Quarantine is boring sometimes, but with the fun of video game consoles, how could it possibly be boring at all? Video games are a great way to pass the time during this quarantine we have during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s my list of some of the best games to play during quarantine.

NBA 2K20 (Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch)

This great sports game is really good to play when you have lots of time on your hands, which with quarantine, we all have more time to play around with. NBA 2K20 is a great basketball game which takes place in the 2019-2020 NBA season. Career mode has a storyline to go along with the basketball gameplay itself, as well as a great multiplayer mode (online or in person) to enjoy with your friends and family!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo Switch)

Although I have yet to play this video game, I can’t ignore all the positive reviews for this Nintendo game, the game sold 13 MILLION copies in just 6 weeks! The game is basically a life simulator, just more cartoonish, kind of like Tomodachi Life (Nintendo 3DS). The game starts you out on a deserted island and you want to make this island paradise as you navigate your way through the game. 

Minecraft (Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, PC)

Minecraft is widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, and rightly so, as it’s a great game for all age groups. Minecraft is a simplistic sandbox game, there are two modes in Minecraft, there’s survival mode and creative mode. 

Survival mode is where you try to survive as long as you can in a Minecraft world with monsters chasing you at night trying to make it as difficult as possible to make it through. To be able to survive, you have to build a shelter, mine materials to craft weapons and armor so you can defend yourself, and collect food from plants and animals. Also, don’t mine at night! 

Creative mode is much calmer and relaxed than the intense survival mode. In creative mode, the sky’s the limit with what you can make. You can make some massive structures, skyscrapers, complex redstone contraptions, and pretty much anything under the sun. Your imagination basically comes to life, just in a video game.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch)

We all know and love the iconic video game character Mario, but he’s even better when he’s on the track racing against friends and foes. In this latest version of Mario Kart, there are many new characters, you also have the DLC that was the Wii U already included.

There are a lot of new tracks in this game, as well as older ones, just remastered with amazing graphics. You are able to customize your own car with the choice of the body, tires, and your glider.

There are several modes of this game, which are grand prix, VS, time trials, and battle. In the grand prix you race against computer players or against your friends to get the 1st place trophy. Use your items strategically to put yourself in front of the pack and take home the gold. The versus mode is similar to this, it’s basically free play where you get to choose the order of tracks. You also get to play against online players in this mode, as well as split screen.

When you feel like doing some fast laps around a certain track, time trials is the mode for you. You have three mushrooms to begin with and you have to use them strategically to get around the track quickest, and maybe set some records. In battle mode, you get to drive around an arena and fire items at your opponents to get the most points or coins as a team.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo Switch)

Super Smash Bros. is an iconic Nintendo game series, featuring many of their famous characters. In this action packed video game, you brawl with your opponents until there is one left standing. 

In the smash mode you get to fight against computer players, or some of your friends and family in person. You get to choose out of 74 characters for yourself, and for the computer, but the computer can be randomized to make things more challenging.

There’s another fun mode called “World Of Light,” which is basically the story mode of the game. You only start out with one character, which is Kirby since he was the only one to escape Galeem’s light beams. As you progress through this mode, you’ll unlock many new characters from Nintendo’s world of video games.

There are so many games to choose to be “the best,” but these are some of the best games to play during these times right now. Whether you like multiplayer or not, you would enjoy some of these games, as it is a very broad spectrum of video games.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons for Nintendo Switch – Nintendo Game Details, www.nintendo.com/games/detail/animal-crossing-new-horizons-switch/.