator: The GOATY, a well-rendered 2D co-op sidescroller Unruly Heroes, and the Bridge Constructor-like construction game When Ski Lifts Go Wrong. Other titles we got a look at during the presentation included Chucklefish's atmospheric platformer, Inmost, the unique rhythm metal shooter Double Kick Heroes, and the 2D action RPG CrossCode. READ MORE: Niantic's big January Community Day update and secret 2019 event Nintendo Switch Indie Highlights: Nintendo has unveiled a variety of new games Nintendo Switch: Wargrove is being talked of as the spiritual successor to Advance Wars Wargroove - February 1, 2019 Double Kick Heroes - Summer 2019 When Ski Lifts Go Wrong -- Out now Forager -- Coming Soon READ MORE: How to see ping in Fortnite Battle Royale?