Recommend me a Switch game

[Sacred Jellybean]

sup y'all

Okay so, I'm taking my annual trip out to Ohio to visit my extended family, and, like always, hitching a ride with my pa. Last year, I had a pretty nice time spending the 7 hour ride with Mario and Zelda. Moreso the latter, dear god it was so addictive, I loved it, I miss it so :(

But so, I think I want to do the same this year, and it's been a spell since I last bought a Switch game. Yeah, there was Cuphead, but I'm stuck on the final boss and he's hard AF and I'm getting a little tired of it anyway.

So I'll do what I did last year and buy myself a Switch game for Christmas. Yes, I buy myself gifts. So I can have something to put under the tree. Hey, look, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like I'm some so-called "family man" with one of these "family" units that does things like "exchange gifts", or a romantic partner that might do the same, like some kind of elitist. You won't see me put on "oh look at me, I'm surrounded by so many loved ones that want to lavish me with gifts" airs. This is your old pal 'Bean, here. I'm a straight-shooter.

Okay so, recommend me anything except Mario Maker, because that seems tedious and too much work to have fun. I would say that the Link's Awakening remake is off the table, too. Meh. Not feeling it.

[A Black Falcon]

The answer is Super Mario Maker 2, though. You don't need to make levels, it's amazing if you're only playing levels too...

[Dark Jaguar]

Alright, my recommendation is a greatest hits list of Switch games then. Not all of these are exclusives, but if you want them portable, which you just told us you do, then you'll want the Switchy version of these.

Breath of the Wild: I think you already have this.
Mario Odyssey: If you don't have this, attain it! It's the most fun I've had with a Mario game since Mario 64, and the world design is more akin to Banjo Kazooie since you can just keep exploring on and on after getting each moon.

Sonic Mania: The most fun I've had with Sonic since Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Frankly, this is a return to form we've not seen since Genesis, and it's the first new "move" they dumped in a Sonic game that actually was fun and useful. It's only a shame that Amy Rose never joined the roster of characters.

ALL of the Jackbox party packs are gold, though not each individual game. Get that to have some simple fun with your non-gamer family and friends.

Axiom Verge is a Metroid style game done right- with no handholding and plenty of focus on learning the physics of the game and it's environments to discover new things.

Oni and the Blind Forest is another Metroid style game that focuses on the story telling aspect, and the first 10 minutes may just have you in tears in a very Pixar way.

Luigi's Mansion 3 is a return to form for the series. They once again have a gallery's worth of unique quirky ghosts instead of 2's focus on Boos and Boos alone.

Megaman 11 is just plain fun. Capcom's still got it!

Tropical Freeze is everything amazing about the DKC series and what's left of Retro studios. Even though that studio has a lot of internal issues right now, that game managed to be absolutely incredible. You know how good platformers will dedicate a whole stage to a simple idea and then itterate on that idea again and again as the stage goes on? Tropical Freeze takes it to the next level. Not only do stages introduce multiple concepts to you, they intermingle those stage elements into brand new combined elements that are more than the sum of their parts. A mine cart stage that's also a lumber mill, where not only are you learning how to traverse in the mine cart, you are learning how to deal with the lumber mill's hazards, which combine midway through the stage so that you are now mine cart riding on chunks of lumber as they are steadily carved into the next sections of the track, so now you are watching what's being carved knowing that chunk is about to be thrown ahead to become a section. It's brilliant, but very hard.

[A Black Falcon]

Having Link in Mario Maker 2 is really amazing, it's almost like an entirely new game! You've got arrows, bombs, a shield, a sword, down-attack, charge attack... it's a totally new move set which does a great job of refreshing a game that many people had started to lose interest in, and Link is fantastically fun to play as too. I wonder what they will add next...

[Sacred Jellybean]

Thanks for the recs everyone! I decided to go with Axiom Verge and Tropical Freeze. The store didn't have Oni and the Blind Forest, so maybe I can just download that one. I also decided on Sega classics, which they also didn't have at the store. Gunstar Heroes, mothafucka.

So Mario Maker 2. Does that come with new, preset levels? Can you play levels that other people have made? How does having Link in a Mario game work? I'm v confused.

[Sacred Jellybean]

N/m, just read your thread on it. :)

[A Black Falcon]

The new, preset levels are okay, and there are quite a few of them. If you played the first MM for Wii U, this game has a lot more of them and they're in a full story campaign, though it's as much of a tutorial as anything, and really isn't the point of the game; playing other peoples' levels online is, or making your own if you want.

As for how having Link works, it's sort of Zelda 2-ish, so you move around as a platformer character, can fire arrows (with the shoulder buttons) at three angles, can throw bombs with up+jump, use shield by ducking, down-attack with down plus button while in the air, etc. It's totally different from the costumes in MM1 because while there costumes were just that, costumes which had no effect on the gameplay, this Link costume totally changes the way the game plays and it's amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvklIxqWEag

I don't know what you mean by "tedious" and "work" about Mario Maker, though. Making levels can take time sure, but again that is optional. A lot of the levels people have made are either badly designed or very hard, so sure if you want to beat every level you come across that might be tedious, but definitely don't do that. Seeing the massive variety of stages, the inventive ideas people come up with never seen in official Nintendo games, levels both good and bad, easy (and there are lots of easy levels too!) and hard... the Mario Maker games are some of the most amazing things ever.

