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Aaand we’re back with another edition of our bi-annual ‘Games We Missed’ series, where you lovely people let us and everyone else in the Nintendo Life community know which gems may have passed us by.
We asked you recently to send us your nominations for Switch games that you think deserve some love in this spotlight article. We’d love to review absolutely everything coming to Switch each week (well, perhaps not everything) and we do our best to offer our verdict on a broad selection of games, large and small, across different genres. However, gems inevitably slip through the net, so let’s see what you lovely people have been enjoying.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in. Below you’ll find a whopping 28 Switch titles recommended by readers, a good mix recent not-so-recent releases that includes a couple of nominations that came in too late to be included last time. Each entry comes with a brief comment from the reader(s) who submitted the nomination — lightly edited in some cases — plus a trailer to give you a better idea of what the game entails.
And at the end there’s a poll, too, which should help give an idea of how other readers rate the ones they’ve played.
Ready? Let’s-a go…
Publisher: Digerati
Kicking things off, NL reader Pod nominated 2018’s Pipe Push Paradise:
Corey Martin’s first puzzle game on Switch. Recently known for Bonfire Peaks, his first still holds its own.
A mellow bit of Bossanova guitar and a silly story gets you started. The granddaughter of a plumber, who won’t wake up from his slumber, arrives at his little island community, to fix the pipes that are falling into disarray.
What follows are some of the most terrific spatial block-pushing puzzles I’ve ever come across.
Pipes must be rolled, rotated, angled up, linked together, and attached correctly.
Cute, hard, fun!
Publisher: WhisperGames / Developer: Loomiarts
Next up, romanista offers praise for shmup Squad 51 vs. The Flying Saucers (a game which always catches our eye because we think the key art has a lookalike for Oscar-winner Olivia Colman):
Squad 51 is a horizontal shmup in the style of the black and white movie. In a way it is to horizontal shmups what Cuphead is to run-and-gun games, a bit more B-movie though. And 12GB. 8/10
Publisher: 8 Bit Legit
Teacher Gus had a great time with the retro-styled Kickstarted adventure NEScape!…
This game is a traditional point-and-click that has you trying to escape a room full of puzzles with zero hints – and a 60-minute timer ticking away! And the best of it all: it is entirely made as a homebrew NES game (that can actually be played on a real NES), which brings all the 8-bit charm in graphics and catchy music. It is a short experience that’s sure to hit all the right notes if you crave the nostalgia of a simpler time, yet seasoned with a sizable chunk of challenging puzzles.
Publisher: QubicGames / Developer: Rebel Act Studios
Zuljaras is a fan of the Switch re-release of Blade of Darkness:
Severance: Blade of Darkness or on the Switch eShop called only Blade of Darkness is a fantasy action RPG that is like a Soulsborne game of old. The atmosphere is very heavy, and every enemy is a threat! You pick from 4 characters – barbarian, dwarf, knight and an amazon. Every character has its own starting area and then an epic journey! Each hero can find weapons that are designed just for their class and has specific move set.
If I have to describe this game with just few words they would be “Dark Souls in 2001”!
Publisher: 8BITSKULL
Fritz just missed the last round-up with this submission for Void Scrappers, and we have since seen the arrival of the super-addictive Vampire Survivors on Switch…
It’s a sci-fi twist on the Vampire Survivors formula, but unlike most Vampire Survivors knock-offs this one actually does a pretty good job of capturing what made the original title great. It also adds its own ideas and these ideas enhance the game rather than detract from it.
Publisher: Lateralis
MetaCrystal is a fan of 2021’s Dogworld:
Dogworld is an exceptional Metroidvania, but just calling it that doesn’t do it justice. It has the personality and emotions of Cave Story with the visual and music style of Gato Roboto and Downwell. It’s cheap and usually on sale, making it a very good deal. I think you guys would have a blast with this game!
Publisher: Adam Spragg Games
sForzan is flying the flag for Hidden in Plain Sight, a four-player game that began life on Xbox 360:
Hidden in Plain Sight is a four-player social deduction party game that I played on a relative’s Ouya when I was younger, and I was pleased to find the game has been ported to Switch.
There are 5 games that circulate around dropping all players in a crowded room of NPCs and trying to blend in while distinguishing the rest of the players.
It’s a very fun time that has a very distinct vibe and style to it that I think deserves more attention.
Publisher: Narwhalnut
We received a couple of nominations for retro-styled action platformer Belle Boomerang:
i found a really cute 2d platformer named belle boomerang! it has adorable visuals, great platforming, AND A FREAKING BOOMERANG NEED I SAY MORE
– LatsaSpege
I continue to be a proponent for Belle Boomerang, which not only plays like a classic NES/GB title, but references them brilliantly. Of all the retro style titles this year, it’s been my personal favorite. It’s just that perfect length and just that perfect challenge. And, whew, is there a challenge at times! It’s a shame not many more people have talked about the game this year.
– somnambulance
Publisher: PROTOTYPE
HeroponRiki went loopy for Loopers:
Just played a brilliant visual novel on Switch called Loopers that I think deserves a lot more attention. It’s about a group of people who get trapped in a time loop together and their struggle to find joy and meaning despite being trapped in a world that endlessly repeats. It combines cozy slice of life segments with devastating emotional gutpunches, and will feel familiar to anyone who has read Ryukishi07’s other equally impressive works.
Publisher: 7Levels / Developer: Afterburn
LavaTwilight picked puzzler inbento:
My nomination would be InBento – a cute game of essentially arranging tiles in a particular order in various grids. The tiles are little sushi and gimbap pieces and the grid would be the inbento (snack) box. It starts off very simply but can become very convoluted and requires a bit of brain power to work out. The real charm comes through still pictures that tell the tale of a mother cat feeding her kitten through the snack boxes. It’s very charming but very brief. It’s fun while it lasts.