All 11 Pokémon Switch Games Ranked

I thoroughly enjoy all the games I have -- Sword, then I got Arceus, then Brilliant Diamond, then Violet. They're all amazing in their own ways! Well technically I have access to the other halves too, Shield, Shining Pearl, and Scarlet, but they're technically my much younger sister's. Since I'm partially blind, I was never able to play handhelds before the Switch, which I often have docked. However, Pokemon games are in the small number of games I can play on my Switch screen. I have a regular Switch, not an OLED. Being a 90s kid/original Pokemon generation era, I missed out on a lot. I saw the show once and just didn't get it. All I knew was Pikachu, who I thought was adorable. I remember when my school had "Pikachu pizza" and talking to my friends about how it'd have little pepperoni cheeks and olive eyes, then being super bummed it was just regular pizza with a Pikachu Froot By The Foot.

Anyway, I digress. Since I was never able to get into Pokemon as a kid/teen, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing the adorable Brilliant Diamond because I never did back then. I've still not finished it, as the newer games admittedly have sucked more of my time, but I've still thoroughly enjoyed it.
Pokemon Sword was my first game in the series, which I got when my little sis got Shield. I loved it instantly, and it's one of the few mainstream games I can say I've not 100 percented, but at least beaten.
Legends: Arceus was an impulse buy and my only digital Pokemon game. I do very much enjoy it and have gotten fairly far. However, there are a few things I visually struggle with in the game, so it's below Sword and Violet.
As for Violet, that's taking all my attention right now. Unfortunately, I put it down for awhile after I got it, but I've been playing it like mad for the last couple weeks. I love that with the gym challenges, titans, and Team Star every type of pokemon is represented and gives me a LOT more to do. However, even I have noticed some of the visual issues, like lighting differing depending on camera angle when in shade and some pop-in/tearing. However, that's not dampened my enthusiasm/enjoyment of the game at all.
Also, I have a special, silly fondness for Violet and Scarlet because they happened to be released the same day my poodle had SIX puppies ... like a whole Pokemon team, LOL! I also found her spirit pokemon in form of Pawmi/Pawmo, LOL!

WOW! That was LONG! TL:DR -- In short, having entered the fandom late in the game, I'm very pleased and having a great time with Pokemon games on Switch!

I’d never beat a Pokémon game and I beat lets go pikachu, and it was pretty fun

Pokemon Pinball Ruby & Sapphire on GBA was so much fun. I hope they do a pinball spin off again.

Pokemon Legends Arceus is on the worse pokemon switch game i ever played.

I absolutely loved Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as a fan of the old skool titles. Highly underrated titles.

Pokémon snap I bought like a week after it came out. I have two hours in it not my game.

We need a mainline pokemon game with Better graphics in legends arceus system. same capturing same battling (minus the styles) with open world like SV

Nintendo life isn't the same without you

Pokemon violet in front of Sword and Arceus not being the number one Switch pokémon game because of ... Pokémon Snap 😅 Come on, you can't be serious.

Pokemon fanboys would eat green shit if gamefreak sold it to them

As a Pokémon fan who has gotten really sick of how needlessly angry/toxic a lot of the ‘critics’/‘defenders’ tend to get, I REALLY appreciate the more nuanced and professional take on these games. You’re simply pointing out what these games do right and wrong, without trying to come off as someone who is superior to those who may disagree with you. I wish more people on the internet are like that

Am I the only one who thinks Arceus was just so boring.. I stopped playing 3 hours into the game. Trainer battles are essential to a good pokemon game and they are just non existent. What is the point of catching a cool pokemon if i cant use it to demolish the next trainer I see?

As someone who never played gen IV originally I would say Brilliant Diamond has given me that experience while not requiring a huge time sink. Enjoying it a lot

Having never played the original, I liked brilliant diamond, I also liked let’s go. Pokémon works better in that style not the galar/scarlet violet. They’re too ambitious. Keep it simple stupid. Arceus is fine but that’s because it’s not a tradiontal Pokémon game

I stopped playing scarlet and violet about halfway through. The technical issues really ruined it for me. I haven't played it after the patch was released though so may give it another go at some point

Ok ok 2 isn’t bad for arceus but 2 it definitely not bad for snap that’s my only complaint

Scarlet & Violet should've been lower tbh, I know a lot of people hated on Pokemon Lets GO but I thought it was actually pretty unique and for a Kanto remake it was definitely cool the way you could ride and fly the Pokemon and the way they treated Pikachu/Eevee and let you put clothes on them too and stuff. I just wish they added a lot more post-game content and maybe let you cross into other regional stuff

You said arceus wrong its arceus not pokemon arceus get you words right.

Honestly man, give me back the fixed camera angles if it means a more flushed out world with towns, interesting NPCs, and decent story that's not gonna take away the illusion with unstable frame rates.

