The Math Adds Up, The Nintendo Switch Really Does Have The Best Games

2 months ago 70
Metroid OLEDImage: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life

If you're somewhat of a regular here, you don't need us to tell you that the Nintendo Switch is a pretty darn good console. That said, in case you needed some proof, one user on ResetEra has got you covered.

Posted by user St. Eam the 3rd (thanks, Metro), the Switch categorically has more higher rated games according to Metacritic than the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. They worked this out by collating data from both MobyGames and DekuDeals (with some very minor discrepancies between the two), crunching the numbers, and sharing the results.

First, if we look at the platforms with the most number of games in total, the Switch is comfortably beat by the PC, Mac, iPhone, and Android. Now, what's concerning here is that all of these platforms had much longer to build their respective libraries, so when you notice that the Switch only has 230 fewer games than Android despite launching a decade later, it just goes to show how much shovelware has been dumped onto the eShop. Sigh...

So let's take a look at the total number of games across each of the top systems:

Platform Number of Games Years Active
PC 66,569 1993–2024
Macintosh 19,512 1984–2024
iPhone 12,254 2008–2024
Android 11,785 2007–2024
Switch 11,555 2017–2024
iPad 11,551 2008–2024
PlayStation 4 10,870 2013–2024

Now, onto more positive stuff. The user also looked at the Metacritic scores for the console platforms' game libraries. They discovered that the Nintendo Switch has the most number of games scoring 90 or higher on Metacritic, the most scoring 75 or higher, and the second-most scoring 60 or higher. This is over a shorter time frame than the PS4 and Xbox One too, mind.

It just goes to show that, yes, the Nintendo Switch has the best library of games and is the best console. That's it. No argument. Don't even try.

Console 90+ Metacritic 75+ Metacritic 60+ Metacritic Time Frame
Switch 39 962 1783 7 Years
PS4 33 921 1861 11 Years
Xbox One 26 575 1078 11 Years
PS5 25 382 660 4 Years
Xbox Series X|S 16 242 383 4 Years

We are joking, by the way; if you prefer PlayStation or Xbox over the Switch, then more power to you! It's super interesting to see everything laid out like this, though. Huge thanks to St. Eam the 3rd for crunching the numbers.

It'll be interesting to see where the Switch 2 sits when we inevitably revisit these stats in about a decade..!

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