Video: The Unsung Heroes of the Nintendo Switch eShop

Great video Alex. It’s easy to forget what’s already out there when so many new Indie games keep arriving in the eShop. I’ll definitely grab a couple of these.

There are indeed some classics there. I've got a few of them (IronCast, OxenFree and LIADST (on STEAM)), but will be reaching out for a few others there - WOL and Yoku's for sure. Cheers Alex

Very good video. Will def be picking up Yoku’s island express. Lovers in dangerous spacetime is great as well and can recommend it.

I own West of Loathing (one of my favorites), IronCast, and Oxenfree (although I've barely played it still...need to get into that one). I still want to get Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime and Crypt of the Necrodancer. Floor Kids I think sounds interesting, but something about it has never really grabbed me and made me want to buy. Yoku's Island Express looks interesting too, so maybe I'll get that one sometime.

Good to see Ironcast, WoL, and Steredenn here. Such good games. Floor kids is awesome too.

No one ever mentions Riptide Renegade GP! Even though it’s a very well done Waverace alternative and in my view, the best racing experience on the system outside of Mario Kart.

danmaku unlimited 3 is an incredible bullethell shump for anyone looking for something past Ikaruga.

I want to get West and Loathing, but I'm holding out for the physical release.

Thank you so much for this video! I hadn't heard of some of these games but they've all been added to my wish list — except West of Loathing which I already picked up and is hilarious!

I didn’t know west of loathing was based out of kingdom of loathing. That makes it more tempting.

“Mad scientist has blinded you with science”

This has sold me on the Penelope one.

I've heard of a few of those in the list, I'll watch the video later maybe.

Mushroom Wars 2 is out in a week or 2, the first game on PS3 was awesome, so we're looking forward to that. Would like a review before spending our $17.99, don't want to play with mobile touchscreen controls on my Switch.

Robonauts has a demo, and it's on sale for $2.99 from $14.99. It's a cute little run and gun platformer with 2 player couch co-op and vs.

There are a lot of games on sale, but some don't even have trailers much less demos. I'm never buying a game I've never heard of off of a screenshot.

I am enjoying morphite. Waited for a sale and it’s a decent metroid/no mans sky clone. I was surprised when I saw I also have over 70 hours logged in kingdom, new lands.

Steredenn definitely deserved the mention. That game is tough, and it admittedly ticked me off at first with how tough it was. But I got better. I unlocked all the ships. And it was incredibly rewarding.

Excellent video. It's always nice to see Floor Kids get more love.

@milliag Yes! I always forget about that one! It is a darn good game!

@rjejr I'm curious about that, but had avoided the steam release. Is it a rts?

Games that deserve more chatter. Will they also deserve reviews? That generally creates more chatter.

No one is ever talking about Just Shapes and Beats. :c

Nice video. One indie game I'll put out there is Blaster Master Zero. Certainly it's flawed in that it's too easy, but it's still an enjoyable experience.

@GoblinGizmo Watch the video. Torture yourself a little bit

@Joeynator3000 It just came out. Awesome game though.

@CaPPa Yeah... I'm surprised how reviews kind of feels like a... trickle lately?

Like, there IS stuff out there but just finding a review is hard sometimes, and even happens often only after it's faded out of the spotlight already by which another "this is coming, this -accessory- was just revealed" kind of articles happens.

Accessories are -definitely- an important part of the console but they're still, as the name implies... accessory to it.

The core still remains the games and it feels weird how hard it is to sometimes fall upon the reviews even on stuff that feel should have been more high visibility than even a game tournament/etc?

@kirbygirl So has some of these other games, lol

@Ludovsky
Exactly. I know that the Switch is getting a ton of games released each week, but good titles are easily overlooked when people don't know that they are good.

Back in the Wii days the 'game' site IGN gave up reviewing WiiWare titles and just had a round up each week with a good/bad rating for each. Now that was because IGN were too lazy to review 3 or 4 games a week (let alone 20 something), but it could work for the mass of Switch releases each week.

Or maybe a seperate readers reviews section (not just forum posts) where we could put short reviews of games that the site isn't reviewing.

Great choices to include!
Though I didn't really get how all the great reviews of Iron Cast came to happen. I had reaaally high hopes for that game and it just was too repetitive for me. The story didn't really draw me in and the difficulty spikes made trying to win way to frustrating.
It was an alright game, but not that much more or maybe I'm missing something.
A game that I love though I suck at it and hardly made any progress is Crypt of the Necrodancer! The music really keeps you motivated. And it always is soooo close. Also I love the different characters you can play as since their gameplay is really varied.

Currently I am playing Yoku's Island Express and loooove it so much. Everything is great about that game (except maybe the music, though it is not that bad aswell).
Currently I am stuck at Tunguska and the climbing gear and the Squirrowl. Just don't have any idea how to progress. Also I need to deliver a parcel to the Bee Queen, but I apparently need a special colour for my ball that I did not find yet. Maybe someone here can help?

