These Were The Worst Nintendo Switch Games Of 2020

The Nintendo Switch played host to an astounding assortment of games in 2020. Nintendo's main IPs produced incredible titles like the series changing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Additionally, indie releases like Game of the Year contender Hades have made equally large waves despite having a smaller dedicated team and limited promotion. It's been a great year for the Switch, but not everything that landed on the console was worthy of praise.

The Switch did have some flops — and some were worse than others. Whether it was a rushed development cycle or just an overall bad experience, these games brought little to the table. To help you avoid disaster and get the best bang for your limited gaming buck, here are a few of the worst titles that came out for Nintendo Switch in 2020.

A lot was riding on Cooking Mama: Cookstar when it was released in March 2020, as this was the first entry in the Cooking Mama series on the Nintendo Switch. The series is well known for its tight controls and engaging gameplay, but Cookstar cracked under the pressure. The game was heavily criticized for its lack of innovation, unresponsive motion controls, and horrid voice acting. 

Additionally, Cookstar went through a hellish release saga that involved legal battles between Office Create, the IP holders of the Cooking Mama franchise, and Planet Entertainment, the game's publishers. Planet Entertainment released and promoted the game before fixing an assortment of issues that Office Create had brought to its attention. What ensued was chaos that not even Mama herself could've seen coming. Because of this drama, Cookstar will likely forever remain an infamous entry in the series, both for its incredibly wild publishing story and subpar gameplay.

Unlike its open world predecessors, The Elder Scrolls: Blades is a free-to-play action RPG focused on one-to-one, touch-controlled combat. The game is extremely linear and only has a handful of modes that place the player in an endless roguelike dungeon fight, or fights against users online. The game was made with iOS and Android devices in mind (where it proved an even greater disappointment), meaning it was going to have a lot of technical limitations when it made its transition to the Nintendo Switch in May 2020.

According to critics and players, Bethesda really dropped the ball on this one. Blades had over a year of early access to listen to critiques from players, but it still couldn't manage to iron out the kinks. The game was heavily criticized for offering a very mediocre experience on a console that has the ability to play large and immersive titles like Breath of the Wild and, ironically enough, Skyrim. Ultimately, Blades just didn't offer a lot to justify a Switch release.

Right out of the gate, Gleamlight was criticized for being a Hollow Knight ripoff. Both titles are 2D platformers that share a similar art style, so it's really hard not to make comparisons. The only exception is that one of these titles is reportedly good. Spoiler: it's not Gleamlight.

Gleamlight had it rough since it had to deal with a ton of hate from the start, but, as critics and players were quick to point out, that doesn't excuse how awful it plays. When the game released for Switch in August, it tanked pretty hard. Reviewers and users shredded it to pieces, with most of Gleamlight's critiques centered on its unimaginative and repetitive levels, clunky menu and controls, and just overall lack of polish. The game does look pretty, but aesthetics and graphics can only carry a title so far. You're probably better off skipping this one and waiting for Hollow Knight's sequel, Silksong, instead.