Kochambra

@BulbasaurusRex Yeah, that's a viable option for preserving digital versions, but it still has one big handicap: As far as I know, downloaded data is tied to a specific Switch account (it's encrypted with a unique key so that only that one account can access it). So the usefulness of that data in the long run would be totally dependent on the availability of the account.

...and the gaming landscape got poorer, once again. Fewer heads making decisions means less options, less diversity, less freedom. The mega-corp dystopia looms closer every day

@San_D Thank you for the clarification! Saving that info in the console's memory makes more sense.

Regarding backwards compatibility, Nintendo actually has a pretty good track record in that regard, compared to other console makers: Every single one of their consoles has been compatible with its predecessor's physical releases since at least the Wii/GBA days, which is particularly remarkable, considering that each one of those used their own physical format.
What allowed them to do this, is that each one of those consoles used increasingly more powerful versions of the same internal architecture. Wii was a more powerful Gamecube, so Nintendo could implement a Gamecube mode that booted up when the user inserted a GC disc, to run the older game. Same with Wii games on Wii U and with their handheld line (Game Boy->GBA->DS->3DS).
What about downloadable content? If you booted up your Wii U in Wii mode, you could access most if not all of your Wii purchases. This was not possible on Switch, mainly because they changed to a completely different hardware architecture.
Could they keep this backwards compatibility going forward? Only if they stick to the same architecture.
If for whatever reason, they decide to change to a different architecture for their next console, every game will need to be ported to run on it. And of course, those developers (be it the Shovel Knight guys or whomever) will want to get money for that additional work.
Valve has it way easier in that regard, because backward compatibility is more or less guaranteed in the PC space, and it's not even their responsibility (it falls mainly on hardware manufacturers, Microsoft and the Linux guys), although they do contribute with SteamOS and their compatibility layer for Linux.
So when Steam users purchase a game that runs on Windows, they're more or less guaranteed that the game will run on whatever Windows PC that they own, without any additional work on the developer's part. Of course, this isn't always true with such a diverse ecosystem, but it works well enough for most of the cases, so there's usually no need for additional work/additional sales.

TLDR: Keeping purchases going forward will only be possible if future Nintendo consoles stick to the same hardware architecture as the Switch.

I really enjoyed Sherlock Holmes: Sins & Punishments. The Sinking City wasn't bad either. Both run pretty well on Switch. I already bought The Devil's Daughter and hopefully will be playing it sometime this month.
All this is to say: This is a really good development team with a history of producing games with their own distinct touch. The fact that they're somehow being able to go on with their work despite the invasion of their country is both amazing and inspiring.

@Mario500 Regarding the expression I used: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/To+Each+Their+Own
And about the use of "their" as a singular pronoun: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/they

@San_D Is the information about there being a patch stored in the cart, though? One of the big changes between Switch carts and those of previous Nintendo systems is that on Switch, save data is stored in the console's internal memory, which makes it possible to use cheaper to produce, read-only carts. Would they bother to add a writable portion to Switch carts, thus making them more expensive to produce, just to provide what seems like a pretty pointless feature?
Regarding patches, that's were reviews and post-launch online information comes into play. If a game releases in a state that I find unacceptable, I know that's not a game I want to buy physical. If whatever bugs there are, I don't find particularly bothersome, I can go physical.

On the subject of the eShop becoming like Steam and carrying your purchases to the latest hardware, I think it's unlikely. Not taking into account whether Nintendo would be willing to do it or not, there's a big technical problem that Steam doesn't have: Hardware/platform compatibility. PCs have evolved a lot since the first 8086-powered models, but the platform has stayed pretty consistent, so a 10yo game will in all probability run on modern hardware without any modification. A 10yo Nintendo game was developed for a completely different hardware architecture. For any Wii or Wii U game to run on Switch, you would need to either port it or emulate the original platform, assuming that second option would even be feasible. So a Steam-like system would be extremely harder to implement.

@miwa That's a good argument for buying physical, too.
Also, you can lend physical games to your friends and family.

@Orokosaki We will have moved on to other consoles only if we choose to do so.
I really like my Switch, but what if I don't like whatever consoles become available in the future? What if, even if I like them, I decide that enough is enough with this constant hardware upgrade cycle that's giving us increasingly less noticeable graphical improvements? I may decide that my Switch is the last console I'll ever purchase and that I'm cool playing my physical games on it until the thing breaks down. In that scenario, I'd rather depend just on hardware durability (and the availability of spare parts), than depending on that and also on Nintendo's decisions regarding game downloads.

