Goodness gracious, I love a sale, don’t you? And Nintendo is currently offering asummer game saleof some of their bestNintendo Switchtitles to help you beat the heat/beat the enforced quarantine blues! But of the 70+ titles currently offered on sale, for up to 50% off, which of them are gems you deserve to add to your collection, and which of them will make you wanna switch? Andnotin a good way?
Worry not, intrepid video game player. I’ve sorted through every Switch game on sale during Nintendo’s summer deals and are here to tell you which are the best of the best. Check out the best Nintendo Switch summer sale games to get, and act fast – the sale ends June 16.
For more on all things Switch, here’s how I feltThe Outer Worldsplayed on the console.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
A wonderful, contagious, seamless update of that classic 2D platformingMariomagic,New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe(a port/update of its original Wii U release, hence the word salad title) is the perfect Mario game for Mario fans of all ages and skill levels. The gameplay is fundamentally the same – run to the right, bop on creatures' heads, get power-ups, defeat Bowser, save the Mushroom Kingdom – but there are tons of sneaky improvements and additions to the time-tested formula. You can play with up to four people at once, which yields some chaotically fun sessions. Certain characters have certain invincibilities, making them ideal for newer gamers. And for those pure Nintendo gamers: Nothing about this is dumbed down. In fact,New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxemight be the hardest 2D Mario platformer to date. Get those level-grinding thumbs ready.
Another delightful Wii U upgrade,Captain Toad: Treasure Trackerplaces everyone’s favorite “happily screaming” sidekick Toad front and center, and gives him a bunch of puzzles to solve. To find, er, “track” the titular treasures, you rotate the limited worlds using simple yet inventive camera controls, leading our hero into terrains we can see even if he (or she, if you’re playing as Toadette) can’t. It’s sticky, addictive gameplay that serves both as a wonderful gateway to newcomers to the puzzle genre, while also getting really dang hard and interesting in its own right.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Yet another Wii U port (sensing a pattern?),Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freezeis a simply wonderful sequel to theDonkey Kong Countryplatforming series originally released for Super Nintendo. The main monkey Donkey Kong, joined by his compatriots Diddy Kong and (my favorite) Dixie Kong, jump, slam, mine-cart, and eat bananas through all kinds of inventive and difficult terrain. The level constructions on this sucker are works of art, particularly when everything becomes backlit and shadowy. you may feel the love for theDonkey Kongfranchise permeate throughout the title – even when you’re cursing the title for being so damn hard.
Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together!
One:Snipperclipsis a charming, colorful, intuitive, and addictive puzzle game that launched with the Switch and has worn out none of its welcome. With your Snipperclip pals, you solve shape-matching based puzzles by overlapping on top of each other and “cutting” out what’s there, as if your Joycon is a virtual pair of scissors. Hard to explain? Sure. Super easy to pick up and super hard to put down? Absolutely.
Two: TheSnipperclipsmusicis too catchy, and there’s a part of it that I always sing “Thank you for snipping my clip” to, and if you may figure out which part,tweet meand I’ll donate to a charity of your choice.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Bethesda’s acclaimed, influential open-world sagaSkyrimhas lost none of its luster on the Switch. In fact, the handheld switching capabilities of the console might serve as the game’s ideal presentation, since you’re able to’t use any persnickety excuses like “I have to leave the TV room and go to bed” to stop playing anymore.Skyrimdoes offer a quest and a main goal to go one, one that interacts with the rest of theElder Scrollstimeline in many interesting ways. But its most replayable pleasures come from its open-world depth, its seemingly limitless sense of exploration, its customization, its insistence that this game is just for you.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
TheNo More Heroesfranchise has always been a bit of an outlier for the usually family-friendly original franchises you’ll find on Nintendo consoles. The first two titles, released for the Wii, used the Wiimote as a motion-controlled hacker and slasher, andSuda51’s typically overstuffed, hyper-imaginative, ultra-violent narratives were more unencumbered than. Even with all this said,Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroesis one of the strangest Switch titles you’ll ever play. Less a direct continuation of theNo More Heroescanon and more a self-contained spinoff, the game puts star character Travis Touchdown through another hack-and-slash narrative, with lots of formal twists. Its default mode has shifted from third-person to top-down, feeling a little likeHotline Miamiin its retro/ultraviolent energy. But here’s the kicker: Every level is inspired by classic video games before it, meaning you’ll be suddenly playing new (old) minigames that are presented as “video games” within the video game you’re playing. In other words: It’s a wild, metatextual, Suda51 fever dream for the Switch, and it’s worth your time.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
How on earth doesMario + Rabbids Kingdom Battlework? The inexplicable crossover between the Mario universe and theRayman/Rabbidsuniverse isn’t founded on either of those family-friendly games' platforming. No, instead, Ubisoft and Nintendo want you to use these cuddly, silly characters toshoot the hell out of each otherin tactical turn-based combat that feels less like Nintendo and more likeXCOM! Somehow, some way, it works phenomenally well. The gameplay is rich and deep, the combat never gets old, the sense of humor is so surreal, so loopy, and packs some bite, too.Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battleis that gourmet sandwich that sounds strange when you read the ingredients apart, but tastes like heaven when you bite in.
Golf Story
I’ve got a big sweet tooth. And one of my favorite flavor profiles vis-a-vis sweets is dark chocolate mixed with orange. Ooh, just thinking about it makes me salivate. I think it’s the combination of light and bright flavor profiles combined with a more mature, literally darker flavor profile, the oppositional nature of both providing the perfect base reality for the other to pop.Golf Storyis the dark chocolate and orange of RPGs. Its tone is very, very silly and very, very wholesome (orange!), but at its core is fundamentally sound, deep, satisfying gameplay (dark chocolate!). As the title implies, the game’s about golf. You play an aspirational golfer, a wouldbeTigerwho must play his way through some of the fiercest and silliest links to win a tournament and become a golf champion. But even if you don’t like golf,Golf Storyis a worthy play. Sidebar Games has a deliciously English-feeling sense of humor in their club bag, with nearly every interaction your character has resulting in smartly silly laughter. But they also have tons and tons of heart, giving the oft open-world feeling narrative a sincere, emotional resolution.Golf Storygoes down like candy in the best way possible, a piece of confection that won’t give you a toothache.
Coffee Talk
Ah man,Coffee Talkgoes down smoother than an almond chai. It’s not the video game for folks who crave fast-paced action, nor long, expansive storylines.Coffee Talkis structured, simply, around talking to patrons at a coffee shop you work at. You and your guests muse on all matter of subjects in delightfully nostalgic pixelated art, as chillwave music makes you subtly nod your head. And… that’s kinda it. The Nintendo Switch has a litany of wonderful visual novels to check out – especially for this price,Coffee Talkis a wonderful take on that genre to add to your menu. Be forewarned: Youwillget weirdly emotional while playing.
Originally released for the PlayStation 2,Okamihas since been ported to several systems, including most recently the Nintendo Switch. It is widely considered, upon every version, to be one of the greatest video games ever made, and if you haven’t picked it up yet, now’s your chance. Feeling something likeThe Wind WakermeetsShadow of the Colossus,Okamiuses beautiful, brush-stroked cel-shaded graphics to tell the story of Amaterasu, a white wolf based on Japanese folklore who undergoes a fantastical quest. Gameplay blends action, puzzle-solving, stealth, open-world exploration, and even artistic elements – one of its most notable components, a wonderful fit on the Switch’s Joy-Con, is the Celestial Brush, in which you literally create art using your “paint brush” to make various things in the game happen.Okamiis a simply wondrous game of peace and invention.
