The time has come once again to look back on the year and call out the games that left positive lasting impressions on us all. This year we have decided to split this into two categories: Ports and Classic Collections, and New Games. Often, we find that a game's status as a port of an older title lowers its standing in our final rankings, so by splitting the two we can simultaneously celebrate both old and new. In order for a game to be considered for the Ports and Classic Collections category, the original release of the game(s) had to be prior to 2022. Likewise, to be considered a new game, the initial release had to occur within 2022. The initial release did not have to be on Switch so long as both the original release and the Switch release both occurred in 2022.

Nominations were collected from NWR staff (five in each category) throughout the month of December. The staff then met shortly before Christmas to decide on the final list. The number of nominations a game recieved was taken into account but did not automatically determine a games placement. Rather each individual game was argued for based on its own merrits.