Corponation: The Sorting Process offers a glimpse into a life where the lines between employee and slave blur. Moody, slow, and intentionally repetitive, you may reach your limit with the task at hand, but it is an experience worth clocking in for.

It may look a bit different than you remember, but all of the fun is intact, and Hard mode is going to keep even the best players busy when they can't find a partner.

The presentation in Samurai Shodown is so good that it doesn't feel like it has aged all that much; the excellent audio helps immerse you in the setting and the visuals are packed with detail and character. With a focus on patience and its use of weapons, the game has a different feel to your typical one-on-one brawler. Later games would include additions to the fighting system but there's something undeniably appealing about the simpler version offered here. That's not to say it's superior (the sequel is definitely a better game), but this first instalment holds up remarkably well despite the passage of time and is well worth buying, even if you already own the later Samurai Shodown IV, which is already available on the Switch eShop at the time of writing.

With its wacky storyline and stylish graphics, Mad Rat Dead would be a confident platformer even without the rhythm mechanics. But with the help of an excellent soundtrack, it’s an experience that feels wholly original, even if it’s not the first game to blend the platforming and rhythm genres. It can be a tricky game at times, but with the help of the rewind function, it’s one that feels relatively breezy overall, letting you just sink into the music and bust out those sick moves.

Save Me Mr. Tako is a lovingly crafted throwback to the days of the Game Boy. While we found some rough spots with the lack of side quest tracking and ropey collision detection, they weren't enough to take away from our overall enjoyment of the game. Tako is a lovable character in a quality platformer that would have been right at home on the system it pays homage to. If you love the Game Boy - flaws and all - then you'll absolutely adore this game.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is an elegant mix of 2D adventuring, simple logic-based conundrums, and effective storytelling. Its puzzles are a little uninspired, while the game's QTE segments can grow rather tiresome. But Ubisoft Montpellier has told a poignant story with real spirit and invention, and that makes this an easy one to recommend.

If you're looking for a compelling sandbox-style game with tons to do and optional online co-op, look no further - you've found it.

Cycle 28 disguises itself as a solid arcade shooter with minimalist aesthetics but slowly reveals itself to be something far beyond that. It successfully manages to engulf the player in the mystery that led to the player character's current predicament and entices you to seek the truth, find answers to questions you didn’t know existed and attempt to break the cycle and… who knows, maybe freedom and a happy conclusion? We rarely get to play video games where each ‘Game Over’ offers the possibility to solve a mystery, so we kept coming back to it again and again - and so will you.

Control is, and always has been, a fantastic game – that's not in doubt. Remedy's skill when it comes to creating a highly-detailed game-world is world-class, and the gloriously dynamic combat is second-to-none – once you've unlocked the required skills in-game, at least. The Nintendo Switch may not be the absolute best place to play Control if you're looking for crisp 60fps graphics and rock-solid performance, but it's perfectly good if you've got a relatively stable internet connection and a Pro Controller.

Trails Beyond the Horizon is another solid new entry in the long-running series and feels like a firm step forward, even if it’s not quite as big a step as some may have hoped. Though the story can be uneven, it’s buoyed by a strong and diverse cast that keeps you invested and reminds you how all the work Falcom has been putting in over the years has ultimately been pushing towards something.

If you're starving for some more Picross puzzles, then you can't really go wrong with Picross E. It gives you a reasonably large set of 150 new puzzles to sink your teeth into, and although they're not particularly challenging, they'll at least keep you busy for a while.

Gods Will Fall is a unique and challenging dungeon crawler that cleverly combines a handful of inventive gameplay mechanics, resulting in constantly tense and thrilling runs through some seriously tough death chambers and boss battles. This is a pretty brutal and unforgiving game – one some players are sure to bounce hard off – but stick with it until it clicks, explore, experiment, forge ahead through frustration and you'll be rewarded with one of the most addictive and original roguelikes we've played in quite some time.

With a relatively small asking price and a unique premise, Cosmophony is a game that should at least be experienced by anyone who rates gameplay above all other aspects.

Layer Section will always be a high-roller, and if you’ve never played it, you’re in a ride like few others. As a Switch port, on the other hand, the relatively bare-bones production is the only real negative. Notable historical works deserve the gold standard: a bigger, bolder package that offers the best possible representation. To that end, City Connection has failed to do this game the justice it deserves, which makes it very lucky that Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute is still so damn good.

We do, however, have to call out the inclusion of classic Dracula actor Bela Lugosi. The dude shows up once, right at the end of the game with the final encounter. His likeness is limited to just two static pixel-art images, one of which can even be seen in the game’s trailer. Giving the iconic horror actor top billing is certainly eye-catching, but goodness, it feels like such a wasted opportunity.

This is thoroughly absorbing piece of fiction that manages to justify being a video game by virtue of skillfully integrated choices and missable content, making multiple playthroughs a potentially appealing prospect. The voice acting throughout is extremely impressively performed, the UI and controls are nearly perfect and the art is beautifully drawn, though we felt the characters could use a few more poses/expressions at times. Anyone interested in a ripping virtual novel yarn -. and who isn't tediously prejudiced against any and all 'furry' content — will find a lot to love in Winds of Change.

