After years of lamenting about the cost, I was gifted a switch recently (<3 to my friend). I haven’t been following Switch games too closely, so I need to know what I should buy.
So far I’ve bought Neo:The World Ends With You, The First Tree, Katamary Damacy Reroll, and Final Fantasy VII. BOTW and TOTK are on my wishlist. What else do you recommend I get?
Also: I noticed a few things I want are on sale. Should I buy these now, or would they be on sale again soon? I know Nintendo is notorious for not discounting, but is it the case that the same games go on sale every few months (like Steam), or would I be missing out if I don’t get them now?
E-Shop is very feature poor compared to Steam. I use Deku Deals to get notified when something I want goes on sale. They offer a pricing history as well to gauge how often a title has price cuts.
Hijacking top comment:
Thinking of picking up Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen ($4.99), Okami HD ($9.99) and maybe Spyro Reignited Trilogy ($15.99) from the eShop.
Anything I should be wary about regarding performance on the Switch?
Just remember the handheld usually runs in a lower rez and you’ll be fine :)
Well of course, I’m not expecting it to run like my desktop lol
Nintendo’s exclusives are where the Switch really shines. Unfortunately, they’re expensive. I’ll echo the DekuDeals recommendation for finding sales.
Other Nintendo titles that are worthwhile, aside from the obvious Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and depending on your tastes:
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Mario Kart 8
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Animal Crossing New Horizons
- Splatoon 3 (2 is good too, but 3 is an improvement and more active)
- Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze
- Pikmin (the whole series)
- Metroid Dread
- Metroid Prime Remastered
- Fire Emblem Three Houses
- Pokemon Legends Arceus
There are also tons of great indie games that play well on Switch (especially handheld):
- Hades
- Dead Cells
- Hollow Knight
- Slay the Spire
- Into the Breach
- Shovel Knight
I’ll add Stardew Valley for indie titles as well. I have hundreds of hours between both switch and PC, and the Switch is a great platform for it.
Not sure how I forgot Stardew. I also have two copies.
Although, if you care for it, you lose access to mods if you play SV on the switch instead of a PC.
Katana Zero and Hotline Miami are also great games
Ori and the Will of the Wisps might be my favorite game. Beautiful all around.
Nintendo tax is so real — was a big factor in my deciding to buy a Steam Deck despite having a Switch (a gift).
Anyone know if there’s typically any change there when Nintendo announces a new console?
Used physical copies for older flagship titles (SM Odyssey, BoTW, etc.) can sometimes be found for cheap online! I bought most of my favorite games this way, even if I owned the digital copy.
Pointing out on top of this that physical carts are pretty future proof if your console/account go sideways: you can resell them when you are done, or give them to a friend. They are usually cheaper second-hand than it will ever be on sale if you don’t mind a missing case. I find people selling collections on local online markets at respectable prices regularly. Be careful with physical pokemon scarlet/violet copies though: defunct/dead on arrival cartridges were shipped to the USA.
As for the fav games: animal crossing new horizons is what I got the switch for and it was a blast. Next most hours played are BOTW, Skyrim, TOTK, and ironically Kirby and the Forgotten Land (and other Kirby games, if you have a buddy to play with).
I had a surprising amount of fun with the Dragon Quest games, DQ Builder I/II and Treasure Hunters. Squeaky clean polish and very focused, nearly arcade-like gameplay. Don’t forget the various Marios and Kirby Forgotten Land.
Cadence of Hyrule is a bit of a weird departure but very fun and replayable with a kickass track. You can get the Binding of Isaac physically, as well as the Ori collection which is incredible and Stardew Valley. Moonligher is a bit repetitive but that can be good comfort. Celeste, if you’ve never played it, is potentially life changing if you struggle with perfectionism and/or anxiety.
For a very obscure digital game, Chasm was an amazing randomized full-length metroidvania.
Nintendo first party titles are very stingy with sales. Many third party titles however, go on some pretty good sales with decent regularity. You might also want to make a Japan/Hong Kong/Singapore account to grab Asia-exclusive games sometimes, if those interest you.
As for the games I own and would recommend, there’s:
-BOTW
-Metroid Dread -Dead Cells
-Hollow Knight
-Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion
-Burnout Paradise
-Fast RMX
-Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (or Rise)
-Atelier Ryza (or Sophie)
-Mario Kart
Just some general, off the top of my head recommendations. If you want recommendations of specific genres, I might be able to recommend further.You can never go wrong with Stardew Valley!
