Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

@LtSarge I worry about demos for games I am on the fence about, more often than not they just put me off. And for something long and wordy like TS I would probably just not get into it. Ah well, ordered now - let’s wait and see!

@LtSarge It depends on the game, and I was initially going by Amazon which strangely has several games that aren't the US versions anymore. Most of the usual major Nintendo franchises are still easy enough to get elsewhere though. It's mainly certain JRPGS like Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 that aren't available, and I would imagine some obscure titles as well that I didn't bother looking up. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is another that isn't being sold physically by anybody but Gamestop, unless you go through a third party on Walmart.com. eBay is still an option, as unlike with a lot of things that are unavailable, it seems the the already mentioned games are still going for reasonable prices.

A lot of Nintendo's 1st party titles never going down in price on the eShop is annoying, and one reason I didn't fully commit to going all digital with the Switch. I did buy Xenoblade Chronicles digitally since it was my only option to get it right away since I wanted to play it first, but obviously the option is there for me to go physical with everything else if I choose to. I could get several of those games that never drop from $59.99 even after 5 years right now for around $50 from Best Buy if I wanted to. I would love to be lazy and just have everything on my Switch, but Nintendo does kind of kill the enthusiasm for that by not putting games like Super Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Luigi's Mansion 3, etc. on sale ever on the eShop.

Big Switch games actually do occasionally go on sale digitally. Almost all of the big releases have fallen to $40 at points, and I've copped a few around $30.

At least in NA.

@Ralizah The really big 1st party titles like Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey (and any other major Mario game), Luigi's Mansion, Metroid games, etc.? I'm new of course and don't have much in the way of any personal history to go on. Was just going on what I've read from users elsewhere that Nintendo's own games rarely go on sale, but people could be wrong of course.

@KilloWertz I would consider games appearing in Nintendo’s sales once a year. To be rarely when compared to PlayStation. Which seems to put every first party game on sale every couple of months.

@Ryall @KilloWertz Yeah, digital sales on big first-party titles aren't common, but they do happen every now and then. Wildly less common than equivalent sales on PSN and Microsoft's store, and the games take longer to sink in price in the first place.

If I've gone back and forth on a Nintendo-published game and it hits 50% off digitally, I'll usually bite. Something like Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition for $30 was too tempting to pass up.

Of course, keep in mind this is from an American perspective. I have no idea how European sales are.

Regarding Xenoblade, I've seen the Definitive Edition sell for around $35 pretty frequently between both formats. Mostly physically. Whereas XC2 and Torna seem to be perpetually out of print physically and almost never enjoy digital sales, to the point where the game actually rises pretty high up on Amazon's best-sellers chart for Switch games when it occasionally comes back into stock at full price.

Nintendo's pricing strategy makes it the most expensive to keep up with overall, but I also think it's the most straightforward in this regard.

An indispensable resource I'd recommend if you want to score Switch games as cheaply as possible is dekudeals.com, which tracks price dips over time and, if you sign up with them and wishlist a game, will alert you when it goes on sale, both physically and digitally.

@Ralizah I'm American too, so this applies to the both of us. And I guess we now know that you're all digital. Not that it really matters.

Thanks for the website tip. From what you said and the fact that several of them are currently on sale from Best Buy, they seem to go on sale a bit more often physically, unless it's just lucky timing and unlucky timing digitally.

Random question, but did you get your new avatar on Switch from Xenoblade Chronicles 3? I know it's not one of the default ones, and thought maybe it's like sometimes on PlayStation where you get some from buying or playing certain games.

@KilloWertz I'm probably 70% digital on Switch, since I don't have a nostalgic hankering for inserting bits of plastic into my console in order to play my games. If I can score a game more cheaply physically, that's usually how I'll get it, though.

Yeah, physical copies go on sale more often. BTW, if you don't want to load money onto the eshop, stores like Amazon usually pricematch eshop sales for digital codes. And, oftentimes, you can use this to score more gold points for purchases than you would if you bought directly from the eshop.

No. One of the perks of NSO is that you can redeem your platinum points from My Nintendo for a rotating selection of icon elements. The icons are actually composed of three layers, and you mix and match elements you redeem to create a custom one.

I don't know if they require you to actually own the games in question to gain access to the icons, though.

@KilloWertz there will be some sales for sure during thanksgiving and Xmas. Sometimes might have a back to school sale. Recently a multiplayer sale. Have seen spring, summer and Halloween sales. If u r willing to wat, u can find stuff on sale

@Ralizah Ok, that would also explain why I didn't know where your avatar came from (is it from XC3?). I haven't subscribed to Nintendo Online yet. I will use the 7 day free trial and then go from there at some point to play A Link to the Past and probably some others eventually, but it doesn't make much sense to do so yet since I'm just jumping into the Switch's catalog.

