Alex Seedhouse
Snipperclips revels as a hilarious social experience, making you feel young at heart as you uncontrollably giggle when you spend time with it. Always better with friends involved, it is an early must-have hit for the Nintendo Switch.
Super Bomberman R is an absolute blast and the perfect party game, but even in the explosive mayhem, it struggles to justify the price tag it has been slapped with.
With plentiful content in a range of energetic music styles, VOEZ astounds and enchants in equal measure to deliver a rhythm game that deserves your attention.
New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers kickstarts a genre's presence on Nintendo Switch that I would like to see plenty more of. Shallow in execution and with little to keep you returning once you have built up your town from scratch, this largely average city builder needs to re-examine its foundations.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe captures that rare magic, an unbeatable experience with friends and family that perfectly demonstrates how the concept that has driven Nintendo Switch is a complete game changer. Thundering over the finish line, that helps this to effortlessly rank as the best Mario Kart game ever made.
Puyo Puyo Tetris is a puzzle masterpiece. Ideal for short bursts and extended sessions, it comes alive when other players join the riotous puzzle fray. Packed with content, prepare to become addicted.
TumbleSeed is unlike anything that you have ever played before and exemplified the experiences that we all want to see on the Nintendo eShop. The game's creative spirit is as brave as the heroic seed that inhabits it, with an addictive loop that promises to keep you forever tumbling.
After looking to their past, Intelligent System has made a daring strike forward. The result is a resounding strategy experience, with Shadows of Valentia not only delivering a sensational remake but one of the greatest tales that the Fire Emblem series has ever told.
Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers‘ greatest success is how well suited it is to Nintendo Switch. Setting the console in Tabletop Mode, detaching Joy-Con and passing one to a friend, it’s a reminder that there simply isn’t any experience like it, let alone the fighting legacy that it now becomes a part of. Whether a play on nostalgia or not, the result builds to a definitive version of a fighting great.
ARMS can be seen as the boldest move that Nintendo has made in some time, and an absolute knockout experience to play.
Ever Oasis presents a wonderfully captivating tale that, despite the sizzling desert heat, enchants like no other. Magical, entrancing and beautifully presented, it’s playful looks may scream with a childlike appeal but, make no mistake, this is an RPG with tremendous depth that all ages will enjoy exploring.
Summer is Splatoon 2‘s for the taking, Nintendo building on their refreshingly original idea to produce a sequel that makes improvements across the board. It won’t take long for the game’s tentacles to wrap around you, gleefully inking your turf for hours on end. With Li’l Judd lifting a flag to indicate the victor, Splatoon 2 presents a clear win for Nintendo.
Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star packs plenty of promise, but falls short in certain areas. Gratifying combat can’t outweigh an experience that is too readily prepared to let players sit and read through great lengths of text. When you eventually get to the action it can be spectacular, there just isn’t enough of it.
Miitopia will win you over with laughter, but not in the same baffling ways as Tomodachi Life once did. There’s little chance that you will play a wackier game this year, but Miitopia‘s undoing lies in how quickly repetition sets in. Quirky but lacking depth, there’s untapped potential for a grander adventure if Nintendo choose to revisit the idea.
As it stands, the unique serpentine physics in Snake Pass makes it stand out from the crowd, and that should be applauded. Gratifying when it all comes together, it regularly treads some nail-biting moments that only add to what amounts to an enjoyable experience that will leave you as wide-eyed as the game’s slippery protagonist.
Death Squared is available on other platforms, but it, incredibly, feels at home on Nintendo Switch – in tandem with the simplicity of handing a Joy-Con to another play to quickly get them in on the action. If anything, this is a game that I will remember for the trash talking alone.
Namco Museum is a compelling throwback to the glorious coin-op era, boasting a library that presents many shared experiences that are a perfect fit with the Nintendo Switch mantra to let you play anywhere, at anytime, and with anyone. Some duds detract and, maybe, the price is slightly too high, but Pac-Man Vs. alone soon easily makes this a retro collection that you won't want to miss out on.
Flip Wars entertains as soon as the panic-induced butt-stomping draws out your unawakened competitive spirit but soon falls flat as you realise there isn’t much breadth to the experience. Suited to quick burst multiplayer sessions every now and then, it’s harder to recommend to those looking for something that will keep them hooked for longer.
Rough around the edges, Troll and I ends with as laughable a moment as it starts – even having the cruelty to leave your adventures in the Nordic wilderness open to a sequel. Spiral House has longed for the stars to align to allow them a chance to work on a game built from their own ideas. Let us hope that this nightmare has now ended, and they can find something far better to dream about.
Best in class, Thumper is an atmospheric and compelling addition to the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch, whose hellish drumbeat will pound in your memory for a long while. It’s that fearlessness to stand apart from what has long been expected in the genre that sees Drool succeed where others have faltered, and it won’t require spending too much time with the game for you to recognise why.