Nintendo Wants To Know What Switch "Groups" You've Created Since The Latest Firmware Update

I created just one group: bomb-diggity. It's reserved for my top radical toobular games.

Some of the troll responses on Twitter are absolutely hilarious 😂

Personally, folders hold no appeal to me. Having my last dozen most recently played games easily visible works great. I do miss the more expedient setup from WiiU. Not sure why Nintendo went with the inferior PS4 layout for Switch.

I set up a group for classic games like the NSO SNES and NES stuff, Sega Ages, Doom, Quake, etc. Groups for Sonic, Super Mario, and Puyo Puyo. Also a group for favorite online games.

Very tempted to put all my cross-play games into one group, so they're all there.

I really like how you can put more than one game in a group, while folders on Wii U and 3DS could only hold a game in a folder and it had to be moved if I wanted it in a different folder. I think it's an improvement in that regards.

Gotta admit, as one step forward two steps back these folders are, I do love being able to track what games need finishing and what ones I havent even started yet more easily 💀

The one true folder, indie games!

I did Retro, Nintendo Biggies, Platinum Games, Indies, Sports, Puzzle/Music/Board, Horror, Demos and SRPG/4X.

For now those are my main categories I play and pretty much everything fits. The only thing I don't like is I don't have a definitive spot for Monster Hunter yet. And Hades seems to good for the Indie pile.

The folders didn't show up on main page like 3DS or Wii U.

Metroidvania (of course), 2D Games, Mario & Zelda, Strategy & RPG, and last, Demo. Oh, and I need to make Racing groups too 😃

I prefer folders that can be put on main screen but this groups feature is pretty good.

FPS for regular shooters. FPS puzzle or something like that for the unconventional FPS games. Platformer. Puzzle platformer. 3d platformer. RPG. Metroidvania. 3d action. 2d action. Perfect platformer for n++/super meat boy style games. Adventure. Puzzle. Music games. Shooter for bullet hell style SHMUP games. Multiplayer. Co op. Collections.

There may be a few others. I was just trying to divide stuff as best I can since I have over 500 games. Eventually I’ll make “crap” (most of the free quibic games I got) and “beaten” folders probably.

None, I didn’t have any on 3DS and only used them on Wii U to group VC games by console.

My first “group” is called Now if I Could Customize My Switch’s Background.

My second group is called I Wish I Could Have Groups on the Home Screen.

My third group is called Why the Hell Are My Folders Called Groups?

None. It's an extra step so I'll probably never use it.

None. I have only 6 games on my Switch.

Free games. Physical games. Digital games. retro games. Finished demos. Unfinished demos. Yet to be finished demos. Game trials. Draegus games. And baltoro games.
(Also wow people are still not happy at the fact they got folders because they aren’t on the home screen?)

So far a mario group.
A zelda group.
And a favourites group

I have to update my Switch, but from the top of my mind I plan to create folders for my backlog, for games I might/may play again, and for games I won't have a problem deleting if I ever need to free up space.

I did two:
Completed
To be completed

Aren’t these groups saved to the cloud for Nintendo to see?

Made one for NSO and called it Virtual Console!

@BenAV

this is why the library has all the books in alphabetical order on one long shelf, right?

@Greatluigi

if you don't know the difference between groups (tags) and folders, you cant be expected to understand my preference that they be on the home screen.

Not gonna lie, this was cool at first but then I realized it took less time to scroll to whatever game I want to play rather than go to groups.

Sorted.
https://i.imgur.com/CJ4vNPM.jpg

Haven’t done it yet, but plan on creating two: games i no longer have (sold or borrowed), demos. Basically, my plan is to hide games i don’t need to see at all any longer, but don’t want to delete the save data for. Demos that I haven’t bought and there’s a chance I’ll buy at some point, just in case saves carry forward.

