It’s no secret that Disney is a multimedia powerhouse, the king of every form of entertainment from movies, TV shows, theme parks, and even video games. Over the last 30 years, The House of Mouse had a hand in creating video game adaptations of some classic Disney movies and original games, like Kingdom Hearts and Epic Mickey.
Today, there are plenty of Disney games for the Nintendo Switch for you to enjoy playing alone or with family and friends. Whether you’re relaxing at home and want to take a break from scrolling through Disney+ or taking a trip to a Disney Park, here are seven best Disney games you can play right now on the Switch.
You can also check out our larger roundup of the best Switch games overall for more options.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
Disney and Square Enix’s spin on the latter’s Final Fantasy Theatrhythm lets you take control of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and other characters from across the Kingdom Hearts universe to slash the Heartless and their ilk to the beat of the series’ iconic soundtrack. You run along the staff and hit the monsters in time to the beat lest they hurt you if you miss it. You can enjoy the musical stylings of Yoko Shimomura by yourself, or share the music with your friends in local co-op or online multiplayer battles.
In the grand scheme of things, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory gives a recap of the series up to Kingdom Hearts 3 with narration from Kairi, who falls into a deep sleep under Ansem the Wise’s observation after the events of Kingdom Hearts 3’s Re: Mind DLC. Whether you’re a veteran fan of Kingdom Hearts games or a newcomer, this title does an excellent job of getting you up to speed in preparation for Kingdom Hearts 4, which is currently in development, than the Switch cloud versions of the games will.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.
Disney Dreamlight Valley
Disney Dreamlight Valley is a life sim from Gameloft that is basically Disney meets Animal Crossing, where you get to live, work, and play alongside your favorite Disney characters. You play as a human character who arrives at the titular Dreamlight Valley, which has been gripped by the Night Thorns, leading to The Forgetting. This supernatural event caused the Disney characters who stayed in the valley to lose their memories while others returned to their home worlds for safety.
You work to rebuild Dreamlight Valley using magic called Dreamlight to weed out the Night Thorns, provide housing for the character via Scrooge McDuck’s construction company, cook food at Remy’s restaurant, and build friendships with everyone, both heroes and villains. The best part is, you never have to worry about your clothes, food, and tools taking up space in your inventory. And you can customize your character with the coolest Disney outfits complete with Mickey Mouse ears just like you were going to Disney World — or Disneyland, depending on where you live.
Although Disney Dreamlight Valley was supposed to become a free Switch game, it was recently announced that the free-to-play version is no longer happening.
Read our review of Disney Dreamlight Valley.
Disney Illusion Island
Mickey Mouse’s latest gaming adventure from Disney Interactive and Dlala Studios sees him, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy travel to the mysterious Monoth Island for a picnic that turns into a high-stakes mission to recover the three stolen Tomes of Knowledge that helps protect the island. Whether you’re playing in single-player or co-op mode with three additional players, you can play as either character and navigate the island Metroidvania style.
Disney Illusion Island carries the same comedic charm as the recent Mickey Mouse cartoons despite the change in art style. Both kids and adults will be engrossed in the game’s story, the lore of Monoth Island, and the unlockable Mickey Mouse memorabilia scattered around the island.
Read our review of Disney Illusion Island.
Disney Classic Games Collection
Disney Classic Games Collection is an updated edition of 2019’s Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King (a mouthful of a title) that includes the Final Cut of Aladdin and the console and handheld versions of The Jungle Book. It has an interactive museum, a rewind function to correct gameplay mistakes, an expanded soundtrack, and a retro-style manual for one of the three games if you buy a physical copy.
This compilation lets you relive the game adaptations of your favorite Disney movies the way you played them in the ‘90s no matter which platform you owned at the time, hence the inclusion of the Sega Genesis and Game Boy versions of Aladdin and The Lion King, as well as the Super Nintendo version of the latter. Adding The Jungle Book makes the compilation even more valuable as no one had seen the game since 1994.
Disney Tsum Tsum Festival
Disney Tsum Tsum Festival is a cute party game inspired by the Disney Tsum Tsum line of collectible toys and the mobile game from Japan, featuring all the Disney and Pixar characters in Tsum Tsum form. The game has 10 different mini-games you can partake in alone or with family and friends, including bubble hockey, curling, and ice cream stacker, among others. You can even play the classic mobile puzzle game with the Switch in a vertical position.
Disney Tsum Tsum Festival is great for Disney adults interested in kawaii culture and kids who are already engrossed in cute stuff anyway. It serves as a relaxing game for both parties, so to speak.
LEGO The Incredibles
LEGO The Incredibles takes the plotlines of both Incredibles films — released 14 years apart — and merges them into one giant LEGO game. There is a twist to the gameplay, however: You have to play through the events of The Incredibles 2 to unlock those of the first movie.
Much like the LEGO Star Wars games, LEGO The Incredibles contains some deviations from the original source material, like changes to the lore we don’t want to spoil for those who haven’t seen the films (even though you had nearly 20 years to do so); and adds original villains to fight along with Bomb Voyage, Syndrome, and the Underminer. But it’s fun to play through, especially seeing that the LEGO version of Elastigirl can stretch herself as far as her movie version can.
Tron: Identity
Tron: Identity is a visual novel that differentiates itself from other games adapted from the Tron franchise. It reveals another facet of life on the Grid without involving characters from the films, as it is set thousands of years after the events of Tron: Legacy. The game centers on a program named Query, a detective assigned to investigate an explosion in the vault of the Repository, a secure building in the center of the Grid. As the mystery unfolds, the other programs you interact with pose more questions than answers.
Each character you meet gives you the choice to either ally with them, antagonize them, or derezz them, depending on the dialogue. Plus, you have to complete puzzles in order to ask them more questions about the vault explosion. That’s a lot of detective work to do in three to six hours.
Read our review of Tron: Identity.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal.
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