If its numerous areas didn't feel quite so empty, if it had some more variety to its quests and one or two secret areas to discover as you explored its world it would be much easier to recommend, but, as it stands, this one is an inexpensive but pretty generic experience that won't sit long in your memory once you put it down.

Fantasy Zone is a charming game which might not be as flashy as Space Harrier or Out Run, but is right up there where it matters: gameplay. It’s hard to recommend this over Shinobi, which also releases this week, but this is a perfect addition for anybody remotely interested in all things Sega.

Players looking for a classic 'Oddworld' game might be disappointed with Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath. The game has its own identity while still remaining part of that unique universe, and that somehow makes it even more appealing – giving players a world to explore that feels much bigger than what you see of it. While the game has aged well for the most part, some imperfections have become more obvious with time. The stealth mechanics are nowhere near as fine-tuned as they should be, and can be ignored completely without compromising the player's experience. A lack of instruction in the latter part of the story could also cause frustration, and the slapstick drop of falling from a height will never be something that fits with the game's overall tone. Despite these rough edges, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is still a joy to play on Switch, and if you didn't experience it the first time around, it's well worth a look now.

Shinobi as a game has aged extremely well – it’s still an absolute blast to play today – and that goes a long way to making this a worthy download. The excellent variety of stages and enemies complement the tight gameplay which still feels spot-on even compared with later entries in the series, and its rather fanciful representation of ninjas is difficult to get too upset about when it’s just so much fun. We’d frankly like to see some later Sega games appearing in the Sega Ages range at some point, but it’s great to see a return to the company's heritage after some of the other more questionable releases.

When one takes a step back to look at all that Puzzle & Dragons Gold has to offer, it’s rather difficult to say exactly who it’s for. Longtime fans of the series will no doubt decry the laundry list of cutbacks that the core gameplay suffers from, while newcomers will be paying cash to get a massive misrepresentation of what the series is actually all about. Sure, multiplayer proves to be mildly amusing for a time, but it lacks the kind of depth or longevity that previous releases in the series have had in spades, and the less said about the single-player content, the better. Puzzle & Dragons Gold feels in many ways like a free demo of a much better game that you could potentially buy, except no such game exists because this is it. Don’t waste your time or money on this poor approximation; go download Puzzle & Dragons for free on your phone for a much more enjoyable experience and save your money for much more worthwhile releases for the Switch.

With only 4 short chapters to play through, Lydia will only take you about 1 or 2 hours to complete, so those after more of a meaty experience might want to look elsewhere. We would, however, encourage you to experience it at least once, if only for its eye-opening message. It successfully tells a haunting story about abuse and heartbreak without necessarily shoving it down your throat, and that’s really hard to do. It’s one of the most emotionally impactful games to grace the Switch since its launch nearly three years ago.

Despite being late to the war-torn party, the Nintendo Switch version of Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times is still a robust and enjoyable turn-based dungeon crawler that benefits from having its roots in mobile gaming. Years of updates mean new players have access to a lot of content, but tactically it becomes a little stale once you learn to exploit its easily-manipulated levelling system. Still, if you're a fan of the Warhammer universe then this game does manage to tickle an itch that only dungeon-based loot drops can scratch.

A passionate love letter to a bygone age, 198X celebrates 2D, arcade-based gaming brilliantly and wraps it up in some of the best hand-drawn art we've seen in years. The soundtrack is also exceptional, and, in terms of pure presentation, it's really hard to fault what's on offer here. 198X's biggest weakness is its brevity; you can finish it in around an hour, but the experience will remain with you for long after the credits have rolled. While we're sure many people will consider the game's shortness a cardinal sin, we'd still recommend you give it a try if you're a fan of '80s and '90s gaming, appreciate lush 2D artwork and desire an experience which firmly lodges itself in your consciousness – even if it doesn't last all that long.

If you consider the fairly sparse selection of FPS titles on the Switch, Hypercharge: Unboxed is a genuinely tempting prospect, boasting solid gameplay that is an absolute blast with friends. There are a few issues with the gameplay that may need addressing with patches, and as a whole the game feels like a bit of a walk in the park for the most part, but otherwise it’s an impressive, unique title that you’d do well to check out.

