Board 8 > Icehawk (FORMER NINTENDO HATER) Ranks all the Switch games he has played

(+) Yeah! (+)

HELLO FRIENDS.

After the SNES, I haven't been a big fan of Nintendo gaming systems. I think they are a decent developer, but lack of 3rd party support, weird controllers, terrible online, and gimmick motion controls have generally killed it for me. I owned a N64 but didn't love it, and never bothered to get the Gamecube, Wii, or Wii U. I own a 2DS, mostly for some of the RPGs, but also never got super into it. However, the concept of the Switch definitely intrigued me, and I also got pulled into the Zelda hype, so I finally bought my first Nintendo console in over a decade.

So far, I gotta say, I have really enjoyed the Switch. More big games are definitely needed, but I've found it to be by far my favorite way to play indie games, and the Nintendo games themselves have offered me some surprises. So about a year in, I will rank all the games I have played on it, as a celebration of Nintendo being back in my life. How beautiful.

Warning- like I said above, I think Nintendo is a decent/good developer. I still am not totally in love with their games. I get much more excited about a lot of other developers. So please don't be mad at me when these rankings get CONTROVERSIAL.

Here are the games that will be ranked

Axiom Verge
Battle Chef Brigade
Bayonetta
Bayonetta 2
Bleed 2
Blossom Tales
Celeste
Crypt of the Necrodancer
Dragon Quest Builders
Enter the Gungeon
Golf Story
I am Setsuna
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mutant Mudds
Night in the Woods
Owlboy
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Steamworld Dig 2
Super Mario Odyssey
Thimbleweed Park
Zelda; Breath of the Wild

Theres really only a few Switch games I've been interested in that I haven't played yet. Fire Emblem Warriors, Shantae, End of Nigh, and the Fall Part 2. But if you have any other Switch games I haven't noticed out there that you think I will like as you see how this list unfolds, let me know!
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hey icehawk what's up dude
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What was your old main MARIATAYLOR I kind of remember, but in the end, I have failed.
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LiselTestify
HeroicKrauss
saveus_Maria
MariaTaylor

and many others
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I still think of you as Lisel. I'm doing pretty good. Just enjoying the splendors of B8. What have you been up to?

Also, I forgot, add Steamworld Heist to the list of games
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tag
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MariaTaylor posted...

hey icehawk what's up dude

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Heyo!
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I've achieved all of my dreams and I'm languishing in the paradise of mediocrity
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Icehawk how much are you getting paid to read the audiobook for ALAN COLE IS NOT A COWARD
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I wish I was rich enough and have enough time to own that many games within a year.
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Props to you for playing a variety of games. I've spent like 250 hours the past year just on BotW.
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TexasZea posted...

Icehawk how much are you getting paid to read the audiobook for ALAN COLE IS NOT A COWARD

if you buy me a copy of ALAN COLE IS NOT A COWARD I will record the audiobook version for free
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Oh hey, I remember you told me you were kinda considering going into accounting (years ago). Ever entertain that career path?
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CaptainOfCrush posted...

Oh hey, I remember you told me you were kinda considering going into accounting (years ago). Ever entertain that career path?

Nah, I ended up in sales and management. More fun, less work! No offense if you are an accountant Blazer. My brother married an accountant, and it's great money and very stable, but I think what I do fits my personality type better.
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CaptainOfCrush posted...

Props to you for playing a variety of games. I've spent like 250 hours the past year just on BotW.

The only games I have ever managed to put that many hours into are Halo, Halo 2, and Overwatch. I've put some serious hours into Persona 5 and several western RPGs, but I generally don't have enough patience to put that many into one game. I like to mix it up.
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----DID NOT FINISH TIER----
These are the games I did not finish or get very far into. This may be more on me than the game. But over the years, I've learned that I'd rather just put down a game then try and struggle to finish it

23. Thimbleweed Park
I 100% blame this on me and not the game. The art style is really cool, the dialogue is well written, and the story seemed interesting. I like the modern version of these kind of games that have more dialogue and decisions, and less obtuse puzzle solving. But man, I just can't get into this old style of adventure games. Just moving around and selecting verbs for each thing slowly grated on me. Wandering around and trying to figure out what kind of random item to use with this random object was more frustrating than fun for me. This just isn't my genre. I knew this going in, but the trailers I watched really sucked me in. This game is worthy of the critical praise it gets, but I do not envision this converting anyone new into the genre that doesn't already like it.

