We've swept and bolstered this list of great Switch games on the cheaper end of the spectrum. We've also added the lowest-ever sale price to each entry, in case you'd rather wishlist 'em and wait for a bargain.
Nintendo Switch's huge library can be overwhelming, with quite literally hundreds of incredible options on eShop. There's always something to tempt you amongst the good, the bad, and the ugly, whether there's one of those enormous sales on or not.
In this guide, we've rounded up the best cheap Switch games that cost less than $20/£20. Every single one below scored an 'Excellent' 9/10 rating or higher in our review.
We've ordered them from cheapest to most expensive with prices displayed in both USD and GBP, and we've included their lowest ever sale price, too. We believe that these games represent excellent value for money at full RRP, but they can often be found on sale for considerably less.
Of course, there are a bunch of free-to-play Switch games that cost nothing to download, so be sure to check them out. But now let's take a look at a whopping 50 of the best cheap Nintendo Switch games, starting with the most budget-friendly...
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Cheapest Switch Games for the Wishlist
Downwell (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $2.99 / £2.69
- Lowest ever price: $0.99 / £0.89
This is an excellent port of a game that feels like it’s found a natural home on Switch thanks to a plethora of control options and the console’s natural facility with vertical orientation. Short of popping your 4K TV on its side, Switch offers the very best way to play Downwell.
Its roguelike structure and twitch platforming might not be for everyone, but you should really give it a chance. For our money, it’s a modern classic that should be in everyone’s collection.
Vampire Survivors (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $4.99 / £3.99
- Lowest ever price: $3.99 / £3.19
Vampire Survivors skyrocketed in popularity in 2022 for good reason. It's one of the best roguelites in recent memory thanks to its gripping gameplay loop and metagame that hijacks your mind.
The Switch port only adds more to love with local co-op and updated content. It's so easy to slip into a blissful sense of flow in Vampire Survivors' Castlevania-inspired, comically named levels as its ripping soundtrack and satisfying sound design propel you into the horde that you'll surely lose track of time playing it.
It's a good thing that rounds don't usually last more than half an hour. With the addition of free Adventures and a host of DLC, including the excellent Ode to Castlevania, this undead master is teeming with life.
Lunistice (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $4.99 / £4.99
- Lowest ever price: $3.74 / £3.74
Lunistice takes us back to the joys of mid-90s platforming in all of the right ways. Combining some fantastic level design with a low-poly visual style that appears to have been taken straight from a classic PS1 title, this is a game that is so dripping in nostalgia it becomes difficult to put down.
An initial playthrough isn't going to require the longest of gaming sessions, but repeated runs are a must for all of the completionists out there. If 3D platforming is your vibe, this is among the top indie titles in the genre.
Also, if you're a fan of nostalgia-driven 32-/64-bit platformers, the Toree games and Cavern of Dreams are also great.
Subsurface Circular (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $5.99 / £4.79
- Lowest ever price: $2.99 / £2.39
Subsurface Circular is a landmark moment in interactive storytelling. The elegance of its escalation is simply unmatched, as it tells a story that makes you feel like you’re in completely over your head, and yet still perfectly believable. The characters you meet along the way all feel unique with their own personality, which makes interacting with them a test of wit and cunning as you use the conversational mechanics to their full effect.
There’s nothing else quite like Subsurface Circular, and when that uniqueness is combined with the phenomenal narrative at hand, you have all the ingredients for a simply unforgettable and very special journey aboard the subway.
Florence (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $5.99 / £4.99
- Lowest ever price: $1.99 / £1.79
Florence is an evocation of the beauty, sadness, and hope that comes from any human connection we make in our lives, whether with art, nature, or another person. It's a succinct and incredibly successful exploration of moments you'll recognise from your own life, and the way it mirrors thoughts and feelings through small gameplay mechanics makes it one of the most affecting experiences we've enjoyed on Switch, or any other platform.
