Death Squared (Switch eShop)

Death Squared was built with co-op in mind, and boy does it do a good job of it. You have to work your way through a bunch of increasingly challenging puzzle levels, helping two cuboid robots to stand on their same-coloured circle without destroying each other. It sounds easy, but navigating the various pitfalls and challenging sequences can be very challenging.

Packed with character and brilliant narration, Death Squared is a little cube-shaped eShop gem.

Rocket League (Switch eShop)

Rocket League is a fine online multiplayer game which involves driving really fast, pulling off insane tricks, and scoring ridiculous goals with an oversized ball on an oversized football pitch. Make no mistake, despite the odd concept, this is up there with the finest football games available on Switch.

Local co-op is supported for up to four players, and you can battle against the CPU in 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4 matches. That’s plenty to sink your teeth into. And if you’re still not sure, it’s free-to-play, so it’ll cost you nothing to give it a try.

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Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Switch)

A beautiful little game, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a winner whether you’re after puzzling or jump button-less platforming, and the two-player co-op Nintendo added post-launch makes this offering even tastier with Toadette able to join the Captain through the entire game. There’s even a nice little nugget of DLC for once you’ve polished off the main story.

With beautiful visuals and an upbeat soundtrack, it’s a real gem; a wonderful and gorgeous 3D platform puzzler fit for all ages, and one which you should definitely experience if you’re yet to.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Switch eShop)

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime turns the silliness right up to 11, and provides near-perfect co-op fun for you and your friends. It’s got support for four players, each of you having to work together to keep a pink Death Star running as it battles nasties in space.

You’ll run between various different control rooms, manning turrets, lasers, shields, and thrusters to both keep your ship functioning and rack up a high score. Death is inevitable, but you can delay it for as long as possible – provided you work together.

Enter the Gungeon (Switch eShop)

Enter the Gungeon is as mad as its name suggests. This is an absolutely bonkers, bullet-infested roguelike in which you shoot, loot, roll, and flip a bunch of tables on your journey through hordes of enemies to earn the legendary gun that can… er, kill the past. Whatever that means.

Who really cares about story? This is an action-packed shooter that makes the action of The Matrix look like a Yoga session for the elderly.

Pode (Switch eShop)

With its subtle, relaxing, and appropriate musical score, gloriously soft visuals, and a simple yet emotional story, Pode succeeds in offering a generous cooperative experience and a challenging 8-10 hours of content that will shine brightly — especially amongst the assortment of fast-paced and frantic multiplayer games on the eShop. A lovely little co-op game.

Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Switch eShop)

Minecraft was at one point the biggest game on the planet before Fortnite muscled in on the limelight. Even so, its influence is far-reaching, which explains the large number of copycat survival games and blocky builders.

The original and best is available on Switch, though, and provides you with countless hours of co-op fun as you pretty much do anything you want, from building stuff to crafting weapons and beating up enemies, creating entire villages or massive voxel sculptures.

Snipperclips Plus: Cut it out, together! (Switch)

Not only is Snipperclips a Nintendo Switch exclusive and one of the console’s launch games, but it remains one of the finest couch co-op experiences on the platform. It challenges you to navigate around a variety of creative levels, cutting your paper characters into different shapes to help you solve puzzles. There’s a massive single-player story to work through, which supports two-player co-op, then a bunch more puzzles you can figure out with up to four players.

While you don’t strictly need a second player, we wouldn’t play Snipperclips without a friend, relative, or significant other – when solutions elude you or an attempt goes sideways, exorcising frustration by snipping (and, indeed, clipping) your partner is always cathartic and hilarious.

Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition is an absolutely excellent 2D platformer that you really should check out regardless of the multiplayer options. As it happens though, it has full couch co-op support, allowing you to play through the entire experience with a friend.

And what an experience it is. You’ll run, jump, and punch your way through a variety of imaginative levels that draw on influences from Mario to Sonic, and even Guitar Hero.

Cuphead (Switch eShop)

Cuphead was an absolute masterpiece when it launched on Xbox and nothing has been sacrificed in its move to the Switch. It’s the same visually jaw-dropping, aurally delightful, knuckle-whiteningly difficult game it was on Microsoft’s console and the Switch’s library is all the better for its presence.

