Packed with content that will constantly wrack your brain, Picross 3D: Round 2 expands on everything that has come before in meaningful ways to deliver an unmissable puzzle experience.
Dragon Quest Builders is a game that more than deserves your attention on Nintendo Switch. Your character may not be a hero, but the chance to rebuild ruined towns is not only brilliantly executed, but lends a sense of accomplishment that other games in the genre haven’t achieved as successfully. For once, we can leave more obvious heroics to one side and bask in our creative wonder.
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.
This is the Dragon Quest experience that you have been waiting for, woven around a captivating tale and a wondrous world in which to tell it. This becomes another unmissable addition to the impressive RPG library that the Nintendo 3DS has built, kicking the year off with a jubilant fanfare.
Poochy and Yoshi's Woolly World is the greatest thing to have happened to wool since knitting was discovered by the Egyptians. Aside from the necessary visual downgrade, it comes as a welcome surprise that the unbeatable platformer is so faithfully recreated on Nintendo 3DS. Don't miss it.
Thimbleweed Park is a triumphant throwback to the heyday of the adventure genre, a golden era revered for its compelling storytelling as much as its wit and charm. It succeeds on all accounts and while undeniably aimed at those that miss the classic point-and-click adventures that they grew up with, its characters investigate a modern mystery that many will happily be enthralled with. And, if you hadn’t guessed already, the dead body pixelating under the bridge is the least of your concerns.
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.
Graceful Explosion Machine basks in its gloriously vibrant neon bullet hell, delivering a joyously chaotic experience that will often have you panicked but is unendingly gratifying as you destroy the enemies that surround you.
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.
ARMS can be seen as the boldest move that Nintendo has made in some time, and an absolute knockout experience to play.
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.
Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition presents yet another chance to discover gaming’s greatest blank canvas, and, with the freedom to play both at home and on the go, it easily ranks as the best portable version that money can buy.
It’s a testament to what an incredible achievement Cave Story+ was, or is, that it still holds up so well, remaining to be an engaging and well-paced adventure from start to finish. I had never expected to fall head over heels for the game as much as I did, wrongly believing that perhaps it wasn’t really for me. But, now that the Mimigas have been saved, all is right the world once more.
Whether you still struggle to comprehend the unexpected collision that the irreverent Rabbids have had with the Mushroom Kingdom or not, in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Ubisoft Milan readily proves at every turn that even the wackiest ideas can result in a sensational experience. With infectious humour, it will soon win you over to prove itself absolutely unmissable.
In Overcooked: Special Edition, developer Ghost Town Games has achieved something special. Beneath the surface of this crazy culinary adventure is an experience that is outrageously funny to play with friends, that, even when your kitchen is burning down and the fire extinguisher out of reach, will never fail to raise a smile. It’s a perfect fit for Nintendo Switch, and a game that you need to have in your life – it will be all the better for it. For, there is nothing in the world as contagious as laughter.
Breathe deeply, believe in yourself, and become one with the rhythm. Super Beat Sports is packed with personality and cheerful beats, and, now unshackled from Apple TV, has found a more suitable audience to tap into on Nintendo Switch. Worthy of your time, it presents an unbeatable addition to the Nintendo eShop that, as with its setting, is quite simply out of this world.
And, after the credits roll once you reach the cataclysmic conclusion to SteamWorld Dig 2 it is worth taking a moment to look back at the map. Where SteamWorld Dig had really only let the player dig downwards, the network of makeshift tunnels that you carve out in the sequel are a reflection of the personal journey that you have taken. And that freedom, above all else, can be seen as the game’s greatest success.
It’s an incredible sense of discovery that soon sees Kingdom: New Lands become such a remarkable experience. It can be confusing at first, for sure. But, as you start to piece together all the systems that are at play, this standout addition to the Nintendo eShop soon becomes fiercely compelling to the point that you can happily sink countless hours into it at a time. Just keep an eye out for Greed.
I never thought that I would ever have the chance to play Final Fantasy IX on a Nintendo console, and, with Nintendo Switch, Square Enix has perhaps found the perfect place to experience the genre classic.
It’s clear that there has been no compromise in what Monolith Soft had envisioned for Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and, given that we have had to wait for some time each generation, to have the chance to explore such a remarkable world so soon after the Nintendo Switch arrived is an opportunity not to be missed, and a cataclysmic close to the portable home console’s first calendar year. Sweepingly epic in every way imaginable, this grandiose adventure is quite simply an unforgettable experience. And, with that, the fate of Alrest is now in your hands.