And even if I decided to move on to new consoles, there's no guarantee that these games will be available for them. And this concern is specially relevant with licensed games. For example, is there any legitimate way to purchase and play in modern consoles games like Capcom's Cadillacs and Dinosaurs or Treasure's Astro Boy: Omega Factor (to name a couple of them that I would love to play again)?

They also updated some translation errors, apparently.

@Orokosaki I'd rather have my perfectly functional physical copy when/if Nintendo decides to shut down all Switch online services, including game and update downloads. To each their own.

Damn, I was hoping for Gals Panic.
Now that's an erotic arcade game well worth revisiting! Excellent gameplay, kind of an evolution of Taito's Qix. I hope whoever owns the rights to that game right now, follows the example of these guys and releases a Switch version.
Bring Gals Panic back, please!

KOTOR may be more of a crowd-pleaser but I actually find KOTOR2 to be the more interesting of the two. It plays really well as a classic Star Wars story, while also pointing out how reductionist the light side-dark side dichotomy really is.
Even with the clunkiness derived from its rushed development schedule, this may well be my favorite Star Wars game.

A new adventure by Wadjet Eye Games? Yes, please! They've released some of the very best point-and-clickers in recent years

Quite a few excellent and very sad games in this list. Night In The Woods, Firewatch, Gone Home, Link's Awakening and What Remains of Edith Finch all made me cry at one point or another. Although the top price in that regard would probably belong to To The Moon. Such an emotional story!

Kreia is back!
Now that I think about it, KOTOR2 might well be the last new piece of Star Wars media that this old fan really enjoyed. Which seems fitting, considering the approach the story takes to the franchise's established lore.

Ghost Trick!
A new Zack & Wiki would be nice, too.
I miss the times when Capcom allowed itself to be quirky and experimental.

I'm getting started with Rune Factory 5 (now discounted in the European eShop). I can see how the game's many intertwining mechanics could be overwhelming for a newbie like me, but it does a pretty good job with easing the player in. So far, I'm liking what I see.
I may also throw in a little Cotton Reboot and Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade, for variety's sake.

Cotton Fantasy and Goetia 2 for me! I really enjoyed previous games in both series

@SwitchForce If memory serves me right, the original was released on Amiga and PC (with dazzling VGA graphics ). First on floppies and later on CD with spoken dialog.

@Vyacheslav333 And Loom! And The Colonel's Bequest!

Both "To the moon" and "Night in the woods" feature some of the very best storytelling I've ever encountered in games. Genuine cream of the crop material IMHO.

My vote goes to Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter

@MattAllsopp Sure! I guess both the owners of the Timberline and the Overlook get their supplies from the same provider! XD

Finished and loved Kirby and the Forgotten Land, but now I'm up for something completely different:
The Suicide of Rachel Foster
So far, I'm enjoying the explore-the-creepy-abandoned-hotel gameplay.
I'll also throw in a few rounds of Cotton Reboot and WarioWare: Get It Together! for good measure.

@Stocksy So I'm either agreeing with you or failing? Wow!
I though you might be interested in having a conversation about this subject, but it looks like you're looking for a fight. Not interested. Have a nice day.

@Stocksy ID Software encouraged modding because it fit their business model just right. Their IP, their choice.
Other developers discourage modding because they see it as counterproductive to their business model. Again, their IP, their choice.

I wonder if they'll manage to make the story even more pointlessly convoluted.

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter for me. If it's as good as SH: Crimes & Punishments, I'm in for a treat

I'm okay with this delay. Take the time you need and don't crunch, developers.

@Ogbert Same here. It looks really good.

@victordamazio "Curse of Monkey Island is still widely considered the best in the series"
Mmm... "widely considered" by whom, precisely? Sure, it's a really good game, but I don't think it's up to the standard set by the first two games.

The world would be a better place without all of these so-called "cinematic universes"

So... is this game actually worth getting? From what I've read about it, the soundtrack is excellent, but other than that, it's nowhere near the high standards set by Chrono Trigger.

@CharlieGirl Yeah, too many of these games seem to be made from an extremely cynical mindset: "Here's the required quota of T&A. Give us your money!".
I've encountered a few exceptions, though, such as the original Gal's Panic, which gave us a pretty good update of the gameplay mechanics of Taito's Qix.

