Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

First-party Nintendo Switch games get rare price drops

By Tom Caswell Published August 5, 2020

Best Buy and Amazon are offering discounts on first-party Nintendo Switch titles, a rare event. Many games are up 17% off on both sites, bringing their prices to $50.

Here’s a list of games that are featured on both Amazon and Best Buy at that price.

Recommended Videos

Each site is also offering Octopath Traveler at a larger 25% discount, bringing that game’s price to $45. Best Buy has 17% off deals for Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s, Go Eevee!, Pokken Tournament, and Disgaea 4. Amazon has Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze exclusively at that discount as well.

2020 has been an interesting year for Nintendo. With gaming more popular than ever because of stay-at-home orders, the Switch has been out of stock at retailers for most of the year, inventory evaporating quickly the moment it’s replenished. That said, stock of consoles are currently more plentiful than a couple of months ago, the Lite version available more often than its dockable counterpart.

The last big first-party game from the company was Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which became an instant phenomenon back in March, but currently, no new first-party game has a release date for the company. While Paper Mario: The Origami King was recently released, it was handled by third-party developer Intelligent Systems.

Nintendo seems to be banking on re-releases such as the recently announced Pikmin 3, originally a title on the Nintendo Wii U, to fill out its calendar. There are also rumors that a majority of the previous mainline Super Mario titles will be getting remasters celebrating the iconic plumber’s 35th anniversary.

Whatever the company’s plans are, it seems that the effects of the coronavirus have made it difficult to continue development on many titles, so there may not be a new first-party Nintendo game for some time. Now then might be the perfect time for players to pick up a Switch game they might have missed, especially as many of these titles rarely, if ever, go on sale.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Professional video producer and writer, gaming enthusiast, and streamer! twitch.tv/greatbritom

Gaming

One week later, this is what still surprises me most about Nintendo Switch 2

Mario Kart World appears on a Nintendo Switch 2 screen.

Last week, Nintendo gave us a whole wealth of Nintendo Switch 2 details. We learned about its games, its mysterious C-button, and got more details on how its mouse controllers worked. It was a presentation filled with surprises too, from a shocking Kirby Air Riders reveal to the announcement that GameCube games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online. I experienced some real shockers of my own when I went hands-on with the Switch 2 and found myself enamored with its new control scheme.

I've had a lot of time to process all the news since then, and even changed my tune on things I was initially critical of, like GameChat. Sitting down to reflect, there's one thing that still surprises me more than anything: just how next-gen the system actually feels.

Gaming

Switch 2 woes cross the border as Nintendo delays preorders in Canada

The Nintendo Switch 2 is being held in a pair of hands.

Nintendo Switch 2 troubles have been extended to our neighbors north of the border. Pre-orders for the highly-anticipated hybrid console have been delayed in Canada just before they were slated to begin.

Jonathan Ore, senior writer for CBC Radio Online, shared a statement from Nintendo of Canada on Bluesky on Tuesday saying pre-orders for the Switch 2 have been delayed in the country to "align with the timing of pre-orders" in the United States. The statement reads as follows:

Gaming

Switch 2 vs. Switch Lite: is the upgrade worth the heavy price?

The Switch 2 next to a TV with Mario Kart.

Each video game console generation is getting longer and longer, with the Switch hanging on for 8 years before we got official information about the Switch 2. Over that time, we got a couple of different versions of the original Switch with some distinct differences, but how does each one stack up against the Switch 2? We can look at the Switch 2 vs. Switch for a baseline, but what about the Switch 2 vs. Switch OLED and Switch Lite? With this console costing quite a bit more than the current systems, and upcoming Switch 2 games also getting a price increase, should you hold on to your Switch Lite, or is the Switch 2 worth the heavy cost?

If you're more of a PC player who likes playing handheld, we have also compared the Switch 2 vs. Steam Deck to see which is the king of the handhelds.