Its focus on intense boss battles won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into we can’t recommend it enough — and it’s easy to share with a mate taking control of Mugman and joining you for the ride in two-player co-op. And with the DLC, The Delicious Last Course, there’s even more to dunk into with a friend.

Again, don’t be fooled by this one’s impeccable cartoon facade — this is a hard-as-nails run-and-gunner, so just be prepared for punishment.

TowerFall (Switch eShop)

TowerFall set the standard for excellence in local multiplayer, creating a fun and endlessly replayable experience that’s a blast every time you play. Although the single-player content is a bit thinner than we’d like and the omission of online may be disappointing to some, few games better exemplify the unique multiplayer strengths of the Switch, with support for up to six players.

While it’s perhaps best known for its competitive multiplier, a suite of cooperative modes make TowerFall perfect for anyone looking for a great party game, with easy-to-understand mechanics and near-bottomless depth.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (Switch)

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury takes everything that made the cat-filled Wii U original special and throws in various small gameplay tweaks to make it even more enjoyable. The first four-player 3D Mario game fuses the freedom of the third dimension with the spirit of the tighter, more constrained (yet no less imaginative) courses from his 2D games to wonderful effect.

The cooperative multiplayer element brought Princess Peach, Luigi, and Toad back into the fold of playable characters, mirroring the lineup of Super Mario Bros. 2., and both Cat Mario and Captain Toad were also introduced here.

This game serves as an unintimidating introduction to a larger three-dimensional Super Mario world, and a joy for veterans of the Z-axis to boot, up there with the very best of the plumber’s portfolio. If you’re looking to expand your local multiplayer gang’s horizons beyond the 2D plane of the other Mario platformers, Super Mario 3D World is a great option.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (Switch)

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order isn’t a groundbreaking, narrative-heavy reinterpretation of the comic characters you know and love, but neither were the first two games. It’s a very faithful sequel that mines the vast roster of characters from the comics while including plenty of nods to the current state of the more modern Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While it doesn’t do anything particularly new or outstanding, it embraces the brainless fun of its brawler combat with gusto, and it’s at its absolute best when played with a team of player-controlled supers.

Unravel Two (Switch)

Unravel Two is a wonderful little game, filled with heartfelt moments of poignant storytelling and challenging platforming puzzles, and fits very well on Nintendo Switch. Even with a few downgrades to the visuals, Unravel Two is far from an inferior experience when played on Nintendo’s hybrid system.

Full of charm and character, it’s one of the best cooperative platformers you can play anywhere and another robust Switch port that was well worth the wait.

Diablo III: Eternal Collection (Switch)

Diablo III: Eternal Collection is a lovely port of a classic RPG loot-a-thon that keeps its feet firmly in the past. The execution is wonderful, but its gameplay is not something that will appeal to everyone due to the high level of repetition. If you’re looking for a loot-driven grind-a-thon with more explosions of viscera than you can comfortably discuss with your mother, this is the game for you.

It’s also one of those games which is best played with friends. While you can play online, couch co-op offers a much richer experience as you battle demons and collect loot together with three local players able to drop in and join you on your quest.

BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL! (Switch eShop)

Bigger and more fully featured than ever, BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL! marks a high point in this quirky puzzle-platformer series. It’s not perfect — the stripped-back aesthetic and lethargic physics won’t be everyone’s cup of tea — but fans of co-op puzzlers, in particular, should investigate pronto.

The ‘Tale For Two’ campaign lets a second player take control of Qucy and you must work together to create strings of boxes and navigate through each 2D level to the exit. It remains a distinctive and deceptively layered puzzler very much in line with the trilogy on 3DS, but the fact that you can now bring a partner in on the fun makes this the best BOXBOY yet.

Mario Tennis Aces (Switch)

Mario Tennis Aces offers up to four-player couch co-op via its doubles mode and if you’re a really big tennis fan, this is probably the best option right now on Switch — Switch Sports also offers familiar Wii-style tennis.

Also, while this is a couch co-op list, it’s well worth mentioning that online co-op challenges, rewarding you with special outfits, characters, and alternate colour schemes.

The Binding of Isaac: Repentance (Switch)

The Binding of Isaac: Repentance offers four-player local co-op with its top-down Zelda-like, endless dungeon-crawler roguelike gameplay. Bit of a mouthful, eh? Initially in Afterbirth+, only Player One could control Isaac, with everyone else restricted to babies who dealt half the damage and could fly, but only had a single heart container – which they took off Isaac when they joined.

