Astro Bears enjoys a new competitive mode, new bears, and better presentation than its predecessor. It is a very simple game, and always has been, but it is appropriately priced and a fantastic local multiplayer experience to boot.
Ultimately, Hyperlight Ultimate is a solid entry in its genre. It is colorful, smooth, difficult, and comes packed with replay value. Unfortunately, it often does become repetitive. If you were not already a fan of the genre, this will not be the game that converts you. Should you be looking for a twin-stick shooter, though, Hyperlight Ultimate is an impressive and affordable title that is absolutely worth a look.
If you love Saints Row and really need your on-the-go crime sim fix, you’ll be happy with Saints Row: The Third–The Full Package so long as you can swallow a few glitches. If you were set on playing on your TV,
I greatly enjoyed my time with Paperbound Brawlers, and it will absolutely find a spot in my multiplayer rotation, which is getting harder and harder to do as the eShop lands more and more great titles. It’s no Towerfall, but it’s a solid platform fighter, and its tight gameplay, multiple modes, and unique traits do more than enough to justify a purchase for fans of the genre.
Like many other eShop multiplayer titles, BATTLLOON is a decently fun, unique, and budget-friendly supplement to more complete multiplayer experiences like Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and Mario Kart 8. However, it is bested by many of its download-only peers–you are doing yourself a disservice if you pick up BATTLLOON before investigating alternatives like Ultimate Chicken Horse and Towerfall. Still, it is by no means a bad purchase, provided you are okay with a bare-bones but good time.
As a budget local multiplayer title, Circle of Sumo isn't a bad deal, but it's far from the best available on Switch. Gameplay is simple, easy to grasp, and pretty fun. The gamut of colorful, inventive stages go a long way in keeping the game fresh round after round. That said, Circle of Sumo is not something you'll play for more than a few minutes at a time. It wears thin pretty quickly, and the added minigames just aren't that fun. As a quick refresher between Grand Prix in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Circle of Sumo will serve well, but that's the height of its potential. As far as local multiplayer goes, you can do a lot better elsewhere on the Switch eShop, especially in a post-Ultimate world.
Nidhogg 2‘s setbacks make it an inadvisable purchase for anything but local multiplayer. The local multiplayer is fantastic enough to carry this game. Nidhogg 2 succeeds in making a few very simple concepts wonderfully captivating. By combining intuitive controls with a healthy range of tricks and strategies, Nidhogg 2 is the very definition of “Easy to learn, hard to master.” It is a worthy investment for you and your friends, provided they're close by.
Collidalot is fast, easy to pick up, and hard to put down. The Switch’s local multiplayer catalog is growing rapidly, but Collidalot’s take on bumper-cars-in-the-sky sticks out. Collidalot is cemented as a great complement for games like Towerfall, Ultimate Chicken Horse, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Grunka Munka has done a great job here, creating another unique, memorable Switch multiplayer title.
While it is hard to recommend Varion over the rest of the Switch's fastly-improving local multiplayer catalog, you could certainly do much, much worse.
Rogue Legacy has found a loving home on Switch. If you have played Rogue Legacy before, and want just a bit more of it in your life, a portable version is a great pick-up. If you have not tried it before, the Switch edition is a perfect entry point.
While it is unlikely that Black and White Bushido will ever compel you to turn away from TowerFall for very long, it's great for a quick match every now and then. Just don't pick this up expecting to be blown away.
Pizza Titan Ultra is solid at best, frustrating at worst, and is overall just a bit above average. That's a shame because I had higher hopes for this title, but ultimately, I am not walking away too disappointed. If you find this title as intriguing as I did, it may still be worth a shot–just keep in mind that Pizza Titan Ultra is thin crust through and through.
A decent game, but nothing groundbreaking, SkyScrappers is not among the eShop's best local multiplayer games.
The aesthetics in Windjammers make it look and feels like an arcade game old enough to run for Congress, because it is almost exactly that. (It's 24 years old, so ineligible for this year's midterms, but Windjammers 2020 is perfectly viable.) However, this game has my vote because it is just really, really fun. As one of the better head-to-head titles on Switch, it is perfect for some quick rounds when you and a friend have a few minutes to spare. It's also deep enough for longer, more intense sessions. Windjammers is a surprisingly simple yet deliciously fun game, and if it's multiplayer you're looking for, this title belongs in your collection.
As orders and chaos start to pile up, even Overcooked pros will have their hands and heads full. Surf 'n' Turf expands the original game with a wonderfully challenging few hours of content. A worthy follow-up to a great game–get it. You won't be disappointed.
Super Mario Party is the best Mario Party game in a long time, and series fans now have a great title on their hands as well as hope for the future.
If you buy Oh My Godheads, you will get an exciting local-multiplayer CTF game with a few tacked-on, lesser modes. There is not much to it outside of Capture the Head, and even that probably will not hold your attention for too long. Frankly, it is hard to recommend when party games like Ultimate Chicken Horse and Towerfall are available on Switch.
TowerFall has always been an all-time great local multiplayer title–that has not changed on Switch.
The publisher provided a code for this review. Our review policy.
As far as platform fighters go, Retimed is a great effort. While a few different add-ons could have greatly expanded its shelf-life, I anticipate playing a few rounds here and there for months to come.