They're not supposed to be hard, they're supposed to be fun. Let's go was the worst.

I don't know, I feel like BDSP is a bit better than Unite at least. Unite is so slow, I had to stop playing I just couldn't get into it

New Pokémon Snap is just amazing. I can hardly believe how good it turned out to be. It's just so full of love and detail that it's just hard to convey in words. And I'm glad you seem to think this as well.
It's the best Pokémon game since Black2/White2.

For me its Arceus and lets go, I just wish this games had a pvp battle system.

Pokémon scarlet and violet in third place? I took that as a personal attack 😂 worst pokémon game ever made, even quest is better.

My freaking name is Pokémon snap. There were certain things I wanted new Pokémon snap to deliver on and it didn’t…
- shinies…. You really don’t think that could’ve added an element of grinding that would’ve been super fun for the community????
-It did not capture the same charm as the original, with voice acting from the anime and evolutions
-The Pokémon seem to react to nothing at times in new Pokémon snap

Pokémon snap is as much a pokemon game as Fifa 23 is a JRPG. This entire list is invalidated due to this imo. It's not even a game really, it's the kind of thing I'd expect to play on an iPhone with the only difference being I'd likely have to buy more film to use in microtransactions.

Gotta say I really disliked BDSP at first but I’ve grown to appreciate it for what it is and currently playing through it. I think it’s nice we have a more classic old gen styled game on the Switch. After all these 3D open world Pokemon, it made me want to go back to the more linear games and BDSP is able to scratch that itch for me. I am not hating on SwSh and S/V. They are both fun just had that itch to replay an old title.

i like all the mainline ones (except bdsp) and i also really like quest

I never got to get Pokémon mystery dungeon even though I really wanted it

Bro put a photo game at #1. What an absolute disappointment of a human being 💀💀

I think BDSP was underrated... The remake is perfect as is... They added more stuff from the grand underground, and they basically made a graphic upgrade which is what i expected from the game. Dont get me wrong but i prefer the old random encounter formula... I coulddnt get into Sword and shield that much and Legends, as much as i tried to like it, i didnt. I guess it's all about the point of view. Gen 4 was my first gen also, so maybe nostalgia plays a part of it... But i hope that if the make a remake for B&W, that they dont go astray from the core game too much. And Scarlet & Violet was a let down for me too... I expected something way more polished than what we got, i almost prefer Sword and Shield

NGL, I loved Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee... though the last time I played was Gen 3 so it was like seeing my childhood in 3D for the first time.

not a snap fan. I put it lower than BDSP since those were my first new pokemon games in my renaissance with the series. I grew up with diamond being my fav game. Is it the best remake it could have been, NO. But is it all it needed to be, YES.

Legend Arces is not my cup of tea. it is completely boring, story is not that good

Legends Arceus needs to be #1. New Pokémon Snap is just....meh. Not very substantive. Don't get me wrong! It's MUCH better than the N64 version! I just don't understand the appeal.

Blud’s #1 is Pokémon snap….wild

Where would you rank Detective Pikachu Returns on this list?

This video suckssssssssss

I super agree with this list.

Arceus and sv were definitely my favourites. I love the exploring be big worlds, yet they aren’t to overwhelming for me. I would love if future games would get more small details. Some places on the maps are really just boring and look like they somehow had to make the space there work 😅

Strictly 'Pokemon' Games in the mainline style sense?
1. Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee
-Unironically the best one, not even because 'hurr gen 1'. The gameplay is tight a well done, the world and art are done well, the follow/fly mechanic is done great, the overall gameplay flows well and feels pretty well balanced through the main story/elite four, and then has some nice post-game content with the Master Trainer fights everywhere, not one but all 3 classic trainers (Red, Blue, and even a call back to Green) can be challenged, the inclusion of Mega-Stones, and then of course the Shiny Hunting as with all the games. Its just overall the most polished release out of all the titles and while people complained about the catch system, it was intended as a bridge to people that either only played Pokemon GO or only came back to the series with it. There's a reason why a lot of people were hoping for a Lets Go Johto.

2. Scarlet/Violet
- It still has issues but the gameplay overall felt a lot better than SwSh and the overall flow/main story was more enjoyable. I still dislike that they didn't create a variable system that changed which order the gyms/team leaders could be challenged in (i.e. the first X gyms already had to be beaten before you could really move on, so why not scale those gym leaders based on how many you'd beaten, thus allowing you to challenge them in any order but have them be relevant to the order of which leader they then became with numbers of pokemon, level, moveset, etc.) The only real gripe I have with this one is the same as what everyone else has had, the visuals/art got worse...

3. PLA
-It was a breath of fresh air to how the Pokemon franchise in a mainline style game looked at pokemon. It both retained the spirit of while incorporating the design of how they thought a pokemon game set in the universe past should play. Overall it was a different way to play and gave us a break from the fairly consistently same type of game Pokemon has become as a mainline series without completely changing how it functioned.