SEGA AGES Out Run (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $7.99 / £5.99
- Lowest ever price: $1.99 / £1.49
If you originally missed out on the 3DS port, this is about as essential a retro release as you can get. Out Run has always been an infinitely playable game, and the new unlockables and online rankings only increase its longevity further.
Those with the 3DS version will have to decide whether it’s worth buying what’s more or less the same game again in order to play it on their TV, but for everyone else with an interest in retro gaming, it’s a must-have. And if you like this, you'll probably love M2's masterful Switch port of Virtua Racing, too.
A Short Hike (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $7.99 / £6.29
- Lowest ever price: $4.79 / £3.77
A Short Hike is a fat-free experience from top to bottom – or should we say bottom to top? It's the kind of game that makes us just sigh with happiness when we recall our time with it, and even having played it through to its ostensible conclusion multiple times, we know for a fact there are still things to see and do on that mountain.
What we have here is something of an apotheosis – a milestone in indie games akin to Cave Story, or Spelunky. The very best bits of multiple game genres, stripped of all padding and bloat, mixed perfectly into a delicious video game stew that only gets richer and richer the more you play. An exploration in every sense of the word, A Short Hike is cute without being twee, challenging without being obnoxious, and emotional without being cloying.
A landmark game for all ages. Don't miss this one.
RITE (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $6.99 / £5.19
- Lowest ever price: $3.49 / £2.59
Rite is an absolute gem. Developer Pond Games nails the execution of a simple platforming concept and wraps things up before the game overstays its welcome.
At the price of just seven bucks, this one is a no-brainer pick-up for anyone who considers themselves a fan of tough platformers; tight controls, challenging levels, and a chill soundtrack all combine to make Rite the easiest of recommendations.
Quake (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $9.99 / £7.99
- Lowest ever price: $3.29 / £2.63
Quake returns in a feature-rich remaster that delicately updates the classic FPS, adding lots of optional bells and whistles, packing in a ton of content, and delivering the definitive way to play this masterpiece in the process.
There's a wealth of online and co-op options here, a glorious new expansion to blast through from MachineGames, super slick performance in both docked and handheld modes, and it's all available at a cracking price point.
This really is a stellar port of one gaming's true greats and an absolutely essential addition to your Switch library. Also, Quake 2 is similarly epic - and cheap.
Stardew Valley (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $14.99 / £10.99
- Lowest ever price: $7.49 / £5.49
Stardew Valley offers its players a chance to live a second life – one where you can forget the troubles of the real world and get excited over finding a particularly rare carrot. It is a truly magical experience; games can often be enjoyable but they don’t all manage to be as captivating as this.
This is the sort of game that ideally requires a significant amount of time to be invested; the enjoyment doesn’t necessarily come from the day-to-day actions you perform, but rather from the general growth of pride, satisfaction, and sense of security as the days go by.
Fans of games such as Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing will be right at home here and, for those who aren’t, there is a decent chance this game might just surprise you.
Rogue Legacy (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $14.99 / £10.99
- Lowest ever price: $2.02 / £1.53
If you were to take everything that makes a good roguelike title (interesting level design, worthwhile replay loop, strong combat system) and mix it up with some writing which is big on laughs, then you might just end up with something like Rogue Legacy (or it's successor Rogue Legacy 2, though that's a bit too expensive for this list).
This is a game that is well aware of its genre's fans and what makes them tick. Combining the high points of Castlevania, Dead Cells and the long line of 2D sidescrolling roguelike adventures, Rogue Legacy is strong enough to stand amongst the best of them.
Into The Breach (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $14.99 / £11.39
- Lowest ever price: $7.49 / £5.69
Into The Breach is a brutal, uncompromising game of making hard decisions and living with your mistakes, but the short length of battles and endless variety of playthroughs makes for an extremely addictive experience.
hough the graphics are nothing special, the gameplay is some of the very best you’ll find in the strategy genre on Switch, and we can easily recommend this to anybody who’s looking for an in-depth game that’ll make you think. Into The Breach feels right at home on the Switch, and whether you play more at home or on the go, you’re more than likely to get plenty of value out of this release.