So far I've made
-Physical Games (organized in the order I got them, it also has games I've borrowed, NSO Trials and DLC of games I don't have but I intend to get physically)
-Apps (Pokémon Home, YouTube, Crunchyroll, Pokémon TV)
-Demos
-Switch Downloads
-Retro (NSO, digital compilations and ports/remasters/remakes)
-SEGA AGES
-Nintendo Arcade Archives
-SNK Arcade Archives + ACA NEOGEO
-Konami Arcade Archives
-Jaleco Arcade Archives
-Shovelware (so far it only has Popeye, which I bought recently with My Nintendo Gold Points while it was on sale)

Once I get more of them, I'm also making a Picross group.

To be honest Nintendo none.

The folders don't even remove/hide games from the carousel, so what's the point? It's not even useful for keeping embarrassing games away from prying eyes... Not that I would know anything about that of course. Ahem.

I did single player, 2+ players, 4+ players, demos, backlog, online, pick up and play, NSO

I made 8 to fill in the page, though I have to admit they're almost entirely for show.

My groups are: Pokemon, Farming, Adventures, Tense/Scary, Mario, Retro, Puzzles, and Tabletop (for card games, board games, etc)

I'm really liking them and have made more than I care to admit, a lot more.

None yet. I gotta go update

@WaveBoy I've also had that debate with myself. I decided to keep them separate.

I just have one .... its called F-ZERO and its empty.....

📁Game Cards
📁E-Shop
📁ACA Arcade
📁Arcade Archives
📁Emulation
(This one is basically for the S/NES/MD/N64 Online Apps)

Haven't tried it yet. Not sure if I will honestly. I'll probably forget where I put games is my guess.

Beat em Ups
Retro Games
Games I play with my son
Game Collections
FPS
Point n Click
Fighting Games
New Retro (for modern games with retro inspirations)
Backlog

That’s it so far. It’s actually been fun just to go through my collection seeing how many titles fit into each category. And then picking the three titles I want to represent each group visually on the folders screen. I’ll end up sinking a lot of time into sorting games kinda like when I went through my trading card collections as a kid.

@BenAV

it's a valid metaphor, some people go to the library to browse, not to look up a specific book.

you've implied that you have no use for categorization, that's cool. I actually find that interesting because i'm nearly obsessed with it. i love having things organized and indexed, yet quickly accessible. it's so satisfying!

have a good one!

Two so far, Virtual Console and Virtual Console Japanese (i know I know, they aren't called Virtual Console). Going to make ones maybe by franchise or genre, and folders for the games i haven't started and ones that i haven't finished.

@Toshiro_Baloney I understand completely! I loved sorting my trading cards, then movies and cds, etc.

My folders so far:

Metroidvanias
RPGS
Horror
Racing
Classic Nintendo Games
2D Platformers
Open World
Action RPGs
Puzzle Platformers
Retro
Physical Games

I'm really glad this feature is finally here!

I ignore video games for a month and come back to finding out we finally have folders. Holy crap! NOICE

Favorites
Multiplayer
Kart Racers
Halloween
Unplayed(backlog)

@Greatluigi I mean for me, the fact that they aren’t on the Home Screen is more of a nitpick, other then that I couldn’t be happier.

It’s amazing, I can finally organize my backlog.

I guess the best use of Groups are games that your are Currently Playing, Backlog, and I guess by retro or indie games.
Sorting them in groups by genre, IMO, is kinda impractical since a lot of these games have more than 1 genre/sub-genres and it's pretty hard to keep track even if you group them all up and even if you can put a game in more than 1 group.

I have seen someone group their games in Kanban Board style: Backlog->Playing->Dropped->Finished->To Buy->Interested->Sold
Something like this.

@BenAV Same here. Main screen with what’s recently been played, everything else hidden away. Only exception may be ACA games which TBH are a bit of an eyesore.

Groups I've created include Nintendo, RPGs, Games with Friends, Favorites, NSO, 3D Platformers, F2P/Applications, and In-Progress/Backlog. I have more but I don't want this post to be any longer.

I've been organizing everything by genre for the most part, with the exception of retro games like ACA and Sega Ages.

So Far,

In no particular order.

Nintendo Games
Retro Games
Indie Games
Lego Games
Doom Collection
Retro Systems
Horror Games

Really cool feature, and love the layout of the folder thumbnail.

I made a group for all those free games I got during those December advent calendar promotions where you get a free game if you already own another by the same publisher...and that's about it.

