Spring has sprung, and so has the next edition of eShop Selects.
This time, we're looking at the best hidden gems — as voted for by Nintendo Life staff — alongside a separate poll for the Reader's Choice for March's eShop releases. You'll see the winner of the latter at the bottom of the article.
We've been trialling the Readers' Choice for a few months now, and for April's eShop Selects, we'll be changing how we release the Readers' Choice vote. Instead, we'll be sharing the poll alongside the eShop Selects post instead of beforehand.
Aaaanyway, let's spring into action, shall we?
Honourable mentions
We've had reviews growing out of our ears this month despite it being a "quieter" one. What is a quiet release month in 2024, eh? We included games we scored 7/10 or above in the staff poll this time around; here's what didn't quite make the top three.
Nintendo Life's honourable mentions
- Krimson | Review: 7/10
- New Star GP | Review: 8/10
- Open Roads | Review: 7/10
- Otxo | Review: 7/10
- Rebel Transmute | Review: 8/10
- Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley | Review: 8/10
- Top Racer Collection | Review: 7/10
3. Berserk Boy (Switch eShop)
With speed to rival Sonic and transformations to match Mega Man, Berserk Boy nails the retro 2D-style platforming and gunning that we're constantly champing at the bit for. Nailing that 16-bit aesthetic, Berserk Boy is delightfully fun and replayable, blending traditional SNES platformers with some Metroidvania backtracking. It launched at the beginning of March, and we highly recommend you check it out if you haven't already — we scored it an 8/10 in our review.
2. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (Switch eShop)
The second game in Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is an incredible compilation and history lesson on one of the most unique figures in the industry today. We're still in love with the idea of these interactive documentaries that allow you to play the games and learn about the people behind them. You have to play these games as you go through Minter's life because tracking the development of these games in order is a joy. We gave Llamasoft a 9/10 in our review. A gold star, indeed.
1. Pepper Grinder (Switch eShop)
Drill Dozer fans, wherever you are — you need to check out Pepper Grinder. This sort of spiritual sequel is full of charm, colour, and personality, bursting with fantastic level design and unique mechanics which see you play as a pirate exploring the world with her drill. If this sounds even remotely fun to you, then you better head to the eShop and check out the demo. We could also take twice as many levels, or a sequel, or something else from this unique platformer. Pepper Grinder drills down and strikes gold, and we awarded it a 9/10 in our review. It's a more than worthy winner in our staff eShop Selects poll this month.
eShop Selects Reader's Choice Winner (March 2024)
WINNER: Death Trick: Double Blind
Lots and lots of games got your votes this month, but the clear winner of the Readers' Choice poll is a game that featured in an Indie World Showcase last year — Death Trick: Double Blind. Winning with 17% of the votes, Death Trick sees you swapping between two different perspectives to help solve a mystery at the circus.
Lots of other games tied for second place — a couple of rereleases among the pack — but the two that stood our are two hits that are both on Steam and have proven a hit with readers.
Reader's honourable mentions
< Nintendo eShop Selects - February 2024
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 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 14
Pepper Grinder and Berserk Boy are on my wishlist. I wasn't 100% sold on the controls in the Pepper Grinder demo, but it was certainly interesting and very creative so I want to give it a further try.
I don't think I actually bought any March games so far apart from Princess Peach Showtime which doesn't count for this poll but I loved it and rated it 9/10.
As a side comment, although I like the reader's choice, I feel like not that many people both buy these more obscure eshop games instantly and at full price and also complete them (enough for a review) before the first day of the next month. This is part of what leads to so few votes. I don't know the best way to deal with this, although having them every other month is one idea... Or every month but off-shift by one month so you are voting for April games at the end of May instead of at the end of April? I don't know; it would be really interesting if those polls could get 100s of votes instead of 10s but perhaps that is unrealistic.
Another very good month in terms of smaller-scale eShop releases; I've had my eye on Death Trick ever since it got shown off at that Indie World from a while back, Berserk Boy looks like the perfect game to grab once I'm done with my current Mega Man marathon and Pepper Grinder have been on my wishlist for AGES. Really hoping to get PG especially before the year's end (preferably after making my way through Drill Dozer beforehand XD).
Death Trick: Double Blind is the only I've played and is a detective/mystery visual novel with the twist that it has quite of challenge to it, not like games in the genre usually have.
There's actually a really good challenge if want to see the ending (which I personally haven't yet as I probably wasn't smart enough - but I'll get back to it).
If you like games like Jake Hunter Detective Story games(the second Nintendo DS one is the best)/visual novels , I would definitely recommend Death Trick: Double Blind as it's really good and not that expensive.
Pepper Grinder is a bit overrated from what I’ve played, but it’s my pick for last month. I do like Berserk Boy as well, both of them were good for me, just not quite great. Neither one is a year end top 10 contender, you know? Not everything needs to be though. They’re fun games.
Quiet month. Pepper Grinder and New Star GP downloaded and both decent so far. Moomin Valley and Death Trick still on wishlist bench for now.
Pepper Grinder was great.
Crypt Stalker was a nice time too, actually.
I really wanted to like Contra more, but it needed more time and care. I didn't pick up anything this month.
Crypt Stalker is the only one of interest to me. I haven't played it yet but I did buy it.
@NintendoByNature Crypt Walker was a surprise for sure.
@FishyS I have this same issue as I wishlist or backlog games that release far more than I actually play, so I can't answer these question accurately.
@FishyS your side note makes complete sense.
I usually vote for a game (if any) that caught my interest. But for most games I'd first wait for reviews/demos and even a physical edition. And only then does it get a number in my backlog XD
I'm guessing everybody is choosing games for different reasons here.
I'm still curious about Krimson, but yeah, first I'd like to try it, seems pretty going-all-the-way kind of game, it clicks or it doesn't. I like how brutal it seems but it could also be too much.
Really enjoyed pepper grinder. Still got the time trials to do though, which is were most my time will probably be spent on it as its a very short game.
Might get berserk boy at some point down the line too.
Rebel Transmute deserves more love.
Pepper Grinder deserves the love it's getting.
@MeloMan especially for a few bucks. 3 campaigns. Only did the 2 main ones though and didn't finish the handheld one.
Haven't played any of these games yet, but I'm looking forward to giving most of these a try, especially Pepper Grinder (voting for it in the poll) and Death Trick, love to see them winning in their respective categories!
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