I'm fine with loading money onto the account, and right now Nintendo Life has a sale on eShop codes. If I decide to go the digital route, I will buy some codes. It would essentially make anything I buy with those codes be $51 since it's 10% off and then every $60 purchase gets enough points to amount to $3 I believe. Do they have sales on their site very often?

@rockodoodle They seems to always have at least one sale going, and at least 1,000 games or content at a time as I've yet to see the total drop below that on the Deals page in the almost two weeks I've had my Switch.. I did see the multiplayer sale, but it didn't really have anything in it that I wanted right now, especially since I'm just starting out and want to play some of the major 1st party titles first.

Honestly, I haven't really decided which route I will go. Physical seems to be cheaper overall if you want the major games outside of the 1 or 2 sales they are in a year (I'm guessing around Black Friday), but it is also nice to be able to just load up a game with a press of a button. I'm also not concerned with the eventual closing of the Switch's eShop as games are still downloadable, and I plan on never deleting any of the games I buy if I go the digital route.

@KilloWertz Yeah, it's one of the main party members from XC3. People were quite excited to see XC getting more attention with stuff like this, since Nintendo usually sticks with pushing their more family-friendly offerings.

I dunno about NL discounts, but Amazon frequently has pretty good sales on eshop credit. That, combined with the gold coins, definitely reduces the cost of downloading software on the console.

Physically, you can usually score brand new Switch games for $50 a day or two after launch from Walmart.

This all helps to make it cheaper over time to purchase their first-party games.

@KilloWertz As Ral mentioned the physical Switch carts more often than not contain the vast majority of the game data, but the best thing about having a physical Nintendo collection is that the games retain (or even appreciate in) value to an extraordinary degree - unlike hard copies for the other current systems. Just something to consider!

@Ralizah So tell me… where did this obsession with inserting bits of plastic into your Nintendo Switch stem from? Is it a deep rooted sexual dysfunction? Is the Game Card really a metaphor for your own unfulfillment?

@nessisonett You joke, but I do think some older gamers who refuse to ever buy digital games, even the ones that never get physical copies, are oftentimes working through usually subsconscious anxieties related to aging.

@LN78 It's nuts, right? Especially old Pokemon games. A lack of new print runs as time wears on + the persistent popularity of the series had made old physical Pokemon game collections that were kept in good shape miniature gold mines.

It is pretty cool owning physical Switch games that don't require any updates, as they're pretty much the only extant analogues to the physical games of old, since you don't even need to install them on the internal memory.

Of course, the flip side are AAA ports, which often require downloading half the data from the internet thanks to the cost of Switch cards vs the discs used by the home consoles.

@Ralizah Well I might need to start selling off my rarer physical copies of GameCube, Wii and DS games to afford food and heating over the winter so as long as the chumps keep the prices high then that’s fine by me 😂

@nessisonett Might as well. At least with the GC and Wii games. Shouldn't be hard at all to rip and emulate them.

I'd keep a tighter hold on NDS, if only because emulating them isn't really the same on a PC. I guess you could hack a 3DS or something and play them that way, but eh.

@Ralizah I’ve backed up most of my DS games and I do play them through the 3DS’ TWiLight Menu which boots them natively. It’s just a bit annoying because I’ve been enjoying playing games through RetroArch in order to earn achievements but DS games really aren’t the same on PC and the Vita only emulates up to GBA anyway.

@KilloWertz yeah, there’s always something on sale. Check with the YouTubers for the best deals. Switchcorner is a good one. But I meant for Nintendo titles… if u are patient u can find stuff for cheaper. I usually buy stuff on release, but wait for deals with titles I am like warm on or for double dipping on stuff I already own on WiiU.

@LN78 I wouldn't sell my games unless it would end up being a game I didn't like. I used to sell some of my gaming stuff to an extent, but not anymore. I know Switch games would be different, but otherwise most games would be next to worthless by the time I would sell them. After stupidly selling my PS3 back in the day, I will never sell any of my systems, so I should always have a system to play my Switch games on until it dies.

Thanks for the input though. I'm assuming you're an all physical person unless it's not an option.

@KilloWertz I have a big physical collection of games up to Generation 7 (buying and then trading in games was pretty much a financial necessity in my younger days) and then about three dozen Switch titles. Buying physical in the modern era has become less of a concern because obviously the discs contain the full game less and less often, so now I just go with whatever the cheapest option is and co-ordinate my purchases with my brother so we can trade or share games whenever possible. I still really enjoy having hard copies on display in my AV room, I must admit (and in the realm of movie collecting physical media has a definite quality advantage so there's that excuse) so a transition to an entirely digital collection in the future seems unlikely. Tangibility may be old fashioned but I like it, dammit - I still even buy the occasional CD if it's an album I really love. Don't get me wrong - I completely understand the "I would never sell my games" argument (my own collection is precious to me for multitude reasons) but if push comes to shove and I've spent hard earned money on games then I prefer to know there's some potential ROI sitting on a shelf compared to none whatsoever sitting on a Hard Disk or in the cloud.