If you want a single platform to play games at home and on the go, the Nintendo Switch has got your back. Even better if you’re a fan of Sonic: Ever since the Switch arrived in 2017, Sega has worked like clockwork to consistently release Sonic games for the hybrid console. Last year we got Sonic x Shadow Generations alongside the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, so it’s safe to say Sega’s speedster is bigger than ever.

Now that the Switch 2 has been officially announced, it’s pretty much guaranteed more Sonic games are on the way. Thankfully, the Switch 2 trailer confirms the system’s backward compatibility, so your existing Sonic games aren’t going anywhere. For anyone looking to check out the modern era of Sonic (and friends), here are all the Sonic the Hedgehog games you can play right now as well as upcoming Sonic games we expect to see on the Switch 2.

How Many Sonic Games Are There on Nintendo Switch?

A total of nine Sonic games have been released for Nintendo Switch. This spans the first year of the system back in 2017 to the most recent game, Sonic x Shadows, released in October 2024. Keep in mind that this list below does not include the games available with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

Sonic Mania was developed by PagodaWest Games and Sonic fangame community member Christian Whitehead as a love letter to the classic Sonic the Hedgehog titles released on the Sega Genesis and Sega CD platforms. Taking place after the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the game remixes eight iconic levels, including Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone, and introduces five new ones, including the glamorous Studiopolis Zone and the peaceful Press Garden Zone. This game also introduces a new troupe of Eggbots called the Hard-Boiled Heavies for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to beat.

Mania is considered one of the best Sonic games of the 2010s because of the experiment in allowing a group of Sonic fans to create a game other Sonic fans would love, the vivid neon graphics, and the new challenges present in every stage.

Sonic Forces (2017)

Sonic Forces makes Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic form a resistance against Dr. Eggman after he conquered most of the world alongside Infinite, a masked jackal who uses the Phantom Ruby to create doppelgangers and warp reality. The game switches gameplay modes between third-person Boost gameplay with Modern Sonic, side-scrolling gameplay with Classic Sonic, and a mode with the custom avatar character, which can be any animal you want, whose weapons use Wisp power-ups. Forces’ writing and lighting aren’t exactly the best in the series, but the game is still tolerable for some people.

Team Sonic Racing (2019)

Team Sonic Racing takes racing games to a whole new level by having players race with each other, not against each other. This game has a cooperative gameplay mechanic similar to Splatoon and Overwatch, using Sonic Heroes as a frame of reference, where you play in teams of three characters and work together to win each race, paying very close attention to your teammates’ performance and sharing Wisp power-ups with them to allow them to speed up and pull your ranks. Since most of the karts are sports cars, you can customize them with gold rims and paint your car any color you want West Coast Customs style.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (2019)

Released a year before the real-life Tokyo Olympic Games was scheduled to begin (only to be postponed to 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic), Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 brings the platform rivalry between the jolly red plumber, the speedy blue hedgehog, and their respective friends back to the world stage with new events, like surfing, skateboarding, karate, and sport climbing, and bonus features. The game includes a story mode that takes Mario and Sonic back to the Tokyo 1964 Olympics and their early 2D sprite selves, while everyone else works to help bring them back to the real world in the present day. You get the best of both eras and some history lessons about the Olympic Games in Tokyo to go with it.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate (2021)

Sonic Colors: Ultimate is a remastered version of the original Sonic Colors developed by Blind Squirrel Games for Sonic’s 30th anniversary in 2021. The remaster enhanced the graphics to brighten up the colors of Eggman’s interplanetary amusement park and the character models, introduced a new Jade Ghost Wisp to help Sonic phase through walls and ceilings, replaced the traditional lives with rescues from Tails, and introduced mini races against Metal Sonic. You can also collect Park Tokens to customize Sonic with the wackiest designs for his shoes and gloves.

Sonic Origins (2022)

Sonic Origins compiles the first four classic Sonic games released on the Sega Genesis and Sega CD and remasters them for modern consoles and the audience that plays on them, whether they’re veteran fans seeking a nostalgia fix or young fans who want to understand Sonic’s history. Players can experience the game in Classic Mode, which is the original format presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, or Anniversary Mode, which replaces lives with coins and allows Sonic to use Drop Dash as he did in Sonic Mania. Each game in the compilation features new animated cutscenes at the beginning and end done by the incomparable Tyson Heese to connect all four games into a cohesive story, provided you play them in the original release order.

Sonic Frontiers (2022)

Sonic Frontiers is the first open-world game in the Sonic franchise – or should we say, “open-zone”? – born out of a trend of open-world games being styled after The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Sonic explores the vast Starfall Islands to fight cybernetic enemies, solve various puzzles, and run through Cyber Space levels modeled after the levels from past Sonic titles in an effort to save his friends from the digitized dimension. Both veteran and new Sonic fans alike will enjoy running around the mysterious island set to a soundtrack that strikes a delicate balance between serenity and chaos.

Sonic Superstars (2023)

Sonic Superstars is a collaborative effort between Sega and Arzest to bring 3D graphics to a Classic Sonic game, a move that surprised everyone at the 2023 Summer Game Fest (including this author). With Classic Sonic being a CGI character on his own for the first time and classic levels getting revamped with new music and upgraded level designs, the game allows up to four people to locally play together as Sonic and his friends throughout 11 levels across the Northstar Islands and grants new powers for every Chaos Emerald they collect to overcome obstacles.