Fortunately, the Repentance overhaul remedied the situation. Offering an enormous amount to do, it’d be rude not to help Isaac out of this bind, if you’re down with some procedurally generated violence with an abundance of poop.

Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! (Switch)

Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! are perhaps the most approachable of all the mainline Pokémon games, so you’re unlikely to struggle through them. However, if you’d rather share the experience of revisiting the region of Kanto from the original Pokémon games, then you will want to get a buddy involved and take advantage of the co-op play.

A second trainer can drop in whenever they want, essentially acting as a support character which makes the game even easier. If catching those pesky Pokémon and fighting other trainers is causing problems, playing in co-op mode will be a great option for you.

Heave Ho (Switch eShop)

Heave Ho might not quite reach the lofty heights of Snipperclips, but it’s still one of the best couch co-op titles to hit the Switch. It encourages communication and careful planning, but remains utterly chaotic and achingly hilarious, with a fantastic selection of unique costumes to unlock as you progress.

The fact that you’ll face the same stages whether you’re playing multiplayer or single-player is undoubtedly disappointing, so it’s best to save this for when your mates are round. Whatever way you decide to play, Heave Ho is great fun and hauls itself onto this list with ease.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)

You might not be even aware that Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle has an excellent co-op mode, with you and a friend tackling a variety of mission maps as your favourite characters. You’ll have to have completed World 1.5 in solo mode before it becomes accessible via the Buddydome to the right of Peach’s Castle. Sadly, the sequel — Sparks of Hope — is missing co-op entirely.

Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle (Switch eShop)

While you could argue that the humble side-scrolling fighter is an endangered species for a reason – they can get awfully repetitive after a while – Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle illustrates perfectly why this particular genre was the toast of video gaming in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

Addictive, enjoyable, and – perhaps most important of all – bloody good fun when played cooperatively with friends, all of the titles in this seven-strong compendium are worth your time. By adding robust local and online multiplayer support, Capcom has done its utmost to ensure they find favour with a whole new generation of gamers. If you’ve ever enjoyed a belt-scrolling brawl, this is a must-have download.

If you’re after other brawlers to enjoy with friends, you’ll find a few more in the list below. Check out our picks of the Best Beat ‘Em Ups on Switch if you just can’t get enough of that trashcan turkey.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Switch eShop)

As poignant, heartbreaking, and memorable as it was back in 2013, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons hasn’t lost any of its emotional impact in those intervening years. With a captivating soundtrack, an aesthetic design evocative of Fable, and a genuinely clever take on co-op, you can really see why it’s held in such high regard.

The new, traditional-style co-op mode offers a new way to play, although bear in mind that it also robs the game of one of its most challenging and rewarding features and perhaps makes things a little too easy, but it’s still a charming two-player experience.

Super Mario Party (Switch)

Of the three Mario Parties on Switch, Super Mario Party may be the least impressive overall (not bad, you understand – we gave it a more-than-respectable 8/10!), but its 2v2 mode and four-player co-op make it the best option if teamwork makes your dream work.

If you’re after minigame bonanzas where you take down your mates, Mario Party Superstars and Super Mario Party Jamboree are great options. For those who make love, not war, the Switch’s first Mario Party is probably the pick.

Killer Queen Black (Switch)

Killer Queen Black offers up a 2D multiplayer extravaganza that’s easy to pick up but devilishly tricky to master. The online multiplayer closed down in 2022, but the support for local multiplayer (through split Joy-Cons and/or wireless play) really sells this as a crazy couch play experience.

The learning curve is steep, and it’s chaotic to track when playing on anything other than a massive TV, but it’ll become a mainstay for indie multiplayer aficionados.

The Stretchers (Switch eShop)

The Stretchers was an unexpected, Nintendo-published delight from Tarsier Studios, which dropped onto the eShop without warning. Tarsier took all its experience working on the likes of Ragdoll Kung-Fu: Fists of Plastic and LittleBigPlanet and brought it together to deliver this ridiculously OTT ragdoll puzzle riot that works well in solo but is on another level when enjoyed with a friend in co-op.

