Splatoon Raiders Cracks Metacritic’s Top 10 as Pokémon Unite Marks 5th Anniversary
Nintendo’s Switch 2 exclusive Splatoon Raiders has pulled off one of the more unlikely feats of 2026, climbing into Metacritic’s all-time top 10 for User Score even as professional critics rate it as merely solid. Less than a week after launch, fans catapulted Splatoon Raiders into the top 10 games on the site by average user rating, currently sitting in seventh place with a rating of 9.3 out of 10. The single-player Splatoon spin-off’s surge coincides with a busy week for Switch 2 owners, with Pokémon Unite also kicking off a five-year anniversary blitz on Nintendo Switch and mobile.
Splatoon Raiders’ User Score Rockets Past Zelda and Mario
Splatoon Raiders has set a Metacritic score record for Nintendo, with its User Score reportedly reaching 9.4/10, making it the second-best user-reviewed game on the entire site, ever. That would put it higher than any other Nintendo game, behind only Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at 9.5, ahead of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask at 9.2. Independently, other outlets tracking the same live leaderboard around the same period placed the game a notch lower but still remarkably high. At the time of writing, it was in seventh place, with a score of 9.3/10 based on more than 700 user ratings, competing against mostly serious, decades-old classics with Clair Obscur in the top spot.
That’s a surprising result, since Splatoon Raiders received generally positive reviews, but nothing on the level of the high praise heaped on exceptional games like Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. Nintendo’s latest Switch 2 exclusive currently has only 464 total User Ratings, meaning the biggest and most diehard fans are propping the game up, while its reviewer rating sits at 8.1. Metacritic’s own community isn’t shy about the caveats either. The same all-time User Score list places the 2008 DS title Cory in the House among the greatest games ever almost entirely because of meme reviews, and scores on the site have a habit of skewing to either 10 or 0 as users try to swing the average, with Splatoon Raiders picking up both hundreds of 10s and a batch of 0s from detractors.
Critics Land on 81 Metacritic, 84 OpenCritic for the Deep Cut Adventure
Away from the fan-driven scoreboard, the professional consensus is considerably cooler, if still comfortably positive. The critic score sits at a “just okay” 81, based on 73 reviews since it released last Thursday. Over on OpenCritic, the picture is slightly rosier: Splatoon Raiders is rated ‘Mighty’ after being reviewed by 54 critics, with an overall average score of 84, ranking it in the top 9% of games and recommended by 89% of critics.
Nintendo Life was among the most enthusiastic outlets, handing the game a 9/10. The site called it the “best single-player Splatoon”, with incredibly robust multiplayer options for anyone wanting to splat some Salmonids with friends and family, adding that “It looks good, runs fantastically, and you can play practically the whole thing with friends if you wish. Not only that, but Nintendo’s flogging it for a bargain price. It may not push any boundaries within the genre per se, but it’s difficult to find anything negative to say about it, it really is a must-play for almost anyone.” IGN reportedly matched that 9/10, while other reviews were far less kind. The Guardian was thoroughly unimpressed with what the new Nintendo game had to offer, giving it just two stars out of a possible five.
Giant Bomb sat in between, awarding a 3.5 out of 5. Reviewer Mike Minotti praised the amount of content on offer but was left wanting more drive to return, writing that “Splatoon Raiders made it clear that there is still a good amount of post-game content to check out. I just don’t feel much of a drive to play more.” Zooming out, the scores track closely with the rest of the franchise. Splatoon has some of the most consistent review scores out there — the first Splatoon scored an 81, its sequel an 83, and then another 83 for Splatoon 3, putting Raiders right in that same range despite the ballooning fan hype.
Deep Cut, Salmonids and a Cheaper-Than-Usual Switch 2 Exclusive
For anyone who hasn’t picked it up yet, Splatoon Raiders drops the series’ signature Turf War multiplayer in favour of a solo-focused loop. Nintendo’s own listing describes it as a game where players kit themselves out with mechanical gadgets, arm themselves with a host of different weapons, and splat waves of foes as the Mechanic, a character who crash-lands on the mysterious Spirhalite Islands and must collaborate with the trio of musicians known as Deep Cut to get home and recover as much loot as possible. Up to three friends can drop in online or via local wireless, and the game supports the series’ amiibo lineup for cosmetic unlocks.
Read also: Star Fox Switch 2 Battle Mode: How Every Match Unlocks Avatars and Banners
Pokémon Unite Turns 5 With Yveltal, Palkia, Reshiram and Solgaleo
Away from Splatoon, Nintendo Switch and mobile MOBA Pokémon Unite is deep into its own milestone celebration. The Pokémon UNITE 5th Anniversary started July 21st, 2026, with a sizable celebration planned, and to commemorate the occasion, Yveltal, Palkia, Reshiram, and Solgaleo are all coming to Aeos Island. Alongside the legendary additions, the game is running an event to obtain holowear, license art, and up to 5,000 license points.
The anniversary push is stacked with login-based freebies. Pokémon Unite is hosting multiple events tied to its fifth anniversary, giving away Holowear, Pokémon, License Points, and other rewards through a series of login bonuses. Confirmed windows include a Yveltal login bonus running from July 1 to July 14 (requiring 14 consecutive logins for every reward), a broader free Pokémon and Holowear bonus running July 1 through August 31, and a Palkia, Reshiram and Solgaleo login event running July 14 through September 9. A dedicated ranked ladder, Series 37, is also live for competitive players chasing seasonal rewards through August 1, per the same rundown of the anniversary schedule.
For Kiwi and Australian trainers, the free-to-play MOBA remains cross-platform between Switch and mobile, meaning the anniversary rewards apply regardless of which device players are logging in from. With Splatoon Raiders’ Switch 2 exclusivity pulling in new converts and Pokémon Unite refreshing its roster with fan-favourite legendaries, it’s shaping up to be a packed few weeks for anyone juggling both games on the same console.
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