@Tobiaku Bringing up Dream Daddy would make sense if that game involved shooting male high schoolers and stimulating their erogenous zones. But it doesn't; there's no erotic content featuring high schoolers of any gender in Dream Daddy, which is the main aspect of Gal*Gun that many could consider "problematic".

Streamed concert? Cool! I hope they include Stellar Way and other delightful tunes from Kirby's Epic Yarn in the program

I'm currently playing Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments and it's turning out to be one of my favorite detective games in quite a while. IMHO a better game than what this article's slightly dismissive write-up seems to suggest.

@veseo I'm playing mostly handheld on a regular Switch and it plays well; no problems with text being too small or anything like that.
It's also fluid enough. This being a slow paced game with relatively small environments, I didn't notice any slow downs or frame drops; only some small texture glitches in a few places.
Load times are not the fastest, but the game uses a clever device to disguise them: You see Sherlock traveling in a carriage and you can use that time to review the case facts, the clues you've gathered so far and your deductions.
All in all, I'd say it's a pretty good port and it works well in handheld mode.
Also, the episodic nature of the game fits portable gaming pretty neatly

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is turning out to be a delightful surprise. A really good detective game that captures the feel of Conan Doyle's creation and offers some really cool mechanics too. I love the deduction mechanic and the fact that they actually allow you to make wrong choices. Really worth playing, in my opinion.
Also, I bought it before the invasion, but it may be worth getting it to support Ukrainian developers, too.

I actually played and enjoyed POE1 on Switch and was looking forward to playing the second one too, so this announcement is a bit of a bummer

I already got Primordia. Any Wadget Eye Games release is very welcome in my Switch. Fingers crossed for the Blackwell series
As for the rest of this week releases, Quest for Infamy looks pretty enticing. I used to enjoy the Quest for Glory games back in the day.

Tiny jumping enemies? Ugh! That definitely sounds daikatanaesque. Nice to hear the game gets better than that!

"Not interested in Chocobo GP? Let's change that!"
Actually, this FTP-like nonsense makes me LESS interested in the game.

Personally, I find emulation of current, still commercially viable systems, morally dubious. But MAME was never about that.
I'm not the biggest MAME expert, but it gives me a warm feeling to know that the MAME team is still out there, doing invaluable work for video game preservation. Thank you very much!

I bought it at its original price. Totally worth it, in my opinion.
For this price, it's a bargain.

So Konami keeps on konaming, as was to be expected.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments for me. Frogwares already did a good job with The Sinking City on Switch, and it looks like this is one of their best efforts

@Gwynbleidd Thanks for the info!
I do own a laptop with a decent NVidia card, good enough to run this game and according to the ProtonDB site, it should run well enough on Linux. The thing is, I already spend way too many hours of my day sitting in front my laptop for work reasons (and right now, for visiting gaming sites reasons ), so I don't feel like spending even more of my leisure time sitting on a chair in front of the thing. The Switch's flexibility (and its uselessness for work) is much more convenient in my case.
A Steam Deck may become a viable option for me in the future, but right now, I remain sceptical for a number of reasons. It has the potential to be a pretty cool option for portable gaming, but I'm not so sure it would fit my gaming habits and preferences. I'll wait and see.

@Gwynbleidd In my case, it's a choice between paying 6€ for the PC version and probably never getting around to playing it, or paying 24€ for the newly released Switch version and actually playing the game.

Having enjoyed Frogwares' The Sinking City quite a bit despite its flaws, I'm more than ready to give this game a try, since it's considered one of their best releases and the Switch port seems to be at least as good as their previous one.

This actually looks quite decent. I like that it's not just another samey Mario Kart clone.

@Andgiles61 Release discount. Pretty standard practice in the eShop in the last few years.

"We just got bought by M$!"

Sound great! This one goes straight to the wish list
Now, if only the Parodius series got this kind of treatment from Konami...

@InvisiBulbasaur "Rather than quietly delisting it everywhere all at once and only addressing this after the fact, Asmodee has removed (willingly or reluctantly) a few different versions of the game, and then announced the dates the remaining versions will no longer be available for purchase."
If they still have the rights to sell the Switch version (in all likelihood, because it was released later), why should they delist it at the same time as all other versions? And if this gradual delisting were just a clever trick to sell a few more copies, wouldn't they leave the Steam version for last, since it's the one with the biggest potential market?
And it seems to me like the reason for their silence about their reasons may well be the same "very boring corporate reasons" you mention as a reason for the delisting: a Non-Disclosure Agreement, quite probably.
Even your low stakes, non-paranoid conspiracy theory seems unlikely to me.