Unremarkable Switch Games I Really Like

*Intro - Sonic/Maneater/Digimon music*

"The Nintendo Switch is the best console ever... that's portable... and plays physical games... and is made by Nintendo... in the past decade."

Okay it is my favorite console, in no small part because of the massive library of physical games perfect for consuming one's precious space and disposable income. But don't worry about me, I can live off potatoes and sleep in my car.

Still, it's one thing to buy Mario games to set on the shelf and look important. 

*Video of scrolling across great Mario games before selecting something awful.*

It's quite another to rationalize the shlock, the licensed, the unremarkable... 

"Which really isn't a great word for it, I just needed something slightly negative and very arbitrary for what's really a pretty random group of games."

But please, let me try to explain myself... temporary insanity, perhaps.

*2 second transition - Section 1 - Reel Fishing music*

Have you ever played a fishing video game and thought "Dang, these quicktime events could really use some RPG elements, cooking and crafting, and maybe a slightly supernatural visual-novel narrative? Reel Fishing: Days of Summer leaps bravely from the safety of its fishing-sim platform into this weird genre cesspool... and it actually kind of works. The tame cover art and summary completely undermine the weirdness within, like it's begging for a bargain bin. To that point, it is cheap, and mildly enjoyable in short, infrequent spurts.

If the oversimplification of multiple gameplay styles isn't your thing, how about weirdly specific niches with steep learning curves. Korg Gadget is PC Digital Audio Workstation software for Switch, a.k.a. neat little music-maker! It's technically physically exclusive, and good at what it does! But it's also a cut-down mouseless touchscreen version of PC software, on the Switch.

Speaking of gameplay ramp, Digimon World: Next Order is a not-innovative, unforgiving entry in the monster-raising RPG series. Also, any licensed game can feel "unremarkable" if you don't like the property (or grew up with more than one TV channel). But it's a solid game in a neat subgenre. Skip the $100-plus NTSC cart and go Steam, PS4, Vita, or the $40-ish PAL Switch import that's on my wishlist... in case anyone's still looking for my Christmas gift.

I like all 3, but they are a bit weird, niche, fishing sim visual novel RPG. The sweet potato and air mattress of recommendations, they have unique use cases, hence a discretion-needed 3-out-of-5 stars.

*2 second transition - Section 2 - Different Sonic/Maneater/Digimon music*

Last Digimon game, I swear! Because we'll talk about Survive later in a sequel episode, Surprising Games I Don't Like, just as soon as I finish up the series prequel, Plain Ol' Whelming Games By Which I Am... Whelmed.

*Pull Cyber Sleuth and Survive off the shelf, Survive in front, but then drop survive in the trash below.*

But what a shame if you'd like a simple-but-accessible Shin Megami Tensei, but ignored Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Complete Edition because of that whole... Digimon thing. It's actually completely unrelated to the franchise except the lil buggers themselves, who are great fodder for this 100-ish hour monster-meshing JRPG.

It's still in the seemingly-unremarkable-licensed bucket, but Yu-Gi-Oh Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution is kind of opposite to the Digimon-disconnected Cyber Sleuth. After an integral 2020 update, this game is a shamelessly pure snapshot of, and marriage between, the entire trading card game and anime up to that point in time. The cutscenes are text-over-image, late-game performance suffers, and it's not the most-accessible card game anyway, but there's so much nostalgic gameplay and story, plus surprisingly useful touchscreen controls. This is one, of I believe, only 2 games ever that I've 100% completed! (With my trusty Unizombie deck.) 

*Spread the deck out on the table.*

"... It could totally make a comeback..." - OR - "I could've been a contender!"

Two more quick hitters. Maneater is a short action-shaRkPG whose sense of humor and shlocky B-movie vibe isn't for everyone. Sonic Frontiers is an open-zone 3D Sonic game with some bad technical issues on Switch, and some people-remembering-it-exists issues everywhere else. Both play notably better on other consoles, but the bottom line is I liked the combat and exploration in each.