Heroes of Hammerwatch is a great culmination of everything developer Crackshell started with Hammerwatch. It contains 3 additional DLCs to sink your teeth into, along with a New Game+ mode if you’ve exhausted everything else from the experience (you can effectively keep playing indefinitely, if you wish). It’s best played with friends if you’re able, but however you choose to engage with Heroes of Hammerwatch, it proves to be a fine addition to the rogue-lite catalogue on Switch.

Earthion is a terrific piece of work. It's more an accomplished production, arguably, than a shoot 'em up of incredible highs, but at the same time, that’s part of its charm. It has a different feel thanks to its shield system and mid-stage upgrade rungs, and this is a refreshing and welcome change from the norm. Much of the fun is in figuring out the order of bolstering your ship and the little tricks that various weaponry affords when faced with tricky junctures. It does some things other shoot 'em ups don’t do, and is all the more standout for it. At the same time, it fails to achieve some things that other shoot 'em ups do so well. Nonetheless, Earthion is a treat of a game: a bold new Mega Drive work that sits in the upper echelons of the console's broad catalogue, and shouldn't be passed up by fans of the genre or wonderful 16-bit works.

It takes a lot for a roguelike to feel truly fresh on Switch, but Fights in Tight Spaces does a great job of taking a well-worn format and making it feel just that. The turn-based combat means you’ll constantly be weighing up the right strategy while the unique difficult levels mean that completing your first run is only the start of the fun. Though it isn’t quite optimised for the Switch, it still looks and plays very well. Recommended.

Bayonetta has attitude, and while you may occasionally cringe at this one's mixed messages in empowering its heroine, it serves up a great deal of frenetic action — your controller of choice won't know what's hit it.

It’s taken a good six months for Battlezone Gold Edition to make its way to Nintendo Switch, but those months have been well worth it. The result is a port that uses the console’s gyro controls to recreate the movement of a VR headset, and one that does so without making too many concessions in terms of overall performance. While it’s still frustrating Switch owners have to wait so long for ports such as this, Battlezone Gold Edition could be the precedent that proves VR-orientated titles could lead a happy second life in semi-handheld form.

This is an old-school 2D shooter that serves as an effective tribute to the classics while successfully managing to inject some fresh ideas of its own. Super Hydorah doesn't reinvent the side-scrolling shmup, but it does kit it out with some cool new gadgets. At $19.99 / £17.49 it's perhaps a little on the pricey side, but fans of the genre will see this as money well spent.

Loco Motive combines wit, charm, smarts, and its own brand of pixel art perfection to provide a point-and-click murder mystery that's well worthy of its predecessors. The game's state at launch is a little too marred by bugs for an unqualified recommendation on Switch, but give it time and we think it'll be right back on track.

Constance is an example of one of the hardest things in gaming. To take ideas established four decades ago and use them to say something different and interesting is a wonderful feat worth celebrating. Constance has something to say, and it says it well. There are flaws in the moment-to-moment gameplay, such as its bosses and a few tedious platforming sections, and it’s not something that’s going to completely rock the Metroidvania space, but it doesn’t need to. It's a much-needed reminder of the joys of concentration and an antidote to an overstimulating world. This is an easy recommendation to any Metroidvania fans who want something familiar to spend 10 hours on. Those a bit more wary of the genre might find themselves less enchanted, but Constance is absolutely worth playing for its visuals and ideas alone.

Trombone Champ is a game about perfection. Before you play, it asks you to select a stance for your tromboner: 'estudious' or 'jubilant'. Neither of these is appropriate when you know your performance will be as ear-abusive as an excited puppy mauling a bulb horn. Or are they? The true lesson is perhaps to hold your head high anyway. In life, as in Trombone Champ, faced as we all are with certain doom, be estudious if you like, be jubilant, parp like crazy, and be your very best you – no matter how imperfect that invariably is.

You might assume that Metal Slug's numerous sequels would be far superior to the original but that isn't the case; while the other outings in this series add their fair share of neat features, the 1996 original has a simple purity to it which makes it feel more focused and less preoccupied with pushing the hardware (and the imagination of the developers) to the limit. It's arguably one of the finest 2D titles ever made, and while the gameplay might be seem rather shallow to modern players, if you're a fan of old-school arcade blasters which task you with scoring as many points as possible, then this is a must-have.

If you’re a fan of classic run ‘n’ gun action games, then Gunlord X is an absolute pleasure to play from start to finish. It joins the ranks of must-own retro-inspired titles for the Switch, delivering blistering action, stunning visuals and an absolutely stellar soundtrack. It could be argued that there’s little originality on offer and the longevity of the game is also questionable thanks to the fact that it's 'built' like an old-school coin-op release, but honestly, when the experience is this good, it seems churlish to grumble.

The Wii U port for Super Meat Boy may not necessarily bring anything new to the table, but it's still an enjoyable experience.