Each year, the Nintendo Switch has announced new games or features that help make its titles more accessible to a wider audience while also making gameplay as entertaining as possible. This has been exemplified with the recent reveal of a new Switch OLED model and the announcements of their latest titles in their most recent Nintendo Direct. However, it’s not just Nintendo titles that benefit from these announcements. Nintendo also makes sure to bring to light some of the indie games featured on the console.
Over the years, Nintendo has created many gameplay styles that feature characters like Mario and Link. With these heroes and their games, platforming, turn-based combat and even dungeon crawlers have become the standard for most indie games. As a thank you letter to all of the memories, titles like Shovel Knight improve on these gameplay styles, taking them to new heights. Now, thanks to the Switch, these games can flourish and become available to an even wider audience.
Nintendo’s shown they’re all in on indie games, too, as seen with recent events like its Nindies Showcase. Nindies is the name Nintendo lovingly calls their independent titles and, like a Nintendo Direct, tells fans what new and exciting games are coming to the Switch. This has helped many of its titles, like Cuphead, reach fans who may not always pick up an indie game. The best part about the system is that, due to its portability, these titles can be taken out of the home and to the masses, where players can share their unique gaming discovery with their friends.
Another reason indie games work so great on the Switch is due to its less demanding hardware requirements. Now, even when taking the console on the go, the performance of the games won’t suffer and lets players enjoy titles without any hindrance. Nintendo has built an audience for on-the-go indie gaming as far back as the 3DS with games like Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse and Azure Striker Gunvolt 2. As a result, Switch gamers are now primed to look for strange and unique titles like Calico, a cat cafe-themed RPG, and To The Rescue: A Dog Shelter Simulator. That build-in audience has also allowed games to flourish that otherwise wouldn’t, like Gnosia, a wild social deduction game that was previously a Japanese PSP exclusive.
Thankfully, the Nintendo eShop still considers the massive appeal of indie titles, even after the Nindies, and makes sure to let players know these games exist. Other companies like Sony and Microsoft often feature so many exclusive titles that independent ones don’t always get attention. However, the Switch never forgets to spotlight the up-and-coming developers, like WayForward, that keep the spirit and fun of the medium alive.
The Nintendo Switch is a great title because it allows gamers to take console-quality games on the go and share them with friends. As a result, it caters to a huge demographic of gamers, both young and old. With such a massive audience to appeal to, independent titles and their developers have the chance to reach out to even more gamers and get their titles recognized while hopefully inspiring younger players to make their own games. By bringing attention to these titles and continuously acknowledging the creativity of the developers, the Nintendo Switch remains the perfect hub for indie games.
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