Crypt Of The Necrodancer is just awesome, definitely requires more loving. I personally hated the idea of being bound to playing to music, so glad I listened to those who recommended it anyway.

Floor Kids deserved more gameplay modes and variety in stages, the repetitiveness of the whole thing kinda made me feel bad for spending a whopping $20 in it. I don’t recommend it at full price.

@PhilKenSebben "Is it a rts?"

Mushroom Wars? I suppose technically it is an RTS, but it's so fast paced and math heavy that's it's really it's own thing. The PS3 version used the face buttons to send your troops - O was 25%, X was 50%, square was 75% and triangle 100%. And when you are fighting 2 enemies at once it got crazy trying to determine whether to defend or attack. Pus you needed to use up your troops to upgrade. Both games are on mobile if you want to give them a try. I really can't stand trying to play them w/ touch screen controls though, it's too fast and your fingers cover the screen. And the new game instead of using 4 face buttons looks like you have to select on the left which amount to send, and if that's the case I'm nto buying it, thats' too weird. I have no idea what the hero characters do, they weren't in the first.

Does oxenfree have the game+?

@rjejr Oh wow. I'll have to hunt down the first. That's quite intriguing. I appreciate the detailed reply.

@MeatSauce yes. Playing through twice is very interesting.

@MeatSauce Yes, Oxenfree on Switch has the New Game+ option.

I loved Oxenfree. A good port on Switch. At $5 it was definitely worth it!

I feel like Fairune Collection came and went with little fanfare. For $10 it’s excellent. Imagine top-down classic Zelda simplified to the fundamentals with lots of polish and awesome chiptune music. Also a shoutout to King Oddball which I never expected to put 10+ hours into.

The big unsung hero of the Switch is Zerodiv in my opinion. Their series of Psikyo classics turned the Switch into the leading shmup console in less then a year - since August 2017 they released Strikers 1945 I&II, Gunbird, Zero Gunner 2, Samurai Aces, Tengai, Gunbarich, Dragon Blaze and Sol Divide.

Membrane looks like some kind of acid-fuelled nightmare.

I have put Ironcast and The Next Penelope on my wish list though.

Great article. Much prefer this to the speculation based on a glimmer of hope articles we have been seing.

I think Earthlock Festival of Magic should be on this list. It is such a fun and engaging rpg. I have beat it once and went back did all the sidequests. Turn based combats great, as is the story entertaining, and also crafting system how it utilizes a unique gardening system.

The whole game is really great, wish it got more coverage. Also some dlc with secret dungeons wouldn't hurt me

@Joeynator3000 True. It seemed kind of strange to me to include a couple of those very recent releases (Yoku and WoL in particular).

@AdReNaLiNFaLc0n King Oddball has been on my wishlist for a while, in spite of its mediocre review here. Just waiting for a sale. What did you like about it?

I think we can all agree that the unintuitive nature of the Switch eshop is to blame for many of these games falling off the radar. I know they've added the "Featured" section but unless a game is brand new or on sale, there's really very little chance it's going to pop up. You need to go looking for these games on the eshop in order to find them.

Playing West of Loathing now and it’s fantastic. May check out some of these others when I get through some other games.

@EvilLucario blaster master is indeed too easy... until the last zone / bosses ! Real challenge awaits ...

Sooo many others we could talk about. Battle Chef Brigade and Wulverblade to name two.

@PhilKenSebben You're welcome. It's so rare that I like something it's nice to type positive stuff every once in awhile.

For me, Crypt of the Necrodancer is the best game on what is a great list. Between Switch, iPhone and my old Vita, I’ve put close to 100 hours into that sucker!

If I may be so bold, here’s three of my best 'least known' Switch indies, each of which I wholeheartedly recommend. Seriously, they’re amazing, buy them now!

— Atomik: RunGunJumpGun
— Gorogoa
— TumbleSeed

Good video!

Yoku's Island Express is sooo good (played it to 100% last week)! And so is West of Loathing (playing it now), specially for the low price they're asking. Ironcast is a game that I spent like 40 hours in last summer, great fun. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a great coop, specially if you are 3-4 people.

Neurovoider is one for me, being particularly addicting. It has that 'one...more...time' if I mess up a lil. I also want to get back into One More Dungeon soon enough.

Oxenfree is also bae. 😘

@milliag I have been liking Riptide GP Renegade a lot since I got to finally start properly playing it, after having gotten it a ways back.

@The_Pixel_King I frickin love Tumbleseed! That game got on my last... damn... nerve when I initially got it, but it grew on me and I got addicted for a lil.

Please NL, instead of linking a game to a page inside your blog that says: Description will appear here shortly... just please link it to the eShop site or at least add the link in your blank page.Thank you.

@Giygas_95 Hats off to you, Sir. I've still yet to unlock the purple one - that boss is a real humdinger.