To The Moon is a powerful interactive story. It deals with issues and situations we'll likely all experience in our lifetimes and does so honestly and within a brilliant narrative setup that allows us to watch a lifetime deconstructed, layer by layer, revealing the very human mistakes and unavoidable interruptions of fate that shape how our lives ultimately turn out.

There’s a genuinely brilliant game hidden away somewhere in AO Tennis 2, but you need to have the patience of a saint to put up with its horrendous frame rate issues and the impact they have on its already tricky stroke timing system. The Career mode is a joy and the level of customisation and user creations is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in a tennis game, so tennis fans may still want to give it a look, as long as they can cope with its infuriatingly erratic performance. It may not be a popular thing to say on a Nintendo site, but if you have access to another system, you may want to look into how it runs on that instead.

Whichever way you play, Vertex Pop has done it again. Not unlike Karen’s various food treats that power-up her move set, Super Crush KO offers short-term satisfaction but it's very sweet while it lasts. Despite the compactness of the experience, it looks great and plays even better – so what are you waiting for? Go forth and save your kitty.

The Atelier Dusk Trilogy DX edition rolls three very solid entries in the long-running franchise into a fantastic pack for fans of the series and for anyone who's interested in jumping into their addictive world of alchemy for the very first time. These DX versions pack a handful of quality of life updates that make blasting through these games a breeze if you're returning to them and just want to skip the narrative in favour of collecting, crafting and battling monsters and all three perform pretty much flawlessly – aside from some occasional stutter in Ayesha – in both docked and handheld modes. If you're a fan of the Atelier series you'll already know whether or not this trilogy release is for you, but, if you're thinking of jumping in for the first time rest assured this as solid a place as any to get acquainted with the Atelier franchise.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is one of the most colourful, approachable and downright endearing RPGs you’ll find on the Switch. Its new story chapter, music tracks and character assists improve on the original to an extent, but not enough to greatly affect its overall quality. Thankfully, what was there was already fantastic, meaning those who missed out on it the first time around really have no reason not to get stuck in now.

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX is the strongest entry in the Dusk trilogy. It adds a nice new camera, spices up the alchemy, strengthens the turn-based combat system and gives you two heroines to play through as, each with a journey unique enough that it's more than worth your while playing through the whole thing twice. World exploration is just as tightly controlled as in previous Atelier games and won't perhaps suit those hoping for a real sense of adventure or the desire to get completely lost in the wilds of the world presented here but, for fans of the series or those wanting to jump in and check it out, this is another solid entry in the long-running franchise that performs excellently on Switch and suits portable play perfectly.

Atelier Escha and Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX gets off to a pretty turgid start with exposition-heavy scenes punctuated with lots of tutorials; however, once it gets its bearings, it's another satisfying tale with two strong lead characters to choose from, a great cast of supporting characters and that deep and satisfying alchemy sat right at the centre of it all, pulling the weaker strands of its gameplay together into a satisfyingly unified whole.

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX is a great jumping-in point for newcomers to the series. It's a welcoming start to the Dusk trilogy which hits the ground running whilst dialling back the traditional time limit aspect of the game, gently easing players into its core alchemy as well as firmly establishing the gameplay loops and systems which are carried on throughout the two follow-up games. It's never really going to satisfy the most ardent RPG fan as its exploration is too contained and controlled and its combat not ferocious or engaging enough for battle-hardened players. For everyone else, its alchemy is a thing of depth and beauty which creates a satisfying core to which all these lesser elements feed into in a satisfying manner. With a strong – if rather small-scale – story backing the whole thing up, Atelier Ayesha is an easy recommendation for those looking to get invested in a light and breezy, warm-hearted JRPG series.

If you’re after a cheap and cheerful fighting game, Drunk-Fu: Wasted Masters more or less ticks the right boxes. At its low price, you shouldn’t expect anything close to the level of depth seen in more well-known examples of the genre, and its potential online longevity will likely suffer as a result. Play it locally with a few friends, however, and you’re almost guaranteed to get a few laughs out of it.

There are far worse mech-based efforts on the Switch than Gigantic Army, and we can’t deny the endearing, nearly “kusoge” appeal of this title. The potential is certainly here, yet it is never truly fulfilled. There are quite a number of better options out there within the same price range. We can only recommend this half-hour generic mecha blast-fest curio to the most dedicated hardcore fans of the genre. The passage of time has not been kind to Gigantic Army, but we do hope this is won’t be the only Astro Port game to see a Switch re-release.