22. Mutant Mudds Collection
Man, this game gets tons of praise, but I just don't get it. I played this not long after playing tons of the other platformers on the switch, and maybe that is why it fell so flat for me. The jump jet gimmick is kind of boring, combat is plain, and the levels weren't especially interesting. The whole different layers of each level seemed like nothing more than a cheap gimmick from what I played, and didn't add anything extra to the experience. Everything just felt dull. After beating the first 16 levels or so, I just didn't feel like going back.

Maybe eventually I'll turn it back on and try out the puzzle game or the super hard version and see if it makes it any more interesting... but I feel like there are way too many good platformers out there for this to be worth it.
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Icehawk posted...

Nah, I ended up in sales and management. More fun, less work! No offense if you are an accountant Blazer. My brother married an accountant, and it's great money and very stable, but I think what I do fits my personality type better.

No offense taken brother! I've stuck with it, but I think and rethink my career opportunities often. I'm unemployed for the first time in my life right now, so it's made me think about going in a different direction even more. Stable work, but can be boring (and stressful) as hell.
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CaptainOfCrush posted...

Icehawk posted...

Nah, I ended up in sales and management. More fun, less work! No offense if you are an accountant Blazer. My brother married an accountant, and it's great money and very stable, but I think what I do fits my personality type better.

No offense taken brother! I've stuck with it, but I think and rethink my career opportunities often. I'm unemployed for the first time in my life right now, so it's made me think about going in a different direction even more. Stable work, but can be boring (and stressful) as hell.

Oh yeah, around tax season, all my accountant friends are pretty much MIA. It can be scary to take a new path though when those jobs are generally pretty in demand though. Hope it all works out for you.
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I actually really liked Thimbleweed Park! ...but I'm a big fan of the whole genre so I understand why you'd quit on it if you weren't.

Totally agree with Mutant Mudds though. Played it on the Vita and couldn't finish it either.
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21. Dragon Quest Builders
Like Thimbleweed, I blame this on me more than the game. Though I do blame the game a little! I am not a minecraft person at all. I don't have the creativity. But I ended up playing the demo for this and really enjoyed it. The crafting was simple and fun, and it had that appeal like the Dragon Quest game for the SNES (6 I believe?) where you could build up a town from scratch.

I started off pretty into it, but it didn't take long for me to feel kind of overwhelmed by it. Your inventory gets out of control fast, and building in the first area is kind of lame because of how small it is. I'm aware there are more chapters, where this is likely less of an issue but still. Everything outside of building is pretty bad too, which is probably the main flaw of the game. Combat is simply awful, and exploring got kind of boring since you mostly keep going back to the same spots to grab more of a specific item you need.

So yeah, pretty late into Chapter 1, I finally stopped playing. I might try it again eventually, but this is mostly on me for thinking I might like it. I wish inventory management was easier, and I really wish combat was more substantial foo though.

I am looking forward to the city building in Ni No Kuni 2, which seems lighter and more my style.

20. I am Setsuna
The idea of playing an old school RPG built in the modern day, and the Chrono Trigger battle system drew me in, and convinced me to spend way too much money for a game that probably should be half the price.

The story hooked me in early, and I liked Setsuna as a character. There are a few powerful moments throughout as well. Thats really the only reason I got as far as I did. Combat was OK, but I'm not one to really like to dig super deep into a battle system, and you kind of have to in spots with the magic system. Certain boss fights are really hard unless you are specifically using certain moves and combos, which I found totally obnoxious in a game with a decent amount of customization. I don't like having to use a certain move or character to get through a fight.

The setting ends up being the worst part of the game though. Every area is either a cave or snowy plain, which got dull fast. It plays in well with the hopelessness of the setting in general, but I couldn't help but feel like it was a shortcut to save time.

