
Happy new year readers! Okay, so we're over a week into 2023 already — you might be moving on from last year, trying to look ahead to the best to come. But we just need to look back at 2022 one last time for the best eShop games in December.
Now, December is normally a quiet month for game releases — but Nintendo had to drop five short little indie showcase videos in its festive House of Indies series right before Christmas. Some of those had shadow drops in them which made our wallets feel even lighter than usual at this time of year. We're truly spoilt!
Before we jump into the best of December 2022, let's address one of those shadow drops, a game that many had been anticipating for a long time — Sports Story — which we said in our review that "there’s no denying that it feels like quite a letdown after years of waiting". Hopefully, that new patch has fixed some things up!
Well, with that out of the way, here are our eShop Selects for December!
Honourable Mentions
As a special late-holiday treat, we widened the field to include some of those 7/10s we gave out late in the year — which included a couple of those shadow drops. Our plan going forward is to largely stick to 8/10s, but this time, we wanted to highlight more games than usual. So, let's have a look at what just missed out on our top three:
- Aka | Review: 7/10
- Jitsu Squad | Review: 7/10
- Kaiju Wars | Review: 7/10
- Melatonin | Review: 7/10
- Papetura | Review: 7/10
- Railbound | Review: 8/10
- River City Girls 2 | Review: 7/10
- The Rumble Fish 2 | Review: 8/10
- Sail Forth | Review: 7/10
- Samurai Maiden | Review: 7/10
3. Inscryption (Switch eShop)
There should be no surprises seeing this on the list. 2021's critical darling Inscryption is a deck-builder in disguise, a game that plays games with you. While you'll have to play cards in the game (within a game within a game), the meta, the horror, and the weirdness are what make Inscryption so special. You always know you're on for a wild ride when you play a Daniel Mullins game, and this one is no exception. It's delightfully clever, and it feels right at home on the Switch. it was well worth the year-long wait.
It got an 8/10 from us, which is a pretty darn good hand for a Switch port that came just over a year later.
2. Chained Echoes (Switch eShop)
One of the few modern-day indie J-inspired RPGs that we can confidently say feels like a SNES game, Chained Echoes is a blend of all of the best elements of some of the 16-bit classics while forging its own identity with modern conveniences, passion, and heart. The battle system is snappy and unique; the maps are large and a delight to explore; and you can ride mechs! There's a lot to love — and this was all developed largely by one person. Madness!
Chained Echoes got a 9/10 from us, which is well deserved. If you love classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and even PS1 favourites like Xenogears, give this a go.
1. Lil Gator Game (Switch eShop)
But, for the NL team at large, we were looking for something nice and cosy over the holiday period. Something that could warp us back to our childhoods, where our imagination could run wild and we could create our own adventures, run around, and dress up. Lil Gator Game is just that.
Short and sweet, while truly creative, Lil Gator Game is evocative of the best parts of our childhoods. It captures the warm, carefree nature we all felt when we were running around and having fun as littluns. And the lovely, cel-shaded visuals and autumnal landscapes match perfectly with the tone of the game.#
With an 8/10 from us and a hearty fanbase here at Nintendo Life Towers, Lil Gator Game is our to eShop Select of December 2022.
< Nintendo eShop Selects - November 2022
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 25
Nice month
River City Girls 2 10/10 (I mean when I buy it and play it but it's a pending score thanks to the 1st installment)
@ComfyAko Still gotta get the first one, looks great.
@KevRin It is, in my opinion, the best beat em up in history. Clean combos, stats increase, crispy graphics and gorgeous music. The music alone is worth it, every single vocal track in this game is a masterpiece. Not to mention fun characters.
Just an observation, and maybe an inaccurate one, but it feels like the standard has dropped over the last 12 months in the scores the games mentioned in this article get. Didn't it used to be that even the also-rans would be 8s and 9s? Like nearly everything would get stuck on my wishlist while reading this article. Seeing a lot more 7s recently.
Not a complaint or dig, just an observation.
Haven't bought Chained Echos yet and look forward to getting around to it one day but regardless it's got to be Inscryption from me this time. Brilliant game.
Voted for Chained Echoes, personally. I like what I’ve seen about it, at least more than Lil Gator. Wasn’t really a month where I played many new titles
I liked lil gator game lots, but it's mostly the winner because I played inscryption on pc already. Also a great game, even if not every... 'style' sticks the landing. But lil gator game was great, mindless fun for how long it lasted. I'll get to chained echoes some other time on sale.
All these years of anticipating Sports Story and its not worth even acknowledging in the monthly indie highlights…
Ultimate Pixel Cup Soccer. It's a fun footy game and career mode is a riot - from dogs invading the pitch to Corrupgol forcing you to play behind closed doors.
Something nice, cozy and reminiscent of my childhood, for me, would be River City Girls 2
Only new release I played last month, but gonna bring up The Punchuin again for being a brief but addictive burst of fun
I don’t understand how they could give Lil Gator Game #1 over Chained Echoes. I saw one review for Lil Gator Game, and that was it. They had multiple articles praising Chained Echoes in addition to the review, and the score was also higher. Personally, I think Chained Echoes should have gotten #1. It’s an excellent game.
I haven't played any of these because I didn't buy much in December; technically my top eshop game was a cheap impulse buy Roller Katz: BF just because there was nothing to compete with 😝. That was a sub-par sonic-like I rated 5/10, although it was briefly entertaining.
Chained Echoes looks good and I may play it eventually when there is a sale and my rpg queue is smaller. River City Girls 2 is another on my wishlist since I enjoyed the first game. I also threw samurai maiden onto my wishlist but I would want a steep sale for that one. As for the rest of the top 3, I'm not much of a horror game person and although I've loved similar games like a short hike , something about the art style in Lil Gator game rubs me the wrong way and I'm not sure why--I want to want it, I just don't for some reason.
The correct answer is The Punchuin.
Don't wanna be an echoCHAINEDer but Decembers winner was obvious.
Including the honourable mentions, I have only two of those games. Chained Echoes (voted for this) and Rumble Fish 2. Of what I have played, both are good. Inscryption is on my wishlist. I may download Rivers City Girls 2 in a steep sale.
Chained Echoes is absolutely incredible and gets my vote.
My game of December is without a doubt Arcade Archives BUBBLE BOBBLE if we include retro releases. It’s cheatin’ a bit because BB is in my top3 games EVER, it’s just perfect. If we exclude that, INSCRYPTION was fan-tas-tic!
Enjoying Sports Story despite the bugs - and running better now since the patch. A nice relaxing background kind of game.
@Kyloctopus True, and if it wasn't as buggy as they're saying it might've been. Which is a damn shame since I love the first one.
Playing through chained echoes as we speak. A shame what happened to sports story. I ended up getting a refund.
Chained Echoes is a pretty great game so far.
Astronite for me
Still have to get any of these games, but I voted for Chained Echoes since it's the one I'm looking forward to the most.
That said, I'm more or less interested in the majority of these, December was a great month for Nintendo eShop releases in my opinion!
Chained Echoes
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