With April all done and dusted, we somehow find ourselves a whole third of the way through the year. Where on Earth does the time go? As such, it's time to once again visit our tried and trusted Nintendo Life eShop Select awards!
These awards aim to celebrate the best of Nintendo's digital store, giving some love and attention to the games that could so easily be missed in the Switch's ever-growing library.
So, let's get started! Here are the best Switch eShop games of April 2020!
Honourable Mentions:
While these titles didn't quite make our top three this month, they're still certainly worth checking out.
- In Other Waters | Review: 9/10
- Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope | Review: 9/10
- Telling Lies | Review: 8/10
- MotoGP 20 | Review: 8/10
- Picross S4 | Review: 8/10
- Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche | Review: 8/10
- Super Pixel Racers | Review: 7/10
- Snakeybus | Review: 7/10
- Curious Expedition | Review: 7/10
- HyperParasite | Review: 7/10
- SEGA AGES G-LOC: Air Battle | Review: 7/10
3. ITTA (Switch eShop)
Taking third place this month is ITTA, a bullet hell shooter full of confident storytelling and very challenging bosses. We awarded the game an 8/10 in our review, praising its beautifully-designed pixel art world and its pleasing mix of exploration and boss fights. It might not be ideal for those new to the genre thanks to a wildly fluctuating difficulty curve, but those who love nothing more than jumping right into some bullet hell action should find plenty to enjoy here.
2. Overcooked 2 (Switch)
In second place comes Overcooked 2: Gourmet Edition, a new Overcooked release which bundles together the base Overcooked 2 game and all of its DLC. If you've played any Overcooked before, you won't need us to tell you that the largest ever bundle of Overcooked content is absolutely worth owning.
The base campaign serves up all of the crazily good co-op madness that the series is known for, and adding several tasty new ideas in the form of the included DLC is the cherry on the top. If you don't already own Overcooked 2, you should definitely check this out.
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1. Streets of Rage 4 (Switch eShop)
If you've been regularly visiting the site for the past few weeks, you probably won't be surprised to see that this month's number one spot is going to Streets of Rage 4. The classic beat em' up is finally back after far too many years away, and almost the entire Nintendo Life team has been taking about little else all week (well, apart from Animal Crossing, obviously).
We gave the game a 9/10 in our review, going as far as to say that this is the very best the series has ever been. If you're keen on your fighting games, what are you doing reading this? Go and grab this one immediately.
< Nintendo Life eShop Selects - March 2020
How we decide our eShop Selects top three: As we reach the end of every month, the Nintendo Life staff vote on their favourite titles from a list of games selected by the editorial team. To qualify for this list, these games must have been released primarily as a digital Nintendo Switch eShop title in that particular month, and must have been reviewed on Nintendo Life; we select the qualifying games based on their review scores.
Staff are then asked to vote for three games that they think deserve to sit right at the very top of that list; first choice gets 3 points, second choice gets 2 points, and third choice gets 1 point. These votes are then tallied to create a top three list, with the overall winner taking that month's top prize.
Comments 27
Yup agree, just got Streets of Rage 4 and it's fantastic. Smashing my way through story mode and the soundtrack is a highlight.
Just checked the E-Shop
(US) and SOR 4 now the 5th best selling game and it’s only been out for 2.5 days so looks like it’s selling quite well. Hope this success leads to the team being allowed to revive some other Sega classic series now (Golden Axe! Shinobi!!)
SOR is very good, but it’s also really short.
SOR4 is my pic of the eshop this month. Shovel knight is also amazing and deserves to be in everyone's collection but i cant give it my highlight when the treasure troves been out for ages. If they were both fresh releases then id have a difficult decision on my hands.
Streets of rage 4 is the big highlight here, well deserved, love it!
SOR4 was just a little steep for my liking. Im going to wait for a real sale. The art style also put me off, but I'll get over it.