Missions are varied and lend themselves perfectly to moments of hilarious slapstick, and there are a couple of real standout moments scattered throughout that will have you laughing all the way to the end.

Monaco: Complete Edition (Switch eShop)

Monaco: Complete Edition offers a solid solo experience which benefits from some excellent storytelling and multiple perspectives, as well as brilliantly constructed heist-based gameplay focused on putting each criminal’s skills to the best use.

However, it truly shines in multiplayer, whether couch co-op or online. As the servers are pretty quiet, grabbing a group of friends and forming your own motley crew is your best route into this explosive heist thriller.

ibb & obb (Switch eShop)

Playing Ibb & Obb on your own is an absolute no-go; it just won’t work. But get together with a friend – preferably via local play – and you’ll have an absolute blast with this game. Some of the puzzles can be excruciatingly challenging at first, but it’s immensely satisfying when you finally figure out how to beat them together.

Yet another fine co-op title to add to the Switch’s library.

Good Job! (Switch eShop)

Good Job! was a wonderful surprise that everyone should try out. Thanks to its hilarious physics, seemingly menial tasks have the potential to descend into utter carnage – whether intentional or not – and its grading system means there are plenty of opportunities to replay.

Slight technical hiccups aside, Good Job! is absolutely guaranteed to have you in fits of laughter, and its co-op, while somewhat dangerous (you’re twice as likely to cause unnecessary damage) is great fun if you can work together harmoniously.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch)

Luigi’s Mansion 3 is not only a graphical powerhouse and showcase for Next Level Games’ unrivalled mastery of video game animation, but also an immense helping of spooky fun. The amount of care and consideration poured into every facet of the game is abundantly clear, and it all results in one of the most enjoyable and attractive Switch titles.

It’s an excellent single-player experience, but you can also play the whole game with a friend, loved one, or sworn enemy in co-op mode. Player One controls Luigi with Player Two as Gooigi, which delivers a largely symmetrical experience. OG Luigi is definitely more at the helm overall, though, making this a perfect game to play with kids or a less experienced gamer.

Knights and Bikes (Switch eShop)

From stem to stern, Knights and Bikes is a delight to behold and a testament to the creative power of the talent at Foam Sword. Demelza and Nessa’s story is a compelling one that hits all the right emotional and comical beats, while the laid-back gameplay proves to be varied and interesting as the narrative continues.

All of this is tied together by some stellar presentation to make for a couch co-op experience that you won’t want to miss out on. It’s great whatever way you choose to play it, though bear in mind that you’ll be getting the best and most fulfilling experience if you bring a friend for a ride-along.

Streets of Rage 4 (Switch eShop)

Streets of Rage 4 is the very best the series has ever been and offers top-tier co-op brawling. Its hand-drawn graphics breathe new life into Wood Oak City and its inhabitants, the soundtrack is outstanding, and the combat feels better than ever.

Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, and Dotemu managed to completely modernise the look and feel of Streets of Rage, expanding on the experience without losing sight of what made the original games so popular to begin with – and the handful of additions made to the action here serve only to enhance the classic core gameplay, resulting in one of the best side-scrolling beat ’em ups we’ve played in a long time.

Phogs! (Switch eShop)

Phogs! is a genuine dose of unbridled joy in a weird, physics-y, dog-tube package. It’s hard to play this game without having a huge, goofy smile on your face.

The Switch version has some minor to major issues here and there, but it rarely slows down the momentum of the puzzle-solving, dog-wiggling gameplay – this is another brilliant co-op experience for Nintendo’s system.

Overcooked! All You Can Eat (Switch)

Overcooked! All You Can Eat is a time management simulator, in which you and up to three friends must work together to prepare a variety of orders before your grumpy customers storm out of the restaurant impatiently. Meanwhile, your restaurant is actively fighting against you. You might have to contend with gusts of wind while preparing food on top of a hot air balloon or have to navigate a spinning kitchen.

It’s frantic stuff, and the craziness only ramps up the more players you play with. No matter how you play it though, you’ll have a crazy amount of fun cooking up the various dishes.

This is an absolute must-buy for anybody looking for a fantastic co-op game to play with friends. The wacky visuals and chaotic gameplay make it an ideal game for local co-op, and there’s plenty of content to work through with the entirety of Overcooked: Special Edition and Overcooked 2 — both incredible co-op games in their own right — to feast on.

