Hello, friends. I’m back again with another list of good Nintendo Switch games for reasonable prices, this time diving into the deep seas of the puzzle game genre. Per the usual rules, the regular price of the game has to be under ten United States dollars, which actually turns out to offer us a rather robust selection of games. I could have easily done twenty without breaking a sweet. For now though, I’ve found ten fun games for under ten bucks. We’ll go through my picks one by one in no particular order. On to the games!
Puyo Puyo Champions ($9.99)
There are a lot of Puyo Puyo choices on the Switch, and even at the sub-ten dollar range we have a few different options. Puyo Puyo Champions leans into the competitive aspect of the game, and I think ultimately that is where the long-term fun of Puyo Puyo comes from. As such, I’m going to give this the nod over other games in the series, but if you aren’t interested in playing against others you can save a couple of bucks and grab the SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo 2 instead.
Arcade Archives Tetris The Absolute The Grand Master 2 ($7.99)
Look, we have to have at least one Tetris and one Arcade Archives representative in any list of puzzle games, and here we can take out both at once. While the first Tetris The Grand Master was laser-focused on the expert player, The Grand Master 2 makes a few concessions for those who just want to play a game of Tetris. What makes this a good pick is that if you find yourself ready to step up your game, this will scale to your needs quite nicely. A lot of fun for a fair price.
inbento ($4.99)
inbento has everything I like to see in a puzzle game. The presentation is charming, the mechanics are simple to understand, and the difficulty curve is just right. You’re given a limited number of ingredient blocks and moves to create a lunch box that matches the target picture. It starts off very easy, but the heat gradually increases until you get to some outright devilish designs. I’m not sure if this one flew under the radar or hit its mark, but if you missed it, consider this my recommendation to not… miss it. Sigh. Coffee please.
Suika Game ($2.99)
The viral hit that suddenly rose to the top of the ranks in 2023, Suika Game is a distant descendent of merging puzzlers like Triple Towns or Threes. Drop in the fruits, match them to make bigger ones, and try to create a watermelon or two before any fruits pop out the top. It’s a very satisfying game to play, and the way things can suddenly turn around just when you think you’re finished never gets old. How good is this? I lost my back-up Switch to my wife because of this game. I don’t think I’m getting it back.
Toki Tori ($4.99)
Toki Tori is a little different from the other games on this list so far, as it falls into that puzzle-platformer grey zone where people could consider it to be either. To me, this game’s strong puzzle elements mean you’re going to have to use your brain a bit more than your manual dexterity, so here we are. Each stage tasks you with collecting the eggs scattered about, and you’re given a limited set of tools to accomplish that with. As the game goes on, you get more tools to work with and more challenging layouts. A great game that has aged like fine wine.
Picross S Genesis & Master System Edition ($9.99)
Well sure, we should find room on our list for one Picross game. You can choose any of them, really. There are quite a few that satisfy our ten dollar limit. I picked this one for a very good reason: it’s SEGA-themed. If you, like me, think juice tastes a little better when you drink it from an Opa-Opa sippy cup, this is the Picross game for you. All joking aside, Picross is a bit more fun when you recognize the pictures you’re making, and Sonic and Alex Kidd are definitely more recognizable for most players than non-descript kitchen appliances and such.
Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move (16-Bit Console Version) ($7.99)
I’ve put an arbitrary restriction on myself to not include more than one Arcade Archives game in this list. If you don’t care, you can get a couple of the Puzzle Bobble sequels in that line for the same price as this one. But I think there’s some value in this Super NES version of the first game, as it was tuned for home play in a way none of the arcade games could be. As for Puzzle Bobble itself, it’s that familiar formula. Appealing visuals, music that sticks in your head, and gameplay that keeps you coming back again and again to try to do a little better.
Mom Hid My Game! ($4.99)
Another one living in a grey zone, this time straddling the line between adventure game and puzzle game. Your goal in each stage is to find a way to get your game console that has been taken away by your mother. Not only do you need to find where she put it and how to get it, you have to do it without accidentally tipping off mom as to what you’re doing. It’s very silly and even manages to be a little sentimental, and the madcap way things play out make successes and failures equally amusing.
The Room ($9.99)
Here’s a classic for mobile game fans, and it’s considered one for good reason. This is basically a virtual puzzle box, and an incredibly elaborate one. It starts easily enough, but as you pull back each layer of the box things get considerably more challenging. The atmosphere is fascinating, and it’s impressive how the game can keep surprising you with new twists. You can also grab the first sequel for under ten dollars on Switch, and it offers an expanded take that will surely appeal to those who enjoy this game. I recommend this one simply because I feel it’s the best place to start.
Millie and Molly ($4.99)
Order of operations puzzle games aren’t the newest thing around by any means, but I certainly enjoy a well-made one here and there. Millie and Molly is actually a Commodore 64 game, I believe, and it’s one heavily inspired by the classic Game Boy game Catrap/Pitman. You need to take out all of the monsters in each stage, a task that only requires you push into them. But you can’t jump, so once you’ve fallen down from a high place it is generally impossible to get back up. It’s all about taking out blocks and monsters in the correct order, and puzzling out the solution for each is as satisfying as it is challenging.
And that will do it for this list. Do you have any favorite Nintendo Switch puzzle games under ten dollars that aren’t here? If so, please share them in the comments below. At the end of the day, the point of these articles is to find more cool games to play, so adding to the list is a win-win proposition for all of us. Thanks for reading!
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