In what is supposed to be a slow part of the year, I am filling my Nintendo Switch to bursting with new releases and ports.
Last week, I bought the Switch ports of sidescrolling action-adventure games Iconoclasts and Salt & Sanctuary along with the puzzle game Picross S2. I had enough self control to download a mere demo for the evasion game Flat Heroes. A developer code for Dead Cells set off the alert that I had to clear up some space on the 128GB card I’ve got in my system. I deleted Pokémon Quest.
Switch owners who crave brand-new games might not be swimming in as many things to play. I’ve been using the system to catch games I missed on PC or that I’ve neglected on other consoles but can more easily play on Switch thanks to the system’s portability—good for subway commutes and late-night playing in bed while the babies sleep a room away.
That’s why I recently re-bought Hand of Fate 2 for Switch, even though I had it on PS4 and why I’ve finally found a system on which I think I can get into Enter the Gungeon and The Banner Saga, two other recent purchases.
Buying so many games makes it hard to keep up with what I even have on the system. I’m still only about five missions into Doom, only at the luncheon kingdom in Mario Odyssey and not quite done with Breath of the Wild’s expansion.
The presence of Octopath Traveller and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on my Switch are testaments to my unrealistic estimates about the number of minutes in a week.
I’d been slower to buy Switch games in the spring. Then, my attention was diverted by games on my PlayStation 4. When I use a system, however, I find myself buying more games for it, and so I can trace my uptick of Switch game-ownership to several binge sessions in June of the puzzle comedy Sushi Striker and then becoming enraptured for most of July with the Metroid-style, Metroid-quality Hollow Knight.
I expect a twist. The fall is the season of the biggest game releases, but I anticipate my Switch gaming will slow down then. Nintendo’s big fall offerings of Smash Bros, Mario Party and Pokémon don’t do much for me, a primarily solo gamer who isn’t a big fan of those franchises.
I expect my attention will wander and that the many indie releases that have filled the Switch’s summer will abate as those developers avoid competing with big-name releases and wait for the next slow season. I could be wrong, but I hope I’m right. I need the time to catch up.
Comments
21 responses to “I Am Buying A Silly Number Of Switch Games”
Completely agree, find myself rebuying games a lot just cuz it feels right on the Switch. This is everything I wanted the Vita to be (RIP)
Make sure you make room Stephen for the recently added Valkyria Chronicles 4 demo!
Yep. My wishlist is getting huge now as I’m trying to cut back on things to buy but new games ‘perfect for switch’ keep popping up. Octopath has been keeping me busy!
PS4 is for exclusives, PC for AAA’s and Switch for everything else. Safe to say I am playing a whole lot of Switch recently.
Yep, that’s basically how my purchasing has been recently too. If it’s on PC I’ll get it there, if it’s on PS4 and Switch I’ll get it on Switch. PS4 is last choice. Weird how that’s happened.
Not as weird as it seems. Consoles and PC’s have been slowing down with their improvements, while mobile options have been getting stronger and stronger.
We’ve been headed to this point for a few years now, where mobile graphics aren’t so far behind consoles that we care. The gap is so small now that the Switch is a real contender in the PS4 and Xbox market.
720p is still a damn good resolution, especially for less than AAA games, and the jump to 1080p then 4K really doesn’t amount to much on most screens people own.
Its there in smaller sizes, but you really need a 70 inch screen or bigger to see 4K in all its glory, and most people I know have way smaller than that. Its something I’m not sure the next gen of consoles can overcome either, given the Switch is going to be improving as well.
I do actually have a fairly large 4K TV, though not 70″. Switch games at 720p don’t look great. I mainly prefer to play handheld as a result.
Fair enough. The point was more that its getting pretty close now, and for many people the graphical similarities make it an easier decision. Handheld is no longer pixelart (unless its meant to be) but HD. The Switch is on par with a PS3.
Its not just consoles either. For the first time, I have a laptop as my base PC for similar reasons. When an i7 with 16 Gb RAM, 1050 Ti, SSD/HDD combo is a common mid range spec, it shows how far laptops have come.
I haven’t regretted it for a minute. I just see similar happening with the Switch is all.
Fully agree, except the lot of switch for everything else. Its really just ninty exclusives for me, playing games at DVD resolution @ 30fps just doesn’t cut it most of the time these days.
Considering most games are marked up by 30% compared to other platforms, and most games don’t go on anywhere near as much on sale as other platforms, my Switch library is limited to a few titles that work well with the form factor, and don’t feel compromised by the lackluster hardware.
My concern as well. I wonder how many of Stephen’s ‘purchases’ are codes received from the publisher.
Not for nothing, but I’ve bought more games since starting this job than when I was a freelancer. There’s a few reasons wrapped up into that, but it’s not unusual for others in the industry to just buy a game rather than getting it for free.
(Simple example: EA. If you want to cover the game on PC, you’ll get it faster by paying for early access and expensing it – if the company allows – than actually asking for a code.)
Yeah, I know that most games you would not get for free. Still, I’m assuming you’d get a tax deduction 🙂 I wonder if any publishers do that thing that Steam did with the press accounts…
Not tax deductible anymore, funnily enough.
Jeez, that’s rough. I would have thought they’d come under ‘required to do your job’, but I’m sure the ATO knows best /s
I know exactly what you mean. I have been buying more and more games lately, but have still yet to finish XC2, OT or BotW! There’s just so much enticing stuff on the system. I bought Dead Cells last night and am thinking about 20xx, DBFZ, and Hand of Fate 2. Still haven’t bought Ys VIII and games like FE, VC4 and Torna are just around the corner too. And don’t get me started on games I’ve bought but haven’t even played yet!
Yup. I’ve never bought so few games on a Nintendo system in my life, and it’s not just because I’m too busy playing the one game all the time instead.
I recently had to upgrade my 200gb microSD card to a 400gb because I ran out of room. That said, it’s not helped by large 20 odd gig games like Doom, Skyrim, Resident Evil Revelations 1 and 2. I’ve cut back though, it’s just getting out of hand. Recently started focusing on certain titles, and not buying anything new unless it’s super important to me like forthcoming Monster Hunter or Warframe, etc.
For me, its the 30 fps, not the 720p, which is the real killer on Switch.
Still, my purchasing goes like this:
PC – AAA / MMO / RPG / Strategy … etc
Switch – Exclusives and Indies
PS4 – Exclusives
X1 – COD every other year or so
Haha, I must admit I’ve been purchasing a tonne of stuff on X1, as I can only really trust Microsoft at this point to give me access to that library in the future.
Yeah, I’m not against the X1…. if I hadn’t upgraded my monitor to a 1440p 165hz screamer, I’d be buying everything on XB1X too.
I definitely prefer non-exclusive AAA console games on the XB1X over the PS4 Pro.
Makes sense, to be honest. Over 1000 switch games, most great, quite a few ones are incredibly good. I recommend investing in a bigger MicroSD card to avoid deleting.
For your situation I recommend 256 Gb. Have a nice day.