I got to the part where you can explore before the final dungeon, but even random encounters were getting pretty tough at that point, and I knew I was going to have to grind and explore for a while to finish. I just didn't feel like it. The story had kinda lost all its momentum by that point, and I just didn't care.
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19. Crypt of the Necrodancer
First off, let me say, these kind of games really are great on the switch. I've seen this game around forever, and was always tempted to buy it. But having it on the go instead of playing it on my TV or computer just made way more sense, so I finally pulled the trigger.

And then... ehhhh. The hook of the game is that it is a rhythm roguelike. So you move to the beat of the music. Kind of a cool concept, but I actually never quite got over the awkwardness of it. It's weird to be in a game like this, and moving slowly one square at a time. Like any roguelike, it is pretty easy to die, but I kind of felt like it was a bit too trial and error at times when facing new enemies.

Also, honestly, didn't take me long to get tired of the music they had. I know on the PC you can upload your own music, and I think it might have held my attention longer if I could have done that. PC def better than the Switch for this one.

On the upside, this has a lot of cool unlockable stuff that can make you stronger as you play, which I love when roguelikes do. But the core concept was just too awkward for me. I put a few hours in, got through the first main area, but didn't feel like continuing.

Logging off for a bit. One more game I did not beat, and then we move on to PASSABLE games WOOOO.
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tagging this

have not played any of the games so far listed but I want recs so yeah

(you know me as Andyman btw)
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Icehawk posted...

but I kind of felt like it was a bit too trial and error at times when facing new enemies

How? Every enemy and item has a clear pattern that is learnable. That means there's a strong learning curve but that's the best part of the game. Most games you get 2, 3, 4, 5 times better over time. But this one you get 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc times better. It's like a new game every time the difficulty goes up.
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foolm0r0n posted...

Icehawk posted...

but I kind of felt like it was a bit too trial and error at times when facing new enemies

How? Every enemy and item has a clear pattern that is learnable. That means there's a strong learning curve but that's the best part of the game. Most games you get 2, 3, 4, 5 times better over time. But this one you get 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc times better. It's like a new game every time the difficulty goes up.

yeah, I just mean the first time I would come across a new enemy, he usually killed me. I understand that there are clear patterns, which figuring out got me through the first area, but I just didn't like the game mechanics enough to enjoy starting over each world due to that.
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18. Bayonetta 2

NEW TIER: PASSABLE
Games I got through, but barely

17. Bayonetta 1

CONTROVERSY. I kind of feel like I should have just played Bayonetta 2. It was a mistake for me to beat the first game, and then play this one. That definitely hurt it for me. By the end of Bayonetta, I was getting a little tired of the game, but you get a discount on the 2nd game after buying the first, so I went ahead and started this one right after beating Bayonetta 1.

Both games are extremely similar, though Bayonetta 2 seems to have more crazy scenarios outside of the standard fights to mix things up. These are stylish action games, with tons of combos to perform, boss fights, and some motorcycle sequences, etc. It is HIGH OCTANE. The key is learning your enemies' attacks, and dodging at the perfect time so you can go into "witch time" and do serious damage. This is pretty fun and thrilling, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten through the first game.

But it does get a little repetitive at times, and I think by the time I got 1/3rd of the way into Bayonetta 2, I was getting pretty tired of the formula. Like I said, while I didn't LOVE Bayonetta, it was solid. I didn't like it enough for it to be smart to go straight into game #2 for sure.

Also not helping, I just hated the story. It is weird and convoluted. Bayonetta is interesting but I never felt super invested in her success, and there are just too many damn cutscenes to slog through to get that story. About 2/3rd into Bayonetta 1, I just started skipping all the cutscenes, which I can't remember ever doing with any other game. Way too much effort into a story that isn't that great.

I will likely try and pick up Bayonetta 2 in a few months and see if I can get through it. At this point though, not sure if I will bother picking up Bayonetta 3, unless it really changes some aspect of the formula.
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Bayo 2 is a total copy of Bayo 1, it's kinda disappointing
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I wanted this topic to have 0 games listed. Disappoint.
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Icehawk posted...

I'm aware there are more chapters, where this is likely less of an issue but still.