The Switch has the only physical Legacy of the Duelist, but all 4 are cheaply available in several places. I'd survive without them, maybe even manage to live a somewhat fulfilling life, probably still primarily eating potatoes, sure they're cost-effective but really they're a lifestyle choice... Or I'd just find better games that scratch the same itch... but these are super-low-risk, some-discretion-advised 3.5s.

*2 second transition - Section 3 - Lego City music*

Lego City Undercover - a last-gen Lego game with no movie license available on basically anything you can plug into a TV - is like the video game equivalent of a casual shrug. But the family-friendly "Lego GTA" moniker is merited, it's such a fun sandbox. 

It's criminal to call Terraria "unremarkable," I promise I only mean that it's even older and more egregiously everywhere than Undercover. This side-scrolling 2D search-action-adventure-survival-platforming-RPG sounds like a mess, but what makes it special is how well it balances so many elements. Funnily, this game is great on the Wii U because of how it can leverage the gamepad screen, but it feels at home on the Switch also.

Sure that sounds about as attractive as my 2012 Honda Civic, 

*Selfie-video of me blowing a kiss to it.*

But these are the epitome of great cheap games that I'd probably buy for whichever console I'm into in the moment. A super low-risk, 4 stars for anyone who refers to their stack of Switch games as a "collection." Now if you'll excuse me, I need to thank that perfect-in-its-own-way car-slash-bedroom.

*2 second transition - Outro - Sonic/Maneater/Digimon music from opening*

There you have it, some unremarkable games - stuff you might look past because it's a licensed property you don't like, you own it on 10 other consoles, or the box art looks like this -

*Put Korg Gadget on the table.*

But that I'm happy to have.

*2 second transition - Credits - same music*

Stupidly enough, even though my whole goal is to not take the rating-part seriously, I spent hours trying to decide whether Yugioh and Digimon Cyber Sleuth should be 3.5s or  4s and rethinking my entire silly system, because both are surely among my most-played games of the past decade. Ultimately I tried to imagine pitching a rigid slow-paced RPG and TCG based on early-2000s anime to the average physical Switch-game owner in the year 2025 and... you get it.

Anyway, thanks for being here, do something nice today like go donate blood or something - you literally grow it in your sleep - and see ya next time.

***

YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION

Just some unremarkable (because I can't think of a word that's both more ambiguous and more accurate for such a random selection of) Nintendo Switch games I really like having and playing.

Join me as I blow my precious money, time and energy on Switch games!
ShawnSchaller.com | @ShawnSchaller

VIDEO & *MUSIC CREDITS (in order of appearance)

Reel Fishing: Days of Summer [Playstation/Xbox/Switch Trailer] (Facebook - Natusme Inc.)

Korg Gadget for Nintendo Switch - Play Games. Make Music. [Trailer] (YouTube - Korg)

Digimon World Next Order - Gameplay Trailer - Nintendo Switch (YouTube - Nintendo of America)

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Complete Edition - Launch Trailer - Nintendo Switch (YouTube - Nintendo of America)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist Link Evolution - Launch Trailer - Nintendo Switch (YouTube - Nintendo of America)

Maneater - Launch Trailer - Nintendo Switch (YouTube - Nintendo of America)

Sonic Frontiers - Showdown Trailer - Nintendo Switch (YouTube - Nintendo of America)

Lego City Undercover - Trailer [Nintendo Switch] (YouTube - Nintendo UK)

Terraria - Launch Trailer - Nintendo Switch (YouTube - Nintendo of America)

Terraria Official Trailer (YouTube - Re-Logic)

*Drill Thrill/Prison Brawl - Lego City Undercover OST (various consoles)

*Albatross Prison - Lego City Undercover OST (various consoles)

*Blue Sky, Big Step - Digimon World Next Order OST (various consoles)

*Duel Theme A - Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist OST(various consoles)

*Overworld Day - Terraria OST (various consoles)