Nintendo is notorious for keeping their games at full price longer than any other video game publisher, especially one that also sells hardware. I don’t knock entirely Nintendo for it, I understand it, it’s a different business model than most of the other companies use, and for the most part the games still sell well long after release. Some of the bigger games still sell millions of copies years after release, at full price. But eventually, the sales decline on the big sellers and become stagnant on the smaller titles. Sequels start to arrive, which logically should drop the prices of their precursors. Some games need reprints, and some need a boost to move the remaining copies out of circulation. All of these scenarios are currently happening with games on the Nintendo Switch, so it’s about time to look at reducing the prices, permanently one some of Nintendo’s best sellers. The best way to do that, is their Nintendo Selects series (Personally, I prefer the Player’s Choice name more, but Nintendo has been using this since the Wii era).

The Nintendo Selects series is the equivalent of Sony’s “Greatest Hits” line or Microsoft’s “Platinum Hits” line. These are popular games, that sometimes meet a certain sales criteria to get a permanent price drop, and rebranded in different (uglier) packaging. It’s often used to rejuvenate sales in a game, or franchise, but is also beneficial for the publisher to help clear out excess copies and connect with less informed gamers or gift shoppers that are looking for one of the more popular games at a cheaper price.

The Switch is now 4 1/2 years old, it’s time for Nintendo to start discounting some of the Switch’s earlier hits and re-introducing them to the customer base. Nintendo has sold a little over 85 million Switch consoles so far, and roughly 67 million of those sales came AFTER year 2, so over 75% of Switch owners weren’t even around to get hyped on the earlier titles. Add to that, most people buying a 4, or 5 year old console usually look at one of the biggest benefits of an older system is that there should be a lot of popular games at cheaper prices…the Switch currently doesn’t have that perk. I honestly thought Nintendo would’ve unveiled a Nintendo Select title LAST Holiday season to combat the PS5 and XBox Series X launch, as a way to show that their system has some excellent exclusives available at good prices, but they didn’t. They didn’t need to either, I don’t think it would’ve made much of a difference in console sales, those systems were so hard to get, Nintendo probably still got some sales from people that “settled” for a Switch and their exclusives before upgrading their PS4’s and XB1’s. This Holiday might not be any different with the competitors, but for new and old Switch owners, it’s time they got some prices slashed on the older titles and Nintendo gave a boost to some of the games that have their interest dissipate in the past few years.

This is what I think Nintendo should, and realistically could, put out for their first Wave of Nintendo Select titles on the Switch.

The Legend of Zelda
Breath of the Wild

Release Date: March 3, 2017
Total Sales: 23.20million (As of 6/31/21)

My Suggested Select Price: $30

With over 22 million sales, it is the best selling Zelda game of all-time, so clearly it should qualify as a Nintendo Select title. It was also a launch title for the Switch, so it is the oldest Switch game out. One of the highest quality titles of the past decade (if not all-time), Breath of the Wild still sells fairly well at full price, it sold 1 million copies between March 31st and June 30th this year according to Nintendo. Even so, with a sequel coming soon, it is about time Nintendo considers repackaging BotW and selling it at a discounted price, especially when they launch a Nintendo Select Line.

Kirby Star Allies

Release Date: March 16, 2018
Total Sales: 2.93million (as of 12/31/19)

My Suggested Select Price: $30

Kirby Star Allies was released to some excitement shortly after the year anniversary of the Switch launch, but most attention and mention of this game disappeared quickly after. Star Allies is a great single player Kirby game, but an even better co-op game. Sales for this have certainly declined hard over the 3 years since it’s release, I never hear it recommended or brought up. Rumor has it a new Kirby is coming soon, a discounted price is overdue, and although I suggested $30, it might need a $20 price tag to really give it a boost.

ARMS

Release Date: June 16, 2017
Total Sales: 2.38million (As of 12/31/19)

My Suggested Select Price: $20

ARMS came out very early in the Switches’ life, it was the first non-port for the Switch (besides SnipperClips) that wasn’t Zelda. There was some hype around this game being the “next Splatoon” from Nintendo, another new quirky IP hit. While ARMS fell short of being the phenomenon that Splatoon was, it still was a cool new fighting game with it’s own unique gameplay and style. This is a game that I feel has been TOTALLY forgotten about and ignored since late 2017. Outside of hardcore Nintendo fans, anyone who bought a Switch after 2018 probably never heard of this game, or ignored it because of it’s $60 price tag. Some dedicated Smash Bros fans might have given this a look after ARMS characters were added as DLC to Smash, but this game really needs a price cut to reintroduce it to newer Switch owners that weren’t following 2017 releases and to build a base for ARMS 2.