If you're a fan of the Princess Maker series you'll already know whether or not Princess Maker - Faery Tales Come True is your bag. You'll probably be able to overlook the complete lack of tutorials, abysmal translation job, sometimes backwards attitudes towards women and repetitive nature and get down to enjoying a strange little sim/management game that's unquestionably suited to the portable nature of the Nintendo Switch. However, newcomers should beware that this really is a careless and sloppy port of a very old game that doesn't show any real effort on the part of its developers to reward you for parting with your cash.

Overall, Blacksad: Under the Skin is both a faithful adaptation and a frustrating example of modern adventure game pitfalls. Fans of the original comics will enjoy seeing Blacksad himself brought to life so accurately, but some inconsistent performances in the voiceover department and some frustratingly unresponsive controls make it a far less enjoyable experience. There’s a really intriguing mystery to unfold and solve, but with some technical problems and a little too much blurring for our liking, you’ll have to grit your teeth if you really want to crack this case on the go.

It's difficult to determine who Brain Training's audience is. The casual audience who would have happily bought a cheap DS for the original won't buy the far more expensive Switch, and existing Switch owners can find a slew of other brain games that may not be better, but are certainly cheaper. What's here is entertaining enough, but you're likely to have lost interest within a month; if ever there was a series that Nintendo should have turned into a mobile game instead, it's this one.

Top-down racers, whilst never boasting the same level of depth as their 3D counterparts, are reliably accessible. They tend to put a playful spin on what is otherwise an often daunting gameplay experience for newcomers, allowing almost anyone to dive right in immediately. Ultimate Racing 2D succeeds in this respect, boasting simplistic gameplay that is incredibly easy to get to grips with. The problem, though, is that it isn’t much fun – at all.

Princess Maker Go!Go! Princess has a reasonable enough idea at its core, taking the central gameplay elements of the Princess Maker series and adapting them to a four-player board game. However, in reality, this shift only results in removing all of the narrative interest, skill and strategy from the main games and leaves you with a very simple experience which quickly becomes tedious and repetitive. Rounds are much too long, everything is 100% dependant on dice rolls and really, once you've spent about thirty minutes with this one, you'll have seen everything it's got to offer and more.

LastFight lifts the classic gameplay of Capcom's Power Stone series and dumps it into an established comic book universe which it then entirely fails to utilise. It's sorely lacking in game modes and inexplicably fails to provide any online co-operative gameplay options. The AI here is pretty dumb, stages are bland and the central gameplay aspects are hampered by a lack of polish, from attacks that don't feel satisfying to long loading times between every bout. If you've got a bunch of pals who like to get down and dirty with a party brawler you may be able to knock more than a handful of hours of fun out of this one, but if you're playing solo, you'll genuinely struggle to stick with it for any reasonable amount of time.

Despite everything it does right, Rush Rally 3 does stumble along the way, particularly in the graphics department. This isn’t a good-looking game, unfortunately; there’s no getting around that. The visuals are GameCube level at best, and we’ve no doubt that this can be vastly improved for future games without compromising on performance. Elsewhere, the menu system can be a tad confusing for newcomers, and the customisation screen, in particular, is a bit of a nightmare to navigate.

Ashen doesn't try to hide the fact that it's a Souls clone through and through. However, where many before it unwisely try to out-do FromSoftware in terms of difficulty or obtuse systems and lore, A44 has taken its game in a more refreshing, community-focused direction. This is a slightly more relaxed take on a Souls-like; it gets you into its action and gameplay rhythms quickly, isn't interested in punishing you particularly unduly and doesn't outstay its welcome. Its story and setting are enchanting and the sense of togetherness and companionship that it creates as its plot unfolds sets it apart in a genre much better known for relentless loneliness and isolation.

It’s remarkably refreshing to get a game that not only requires the strict cooperation of two players to beat, but actually encourages as much verbal communication as possible. You don’t need an online connection to play, and you’re not necessarily restricted to playing just on Switch, which makes it even more accessible. Those who prefer to game alone will get nothing out of this experience, but if you’re up for a unique take on the puzzle genre – and have a likeminded friend to game with – then look no further than Tick Tock: A Tale for Two.