Undertale (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $14.99 / £11.99
- Lowest ever price: $8.99 / £7.19
It is difficult to talk about Undertale and still be taken seriously at the end of it. If the term "RPG" sends a shiver down your spine but you remain interested in the genre nonetheless, then this could be the one for you.
The game borrows all of the tried and tested tropes of the genre before dialling it up to 11 on the weirdness scale with some excellent writing, a fantastic combat system and a series of different ways that the story can go. This isn't all sword waving and stabbing, there is a lot more to Undertale than meets the eye.
Horace (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $14.99 / £10.99
- Lowest ever price: $2.09 / £1.09
Horace is something very special. If you have any interest in superb level design, excellent storytelling, terrific art, evocative music, great characters, hilarious situations and emotional gut punches, it's a no-brainer. It's moving without being manipulative, clever without being smug, and nostalgic without being a lazy rehash. It's a platformer, but it's so much more than that.
So yes, Horace is another indie masterpiece, and every gamer who enjoys quality experiences should play it; a masterpiece that owes so much to its medium, but has the strength, creativity and identity to stand alone as something very, very special. Buy this.
Gorogoa (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $14.99 / £11.99
- Lowest ever price: $4.49 / £3.49
The Switch’s eShop is saturated with bucketloads of high-quality content. This is great in one way, of course, but stumbling across hidden gems within it will get tougher as time goes on. Gorogoa is one such gem; a puzzle game quite unlike any other that deserves your attention.
It is a little on the short side, but the creativity that has been put into its design, and the effect it will have on you during your time exploring its gorgeous world, is something that you’ll want to experience. If you’re looking for something new to try, this would be an excellent choice.
Balatro (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $14.99 / £12.79
- Lowest ever price: $12.74 / £11.51
Balatro is a roguelike for gamers who don't like roguelikes... and then everybody else on top of that. It utterly nails what it sets out to do, providing an instantly accessible, satisfying, and addictive gameplay loop that anybody can grasp.
It's an immensely enjoyable experience from the start, but as you get deeper in, there's really nothing else quite like it. Utterly sublime.
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season (Switch eShop)
- Switch eShop Price: $14.99 / £12.99
- Lowest ever price: $3.74 / £2.59
Whether you played this back in 2012 or are completely new to the series, Telltale's The Walking Dead: Season One is a masterpiece of video game storytelling.
It features some of the best voice-over performances you’ll find on any gaming platform and sets the stage for a grand, multi-season odyssey of tragic proportions. However, this is also a satisfying and poignant collection even if you never play the subsequent episodes.
Even if you lost patience with Rick Grimes and TV series adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic books, this remains an incredible interactive adaptation of Kirkman's world of walkers.
Comments 46
It's wild seeing 7,000+ games available on the eShop now. Every passing day it becomes increasingly difficult to sort the gems from the trash.
A great selection there but surely there are more? I'm not sure of their price points otherwise I would have suggested some more I dare say, ha.
I have played the vast majority of those with I think 2 on my backlog. Also, only another 2 I don't own on there
A Short Hike is one of the best games I have played. From the list I also really enjoyed Sonic Mania.
Out Run is amazing. And obviously a lot of Arcade Archives - Green Beret being my favourite.
If you want a 3D platformer for around $20, I recommend Glyph. I picked it up on sale in December, and it's easily my best E-Shop purchase.
Obligatory snark incoming:
>Switch
>Cheap items
Choose one...
There's some really great games in there, I have the majority of them. Another few that deserve a place on the list
DUSK, Valfaris, Ys Origins, Alwa's Legacy, Record of Lodoss War...
I'll leave off the shmups as I'll be here all day otherwise.
Is that the same Terry Cavanaugh (sp) as the Author?
I feel like this article needs a big "The following article is paid advertisement brought to you by hypefame, the new code selling website you've never heard of before, and probably never will."
wow could NintendoLife plug their eshop card links anymore! What an overkill in this article.