I made one called Games, and put all my games in it … am I doing it wrong

They should have the groups/folders on the front screen when the console turns on.
What a stupid idea not have that happen.
Some GUI designers have no dam sense.

Zelda, Mario, Pokémon, Mega Man, jRPG’s, FPS, “Assorted Switch Gems”, Retro, Media Apps

@Bondi_Surfer : Ignore the inane warblings of the cuckoos. You’re the only one doing it right. 👍🏻

NintenDOOM - Rip & Tear

My folders:
Overpriced Wii U ports
Poorly performing versions of multiplatform games
Overpriced Capcom games
Shovelware

Retro Games
Pokémon
Indie

That's about as far as I got so far. I find it a bit disappointing that you can't add folders to the home menu.

So far from memory I've got: Arcade Classics, Console Classics, Nintendo, SEGA, Mario & Donkey King, Zelda & Fire Emblem, Pokemon, First Person Shooters, Third Person Action, Role Playing Games, Racing, Multiplayer. Work in progress, but so far it's already making narrowing down and finding the handful of my games that I really want out of countless hundreds unbelievably easier and much, much faster.

The main reason for separate groups for Pokemon, Mario & DK, etc. is because the Nintendo group itself, with all its games spanning lots of franchises, can be a bit of a mess and difficult to navigate. Because by comparison, for example, the SEGA group has far fewer games, I didn't create a separate Sonic category (plus, there are not enough Sonic games on Switch to do so).

Arcade Classics is almost exclusively arcade games (like the ACA NeoGeo and Arcade Archives lines) and compilations (like Namco Museum) of arcade games, and maybe a few sequels to traditional arcade games (although they may not have released strictly in arcades--like the recent Ghosts and Goblins game, and some of the more recent Pac-Man games).

Console Classics is where the NSO emulators, other compilations (like the poorly named Blizzard Arcade Collection and the Mega Man collections), as well as individual re-released classic console games go. But this is also more of a catch-all type group, where so far I've put all kinds of games that may not truly be "classic" or even old, but that don't exactly fit the true arcade description, and are of classic/traditional styles (like 2D sidescrollers/platformers, RPGs, etc.)

It's a start, but I'll probably continue to tweak and add groups. I'm contemplating whether I want to split Console Classics, or keep it one group--because many games, although newer do seem to fit well in there, and in some cases like a glove (like Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, Downwell, and many others that look and feel like they came right out from the 1980s or 90s and are not arcade games).

Some games span multiple groups. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for example, is under Nintendo, Racing and Multiplayer (and I think also Mario & Donkey Kong); and the Arcade Archives: Donkey Kong games and VS. Super Mario Bros. live in both Nintendo and Arcade.

I'm thinking about possibly creating a dedicated group for top-down/vertical and horizontal shooters, but if I do there will be a fair amount of overlap with Arcade Classics, so I don't know if that will happen.

My folders are: Nintendo 1st Parties (excl Mario), All Things Mario!, NSO Apps, JRPG Central, GC Era Retro Remasters, PS3/360 Ports/Remasters and Indies.
Still a bunch of games sitting in no man's land though.

Wish the folders were on the main home page rather than scrolling to the end and then going to the "groups" sub section.

Can you boot to the folder menu?

The irony is, after having quite descriptive and useful folders on my PS3 & PS4, I got used to having just the most recently played games immediately showing on the switch & PS5. So I’m happy to continue, especially as you can’t pin folders to the main screen.

The only folder I created was a ‘retro’ one, and then decided not to bother after that. Alphabetical order works for me (and I’ve got about 50 games installed, so manageable)

@EriXz uahahaha lol

Retro, thats the only one I've created, which seems to have half of my collection, ha.

I have created three groups...

Played
Playing
Oops

Played = games I've finished and not likely to play again anytime soon. I've now archived all of these.

Playing = evergreen titles like AC and MK and games I've not yet finished but do intend to finish.

Oops = games I've played for less than an hour, games I've not even started yet aka the backlog.

The Oops folder is full of all sorts from predominatly 2017-2020. I've been a lot more skeptical since 2020 and bought significantly less games - partly due to there being a much higher proportion of "rubbish" on the eShop that I just grew tired of sifting through.