My husband has one flaw and it’s that he doesn’t get Stardew Valley. These people do exist, in the midst of our society, unseen.
My condolences. My wife doesn’t either. Maybe we should swap. 🤣
I dont get it either. It’s kind of boring.
Unfortunately I am one of those people though not for lack of trying.
I think I’m just bad at games that give you too much freedom in what to do next. It’s why I could never get into something like Minecraft either.
Unfortunately I am one of those people though not for lack of trying.
I think I’m just bad at games that give you too much freedom in what to do next. It’s why I could never get into something like Minecraft either.
At most you’re gonna get like $10-15 off on most 1st-part titles. Better off going physical and buying used, if you want to save money.
As for games, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Luigi’s Mansion 3 are great. Link’s Awakening, also. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are good too, but overrated imo.
Do you have a PC?
If you do, obviously most of Nintendo’s titles are worth having. Zelda games are an easy recommend, but also Splatoon is pretty great.
If not, there’s tons of games that are good that aren’t Nintendo games that I think are worth having.
- Octopath Traveler is awesome. I haven’t played 2 yet, but I can recommend 1 if you like JRPGs
- All legacy FF games are on the platform to some capacity
- Ace Attorney game collections are great if you like visual novels
- Basically every indie is on the platform at this point. Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight, Axiom Verge, probably a lot of others but those are some big names that come to mind.
- Otherwise, I would avoid ports that haven’t gotten good reviews. Also, make sure that the games aren’t “cloud only” unless you’re comfortable with that.
My personal favourites on the Switch are Metroid Dread and Mario Odyssey, so I’d definitely recommend those. Another game I love that I don’t see mentioned very often is Cadence of Hyrule, it’s a crossover between Crypt of the Necrodancer (a rhythm roguelike) and Zelda. With Zelda soundtrack of course! If you like 2D Mario you’ll probably want to get Mario Maker 2, but be aware that it’s not worth it if you don’t want to pay for a Switch Online subscription since wouldn’t be able to play other people’s levels.
Mario Kart 8 and Smash Ultimate are both really good, but I’d only recommend them if you intend to play multiplayer. Especially local multiplayer is fun, but online works too of course (again, needs a subscription).
The Switch also has some cool remasters and remakes of games you might have missed, like Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Metroid Prime, Zelda: Skyward Sword, or the first three Pikmin games (the fourth one comes out this week and I’d be surprised if you needed knowledge of any previous games to play it). Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl were a bit lacklustre, but if you like classic Pokémon games they might still be worth it. Just don’t expect a lot of new stuff if you’ve played the originals.
I’ve played them on PC, but Stardew Valley and Celeste are some of my favourite games. If you haven’t played them on another platform already check them out as well!
Smash Ultimate definitely has more than enough single-player content to warrant buying it
Maybe it’s just me then but I don’t really find the singleplayer content in Smash particularly interesting. I’ve only played it for a few hours. But yeah especially Ultimate does have a lot of stuff.
It might help if you give some examples of games you like. I’ve been playing Dead Cells and love it. It’s a side scrolling rouge like. Some others I would recommend are Metroid Dread, both of the Ori games, and Hades.
A lot of people will disagree but I did not care for BotW to the point that I didn’t bother with TotK. Not saying you won’t enjoy them but that’s a lot of money to spend on something you may not like. Nintendo does not do refunds after all.
Spaltoon 3 if you get switch online and totk is a masterpiece
My most played games are Breath of the Wild, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Pokemon Violet, and now Tears of the Kingdom. And Mario Kart 8 Deluxe but I feel like that one’s more of a multiplayer experience. Nothing else comes close to those on the Switch for me and I can recommend all of them.
Do you own a PC or other console?
Nintendo Switch is great for 1st party games and some exclusives, but frame rate / resolution might not be able to compete with other consoles, plus the MSRP of many games on e-shop can be 1 - 3 bucks more expensive compared to, say PSN.
If this is your only gaming device, then maybe consider Crisis Core, Hollow Knight, Octopath Traveler 2, Live a Live. If it’s not, then stick to 1st party games, exclusives, and graphically less taxing games.
Also maybe consider getting 3rd party controllers
As for discounts, I use DekuDeals to keep track of the price drops. Most 1st party Nintendo games only have discount up to 33%, and those discounts happen like 2 - 3 times a year. While 3rd party games… I swear to god I’ve seen games that are on sale every month or so.
Deku Deals is your friend. Any game you have in mind just throw it on a waitlist there and you can get notified when price drops!