A Short Hike is a short game and that makes it an expensive game for what it is.
@Z-Core wow thanks don't knows this Game Looks cool
@FatWormBlowsASparky
I absolutely love Green Beret since the first day I saw it in the arcades as a kid. Are you able to beat it on normal without adding extra credits? I keep on dying in stage 3 but I'll make it eventually, I hope.
The Takeover is a great 20$ arcade style side scrolling fighting/brawler game. I bought it 75% off in a sale a couple of days ago. Looks fantastic and plays really well too.
Appreciate the article (I'm fairly certain I own most of these already), but seriously with the constant spam of your own store on the page? It's nearly happening every single game mention, it's completely unwarranted and it's honestly turning me off from future articles with game recommendations if all they're going to be is "This is a game we like, and if you buy from our store you can play it too"
Added Touryst and Hyper Light to my wishlist, will probably pick them up if there's a decent sale.
Of these, the two I’ve played are Sonic Mania and Dicey Dungeons. Cannot recommend both of them enough. Sonic Mania has all the charm of the original games but makes QOL improvements to make them much less rage-inducing, and Dicey Dungeons is a really fun card/RPG/whatever game that I’m going to sink many hours into in the future.
Definitely going to pick up Cuphead and Golf Story at some point as well, and maybe Hollow Night once I finish Metroid Dread and I have more hunger for a Metroidvania.
Katana zero! Dead cells, death road to canada, enter the gungeon, guacamelee, lovers in dangerous spacetime (great local multiplayer), undertale, night in the woods, Celeste, moonlighter, scourgebringer, scott pilgram , Hades, Bastian, Iconoclasts, mark of the ninja remastered, are all games i would recommend!
@zool thats why its worth getting it on steam for like $4
@Magician i use dekudeals for all my switch eshopping, wishlisting, and tracking ..helps a bit with trash sorting...you can even turn off games you no longer wish to see
No ori and the blind forest. That is automatically in the top 3 on this list.
No Celeste? There's a few games missing from here...
Hollow Knight and Stardew are pretty hard to beat in terms of bang for your buck. I love Just Shapes & Beats, too, and can't believe how many more tracks they've kept piling on after launch. That being said, there are probably a couple hundred other games that could contend for a spot on this list. Keeping it to just the ones I've played that truly manage to set themselves apart in one way or another, I think Steamworld Dig 1+2, Transistor, Enter the Gungeon, Foregone, BOXBOY!+BOXGIRL!, ABZU, PAN-PAN, and Iconoclasts are all worthy entries.
May as well call it best $20 games cause they're all 20.
There are plenty of great games for less than that.
Also, if you use the wishlist feature and wait until they go on sale, some of these go for half off or even over 75 percent!
Edit: you know what, I take that first part back. Actually half of them are 15 or less so I'm wrong lol
A Short Hike is such a special game. It's really short but I absolutely loved every minute of it. It's a game that's constantly on my mind even after beating it months ago.
@Magician To be fair, it is not Nintendo's job to have preferential treatment on eShop, in fact games being on equal footing on there as opposed to other platforms where games that are not popular get buried is one of the reasons why smaller games thrive on Switch. There are other websites that help with discovering good titles. That said, I do think Nintendo could use a faster eShop and more sorting options.
That's a great list, but I just never hear anyone mention Blazing Beaks, it's really great and cheap, I bought it for just a couple bucks on sale a while ago. For that price, I assumed it was crap, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I still think Enter the Gungeon is the best twin-stick shooter on Switch, but I've played it so much that I just wanted to play something a little different, and Blazing Beaks is the same kind of twin-stick dodge rolling rogue-like action that I love, but it does it's own thing and has loads of charm of it's own. And also Neon Abyss is only $19.99 a fantastic game with tons and tons of unlockables and bosses, etc. it's a game that would take an incredibly long time to beat and unlock everything, and it runs much better on the Switch than it does on PC. I think it's one of the best games out there right now as long as you like 2d rogue-lite platform shooters.