My goal is try and stop putting games into the Oops folder. It feels like Nintendo's goal is for me to create another group called "Bigger Oops"!

@Gwynbleidd They probably want the social media engagement (free advertisement) rather than the data itself, to be honest.

In topic, I created, Nintendo, Xbox, Co-op, Arcade, Retro, and RPG, so far. I'm sure I'll create one's for genres and the like as I need them.

I have downloaded around 800 xbox games, 400 PS games, and 150 Switch games, so categorising (and not just placing in a box like folders do) is absolutely essential for my libraries.

Test
Then I saw we didn't get folders and how it's implemented, recognized it doesn't do what I want and deleted "Test".

I've made quite a few but the ones I actually think will be used are the multiplayer groups. I made one for local and one for online multiplayer games. I think it's neat to be able to list all multiplayer games whenever I have friends over so they can pick whatever they want to play more easily.

So far...
Pokemon
Mario
Zelda
Mega man
Sonic
Retro Games including (NSO & ACA)
OTHERS

So far, only…
PINBALL
QUICK GAMES TO PLAY

…I’ll make ARCADE and INDIES, too, at least, before long.

More than half my collection is physical, and I’m still in the process of plugging them into my new OLED to get them on the home screen. It’s still a little bare and not much fun to sort yet.

Pretty much just all the different genre types, favorites, first party, and indie folders. I find it's kind of redundant to group by a series like Sonic, for example, because if you filter your games alphabetically, the whole series is basically going to be grouped together in the filter anyway since all the games are pretty much called "Sonic ________".

Still processing my groups, lol. So far:

Mario
Zelda
Kirby
Indies (various favourites)
Pokemon
Puzzle
Fighting
Party
Nintendo games (various)
Full Retail Games (non-Indies)

I know people have been asking for folders for years but personally I don't see any use for them. If a game has dropped off the Home screen then it's unlikely I was that interested in playing it anyway, and if I do want to find an old game it doesn't take long to scroll through the All Software screen. So, no groups for me.

Here's mine:
Waifus
Calculators
Clock
Wii U Ports

Well, I created two. Then I realized you can't access them from the home screen, forcing me to go into my library before I can even pull them up. Plus, it doesn't allow you to unclutter your library by actually moving icons for games. They're still right there in your face, which makes it hard to remember what games you've already put where. Just all around pretty pointless. I mean, I see the use for some and it does help a little in the long run. But, "meh." 🤷‍♂️

Nintendo games, Sports, Pinball, Classic Older Games, Newer Classic Games, Lego Games. That's it so far

I’m really trying to like this folder system and appreciate the effort but I’m finding it pretty much useless.

@BaronMunchausen 3) Because normally you cannot put something into more than 1 folder.

The best categories I've come up with so far:

• backlog: games I'll probably never return to, but I've convinced myself I will.
• 50-hour-club: I know sorting by time played already brings these to the top, but something feels special when a game passes 50 hours. I want to see them all together.
• favorites: It's like putting the boxes of my favorite games out on a shelf, so I can go back and stare at them together and bask in the memories
• 2-player and 3-4-player: When I have company, now we can quickly see what's available at a glance, based on the number of people.
• I might do an "actively playing", but those just live on the home screen anyway, and it would take a lot of maintenance.

I need groups only for choosing what to play next, since games I'm playing are on the home screen. And for that, grouping by genre doesn't help much.

My groups:

• Started — on what I've spent at least an hour. In case I want to finish some of these. There are 15 games in there :I
• Under 5 hours — when I want to start something short and fun.
• Long games — that take 10 or more hours, when I need the next big game to spend a few months on.
• Metacritic 80+ — classic games I might want to experience.
• Multiplayer — when a child asks to play coop, or there are friends visiting.
• Physical — no idea why I made this.
• Finished — for when I need to free SD card space I guess.

@PtM

I’ll give you that one.

Backlog, deep backlog, pick up and play games, and "the junkyard."

can they just let me re-arrange the icons?
that's all I want.
like the 3ds.