Yoku's Island Express is amazing.
Highly recommend it to platform/pinball lovers!
Metroidvania style gameplay that is wrapped up in some beautiful art and music.
Must buy.
One of the Swichs hidden gems.

@MayorBigDeal I got lucky actually! I kept trying to unlock it, but I kept failing. Then I, for no reason at all, just decided to try daily run. It was the Fury ship with flame bots as a starting weapon. I eventually got Laserbots as well and ripped through the game like it was nothing. I even got to the cruiser (4th boss) on the second loop before dying and had 111,000,000 points. All because I just randomly decided to take a stab at daily run.

Immortal Redneck should be on the list.

@Tiefseemiez
I am playing Yoku's Island Express atm and am absolutely loving it, btw, I think the music is great.

You need to find all the sootlings for the climbing gear.
The sootlings are in the pinball table above the rat ( I think that is what he is) at the top left hand side of the map (snow area).
Once you collect them talk to the rat and he will (spoiler) giving you the climbing gear.
Once you have that it opens up even more.
Let me know if that helps.

This isn't surprising, when you get loads and loads of new software and shovelware coming out on a platform a lot of the good stuff can get buried. The same thing happened to the Wii store and the 3DS eshop, you kinda have to go out of your way to find the good stuff after a while. It is why I like to keep on top of everything with this site and add anything interesting to my wish list.

Might get Membrane later since it is currently $5.

If you had to pick the best game for $5 or less, what would it be?

@Qwertyninty I totally agree. Immortal Redneck is an awesome Serious Sam-esque FPS with it's own thing going for it that makes it a better and more modern game IMO. It never seemed to get the attention that it deserved.

west of loathing, looks kinda fun:)

this afternoon i bought bulbboy.
im always looking for magical and mysterious indiegames.

everyone know what happened to the indiegame "inside" from the developers of limbo.
did they canceled the game?

@CaPPa
on xbox live, the users rating was very handy for indiegames i'll hope nintendo will add this next september.

the way the store is now, is not user friendly. they also should stop pushing the same news items over and over again just to make it look like theres alot going on.

@Giygas_95 That's a story for the grandkids right there.

Picked up Membrane since it's currently half off in the US eShop. It's a really weirdly charming game. For $5 it's a good deal.

I think Gotcha Racing 2'nd also deserves to be here. Easily the best top-down racer on the Switch.

@kirbygirl Bought it when it was <$2 on sale from $5. Very polished for a budget game and the one-button gameplay is crazy addictive. Lots of extra content. Though there’s no rumble, only a few enemy types, and repetitive music (but what’s there is great, from the guy who did Owlboy’s OST). I’d say it’s worth the $5 but there’s bound to be a sale on it again soon.

Great video, good list, although I do already have most of the games personally I would’ve added Thumper, which is my #2 Switch game after Breath of the Wild.

@Freek
Thanks for the help!
I actually did everything right, but the Squirrowl always pushed me away. I read online a hint that said "look what's below the Squirrowl", but still didn't understand what to do or how to. Somehow I finally managed to get past the Squirrowl more by accident. Finished the game yesterday and still love it. There are still many things to do and collect though. Was very surprised to accidentally find my nemesis this morning in a cave up in the mountains. It's interesting by the way how the missions in the game are not that strictly separated in main mission vs. sidequests. All of the big ones seem to be of pretty equal importance (oh well, except saving the village might be concidered sliiiightly more important than the other ones...).

@Tiefseemiez
No probs.
I still haven't finished it yet as I am a completionist, I like to do everything the first time.
So much to do.
It is a great game that deserves more attention for sure.
I love how it is set up, making the backtracking fun and enjoyable rather than feeling like a chore, you backtrack but you want to because you have a new ability to try out and reach even further on the map.
So rewarding.

Didn't watch the video but going by the list, I definitely recommend Ironcast. I haven't played most of the games listed there but Steredenn is... alright for a roguelike. I've been pondering trying Floor Kids for a while.

"and a little bit of filler" cough Massive understatement

@citizenerased Yeah, Thumper deserves a spot for sure.

Thanks for the reminder, I'd forgotten I'd bought Oxenfree when it was on sale and never played it. Now just need to find the time.

@Giygas_95 I realise this comment is now yonks old but I must tell you, I finally unlocked the purple ship. And it was on a daily run just like yourself, having not played it for ages! Hoorah!

@MayorBigDeal Great! Have you gotten the Red Baron as well?

@Giygas_95 Yeah I got that by fluke before I got the Bot one. Still haven't managed to beat the final boss though. Swings and roundabouts I guess...

@MayorBigDeal I wish the Red Baron were better, but its static weaponry kind of makes it weak later on, though it's very powerful in the first few levels. Honestly I think the Specialist is the most powerful ship and easily has the most potential. With the right combination of drones and power ups it can rip through bosses like they're nothing. My personal favorite is probably the Fury though.