Luigi is back

It’s been a wild year for the Switch: perhaps the best one yet.

“The little portable console that could” completely dispelled the notion of financial failure from the Wii U era, and catapulted Nintendo back into the spotlight. As of today the Switch has sold over 40 million units in just over two and a half years time, and the Switch Lite (as well as the theoretical future Switch Pro?) is helping Nintendo slowly climb that sales leaderboard.

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It was also a good year for Switchgames.Astral Chainproved that Platinum is one of the leading developers when it comes to creating new IP out of thin air, and theMarvel Ultimate Allianceseries was resurrected for the first time since 2009.Cadence of Hyrulesignifies how relaxed and competitive Nintendo has gotten in terms of IP loaning, andFire Emblem: Three Houseshas firmly cemented theFire Emblemname in the west. Everything on the below list is an exclusive, which just goes to show how big of an impact the Switch has made on the landscape as a whole.

Before you ask, two things.Zelda: Link’s Awakeningmade it in under another category: best remaster/remake, which we’ll be revealing the nominees for later this week. Also,Super Smash Bros. Ultimatedid not make the date cutoff for 2018’s Game of the Year awards (we like our nominees to have time to marinate before we get to vote on them), so it has its rightful chance here (no big 2019 games complicated the timetable this year). Maybe it andResident Evil 2will end the idea that games released earlier in the year are forgotten about.

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These are the nominees for Destructoid’s Best Switch Game of 2019:

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Cover for Max Payne

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CoD BO7 The Guild robot

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A ruined police station in Raccoon City in Resident Evil Requiem.