This is actually why i turned on the game - I didn't know there were multiple chapters until I hit the second one, and you can't go back. You basically start over and i was mad.

oh sorry i mean

hey icehawk whats up dude
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16. Night in the Woods
When I finished college, coming home for good was pretty effin weird. Living with parents again was awful. It suddenly felt a little awkward with at least one good group of friends I used to hang out with all the time, and it was weird that almost every food place closed at 11 or midnight and not 3 am. And even after college, I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to do with my life.

So Night in the Woods spoke to me in a lot of ways. It's about a... cat thing that drops out of college and heads home. She works on reconnecting with her old friends, her parents, and her community. Her parents are having financial troubles, her friends have grown up way faster than she has, and something is a little off.

The gameplay is simple. This is basically a light platformer, where you go around and talk to people, and decided which of your main friends to hang out with that day. That is it. You have the main storyline about your friendships, but by exploring the town each day, there are several mini-storylines that play out over the course of the game.

"Unlocking" all those stories could be pretty annoying though. You move pretty slow, and have to take some pretty windy paths to get everywhere in town. The game takes places over like 2 weeks or so, so you end up doing the same exact things 10+ times to talk to each person in town. Sometimes I wonder if I would have enjoyed the game a bit more if I had just went straight to the main storyline stuff of the day.

The game tries to mix it up a bit with an arcade game, and a guitar hero type mini game, but they both fall very flat, and are not fun to play.

While the main storyline is pretty simple, I thought it was a pretty cool and at times, powerful exploration of small town life, and the uncertainty and awkwardness that comes when you are at this transition from kid to adult in life. It ends up taking some... shocking and weird twists that I ended up not being a huge fan of. The story goes off in a direction that seems mostly unrelated that everything that happened before, and I just didn't love it. It doesn't really end satisfyingly at all with all the crazy stuff that just happened either. I'm sure there are some people that dove deep into trying to unpack everything that happened, but the twist kind of killed it for me. I enjoyed the more "human" parts of the game for sure, and I think there were a lot of way more logical ways they could have wrapped things up.
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X_Dante_X posted...

Icehawk posted...

I'm aware there are more chapters, where this is likely less of an issue but still.

This is actually why i turned on the game - I didn't know there were multiple chapters until I hit the second one, and you can't go back. You basically start over and i was mad.

oh sorry i mean

hey icehawk whats up dude

Hello, current leader of the WWE prediction challenge.
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I hope you felt at ease knowing I can still fluke my way into leading wrestling prediction projects early on even after all these years
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Night in the Woods was my GotY for 2017, but I get it won't hit everything for everyone. Talking to everyone in town multiple times was great to me, I loved all the dialogue everyone had. Ending....again, totally get why it's not for everyone. But I absolutely love how abruptly the game ends. It's a day in the life of these guys just living.
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Tokoyami posted...

Night in the Woods was my GotY for 2017, but I get it won't hit everything for everyone. Talking to everyone in town multiple times was great to me, I loved all the dialogue everyone had. Ending....again, totally get why it's not for everyone. But I absolutely love how abruptly the game ends. It's a day in the life of these guys just living.

I actually liked most of the interactions, but there was a little too much effort to get to, say, the guy you lay at the train tracks with, or the telescope guy.

I think of all the side conversations, the stuff with her mom was def really good at the most intense. The preacher and the homeless guy have really good arcs too.

Going treasure hunting with that one dude was a bust for me, as were a couple others. It just takes a lot of work to get to some of these people! I can understand your position as well though, the game is certainly unlike almost anything else.

One thing I also forgot to mention is how much I DESPISED, and I do mean DESPISED the dream sequences.
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15. Battle Chef Brigade

This is just a delightfully strange game. Kind of like a culinary dish, no individual aspect is that great, but the sum of the parts comes together pretty well. Unfortunately, it still isn't actually a cooked dish, so the fact that no individual part of the game is that great does hurt it a little bit.