Mario Rabbids + Kingdom Battle Gold

Release Date: August 29, 2017
Total Sales: 2million (as of 9/2/18)

My Suggested Select Price: $20

We know Nintendo isn’t one to discount their games very often, but this game has already seen prices as low as $15 in-stores, likely due to the partnership with Ubisoft. Mario + Rabbids at a permanent MSRP high of $20 with a Nintendo Select label slapped on it probably won’t do much to add to sales or interest since it’s on sale for that price pretty regularly, but it would be a nice way for people to get a physical copy of the Gold Edition (as long as the Gold DLC is on the cartridge) outside of importing or the now-expensive Costco exclusive.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Release Date: December 1, 2017
Total Sales: 1.92million (As of 12/31/19)

My Suggested Select Price: $30

This was another big exclusive in the Switch’s first year. After the previous entry, Xenoblade Chronicles X, struggled to hit 400k on the Wii U, Xenoblade 2 was a hit with nearly 2 million copies sold. This is worth every penny at $60, and now the game is actually out of print, no longer in retail stores for the retail price. After the main characters were announced for Smash, the price of this game was SELLING for around $150 on eBay (the Torna Expansion was going for over $200). Now things have calmed down and it’s at least under $100, but it’s still crazy Nintendo hasn’t printed more of these. The Nintendo Select series is a great way to get the game back out. Pricing is hard to figure out for this, I think ultimately Nintendo should bundle it with Torna for $60, but they’ve never done anything like that in their Select series…maybe including a $20 or $30 coupon for Torna digitally would work.

Pokken Tournament DX

Release Date: September 22, 2017
Total Sales: 1.16million (As of 3/31/18)

My Suggested Select Price: $20

Pokken Tournament DX is a Tekken style game with Pokemon Characters. While I’m not personally a big fan of either franchise, I did enjoy this game when I put a few hours into it and think it deserves another reminder to Switch owners that it exists. This is a Wii U port, so when it came to Switch for $60, that was hard to swallow for some. I can see a lot of people picking it up at $20, even those that already bought it on Wii U, now that they are probably even less attached to their Wii U than they were 4 years ago. The fact this is still $60 is absurd.

Bayonetta 2

Release Date: February 16, 2018
Total Sales: Under 1 Million (over 400k)

My Suggested Select Price: $20

Bayonetta 2 is my favorite action game of the past decade, I felt like it was non-stop over the top battles, I highly recommend this to any action fan. Bayonetta 2 has a niche audience, apparently it didn’t even break 1 million sales, but we know it sold at least 400k (more than it did on Wii U). I feel like Nintendo needs to elevate this franchise and really hype everyone on Bayonetta 3 being a must-have whenever it finally gets here. The best way to start hyping Bayonetta 3, is to get Bayonetta 2 slashed down to $20 (it is a Wii U port) and let all of the new and old Switch owners get a chance to see how amazing this game is.

What About These Games?

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 37 million copies sold on Switch and it still is a Top 10 seller every year, even at full price. I fully understand why consumers want a price drop on a game that is 4 1/2 year old (7 1/2 if you include it’s Wii U release). But when it keeps selling this good, Nintendo isn’t going to drop the price or release a sequel

Splatoon 2: Another big seller that came shortly after Switch launched, sits at over 12 million sold. A sequel, not a port, that has seen sales slow down the past couple years. So why don’t I think this should get a Nintendo Select label? Because Splatoon 3 is coming next year and is supposed to kind of replace 2, not compete with it. Similar to how sequels to other online-focused games operate. I see what Nintendo doesn’t want to reprint, repackage, re-advertise Splatoon 2 when Splatoon 3 is coming. The franchise is a hit and 3 doesn’t need any help from 2 to ignite interest. I do however think it would be nice to see a price drop to $30 or $40