The Messenger is also a very good platformer, it’s usually 20$ with free DLC, but I found it on sale for half off.
Also recommend Dust an Elysian Tail if you’re into hack n slash style of games, that one looks beautiful!
Dicey Dungeons was an unexpected delight. Endearing characters, great challenges and the different mechanics of each character keeps the game fresh among the playthroughs. A chance to learn how to deal with failure that are either your own or luck based.
I feel like this article's soul purpose is to promote Gift Card affiliate purchases.
@Bydlak
I played it on my Speccy all the time. My online score is 116270, I think third level as well. 😃
I confirm that the shop works fine. Thanks for the 10% off, Nintendo Life @ryancraddock
@Banjo- You're welcome, enjoy! 🙂
Where is don’t starve together?
I feel that Lunistice and Toree 3D deserve to be on this list. They are each under $5, and deliver incredible value.
I appreciate this list. Thank you Nintendo Life.
Also - "Generally, Nintendo prefers to maintain the value of its products over the long term rather than tempting you with deep discounts. If a Nintendo game launches at $60, you can be confident that it will remain that price for a considerable length of time — you don't have to worry about seeing it 50% cheaper in a month or two."
Very true. I don't care how much you want that SEGA game on Day 1. Don't. Just don't. It will be on sale in a month. Wait 2-3 and it will even be to an insulting degree. Looking at you Sonic X Shadow for 11.29. I don't think there is a company that is more 'F.U for supporting this on release' than Sega.
Wow, 50. Not 49. Not 51, just to be "edgy" like IGN's trend. Shocking.
@Mana_Knight Ubisoft the same right..! Prince of Persia Lost Crown is usually a a crazy low price, especially considering how quality a game it actually is!
@CJD87 Yes! Good advise. They are another one who it is good to be cautious about! I think I heard that it even harms their initial sales they have been getting such a reputation for it!
One of the greatest fps remasters of all time DOOM 1+2 is super cheap if you hadn't already own the re-release versions. If you own the re-release versions then both are free but if you hadn't it's only $10 to get both with all mods that came with them too.
I almost only play cheap indies. Feast your eyes on my list
dekudeals.com/collection/gqfhbr89g9
Glad to see a couple of the games I mentioned the last time I saw this list have since made it on. Of course, I've played plenty more since then and have a lot more I could recommend now, though many of the games I'd like to bring up are technically disqualified. Those all spend around half their time on sale for less than 20 and often less than 10 dollars, but still have an official full price that knocks them out of the running.
Though if there's one thing I've played recently that should absolutely be on here, it's FEZ. That game's simply brilliant by every metric I can think of.
Some cheap games I didn't see on the list that were totally worthy of my time and money were The Exit 8, Platform 8, Amanda The Adventurer (hopefully Amanda The Adventurer 2 comes to Switch as well, or Switch 2), Q Remastered, Q2 Humanity, Shape Suitable, Suika Game and Trombone Champ.
I can attest to the quality of SEGA AGES OutRun, my favorite of the SEGA AGES I own.
Also, I want to mention that SEGA AGES Fantasy Zone was once at 10 Mexican Pesos (about 60 cents) on the Mexican eShop back in August 2023. To this day I still don't know if it was intended to be a sale or if it was a mistake because it wasn't labeled as on sale and the 10 pesos price was listed as the regular one.
…the heck are the Mega Man Legacy Collections minus Zero-ZX and Battle Network?
All of the Picross games on the eShop are well with the money too, if these puzzles are too your liking. I always feel that I get my money's worth in Jupiter's Picross series.
Between the 50 games listed and all the comments I think almost everything is covered. I really don't have much to say except, Dave the Diver. Where in the world is Dave the Diver? 88 meta score, over 25 hours of fun, and it's been discounted up to 30% off bringing it from $20 to $13.99.
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