This game is basically like one of those cooking shows where you have to make a dish in a short period of time with a specific ingredient. The difference is, you have to go hunt that stuff yourself (hence "battle chef"). The battling ends up being by far the weakest part of the game. Combat is way too simple and never feels super fluid. Once you have the ingredients though, the cooking aspect can be pretty intense. It is basically a "match" puzzle game in order to cook ingredients. You also have to select between different cookware, like a slow cooker that slowly upgrades your dish when you let it cook, or a pan that makes it easier to match red gems. This requires a lot of difficult choices, though sometimes I felt it was easier to just restart a match with the right cookware, once you know what the judges' preferences will be for a certain match. A few elements that get added in later, like poison, kind of felt more frustrating than fun to deal with sometimes too.

At the end, your dish is graded, which is pretty thrilling. The game also mixes it up with small side activities you can do in between matches. The story is solid, and the main character is very likeable as well. It is relatively cheap, so if you want something totally different, I think it is worth a go, even with the combat being a big time weakness.
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NEW TIER: GOOD GAMES!!!
Games I liked, but did not love

14. Enter the Gungeon
The gameplay is really fantastic in Enter the Gungeon, with a solid variety of guns that are very satisfying to use. I mostly found myself wishing that it was placed into a non-rogue like game though. I just didn't have the patience to totally get through it. Sometimes these games have opportunities to upgrade your character a little bit, to make things a tad easier (like Crypt of the Necrodancer or Rogue Legacy), but that is not the case here. It was clear I was going to have to log a looooooot of time into the game to get good enough to get through it, and have the usual kind of roguelike luck you need (I seemed to have pretty bad gun luck on several run throughs). And I just ran out of patience and stopped playing.

That may seem like me mostly saying I didn't like the game, but the gameplay is honestly really fun. If you have the patience, or if you are good at twin stick shooters or bullet hell games, you will probably love it and thrive. But after a while, I just got tired of fighting the exact same enemies and coming up a bit short. If there was any way to upgrade your character AT ALL I think I would have absolutely loved this game.
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MariaTaylor posted...

hey icehawk what's up dude

(tag)
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Bayo 2 GotY 2014
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hey icehawk what's up dude
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attn all bros:

sup dudes
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so I have lowly rated someones Goty 2014, and someone's goty 2017.

AWW YEAH
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Tag

Just got a Switch 2 weeks ago
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Tag

Just got a Switch 2 days ago
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13. Axiom Verge
The game I am just about to finish. If you like Metroid games, this pretty much seems like a no brainer. It has literally every element down pretty well. Big area to explore, with lots of spots to go back to later, tons of upgrades, an OK sci-fi story, and an interesting setting. Boss fights are pretty intense and have some variety as well. You get a nice array of weapons too, but I really only found myself using 1-2 at any time. Most of them are not that useful most of the game.

Everything is pretty well made all around ,though I will say, near the end, you feel kind of underpowered, and I used lots of weird/cheap tricks to beat enemies, like zapping them through walls they can't shoot through.

I'm not a huge Metroid junkie, so the flaws I perceived may just be from not absolutely loving the genre. I really wished there was a fast travel system, because you would have to work super friggin hard to backtrack and acquire everything otherwise. Also, the map has lots of sections that you can't easily get to even if you have every traversal ability in the game, so backtracking to figure out the next place where you can continue the game could be a little annoying as well. Once my map was pretty opened up, I switched to using a guide more often to find the next destination, which helped me enjoy the game more, but also was not ideal.

I'm not sure if HARDCORE Metroid people hate fast travel or something, but that was one addition I thought would enhance the game greatly. I don't see how fast travel hurts exploration, it just increases the pace of it. Eitherway though, it's a fun challenge that is well made, which I can't imagine Metroid fans not living. I liked it well enough without being a giant Metroid fan.
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Fast travel is a crutch for bad level design. None of the good Metroids ever needed it.
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bad level design sounds like axiom verge
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I'd rather have bad level design with fast travel than bad level design without fast travel
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Well yeah

Nothing worse than a game that has a delusion about its level design so it makes you run over the whole world over and over

That's why Dark Souls 2/3 fast travel were great
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CotN is probably my 2014 GotY too
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Icehawk posted...

attn all bros:

sup dudes

Sup
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