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?

  • luciole (he/him)@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • TheOakTree@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      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?

  • Dominic@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    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
    • hotchurkey@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • Polo421@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Ori and the Will of the Wisps might be my favorite game. Beautiful all around.

  • Varyag@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • Lumidaub@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      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.

      • silentassasin@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        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.

      • silentassasin@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        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.

  • TheOakTree@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • JazzGRaffe@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      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).

  • MoogleMaestro@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    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.
  • liminis@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    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?

  • ObiGynKenobi@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • ConsciousCode@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • atocci@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • Conyak@lemmy.tf
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • Tamlyn@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Everyone has different tastes. My switch almost only has strategy games with Fire Emblem Engage/Three houses, Triangle Strategy and Wargrove. If you like games like that i would either start with Fire Engage if you like character focused games or if you like to do decision on a story then play Tiangle Strategy

    • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      You played divinity original sin II? It plays great handheld and IMO is at the same level of those tactics wise while being an open world RPG.

      • Tamlyn@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        I own the game on maybe ps4. Not a fan of open world games so i stopped playing it after few hours. Was maybe not fair to rank this game, but i like more character focus games like typical jrpg’s than western games that are not like that.

  • lamentforicarus@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Honestly, check out some of the smaller games as well. Botw and Totk and other Nintendo-based games are amazing, but I’ve found a lot of indie games fun (e.g., Cult of the Lamb, Hollow Knight, Oxenfree, Spiritfarer, Gris, etc.). The smaller games also get deals the most.

    • Storksforlegs@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Yes, for sure! I second this - these indie games are well worth it. (Also dont forget Stardew Valley! Its been my go-to switch game for years.)

  • astrionic@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    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!

      • astrionic@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        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.