[A Black Falcon]

As for those games, Axiom Verge is good; I'm not the biggest Metroidvania fan of course, but it's good The game is best on Wii U though, having a map on the gamepad screen makes the game better for sure. DKC Tropical Freeze is outstanding, just like the previous one, DKC Returns; both are among the best platformers of the past decade for sure. I have the Wii U version so I have little interest in getting it again on Switch -- it's basically the same game but with an easy mode option added -- but it's a really, really good game either way. They're not easy games but are worth it.

[Sacred Jellybean]

MM seems tedious because I imagine it's a lot of work to make a level, and the ability to play it seems like a small pay-off. Ofc, I'm not the most creative when it comes to game design. I would have thought a game like that would be niche, so I'm surprised by its popularity. I wonder if Rtan has played it.

So, it being popular indicates that it's much more than just level design. Pretty cool that you can play other people's levels. And it sounds like there's a rating system, so no need to wade through a bunch of trash.

I actually have DKCR for Wii and remember loving it. I don't think I ever finished it. I'm a big fan of the SNES games, and DJ's description of it makes it sound high quality, gameplay wise. So, I'm looking forward to that.

[Dark Jaguar]

MM seems tedious because I imagine it's a lot of work to make a level, and the ability to play it seems like a small pay-off. Ofc, I'm not the most creative when it comes to game design. I would have thought a game like that would be niche, so I'm surprised by its popularity. I wonder if Rtan has played it.

So, it being popular indicates that it's much more than just level design. Pretty cool that you can play other people's levels. And it sounds like there's a rating system, so no need to wade through a bunch of trash.

I actually have DKCR for Wii and remember loving it. I don't think I ever finished it. I'm a big fan of the SNES games, and DJ's description of it makes it sound high quality, gameplay wise. So, I'm looking forward to that.

The key is just how simple and fun the level designing tools are. It's like Mario Paint, which isn't surprising since a lot of that team is behind Maker.

Playing your own levels isn't really that fun in and of itself. The game does require that you beat your own level before publishing it, but the publishing is where it counts. It's great to see how other people like your levels, and how they are doing on them. I make my own levels, but I play other's levels, and Mario Maker is an amazing tool to do that with.

Still, that's not for everyone. Yes, a lot of the games I listed are download-only, but you can't go wrong with the ones you picked. DKC Returns was great, but Tropical Freeze is such an amazing game it blows that one out of the water. Getting the "band" back together with he original DKC and DKC2 composer really helps too.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Just finished Axiom Verge tonight. It was terrific. I'm sad it's over. ‌ I'm a little taken aback by how easy the last boss was. Honestly, I had more trouble with the 3rd-from-the-last boss. Got my ass whooped good and proper so much that I went back and scraped through all the map to get all the health and weapon upgrades I could find. Once I circled back, I nailed the boss on the first try without breaking a sweat, with a good 1/3rd health meter left to spare.

Great Metroidvania game, a genre I haven't played any in quite some time and am delighted to revisit. Very addictive. There's a wealth of weapons to choose from, though honestly, most of them you don't need. The trusty old Axiom Disrupter did most the work for me, followed by the FlameThrower. Some of the other weapons come in handy now-and-then (like shooting through walls with the Kilver, shooting around corners with the Nova, or the Voranj's spreading beams), but most of them are just novelties that I used once or twice and shrugged off. Looking at the weapon's list, looks like there are quite a few I missed.

9/10, would recommend.

I played a bit of Donkey Kong's Tropical Freeze on my trip, but I'm a little underwhelmed. I'm only a few levels in, and while it's fun, it's just not grabbing my attention the way Axiom Verge did. Now that AV is over, maybe I'll be able to focus a little better on DK.

[Dark Jaguar]

Axiom Verge is amazing.  I can understand digging into that.  You essentially bought Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country 2 on the same day, so that's not an easy choice to make.  On the other hand there is no wrong one.

Here's hoping when you dig back into Tropical Freeze it captures your interest the way it did mine.  Oh, and as for difficulty curves, I am willing to allow some hiccups if the game's design is otherwise great in that regard.  There are situations where other design concerns outweigh a difficulty curve.  Super Metroid's last boss was a lot easier than that underwater boss and Ridley for that matter, but the way it was done made it more memorable.

[Great Rumbler]

Play Atelier Ryza, it's the most Marxist game on the Switch.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Oh snap, look who it isssss

Explain what you mean.

[A Black Falcon]

Atelier fans do seem to like Ryza, but as someone who doesn't like the series much I have not gotten it. I hate crafting after all...

[Great Rumbler]

Oh snap, look who it isssss

Explain what you mean.

Atelier Ryza is about:
1. A girl [Ryza] who leads...
2. The physically strong but rudderless proletariat [Lent]...
3. And the educated but feckless intelligentsia [Tao]...
4. Against the autocratic aristocracy [Moritz]...
5. And unchecked capitalist greed [the Klint Kingdom]...
6. With the help of the exploited indigenous people [Lila]