Luigi's Mansion 3

Luigi's Mansion 3 is one of the best-looking games on Switch, and the hotel setting gives it a visual variety that few Nintendo games match floor by floor. I tried this co-op with my daughter and the Gooigi mechanic, where a second player controls a slime version of Luigi, works better than it sounds. It dropped out of the top ten because the runtime is shorter than most of the games above it and the replay value does not match them. First-time players will have a great time. Just know it ends.

Luigi's Mansion 3 is the kind of Nintendo game that looks like it is for kids and then quietly starts demanding real spatial reasoning from both players. The Gooigi mechanic, where the second player controls a gel clone of Luigi with different movement properties, turns what could have been an afterthought co-op mode into something that genuinely requires coordination. I particularly like that the puzzles are designed around Gooigi's limitations, so the second player is not just tagging along. One small frustration: Gooigi does not unlock until the second floor, so the first thirty or forty minutes of the campaign are solo. Get through that opening stretch and the co-op clicks into something worth the wait.

Luigi's Mansion 3 earns its spot through a detail that most co-op games do not bother with: the second player's character, Gooigi, has genuinely different abilities that create real puzzle dependency. You cannot just have the second player follow along. There are rooms that require both characters doing different things simultaneously, and the game knows it. I appreciate that kind of intentional design more than a game that just lets a friend tag along passively. The co-op unlocks after a short solo introduction, which is the one friction point worth knowing about before you sit down expecting to jump straight in together.

Luigi's Mansion 3 nearly made the top 10. The Gooigi mechanic is one of the more inventive second-player solutions Nintendo has come up with, letting a co-op partner slip through grates and into areas the main character cannot reach. The Scarescraper mode adds replay value beyond the campaign. What kept it out of the top 10 is that the co-op campaign still centres Luigi, with Gooigi in a supporting role that feels slightly asymmetric. If you have finished everything above this and want more polished Nintendo co-op, it belongs in your library.

Luigi's Mansion 3 stands out as one of the Switch's best story-focused couch co-op games. The Luigi-and-Gooigi pairing turns ghost-hunting into satisfying teamwork—one player squeezes through grates while the other tackles puzzles and enemies. The gentle pacing, polished visuals, and clever ability-based collaboration make it perfect for couples and families who want more than just party minigames.