Yep, I fully concur that Streets of Rage 4 was the best game to grace the eShop in April. It’s also my personal Game of the Year for 2020 thus far, beating even the mighty Animal Crossing: New Horizons in the process.
Though I‘d be remiss not to mention the wonderfully minimalist In Other Waters, which if not for SOR4, would have comfortably been my April pick. As far as I’m concerned – and I apologise for this in advance – it blew every other game out of the water!
@Sszx09 Personally, I’d love to see what Lizardcube could do with Gunstar Heroes! It’s a game that still holds up today and very much deserving of a revival.
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[EDIT 1] Speaking of Sega games, I wonder if we’ll see Streets of Rage 2 get the Sega Ages treatment on Switch? I really don’t want to go to the extreme of buying Sega Mega Drive Classics for just (that and the aforementioned Gunstar Heroes). With that being said, I am kicking myself that I didn’t pick it up during the recent sale.
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[EDIT 2] I really wish Sega would have released a Free to Play version of the Genesis Classics with the option to buy individual games as DLC to tailor your own bespoke collection. I know I’ve included third-party games here, but I’d love:
In the Honourable Mentions you have Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope as a 9/10, but in your review you’ve just done you gave it an 8?
Personally, I'd love to see LizardCube's take on Golden Axe. Tyris Flare, Ax Battler, all the dragons and ogres...
The price, the pictures and the percent of votes In Other Waters got, does nothing to sell the 9/10 score.
@zool But having played the game, it’s fully deserving of it, all the same!
Where is this 8/10 review of Itta again?
ITTA review link is 404ing.
@The_Pixel_King ok. It's up there with Animal Crossing, Hollow Knight, and Fire Emblem.
@zool No, of course it isn’t. But In Other Waters is certainly way better than 'just' 8 out of 10.
You see, many gamers these days get way too hung up on what a game scores at review and inevitably make comparisons to other titles that received the same mark. Using a 0.5 rating system would negate this somewhat, but sadly even IGN (who were using 0.1 increments until this year), reverted to the same standard system that Nintendo Life use.
@Milton_Burle
Ow man, i have to wait till i got my salary. Im broke lol haha.
Cant wait to play this gem.
Is it also 4 player online?
@kepsux Yeah, I’m getting that, too. Though I visit this site at least daily and I don’t recall ever seeing an ITTA review at all.
@The-Chosen-one No, 4 player is local only, buddy.
Since the ITTA's embargo appears lifted (metacritic has 9 reviews), I'm assuming the ITTA review isn't finished yet. LIfe/things happen I'm still interested to see NL's review.
I think SOR4 deserves a 10/10. The game is amazing and for me will be the game of the year. I have always been a huge fan of the SOR series, and #4 does not disappoint. I can't stop playing it, I beat it and then immediately start over again with a new character, gotta unlock them all!
@The_Pixel_King I guess if a reviewer just plucks a score out of the air a nine is perfectly possible. But unless the gamer gets a demo to try, a score is a reasonable guideline.
Of course a reviewer can be caught in the moment, have a bit of fun, score high and a game like this can remain in the Nintendo top 30 games of all time.
Chess is the greatest strategy game of all, but it's lucky to score 6 or 7.
@The_Pixel_King
That's good enough for me thanks!
@The_Pixel_King I would KILL for strider. Especially if it had wide screen support
@The-Chosen-one Any time, man!
@PickledKong64 Sounds like we’re two peas in a pod, my brother!
I'd also give a shout out to Indivisible. I know it released in a way that was not to the liking of the developers but hopefully it will be updated. It's still an excellent game, highly polished and well-worth your time. Plus I think it still has a launch discount.
For those interested in racing games, there is a discount of 70% on the V-Rally 4 and 50% on the WRC 8 on the eShop.
Got the V-Rally yesterday for about 15€ and I think it was a good deal 😁
Streets of Rage 4 is rather good, yes. I'd have to acknowledge it as my best purchase of April on the eShop I think
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