Topic: Switch Physical Boxed Games List & Release Dates (US & CA)

Just popping in here to say how nice it is to see my fave furball @CANOEberry make an appearance! Our politics are aligned, and in this case there certainly is merit in bringing the topic up.

I import games frequently, so I thought I'd share my first post-de minimis experience with everyone.
Some peeps here may be aware that there were a whole lot of retro Switch games released in Japan in August. Over time, I had put in preorders for Castlevania Advance Collection Deluxe Edition, ACA NEOGEO Collection vols. 5 & 6, TOAPLAN Arcade Collection vols. 1 &2, and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, together with Super Robot Wars Y, all with release dates between July 31 and the end of August.

All together, it was about JPY 33,000 worth of games bundled into one package, shipping out from Japan on Aug 30th to to my address in the US. Sadly, Orange Julius Caesar ended US customs' tariff exemptions for "de minimis" shipments (those worth less than USD$800) on Aug 29th. Thanks to the resulting chaos, Japan Post and their excellent EMS service won't ship to the US. So I was forced to use DHL, which wouldn't even insure my shipment for more than JPY5,000 or so. Worse still, they made me prepay a roughly 20% tariff up front. So I paid JPY6,899 shipping, and JPY 7,740 in tariffs.
The good news is that the games delivered safely, at least.

Since last week, Super Rare Games in the UK announced they would pause all US shipments and orders from US-based customers. Then a day or two ago they announced they're resuming, but there will be a tariff surcharge assessed.

I haven't yet heard how shipments from places like Playasia and Strictly Limited Games in Germany are affected. Overall, it's just sad that shoppers in the US have to deal with these extra expenses. The de minimis exemption was in place since 1930, but now it seems the duty-free run is over.
Just another way the billionaire is helping us little people in the US!

Preorders for the next SRG bundle go live for club members today.

Spiritfall seems like a great start. Roguelite / Platform Fighter.

@Magician I was interested in this game, but after looking it up it's just battle room, after battle room with no real platforming levels, so no thanks

I apologize if this has been discussed here recently. I've been away for a while. How are yall handling the Switch 2 Game Key Codes vs the Switch 1 complete on cart? I have my eye on the Switch 1 version of Pac-Man World 2 RePac because it's on cart. I'm just really kinda anxious about making these types of purchases since a few of these games aren't running the best on Switch.

@ElRoberico, if you mean Game Key Cards, I highly recommend not getting any of them (I won't dictate how you spend your money though). Here's why: they're the worst of both worlds: they have the cons of both physical and digital.
The cons of physical:
Cartridge swapping when you want to play a different game
Chance of the cartridge breaking or eventually going dead because of old age
The cons of digital:
Being reliant on Nintendo's online servers to be able to redownload the game in the future
Usage of gigabytes in the console and SD card storage

There's also the con of not having the option to get a real physical since it's only Game Key Card or digital (or maybe an actual physical release on Switch 1).

And that is why even though I buy both physical and digital games, I will never buy a single Game Key Card. Hope this helps 😃.

@ShieldHero I'm familiar with those monstrosities. I was mostly asking if it's better to just buy digitally or buy the Switch 1 cart and upgrade if it's there.

@ElRoberico
FWIW, I’m navigating the GKC era on a game-by-game basis.

Most of my S2 purchases to date have been full physicals. I reluctantly bought Yakuza Zero and Star Wars Outlaws on key cards, though, as I wanted and I preferred the game dongle to just buying on e-shop (I could lend to a friend someday).

For Shadow Labyrinth and Pac-Man World Repac 2, I went with full physical on Switch rather than buy a compromised S2 version. But that’s partially because I’m really not picky about graphics or performance.
Everybody’s got different priorities. 😌

@Teksette Have you tried running Shadow Labyrinth on Switch 1? I could care less about graphics. It's more that it has a stable framerate.

@ElRoberico, oh, I apologize for mistaking what you were saying. I just read the words "Game Key" and I immediately thought of them 🤣.

@ElRoberico
I hadn’t tried playing S Labyrinth yet. I’ll give it a shot soon and lyk.

@Teksette thank you, my friend!

@ElRoberico
Good Morning amigo!
I slotted in my Shadow Labyrinth cartridge for a quick play on my OLED last night. It pushed an update notice at me right away, but I skipped to see how the 1.0 game performed.

Happily, I was pleased with the opening 15-20 minutes of the game, playing docked on my TV. The opening animation and game screens looked fine, and I didn't encounter any noticeable frame stutters. Granted, the action was pretty light and introductory at this point in the game. But the controls seemed snappy and I was motoring around in human and Pac-Man modes quickly enough. It felt good and the story opening was intriguing, with the foreboding little Pac-Man robot bossing you around. I probably would keep playing the game, if I wasn't hopelessly addicted to Hades II right now (I'm double-dipping on that one. Day one digital and I preordered a S2 physical copy for the collection & to share.)

Afterward, the update/patches for Shadow Labyrinth took the game up to version 1.0.4 (if I remember correctly) and took me about 7 minutes to download over wifi.

So the base Switch game seems fine enough, but when I do play S Labyrinth for real, I'll probably do so on my Switch 2 with the free downloadable upgrade. It's a shame Bandai wasn't so kind to offer that with Re-Pac 2.
I hope my first impressions were useful for you!

@Teksette This is exactly what I was looking for! Hopefully RePAC 2 runs well enough. Might have to place some orders soonish.

Assuming my latest order arrives at my doorstep today, I'll be crossing the 1,500 milestone in the collection. Should be a great start for the weekend.

@Magician Congrats my guy! Hope you've been doing well.

@Magician
That is an astounding collection! Even more so since you started a new count for your Switch 2 games.

All lumped together, my Switch/S2 physical game count actually just hit 500 last night, appropriately enough, with Mario Galaxy 1&2!

If I sort them out, I currently have 5 physicals for S2 (I'm not counting SW Outlaws and Yakuza Zero since they're GKC) and the other 495 are all Switch.

But I've still got 41 games preordered and "in-process." The oldest of which is Ray'z Arcade Chronology Ltd Edition from SLG, ordered in July 2022. I don't know if SLG will ever release that game! If I recall, you had some even older ones, though.

I'm still waiting on Dezatopia & Mecha Ritz paired with an order for Drainus.

Shipping this month...allegedly.

@Magician
Oh I’m waiting for Dezatopia & Mecha Ritz, too! Together with Eschatos and Ray’z, it forms my trio of unfulfilled 2022 SLG preorders.

I have a standard edition of Drainus on the shelf, but I think that’s because I imported from Japan.

Hmm, five months later than usual. Better late than never, I always say.

Makes me wonder if we'll get our first numbered Switch 2 release announced?

Probably no update on Superhot, Wolfenstein II, G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra, Braid: Anniversary Edition, etc.

@Magician
No need for LRG to synch their presentation with E3 anymore, I guess! It sure would be nice to hear updates on the Wolfenstein "all on the cart" edition, GI Joe, and that rumored Spelunky/Spelunky 2 physical. I'm keeping my hopes in check, though, given all the barriers to business erected here in the States for some reason.