4. BDSP
-Definitely controversial but, they're still good games and benefit from the HD update. BDSP look and play great but the biggest flaw is that they are literally the WEAKEST remakes to date. Thats really all, they are pretty much almost exactly (with a few differences) DP without any real changes. In contrast to our last two sets of HGSS and ORAS, they were horribly disappointing by comparison, and thats saying a lot since ORAS already disappointed everyone with the much less popular Battle Resort as opposed to the entire Battle Frontier because "people get bored/frustrated easier so we didnt include it." - Masuda :(

5. SwSh
-I can write way too long of an article here. To summarize it, the main story felt short, rushed, and always trying to push you forward and into post games, the routes were terribly designed and just connections between towns to do the same. The legendary story was mediocre at best and it shoving the 2 box legends into post-game while the 3rd legend was just kind of 'given' to us was...confusing, plus the post-game story was...i don't even know how to describe it. The wild area just, sucked, specifically because it was focused so heavily on and made the region as a whole just suffer in design and gameplay, topped with the raid dens which were poorly designed and either had you only get AI teams or put you in groups with extremely questionable/trolling actual players on specific dens for competitive relevant mons or event related stuff. Shoehorning them all in the wild area made the literal rest of the game irrelevant because of that... But it was made worse by the DLCs which showed us how GOOD the main game could have been made if the focus was place on incorporating wild area design into the routes.

I guess detective pikachu doesn’t get a mention…

Here's my list for anyone who cares, I'm sure this won't be controversial at all:

Haven't played: Quest, Cafe Mix, Unite

Not really for me, probably won't play them

Not enough play time to comment: Pokken, Snap

Enjoyed what I played but haven't fully got into them, I'm bad at fighting games and I didn't get far enough into Snap for the levels to really grab me

Now, the list

6: Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee

Not really for me, the simplicity of the mechanics and removal of wild pokemon battles aren't what I want from the series, I love the aesthetics of the game but mechanically it just doesn't do it for me

5: SwSh

Mediocre games for me, I admire a lot of what they tried and the dex is great, but overall just bland and uninspiring. Main story is also terrible, but I like the characters a lot.

4: Scarlet/Violet

This will likely go up after the DLC is done, I love a lot of what this game does narratively and mechanically, but the performance is really tough to overlook. It's like the original Diamond & Pearl, fix some key issues and you've the GOAT Pokemon game in Platinum, but it's held back by bad performance. The story and characters are incredible though, and the new dex is the strongest in years.

3: BDSP

Really overhated game, as a remake it's pretty underwhelming but considering Platinum is my favourite game in the series, I take "a worse Platinum" as still one of the better games in the series. All of people's criticisms of the game focus on it's role as a remake, where it definitely fails, but the region, music, narrative, progression, and overall vibe are still immaculate. It has most of Platinum's dex, the grand underground is brilliant, and it still has an amazing postgame. If you already rate Diamond & Pearl highly this is a lateral move. The chibi style isn't for everyone but I happen to like it, it's evocative of the original. Not as good as it could have been, as I said, Platinum is my favourite game in the series, but still solid. If you already didn't like Gen IV, then yeah this game is ass though, as it doesn't fix enough issues inherent with those games

2: Mystery Dungeon

Take one of the better Mystery Dungeon games, slap a gorgeous art style on it, and make it slightly less brutal in difficulty, and you've got a winner. The opposite of BDSP in that it massively improves the work it's a remake of. This kind of gameplay won't be for everyone, and can get tedious in the longer dungeons, but for those who love it, it's nearly perfect. Now can we get Explorers remakes please?

1: Legends Arceus

Everything said in the video is spot on, want to call more attention to the difficulty being interesting without being unfair, and the story being simple but unique and really quite groundbreaking for Pokemon. The vibes are immaculate, it's a key example of art direction > graphics any day, and it's still Gen IV so has some of my favourite Pokemon wandering around. Top tier game.

Sorry for the long post, had to share cause I have lots of opinions about these games.

Pokémon sword and shield is the best in my opinion. Put the most time and and had a blast

Your Top 3 are my top 3! Snap is so underrated. There's a peace that comes when you are a part of the whole pokemon world watching them live their normal lives.

What a babe

Yes BDSP was stupid easy. Don't think I faced many fully evolved pokemon until the elite 4. Seeing a level 40 wurmple was just plain stupid

Honestly I enjoyed brilliant diamond the most out of all of em it actually ran well unlike all the others that were just buggy

Hot take, this tier list is wrong 5. Pokemon dxx 4. Pokemon snap 3. Pokemon scarlet 2. Pokemon shield 1. Pokemon arceus. I know most would agree