Sonic X Shadow Generations (2024)

Team Sonic’s latest is Sonic X Shadow Generations, a remastered version of 2011’s Sonic Generation that goes beyond graphical upgrades and quality-of-life improvements by including an all-new campaign comprised of reminagined Shadow stages from past Sonic games. The two campaigns combine for 15-20 hours of content across over 150 stages, leading us to say in our Shadow x Generations review that it “soars far and above previous enhanced versions we’ve gotten in the Sonic franchise.”

With so many great games coming down the pipeline, now’s a great time to hop on the Xbox Game Pass bandwagon. If some titles joining the catalog this year have caught your eye and you’re itching to join in on the fun, we have good news: You can score some savings on a three-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership right now at Amazon, which is worth taking advantage of.

You can learn more about that deal, what’s coming soon to Game Pass, and the big releases still to come below.

Navigate to:

• Best Xbox Game Pass Deals
• What’s Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass?
• What Games Are Leaving Xbox Game Pass?
• Biggest Games Releasing on Xbox Game Pass

Best Xbox Game Pass Deals

In an era of live services, MMOs, and generally disconnected online experiences, the idea of local multiplayer is quickly becoming a rarity. And while we have seen a handful of great couch co-op experiences pop up here and there, such as TMNT Shredders Revenge, Overcooked, and Hazelight Studios’ very own It Takes Two, I can’t think of anything I’ve played recently that resonated with me quite like Split Fiction. From its plethora of varying gameplay types, such as a twin-stick shooter, a pinball inspired puzzle platformer, and in one instance, a hot dog simulator, to its dazzling graphics and believable character dialogue, Split Fiction is looking to not only be another standout title in a year full of promising releases, but something that anyone who’s looking for a fun and unique local multiplayer game should pencil in on their gaming calendar.

In Split Fiction you play as either Mio or Zoe, two aspiring writers who are chosen to take part in an early test of a machine that will bring their stories to life. From what I saw, this plot device not only helps build the world of Split Fiction, but also provides a perfect excuse to seamlessly transition between its sci-fi and fantasy settings. During the few hours I got to play, jumping back and forth never felt forced or tedious, and while I’m admittedly not the biggest fan of fantasy unless the word “Final” is attached in some way, I never found myself getting bored of Zoe’s fantasy worlds. This was supported by Split Fiction’s well-written and believable dialogue between characters, which helped convince me that I was watching two real people who are polar opposites interact with each other in their own make-believe worlds.

If you played Hazelight’s previous games (It Takes Two and A Way Out), you probably have a pretty good idea of what’s in store for you with Split Fiction. A shared multiplayer experience on either the same or a split screen that’s full of cleverly designed puzzles that require teamwork and communication, all wrapped up in a nice-looking and well-written package. What sets Split Fiction apart from other couch co-op games is its clever integration of numerous gameplay styles, keeping the experience fresh and engaging.

In fact, the variety of gameplay styles in Split Fiction is easily its most standout feature. And during my brief time with it, it was clear that this isn’t another standard two-player puzzler or beat-’em-up experience. Hazelight obviously took its time to refine the variety of gameplay types in here, because nothing felt like it was rushed or created in order to add variety for the sake of variety. One standout moment for me was a section where Zoe and Mio have to snowboard their way out of an active warzone, which felt more like a blend of Sonic Adventure Battle and SSX than your typical on-rails downhill spectacle. In this moment, Split Fiction introduced a points mechanic where I had to compete against my partner, performing as many grinds, grabs, and flip tricks as possible while trying to avoid death. While this mechanic has been done before in more games than I can count, the fact that this instance is just one of dozens really shows the potential of fun things to do in Split Fiction.

That’s not to say they were all hits, though. One section had us playing a hybrid of a platformer and pinball where I was controlling the ball and my partner was controlling the pinball paddles. This required some precise timing on both of our ends, and it was a creative way to introduce a slower puzzle mechanic to a game that has a surprising amount of action in it. While I found myself getting a bit frustrated whenever I messed up a badly timed jump, the satisfaction I felt once my partner and I finished any of the campaign’s collaborative tasks really elevated the experience.

And just to be clear: Split Fiction is 100% a collaborative experience that keeps you on your toes throughout; single-player is not an option. But unlike most co-op games where both players need to fight a screen full of enemies or break a bunch of blocks in order to progress to the next level, Split Fiction requires a heavy amount of teamwork and critical thinking from both players in its heavy action as well as its mellower puzzle sections. Throughout my demo time, I found myself communicating more with my partner and working together to try to figure out the puzzles and bosses because, refreshingly, Split Fiction does not hold your hand whatsoever. Thats not to say this is suddenly a soulslike in terms of difficulty, but there wasn’t a moment where the UI pointed us in the right direction or gave us a hint on what to do. Which is kind of the point of Split Fiction and co-op games as a whole, and definitely made my demo a really fun and rewarding experience.

In a time where every game can either be played solo or is completely full of NPCs or people online who don’t really want to interact outside of a few words here and there, Split Fiction really looks to raise the bar in what a co-op experience can be. I appreciated everything from its interesting use of multiple gameplay styles spanning across many genres, to its cleverly written dialogue and beautiful-looking worlds, plus the fact that it requires you to actively play with someone else and think outside of the box to solve its puzzles. And in a year packed with dozens of promising releases, Split Fiction is definitely looking to set itself apart from the pack in a way that few games can.

If you have a soft spot for retro-style games, you might already be keeping an eye on Takaya Imamura’s upcoming adventure game OMEGA 6: The Triangle Stars. That game is based on a manga series created by the former Nintendo art director, and now Dark Horse is bringing that manga to the US for the first time.

Check out the cover art to OMEGA 6 below: