Hello July! We’re now in the full heat of summer, which means we’re halfway through 2023. What a year for video games so far, huh?
That means it’s time to look back at June for this month’s eShop Selects. Many of us are still playing Tears of the Kingdom, of course, but we’ve had a solid run on the eShop front, helped by the many summer game shows and Nintendo Directs.
If you’re a fan of shmups or a fan of small sensitive plants, then this is a particularly good month for you. Let’s take a look at those honorable mentions before jumping into the best of the best…
Honorable mentions
We told you shmup fans would be happy. Switch is the home of shmups and we got two (technically more) really good ones this month. Plus, the long-awaited collection is finally out on Switch and it’s really good.
Publisher: Nintendo / Programmer: Nintendo
Wasn’t this a nice little drop during the June 2023 Nintendo Direct? A physical image for this (and its sequel) is coming later in the year, but that’s a few months away — hence its inclusion on the list.
Pikmin is Shigeru Miyamoto’s pride and joy. It’s a lovely little RTS game with cute little plants and unusual wildlife. The Switch version is a bit basic in terms of connectivity, but simply having all the main Pikmin games on one system is a great feature. Pikmin 1 is the one with a timer, so you have to race against time to escape the planet with the help of Red, Blue and Yellow Pikmin.
We gave the Switch port an 8/10, so if you’re looking to get ready for Pikmin 4 later in July, then this is a great place to start.
Publisher: Nintendo / Programmer: Nintendo
The Nintendo Life team has spoken — Pikmin 2 is better than 1! There is a lot of debate about whether 1, 2 or even Pikmin 3 is the best. Now you can get them all on Switch, so why not find out which one is your favorite for yourself?
Pikmin 2 adds two more types of Pikmin — Purple and White — and removes the timer from the first game to make the experience more casual. There are caves and underground areas to explore, where you can often find items you need to pay off your debt. You can also jump in and play multiplayer in this sequel.
So what’s the point of all this? The Pikmin series is great. Pikmin 2 is awesome. We rated the Switch version 8/10, just like its predecessor.
Publisher: Capcom / Programmer: Capcom
Many were understandably excited when Capcom announced that they would be remastering Shu Takumi (of Ace lawyer fame) DS cult classic Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. And guess what? All these years later, it’s still amazing.
Ghost Trick is full of personality, brilliant writing and fantastic puzzles. You try to solve the mystery of your own murder by using your ‘ghost trick’, the ability to go back to four minutes before death to change a person’s fate. That’s all we’re going to tell you about this masterpiece. If you missed this on DS, or mobile, or are an Ace Attorney fan, this is a no brainer.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is one of the best games not only on the eShop, but of the whole year, and we rated it 10/10.
< Nintendo eShop Selects - May 2023
How we decide that our eShop chooses the top three: As we come to the end of each month, the Nintendo Life staff votes on their favorite titles from a list of games selected by the editorial team. To qualify for this list, these games must have been released only as a digital Nintendo Switch eShop title in that particular month and must have been reviewed on Nintendo Life; we select qualifying games based on their ratings.
Staff are then asked to vote for the three games they think deserve to be at the very top of that list; the first choice gets 3 points, the second choice gets 2 points, and the third choice gets 1 point. Those votes are then tallied to create a top three list, with the overall winner claiming that month’s top prize.
