With Disney recently celebrating 100 years of entertainment, we’re ranking all of the Disney games on Nintendo Switch from best to worst.
The Nintendo Switch is the home to many family friendly franchises including Mario, Kirby and Donkey Kong but players shouldn’t discount Disney on Nintendo’s little console.
The House of Mouse has shipped plenty of games for the Switch since it first released in 2017.
We have platformers, racing games, life-sim games, musical rhythm games; you name a genre and Disney will have a game for you on the Switch. Well, Disney haven’t greenlit a first-person shooter where you play as Gaston and hunt The Beast just yet but there’s still time.
One small caveat is that this list doesn’t delve into the realms of Star Wars or Marvel. What we do have is a collection of games based on our favourite current and classic Disney and Pixar films and TV shows.
If you’re a Disney fan that’s new to the Switch then welcome to a ‘whole new world’ of gaming magic as we explore every Disney game on the Nintendo Switch.
Table of Contents
1. Disney Classic Games Collection (2021)
The best Disney Game on Nintendo Switch is actually three games in one, The Disney Classic Games Collection.
This compilation of retro Disney titles first appeared on modern platforms in 2019 and featured multiple versions of the classic Aladdin and The Lion King titles. Then, in 2021, Disney Interactive and developers Digital Eclipse released an updated version which bundled in several ports of games based on The Jungle Book.
At a glance, each game is a simple 2D platform game, with item collection and death-defying leaps paramount to the experience. The joy here is delving into the different versions of familiar games on alternative platforms. You may be familiar with The Lion King on the Mega Drive but have you ever played the Game Boy version? Well, now you can.
The additional Jungle Book games boosts the number of classic Disney titles in the Disney Classic Games Collection to thirteen with several all-time great games included.
The standout in the revised version of the Disney Classic Games Collection remains Aladdin for the Mega Drive, although this collection includes a ‘Final Cut’ version that fixes several bugs and offers a better player experience, making it the definitive way to play one of the best Disney games of all time.
2. Disney Dreamlight Valley (2022)
If you, like me, grew up watching Disney movies then you’ll undoubtedly have some love and fondness with the wealth of memorable characters the House of Mouse has created over the past century.
Now what if there was a game that enabled players to inhabit a virtual world where all of those characters were your friends and you could live together as one happy and magical community? Disney Dreamlight Valley is that game.
To call Disney Dreamlight Valley ‘Animal Crossing with Donald Duck’ is a little reductive. Sure there’s a potential paradise that needs nurturing and villagers to appease but charm and nostalgia ooze from every pixel of this cosy life-sim game.
The biggest draw of Disney Dreamlight Valley is the ability to befriend and hang out with those characters that you know and love from the silver screen. Whether it’s gardening with Minnie Mouse or fishing with Buzz Lightyear, every activity will bring a smile to your face.
I’ve now logged over 200 hours into my Disney Dreamlight Valley playthrough with no signs of stopping any time soon.
Developer Gameloft is continually updating the game to bring additional content and features to Dreamlight Valley including new quests and characters along with a huge variety of furniture and clothing options to keep your virtual home and your avatar looking fresh.
3. Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory (2020)
While Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts 3 fail to sing on Nintendo Switch due to their Cloud Version limitations, Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory manages to hit all the right notes.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory is a music rhythm game similar to the likes of Guitar Hero or PaRappa The Rapper, with players matching onscreen inputs in time to the music.
And what a collection of music Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory has to offer. Not only are the original tunes by series composer Yoko Shimomura all present, but several Disney tracks from films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King are also playable.
There are 145 playable songs in Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory with each track having appeared in a previous Kingdom Hearts game.
If you like to boogie down with a partner there’s the ability to play through every track in local co-op as well as a competitive online mode where players vie for the highest score.
In addition to being one of the best Disney games on Nintendo Switch, Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory is also one of the most accessible, with difficulty that can be tailoured to suit a range of abilities.
4. Disney Illusion Island (2023)
Disney Illusion Island is a metroidvania, 2D platform game featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goof.
The quartet set out one day for a leisurely picnic and instead find themselves embroiled in a quest to protect Monoth Island from some dastardly villains.
Players can take control of any of the four protagonists and the entire game can be played in co-op, with every character having the same moveset albeit with their own charming animation.
The beautiful animation comes, in part, from Bristol-based studio Rumpus Animations and delivers funny and emotive storytelling with each of the four main characters and the supporting cast all having their time to shine.
Disney Illusion Island offers a challenge for experienced players as the heroes don’t engage in combat and must discover alternative methods of overcoming their foes.
With tons of collectibles and enough treasure to make even Scrooge McDuck green with envy, Disney Illusion Island is a a paradise for Disney fans young and old alike.
5. LEGO The Incredibles (2018)
It’s not a surprise to see a LEGO game make our list. LEGO and Disney are synonymous with family-friendly fun and a collaboration between the two on the Nintendo Switch.
LEGO The Incredibles takes the storylines of both big screen adventures in The Incredibles franchise and extrapolates them to include a myriad of puzzles, platforming and brick-based humour.
The Parr family are all present and correct with Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl joining forces alongside their children, the force field wielding Violet, the speedy Dash and the OP baby Jack-Jack.
Players won’t just be controlling the superhero family either with a wide array of characters with their own special abilities along for the ride in addition to several guest characters from other Pixar movies.
LEGO The Incredibles uses an open-world city as its base of operations with players able to zip around the environment using their superpowered heroes.
The LEGO games have long perfected the drop-in/drop-out co-op mechanic and LEGO The Incredibles is yet another titles that’s perfect for big and small kids to enjoy together.
