Before we begin, a little cleanup. For the most part, we went with the earliest initial release date for whichever platform the game debuted on. However, with dates in different territories sometimes spanning multiple years (hello, Super Mario World), there are instances below where we’ve taken some liberties to accommodate a certain deserving favorite. Complaints to the usual address.
In some cases, we’ve added honorable mentions and even notable non-Switch nominations. You’ll also notice that the excellent Atari 50 collection and Hamster’s Arcade Archives series do the heavy lifting for the early years (and we had to get creative with 1972-75 — let us know in the comments if you have any suggestions for those early years). All in all, we think you’ll agree that the wealth of historical titles available to play on Nintendo’s miniature console is very impressive.
So, enough noise. Let’s start from… well, not from very the beginning, but certainly much closer to it than we are now. Come with us now on a journey through time and space, back to Minnesota in 1971…
Publisher: Gameloft / Programmer: Gameloft
Created as an educational tool for high school students in M inneapolis, The Oregon Trail is an iconic ‘edutainment’ text adventure known for teaching American children about the dangers of dysentery for trail pioneers in the mid-19th century. As with many of the games near the top of this list, the original game is available to play online for free (via Oregon Tourism Board website
We haven’t played this one, unfortunately, but let us know in the comments if you’ve had the pleasure of dying of dysentery on the Switch.
Publisher: Atari / Programmer: Digital eclipse
We promise we won’t cheat as much from here on out, but pickings are slim in the early 70s, so you’ll have to forgive us for using Atari’s foundation tennis since 1972 to cover several years.
Given the game’s enduring popularity, it may be appropriate to have three entrances. The version in Digital Eclipse’s Atari 50 collection is as authentic as you could hope for, and this isn’t the last time we rely on that collection, as you’ll soon find out.
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Publisher: Atari / Programmer: Digital eclipse
The archetypal block breaking game, Escape sees you bounce a ‘ball’ off a Pong-like paddle at the bottom of the screen and use it to smash through rows of bricks at the top. Atari’s Nolan Bushnell apparently wanted something akin to a single-player version of Pong, and that’s essentially what Breakout is.
A huge success, it would inspire the 1978 game Taito, which we’ll get to shortly…
Publisher: Atari / Programmer: Digital eclipse
Fight was the quintessential bundled title that came with every Atari VCS/2600 system from its release in 1977 to 1982. While the ’27 VIDEO GAMES’ advertised on the box may seem a bit of a stretch by modern standards (those 27 titles consist of of various mods for just a few games), titles like Tank and Jet in this collection there were many introductions for players to competitive multiplayer at home.
Publisher: Skill / Programmer: Skill
In a broader cultural sense, and perhaps even more so than Mario or Pac-Man, Space Invaders and ‘video games’ are synonymous. Only one of those three has its own emoticon on your phone’s keyboard, and it’s not a burly plumber or a guy with a yellow pie. Taito’s archer is cited as the inciting incident in the origin stories of many of the game industry’s greats, including Shigeru Miyamoto, who we know has some hits.
Space Invaders is a must-read, and luckily you can read it on Switch.
Publisher: Atari / Programmer: Digital eclipse
The Atari 50 comes to the rescue again with this vector-visualized masterpiece that gave you the freedom to move wherever you wanted, firing your ship’s rockets to avoid and target the eponymous space obstacles flying at you from all sides. The sense of inertia of your craft and the precise physics and controls still impress today and act as callbacks to the earliest video games such as space war! and our own Nolan Bushnell Computer space.
Publisher: Bandai Namco / Programmer: Bandai Namco
Another gaming icon known even to people who’ve never picked up a joystick or pad before, Pac-Man’s maze-based antics with his ghostly antagonists (Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde) were designed as a non-violent alternative to the BLASTY-BLASTY fighting games that Atari and Taito caused great praise. We’d argue that swallowing your enemies and trapping them in a confined space isn’t exactly the pacifist antidote to Space Invaders that it was suggested to be, but early ’80s arcade fans couldn’t get enough.
Honorable mentions: Missile Command, an adventure
Publisher: HAMSTER / Programmer: Nintendo
Mario (or rather Jumpman) may seem quite limited in his abilities (and death by short fall is very old school), but Donkey Kong is still a fun game. Stronger than the NES port, it can become quite addictive as you strive to improve your high scores. For fans of the game and the vertical orientation of the OG arcade cabinet, this TATE mod-compatible Arcade Archives edition is something of an ‘ultimate edition’. Three versions of it with several display options and Hamster’s usual array of modes and online leaderboards make this a great choice for high score hunters and those looking for the right ratio.
Honorable mentions: Galaga, Frogger Defender, Tempest, Centipede
Publisher: HAMSTER
Sneaking into Japanese arcades in December 1982, Namco’s Xevious delivered visuals uncommon in arcades at the time and stands alongside the mighty Space Invaders as one of the most influential entries in the shooter genre. We’re pretty partial to the autostereoscopic 3D Classics version on 3DS, but the Switch version delivers TATE mode in all its glory.
Fun Fact: Xevious can be unlocked in Star Fox: Assault on the GameCube. No, it’s not on Switch. Sorry to bring that up.
Honorable mentions: Donkey Kong Jr., Burger Time, Millipede, Dig Dug
Name without switch: duelMs. Pac-Man, Trap
Publisher: HAMSTER / Programmer: Nintendo
Mario Bros. it may be a game many remember as an extra bonus mod you never played on all those GBA Super Mario ports, but it’s a landmark release and you can enjoy it in its original arcade glory on the Switch.
While nowhere near the success of Donkey Kong, this is still a significant entry in Nintendo’s canon, both featuring Mario and Green-Mario Luigi is in the sewers doing some plumbing work for a change.
Honorable mentions: Elevator Action, athletics