eShop Selects July 2025 top three
Image: Nintendo Life

Another month down, another eShop Selects to welcome in the new one.

Yes, hello folks, it's your regularly scheduled eShop Selects, this time for July 2025. As always, we're looking at the best of the rest — the best eShop exclusives you may have missed on Switch 1 and Switch 2. Yes, other games besides Donkey Kong Bananza did come out, you know?

A Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase has kept the future looking bright for both consoles, so let's peel through the rules because we have a good one this month; our writers and contributors vote for their top three games from our pile of reviews of eShop exclusives that launched in July 2025. Those games are then scored (with 1 getting the highest score, 3 the lowest), then we tally the results up and the trio with the highest total make our top three.

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Wait, what are you doing smashing through the ground? Get back here and check out the results!

Honourable mentions

Before we dive in, yes, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is missing here, we know — review codes for the Switch release weren't available until launch day (the very last day of the month). So, we promise we're beavering away to get our impressions to you, but that's why you won't see it included below.

(Update: And, hey, our review is out now and it's really good - but Switch performance is hit and miss!)

Overall, nine games made the cut for votes this month. Everything below scored at least a 7/10 or above, so here's what just missed out on the podium:

3rd Place - Time Flies

Here's an odd gem we've had an eye on since a Day of the Devs stream a few years ago. Time Flies is a philosophical tale about a fly who only has a short amount of time to live. What can they do in that small slice of life they were handed from birth? Whatever they want.

Did you know flies can get drunk? Or make music? Or not be annoying? And look, we're not saying the timing of releasing after Mario Paint arrived on NSO (with that fly swatting game) was prophetic, but... okay, look, the art style is so similar.

Time Flies is short, sweet, and an excellent 8/10 pick-up for the Switch.

2nd Place - Monument Valley 3

The Monument Valley series feels like a no-brainer for Switch, but amazingly, it took until this year to get any of the games on the hybrid series. Fortunately, the newest entry, Monument Valley III, followed soon after. And it's just as excellent.

The lack of touch controls might be a dampener, but there's some incredibly thoughtful and clever puzzling to experience here. It's also beautiful to look at, with stunning uses of colour and perspective to make each puzzle shine. it might be the easiest of the trio, but it's still well worth a go.

Have a read of our review if you want to know more; it more than earned its 8/10.

1st Place - Patapon 1+2 Replay

There was a clear winner for July, with the PSP's darling making a bold multiplatform comeback courtesy of Bandai Namco. That's right, it's all about 'pata-pata-pon-pon!' Congratulations to Patapon 1+2 Replay, which got votes from all but one participant.

If you have no idea what Patapon is, you're basically an invisible entity commanding a group of strange creatures to the beat of their music. They'll react to your drum beats and run, guard, attack, and rush. Every single song is a complete earworm, and with all the helpful little features added into this version, both games have never played better.

We may have scored it a 7/10, but it's still marched its way into our hearts.

< Nintendo eShop Selects - June 2025

Do you agree with our ranking? Tell us about your favourite eShop releases of last month by voting in our poll and sharing your thoughts in the comments.

What's your favourite Switch / Switch 2 eShop game from our July 2025 picks? (145 votes)

  1. Arcade Archives 2: Air Combat 22 (Switch 2)3%
  2. Dear me, I was... (Switch 2)6%
  3. Handy Hockey (Switch 2)6%
  4. Misc. A Tiny Tale (Switch eShop)6%
  5. Monument Valley III (Switch eShop)10%
  6. Patapon 1+2 Replay (Switch)34%
  7. System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster (Switch eShop)23%
  8. Time Flies (Switch eShop)6%
  9. The Wandering Village (Switch eShop)6%

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.