6. Kingdom Hearts Intergrum Masterpiece (2022)
As a collection of some of my favourite games of all time, Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece would normally sit considerably higher on this list. Unfortunately, playing Kingdom Hearts on Nintendo Switch means engaging with the Cloud Version.
While it made sense for Square-Enix to release a Cloud Version of Kingdom Hearts 3 for Nintendo’s hybrid console, the failure to port the original PS2 games to the Switch natively is a real let down.
What this means is that your adventures with Sora, Donald and Goofy are limited by the quality of your internet connection. Players will also be at the mercy of Nintendo and Square-Enix, for once the Cloud servers are switched off, the game will no longer be playable.
If you have the bandwidth to enjoy a stable connection, then Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece offers some of the best action RPG games of the past two decades.
The epic story sees players jump into the oversized shoes of Keyblade wielder Sora, a young boy who unites with Disney heroes to prevent the forces of evil from seizing control over the titular Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds.
Thankfully there is a demo available for curious players to try before they buy and while Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece is a phenomenal package, it’s better served on other consoles.
7. Disney Speedstorm (2023)
Developers Gameloft, of Disney Dreamlight Valley fame, have taken their familiarity with the ensemble of Disney characters and created a free-to-play kart racer featuring everybody from Hercules to Jack Sparrow.
Disney Speedstorm takes the tried and tested formula of brilliant kart racers such as Crash Team Racing and Mario Kart and pumps the gas on delivering a fast and fun driving game of its own.
Tracks are based on a huge variety of Disney franchises with Agrabah from Disney’s Aladdin, The Scar Floor from Monsters, Inc. and Andy’s Room from Toy Story being standout race courses.
The free-to-play nature does mean that plenty of the best unlockables are sealed away behind pay walls and season passes but engaging with them isn’t essence for a good time in Disney Speedstorm.
If you’re looking for a fun, free and fast kart racing game on the Nintendo Switch and you love Disney, then Disney Speedstorm is worth making a pitstop for.
8. Disney Tsum Tsum Festival (2019)
Those joyful little Tsum Tsum toys became a bit of a global phenomenon around 2014 with the cute and stackable toys generating billions of dollars for Disney.
It was inevitable then that a video game based on popular collectibles would happen and Disney Tsum Tsum Festival is that game.
Disney Tsum Tsum Festival is a compilation of mini games that feature the lovable soft toys and can be enjoyed with up to four players cooperatively or competitively.
Just slapping Disney’s name on a collection of mini games isn’t a surefire route to success and the games themselves have to be up to snuff to avoid the ire of gaming and Disney fans.
Thankfully, developers B.B Studio and Hyde have captured the Disney essence and produced an array of fun games including curling (yes, the one with the brushes), air hockey and rhythm matching games.
It’s not just Disney and Pixar getting in on the fun either as publisher Bandai Namco greenlit a Pac Man Tsum Tsum for inclusion in Disney Tsum Tsum Festival, allowing players to enjoy one of retro gaming greatest treasures within the mini games.
9. Gargoyles Remastered (2023)
Following the success of the Disney Classic Games Collection, Disney opened the retro games vault once more to resurrect another forgotten gem, Gargoyles.
Based on the Gargoyles animated TV show that ran for three seasons from 1994 until 1997, the original Gargoyles game saw players taking control of protagonist Goliath on the Sega Mega Drive.
Much like the Aladdin, Lion King and Jungle Book games that came before it, Gargoyles is a 2D side scrolling platform game with stunning pixel art and authentic music.
Gargoyles Remastered takes the original game and gives it a second life with enhanced graphics and several quality of life features including my personal favourite, the ability to rewind when you make a mistake. If only real life had that built in!
A seriously cool and underrated feature of Gargoyles Remastered is the ability to toggle graphical styles on the fly. Players can choose experience the game with the classic 16-bit sprites or the modern visuals that look like they’ve jumped straight out of the TV show.
10. Cars 3: Driven To Win (2017)
Burning rubber on the grid of our list of the best Disney games on Nintendo Switch is Cars 3: Driven To Win. This arcade style racing game is based on the third film in Disney/Pixar’s Cars franchise and features all of the characters that fans will know and love, and takes place following the end of the movie.
In fact, there are over 20 different playable characters in Cars 3: Driven To Win, with each and every one of them looking as close to their on-screen counterparts as they can.
For a movie tie-in game, Cars 3’s campaign mode does an excellent job of building upon the plot of the film and grants players the opportunity to race around iconic locations such as Radiator Springs to the Florida International Speedway.
It’s not just the playable garage and story beats that impress but also the amount of game modes on offer. Your standard races are joined by Stunt Showcases where players compete to earn the best score for landing extreme jumps and tricks and Takedown, a mode where players can blow up their opponents using weapon power-ups found on the race track.
Cars 3: Driven To Win is at it’s best when played with younger gamers who have an affinity for the Cars franchise and its broad cast of characters.
11. Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition (2021)
Chock full of colourful characters, Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition is a remastered version of the cosy life-sim game that first appeared on the Nintendo 3DS.
Gameplay consists of collecting stickers by completing quests for various Disney characters. All of your favourites are here from Mickey and Minnie to Lilo and Stitch.
Players take control of their own custom character that can either be created with the games’ own character builder or use a Mii imported from their Nintendo Switch.
What makes Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition stand out from other life-sim games is the inclusion of combat. The mechanics of fisticuffs in Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition is extremely basic however and fending off waves of ghosts gets old quickly.
Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition would have been higher up our list but Disney Dreamlight Valley takes the premise of Animal Crossing meets Disney and knocks it out of the park.