I made a folder called "Games only Zeke plays"

That list includes Metroid Dread, Toree 3D, and Sega Ages Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

I've made six categories and I'm not quite done yet:

• Multiplayer Party
• Pokemon
• Indie Roguelikes
• Puzzle/Rhythm
• Big Time Nintendo S*** (except uncensored. yes, the switch lets you name groups whatever the hell you want), first party nintendo stuff not named Pokemon
• and honestly I made these things while half asleep last night so I can't remember the sixth category right now lol

And my god, gaming fans will never cease to impress me on what they'll complain about. Are you people actually mad that this feature is called "groups" and not "folders"? I wish that my life was so nice that something like that could possibly matter to me at all. I know I've had a big axe to grind about the gameplay of Pokemon, but this is seriously just a word on a screen that doesn't change the experience whatsoever. Sheesh. At least try a valid complaint like not being able to pin your folders to the main screen (seriously, nintendo, just put them to the left of the starting icon, it'd be perfect).

@MJF Make a group with all your games and rearrange them, then. There you go.

I created alphabetical groups plus one for the Switch Online service.

There was only a single folder I needed.

ECCHI

UNINSTALLED is a must xD

Just a few genre groups so far: Platformers, Fighting games and Horror games.

The question I have is why are they even asking us? Surely this information gets sent directly to them and they know exactly what the most commonly used phrases and names for groups are?

These are the groups I made so far. More or less mirrored the categorization I use for my Steam library, with some exceptions:

-Physical
-Digital
-Multiplayer
-Virtual Console
-2D Platformer
-3D Platformer
-Adventure (as in, point-and-click)
-Arcade
-Bullet Hell
-Demo
-Dungeon Crawler
-Fighter
-Fitness
-Open World
-Puzzle
-Racing
-Rhythm
-RPG
-Shooter
-Software
-Strategy
-Visual Novel
-World Builder

It took a couple hours to sift through the several hundred games and get them all sorted with the tagging, but it'll be nice to finally be able to go "I'm in the mood to play X type of game", and actually be able to figure out my options in seconds instead of potentially hours of aimless searching.

I only keep a handful installed at any one time. This limits the value of the folders since the games are not really there.

@Bret will it default to that folder when I turn on the switch?

Mine are mostly by genre, all the Nintendo 1st party games are on their own folders, and all the arcade archives are on their own as well.

@BenAV
You can but he is likely like me in being reluctant to do so just in case until the game is played.

That aside, I find it odd that your original comment implies that you thought how the sorting system was and lack of folders was acceptable.
It wasn't, while sure even if you have a lot of games it doesn't take that long to find but your then missing the ones that you potentially forget about because its such a mess. This is where folders (while I haven't created any yet) will be a godsend, it's such a simple valuable feature that I welcome with open arms.

@robr
Hmmm could you leave again then maybe we may get themes or gameplay tracker

F*** groups - Give me an interchangeable background instead of white or black 😡 We need themes already!!

@Rosona yes leave again lol THEMES!

None for me, thanks.
I can locate all the games I own already pretty easily, but with those with an overflow of games, I’m sure it’s great!

@MJF No, but it's obviously better than no sort whatsoever.

@chardir
I envy your ability to not purchase many games aha XD
That 12 is useless, especially you happen to be popping in games to get the gold points the play them at some point in the future.
While I get the point you're making, it just doesn't work for bigger libraries.

The amount of top tier games that I have adored, not finished then faded away due to new games (getting distracted and needing a break, so different genre or a time period break) is crazy.
I'm like a magpie really(fitting when I support Newcastle United) with a love of collecting, but also easily distracted by a new shiny thing even if it may end up not being so good.

@BenAV
It's easy to scroll through but definitely not to find the in 5 seconds.
Your entirely missing my point too.
But sure, it's evidently not for you, but is for many.

@BenAV

One of the biggest use cases of classifying things by genre/purpose, other than ensuring games don't become forgotten and being able to do simple compare/contrasts for things like which RPG out of several dozen you feel like investing time into on any given day, is quickly presenting the information to other people.

