Expedition 33" to big console exclusives like "Donkey Kong Bananza" and "Death Stranding 2," NPR staff and contributors round up their favorite games of the year so far.

There's also a sense of persistence in Bananza. You can create little home bases that let you rest up and change outfits. You'll meander off and come back to locations. Mario Odyssey had some of this too, but Bananza feels more lived in.

Notably, another first-party Nintendo Switch 2 game, Mario Kart World, had a similar path to release. We learned ahead of its launch that Mario Kart World also began on Nintendo Switch 1, but was moved to Nintendo Switch 2 during development to better accommodate the open-world gameplay and 24-player multiplayer.