
We're now well into July, which means it's time to look back and survey the last month's worth of Switch eShop releases and pick our favourite.
It was a relatively quiet month on the Switch front, with Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD being the big new physical releases, although the late-arriving Tchia turned out to be a sheer delight, too. Today, though, we're looking at games that didn't get a wide, non-limited physical release. As ever, our staff and contributors vote for their top three eShop games from the list of games we've reviewed, and we give you the winners (and the best of the rest).
Before we dive in, a shoutout to Duck Detective - The Secret Salami, NL readers' choice for the best game in May that we weren't able to review. They say it's a quacker!
Okay, let's see what June had up its sleeve...
Honourable mentions
There's a svelte seven games on our Switch eShop shortlist this month - here are the four which didn't make the top three:
Nintendo Life's honourable mentions
- Echo Generation | Review: 7/10
- Frogun Encore | Review: 8/10
- NeoSprint | Review: 7/10
- Star Wars: Hunters | Review: 8/10
3. Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked (Switch eShop)
Rocket Knight arguably got cast as one of the 'also-rans' of the '90s platformer scene, but Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked shows Konami's ol' Sparkster the respect he deserves.
Comprising "two fine games and one stellar, timeless piece of work," this collection brings with it the modern bells and whistles you'd expect in a satisfying 16-bit package that will get the nostalgia flowing for fans of the games (the original of which Tom describes as "godly" in our review) and will serve as an excellent introduction if you missed it three decades ago.
2. Dicefolk (Switch eShop)
In at numero dos is Dicefolk, a monster-catching roguelite deckbuilder that impressed us greatly.
"An attractive art style, strong combat system, and meaningful player choices make this one a brilliant addition to the library," said the excellent Mitch Vogel in his NL review. "Approachable without being patronising," he called it. "Tons of fun," he said. "Do I get paid extra for all the quotes you're pulling for the eShop Selects article?" he asked. But the line went all crackly and we lost the connection.
Anyhow, Dicefolk. Good game.
1. Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition (Switch eShop)
And coming in at number one, it's Beyond Good & Evil. This is a game we have great affection for and it was a treat to see that Ubisoft has treated it with the appropriate reverence.
It was also a relief to play it two decades on and see that it stands up almost as well today as it did in 2003. As we said in our review, it boasts "some lovely visual and auditory upgrades, an excellent gallery feature, and a whole bunch of meaningful extras." Yep, we thoroughly enjoyed our return trip to Hillys, but did you like it as much as we did? We'll find out below.
< Nintendo eShop Selects - May 2024
eShop Selects Reader's Choice Vote (June 2024)
As ever there are some games we weren't able to review this month (we're chasing Fading Afternoon, in fact, so while we can't promise anything, watch this space), so let us know below your favourite Switch eShop games that we weren't able to review.
And you can also vote for your personal picks from the above, too.
What's the best Switch eShop game we missed in June 2024? (13 votes)
What was your favourite eShop game from our top June picks? (257 votes)
- Dicefolk (Switch eShop)
- Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition (Switch eShop)
- Echo Generation: Midnight Edition (Switch eShop)
- Frogun Encore (Switch eShop)
- NeoSprint (Switch eShop)
- Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked (Switch eShop)
- Star Wars: Hunters (Switch eShop)
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 as a digital-only 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 three points, second choice gets two points, and third choice gets one point. These votes are then tallied to create a top-three list, with the overall winner taking that month's top prize.
Comments 15
The demo of Frogun encore is the only one of these I've played, but it was fun. That and Rocket Knight are on my wishlist to buy.
I guess my favorite June game was Battle Crush which I'm slightly surprised didn't get a review since there were a couple articles on it before it released. I'm not usually into F2P games, but this one is really cute and simple and the gimmick of the ground literally falling away to make the battle arena smaller is fun.
Dicefolk is absolutely excellent, a perfect mix between Slay The Spire and Pokémon (Pokémon rotation battles more specifically) while also feeling like its own unique thing. Fantastic gameplay, really cool creatures and the difficulty is just right, not too easy or too hard. Really recommend it to anyone who enjoys either roguelike deckbuilders or monster collecting games, or both.
I also really enjoyed Moonstone Island, it kinda feels like a streamlined/fantastical version of Stardew Valley that replaces that game's heavy busy work/routine with exploring sky islands, tackling dungeons, collecting and battling with monsters and so on. It's a mix of a lot of different genres (the combat is card-based too) but it totally works.
Haven't played any of these games yet, but the one I'm looking forward to the most is Beyond Good & Evil so I'm voting for that in the poll.
The best Switch eShop game you weren't able to review - reasonably so, but it's still unfortunate that's the case - is undoubtedly Moonstone Island for me, yet another game along with most of the ones mentioned in the article (they all interest me, but a couple of them less so compared to the others) I'm really looking forward to eventually playing!
Didn't download any of them bar Beyond Good and Evil. A slow month for me. Partly because I spent 2.5 weeks of it abroad. I'm not sure I'll download any of the others soon as they're not on my wishlist as of yet. Hope others enjoyed them, o'course.
Dicefolk is absolutely brilliant, I haven’t enjoyed an eshop game this much in awhile. The gameplay loop is utterly addictive, great battle system, wonderful soundtrack, and beautiful graphics. Agreed with your 9/10 score NL!
How is Star Wars: Hunters, has anyone else played it? I’m on the fence, but it looks enjoyable.
@silver-crescent agreed about Dicefolk! I haven’t beaten the main game yet but I’ve earned lots of monsties and improvements from getting far and losing boss battles.
I liked what little I played of Moonstone Island but it’s tough to play in handheld mode, the text and sprites are very small.
Nothing for me in June. Not sure if developers didn’t want to compete for time against Erdtree or what, but this month and last are barren to me
Rocket Knight is really fun if you are open to retro games! I recommend it!
@mattesdude it looks amazing, but is it as painfully difficult as I’ve read about?
@Keegsy it’s…not easy. I got better at it since we had it when I was a kid. (Well, we had RKA, so 1 of the games.) Since I had a lot of time and no money, you get good at what you have.
@mattesdude that’s a good point, I played a few games like that growing up too. And when you play mainly that, you start memorizing the challenges which help make it a little easier over time
@Keegsy I haven't played Dicefolk but I must trust my fellow Pikachu brethren
@NintonicGamer haha we stand together! It’s an amazing game, very unique
Beyond good And Evil is a very easy win for me. Nothing else comes close.
It's says "May".
Look at subtitle
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