Simple example is having some friends over, and wanting to play a multiplayer game. How does one ensure that the friend knows what multiplayer games are available, without lengthy verbal explanations or verbal checklists (aka groups, only messier and harder to keep track of) that could take several hours to sift through? Game titles and image icons are not very useful for such matters. Especially so for games that are primarily single player, but have good multiplayer modes.

Chances are they'll just default to a "safe" option like Mario Kart 8 or Super Smash Brothers or something that has big brand recognition they immediately recognize or assume you have in an effort to save time, abandoning the idea of even trying to figure out what games you actually have available. The larger the collection, the more prominent the issue.

@Rosona Yeah, I quite understand. If I had to guess I'd say I have more games than the average Switch owner, but fewer games than the average NintendoLife commenter

If you have a big collection then I guess you'll enjoy putting them into groups, but I doubt it will have much effect on your "magpie" instincts

I like how people made a physical vs. digital group. I'll have to do that. Sometimes I just don't want to get up and change the card.

I found the process of sorting these to help me find a bunch of games I've been meaning to play... the big culprit is my "metroidvania" group (no 'vanias in there, though!)

I created a folder for myself and put the games I want to focus on there.

But also created a folder called "Family" and put all the games that we play as a family there. That way, when we decide to play a game together . . . all the main games we play are on a single screen.

So far..

Arcade
Arcade Archives
Classic Collection
F.P.S
Pinball
Point and Click
Puzzle
Racing
S.T.G
Sports
Twin Stick

Took an hour or so to sort through 5 years worth of games but I've got:

3D Platformer/Adventure
2D Platformer/ Metroidvania
Roguelite
Run n gun
Fighting
Beat em ups
FPS
Race
Horizontal Shmups
Vertical Shmups
Puzzle
Rhythm
Sport
Pinball

-Artfully Anime
-Big ol' Backlog
-Creative Castles
-Date Night Duo
-Incredible Indies
-Slice of Life Sims
-Turn Based Treasures
-Vast Voyages
-Zen Zone

Definitely got carried away with the alliteration and spent well over an hour organizing them, but it's a very much appreciated update for someone who has too many games.

@CactusMan I will never doubt your devotion to Cacti ever again.

The groups that I'm most excited about are "pile of shame", for games which I've never finished (often barely started) and which really deserve not to be hidden in the broader pile; "chillax" for when I'm on a plane or something and just want something low-stress; "game night" for the rare occasions when my mates come round for multiplayer action, and of course "retro" for that one other friend whose eyes glaze over at anything newer than Neo Geo or Street Fighter.
I have indeed gone a bit mad with power and created many more groups, but while lots of them are just exercises in categorisation for its own sake, a few like these ones will be invaluable in certain circumstances.

None. I’m fine with the sort of the all software page.

no groups created yet

Sees Smash bros in the the "Mario" category.

Technically it is not a Mario game.

Groups I've Made:
Mario
Online
Backlog
Kingdom Hearts (Yep, I bought the cloud versions, fight me)
Amogus (Only contains Amogus)

@Bret I wish it just defaulted to showing all of your games and let your rearrange that screen as you choose.
it seems so simple

I've made 2 groups: Trails & Ys
Bit of a Falcom fan over here!

Took them 5 years to put in the code to allow us to put things in folders, and they still didnt get it right. Even the Wii U has a better system for it; when you put games in a folder, they aren't shown on the home screen until you open up the folder. Utter useless!

Shmups, tactics, Racing, Mario, consoles, Sports

I made these:

TO-DO (Stuff I'm playing or need to play next/soon/etc.)
EXERCISE
ARCADE ARCHIVES
RETRO (NSO NES, SNES, etc.)
STREAMING
OTHER/ETC.

I made a bunch of boring groups to help organize my games that aren't worth mentioning, but the part that made me giggle is that immediately after I made "Relaxing" I made "Stressful". Something tells me I won't be visiting the latter all that often.

I live in the US here. I created a folder called ‘420 gaming’. No more wondering what to play when high, lol.

I built a different folder tier system for different types of multiplayer games:
Online 4+
Online Duo
Local Party
Online Party
4+ Players
Etc

complete or finish, and incomplete or unfinished