161 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's 'Hits For The Holidays' eShop Sale (North America)

Nintendo of America has kicked off its ‘Hits for the Holidays‘ eShop sale, bringing a wave of beefy discounts to thousands of titles across the storefront until 5th January.

There are so many to choose from, in fact, that it can be difficult to see the very best among the savings. That’s where we come in. In the following list, we have highlighted every game in the Nintendo’s North American ‘Hits for the Holidays’ eShop sale that we awarded 9/10 or higher — and yes, it’s a rather long one.

If you’re keen to splash the holiday cash in this sale, you can pick up some eShop credit from our store by following the links below. ‘Tis the season, after all.

Without further ado, here’s the very best of the Nintendo eShop ‘Hits for the Holidays’ sale in alphabetical order…

$4.79 (-40%)

A Short Hike is a fat-free experience from top to bottom – or should we say bottom to top? It’s the kind of game that makes us sigh with happiness when we recall our time with it, and even having played it through to its ostensible conclusion multiple times, we know for a fact there are still things to see and do on that mountain.

It’s something of an apotheosis – a milestone in indie games akin to Cave Story or Spelunky. The very best bits of multiple game genres, stripped of all padding and bloat, mixed perfectly into a delicious video game stew that only gets richer the more you play.

An exploration in every sense of the word, A Short Hike is cute without being twee, challenging without being obnoxious, and emotional without being cloying. A landmark game for all ages. Don’t miss this one.

$35.99 (-40%)

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is the absolute pinnacle of the series and despite coming to Switch over five years after other platforms, this ‘impossible’ Switch conversion does very little to degrade the experience. Long-time franchise players and military aviation enthusiasts will be overwhelmed by the fan service at every turn, from craters on the ground to airplanes, liveries, callsigns, and emblems shouting out to previous entries.

We understand the genre is uniquely niche, but if this is your first foray into the franchise, this conversion is a perfect gateway into this rich, revered series. You get tons of content and an epic single-player campaign wrapped up in triple-A presentation that delivers the most comprehensive portable experience ever from Project Aces.

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$41.99 (-30%)

Animal Crossing: New Horizons improved upon every single facet of the series imaginable. There’s more to do, more to see, more to change, more to mould, and more to love; fans and first-time players can find themselves losing hours at a time gathering materials, creating new furniture, and making their island undeniably theirs.

Every moment is unashamedly blissful, with excellently written characters that truly feel alive and an island paradise that gives back infinitely more than you put in. Back when Animal Crossing: New Leaf hit the shelves all those years ago and created a whole new generation of fans, many people were wondering how Nintendo could possibly top it, but here we got our answer.

This is a masterpiece that’s worth buying a Switch (or two) to play.

$9.99 (-50%)

As an adventure game, Chicory: A Colorful Tale is quite sincerely up there with the very best of the genre. There’s plenty to see and do and a full completion run will probably take you 25-30 hours. The characters and their travails are rich and likeable, the game’s sense of humour is generally inspired, and it’s all very sweet without being sugary-twee and talking down to the player. It’s also an affecting little tearjerker that will definitely strike a chord if you make art, and almost certainly will even if you don’t – so long as you’re capable of pretty basic empathy. Chicory is simple to play but impressively long and complex, with perfect controls, performance and visuals. Throw yourself into painting the world and you’ll be left with a game that’s very much your own and speaks to you directly – a beautiful marriage of mechanics, themes and visuals.

$15.99 (-60%)

What you’ve got here are two of the finest examples of the genre, accompanied by a third likeable entry which is also well worth a look. When you consider how many titles Konami is packing into its Anniversary Collection packages – and that their retail price is almost half what Square Enix is demanding for the three games included here – it’s impossible to not question the value of Collection of Mana. However, there’s no denying the fact that Secret of Mana is one of the finest console RPGs of all time, and even though it’s readily available elsewhere, playing it on Switch is like wrapping yourself up in a warm and familiar blanket; it’s just right somehow. We could argue that Secret of Mana is merely the appetiser for the real star of this collection: Trials of Mana. It’s nothing short of a masterpiece and finally getting the chance to play it officially in English is a landmark moment for SNES and RPG fans alike.