The only downside is that those who have already dipped into either title (or both) won’t find a massive amount of new stuff here, outside of the exclusive “Peckish Rises” expansion. Still, very tasty.

WarioWare: Get It Together! (Switch)

WarioWare: Get It Together! was a triumphant Switch debut for the subversive series that makes some daring changes to core gameplay, resulting in the best entry in the franchise to date.

With a generous roster of playable characters, lots of solo and multiplayer modes to dig into, and stages that cleverly adapt to your choices on the fly, this is a superb compilation of hilarious microgames that delivers more ways to play than ever before. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll dodge bird droppings on a skateboard. So grab a few friends or family members, break out the controllers, and gather around the TV — WarioWare: Get It Together! is essential stuff if you’re after a couch co-op laugh.

And if you can’t get enough of Wario’s wares, WarioWare: Move It! brings back the excellent motion-controller madness of the Wii entry, Smooth Moves. Everyone’s a winner.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Switch)

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a fantastic experience on Switch, a great big celebration of everything Star Wars, and a fun family co-op experience to boot.

The upgrades to the series’ core gameplay here — the combo-focused combat, flashy space battles, boss encounters, over-the-shoulder shooting action, and cover system — all combine to make this the best Lego Star Wars has ever felt to play.

Throw in a humongous open-world setting that’s bursting at the seams with secrets and collectibles and you’ve got an absolute smorgasbord of all things Star Wars to dig into with a pal in tow, and perhaps the best Lego game ever. Yub nub.

ARMS (Switch)

The core fighting mechanics of ARMS are easy to grasp — especially when you’re using the pleasantly intuitive motion controls — but they showcase the kind of depth which rewards dedicated players. The game’s Versus mode is all about local multiplayer, and allows up to four fighters to take part in various battles.

In cooperative terms, Team Fight is where it’s at, with a 2-on-2 mode where you are tethered to your ally via an elastic rope. It’s great fun, and although you may not want to shell out for the game just for this mode, we love ARMS around these parts and wanted to give it a nod here.

In the scheme of things, it might not have made much of a dent in the hallowed canon of Nintendo IP, but ARMS deserves a second look if it flew under your radar.

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy (Switch)

Trine 5 hasn’t changed all that much from its predecessors, which is more of a good thing than it is bad. At its heart, this is still a gorgeous, remarkably charming, and challenging puzzle platformer that features some of the best environment design in the business.

It goes without saying that if you liked any of the previous Trine games, you’ll love what Trine 5 brings to the table—we’d argue that this offers the most polished and honed version of the series’ traditional gameplay.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Switch eShop)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is the best Turtles beat ’em up ever made, and a faster, better-looking, and arguably more entertaining affair than even Streets of Rage 4. It looks delicious, sounds superb, and rekindles childhood memories beyond all expectation, time-warping you back to 1987.

Its combat system is so much fun to mine that you feel compelled to keep coming back to try new strategies, and with its awesome co-op multiplayer, the experience evolves again and again. Like any beat ’em up, it does get repetitive as you enter the last third, but that’s more a fault of the concept than the game. Shredder’s Revenge really is an unprecedented shell-ebration. Ahem.

If you love it, then you can snap up the Dimension Shellshock DLC for two more fighters and brand-new gameplay modes for even more chaotic brawling actions. Fans of co-op brawlers might also want to check out TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection, which features a boatload of Konami classics that’ll keep you busy for hours.

The Switch has loads of great beat ’em ups — always a good genre if you’re into local co-op — so check out our dedicated list if you like to brawl.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a great big joyride, and after the short intro section that sees Kirby arrive in the titular Forgotten Land, it’s playable in its entirety in co-op mode, with a second player taking control of a Waddle Dee — an especially good option for younger gamers.

The Forgotten Land is bursting at the seams with fun and inventiveness, managing to transpose everything we know and love about past Kirby games to this all-new arena whilst adding plenty of delightful new aspects as it goes. Mouthful Mode is daftly entertaining, each and every level is packed full of secrets and dripping in wonderful detail, and there are enough side activities, collectibles, and co-op fun here to keep you entertained and coming back for more for a good long while.

And if you’re hungry for more, Kirby Star Allies offers side-scrolling four-player fun with Kirby and co.

Portal: Companion Collection (Switch eShop)

It’s hard to overstate our satisfaction with Portal: Companion Collection. Portal and Portal 2 felt incredibly fresh when they first released, and the years since have not diminished their immense impact. To have two of the most unique and mind-bending puzzle games on a Nintendo console, and on-the-go if you choose, is a pure joy. If it weren’t for the frequent load screens punctuating the experience, we’d have absolutely nothing to complain about here.

The motion controls work like a dream, the games run at a near-rock-solid 60fps, you’ve got Portal 2’s exquisite local co-op play available at the drop of a hat, and the writing remains as funny now as it did all those years ago. If you haven’t played the Portal games before, this should be a no-brainer. If you have… well, just play them again.

It Takes Two (Switch)

If you were even half-aware of games news at the end of 2021, you will already be a bit interested in this Game Award-winner. It’s brimming with fun, uniquely committed to co-op gaming, plays solidly and distinctively, and usually discards one cool idea in favour of another before there’s time to get bored.

Now-standard graphical compromises have been made for Switch, and the typical perk of playing handheld is questionable for an always-split-screen co-op-only game. Nonetheless, it keeps the frames moving well enough not to undermine its Game-of-the-Year sparkle. It Takes Two and the good old Switch may not be a perfect marriage, but it’s worth sticking it out.

Full Metal Furies (Switch eShop)

Full Metal Furies is an impressive fusion of genres from Cellar Door Games, the makers of Rogue Legacy. A beat-‘em-up brawler at heart, we wish more developers would invest such considerable effort into this sort of puzzle design in action games, and coupling that with the deep RPG systems, punchy co-op gameplay, and memorable writing makes for an experience that no Switch owner will want to be without.

We can’t recommend this release enough; put in the time to explore the different tactics required with each character and you’ll find a much deeper, more replayable experience than a typical brawler.

Vampire Survivors (Switch eShop)

Vampire Survivors skyrocketed in popularity in 2022 for good reason. It’s one of the best roguelites in recent memory thanks to its gripping gameplay loop and metagame that hijacks your mind.

The Switch port only adds more to love with local co-op and updated content. It’s so easy to slip into a blissful sense of flow in Vampire Survivors’ Castlevania-inspired, comically named levels as its ripping soundtrack and satisfying sound design propel you into the horde that you’ll surely lose track of time playing it, even when you’re playing with friends.

With the addition of free Adventures and a host of DLC, this undead master is teeming with life. And those Castlevania inspirations became, er, outspirations with the excellent Ode to Castlevania DLC.

Yes, we’re standing by ‘outspirations’.

Moving Out 2 (Switch)

SMG and DevM Games’ Moving Out and Moving Out 2 are both well worth a look if you’re after a breezy, chaotic removal firm sim that has you clearing houses as quickly as possible to an excellent ’80s soundtrack.

We marginally prefer the sequel — it may not quite be your multiplayer forever home, but its good vibes and intricate challenges are going to cause many joyful whoops of celebration, cries of frustration, irreparably broken furniture, and wild accusations about how the hell a bookcase fell off the balcony. Sounds like coming home to us.

Disney Illusion Island (Switch)

While you could certainly argue that Disney Illusion Island is perhaps more of a Metroidvania than it is a straight-up 2D platformer, we reckon it strikes a wonderful balance between the two genres that it could honestly fall into either category.

Its focus on combat-free exploration makes this a great gateway into the genre for younger audiences, and its ability to support up to four players via local co-op means that it’s an excellent option for families who want to spend a bit of time with some of the most iconic Disney characters imaginable. You can also hug each other to regain health. What more could you ask for?

Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is, quite simply, the best 2D Mario game since Super Mario World. From its myriad animation details to its infectious anything-could-happen spirit, it’s got charm up the wazoo, and with local co-op (and online) fun adding to the replayability factor, this feels like 2D Mario with its mojo back and one of the very best platformers we’ve played.

Up to four players can dive in and choose from a large roster of Mushroom Kingdom characters, and the removal of character collision — which caused no-end of upset and arguments in the New Super Mario Bros. series — means that you can potter about without bumping into each other.

Not all the levels work quite as well with multiple people, but wowie zowie, with worlds this bustling with life and colour, any frustrations are sure to be fleeting.