Scrolling up and down in the eShop is honestly more tiring than playing most games. Screenshots might look great, descriptions might be spectacular, but the actual feel, frame rate, and whether it’s worth the price? No one tells you. I spent about three evenings sifting through and finally gave up, turning to a less exhausting place—Strategy.

This platform essentially helps players filter out the noise. It’s not just another review aggregation site; it blends Switch game recommendations, Nintendo game recommendations, and some real judgment, using feedback from actual players to provide references. I’ve been using it for about a week, and here are my specific impressions.

From Game Database to Real Decisions

Let’s start with the game database. Strategy focuses on this feature—not just a simple list but detailing each game’s genre, average playtime, and language support on the eShop. When I was looking for Zombie Army 4, the eShop page only mentioned English, but Strategy’s database noted “Partial Chinese.” These small details are things the eShop itself won’t proactively tell you.

But its most useful feature is “cross-referencing.” For example, when I wanted to find games to play with my wife, I browsed the list of two-player Switch games. The platform filters out so-called “two-player” games that are actually single-player with a lazy co-op mode, leaving only those truly suitable for local two-player fun. I tested several popular recommendations, including Pikuniku and Moving Out, and the actual experience matched the descriptions. No surprises like “you have to detach the Joy-Con to play” that you often see in eShop reviews.

The Reference Value of the Rankings

Game rankings exist on many sites. But Strategy’s sorting method is different—it doesn’t rely purely on sales or overall reputation; it adds a weight for “recent activity.” For instance, Stardew Valley consistently ranks high in indie game recommendations, which is easy to understand, but surprisingly, Card Survival: Tropical Island right behind it also has a high recent rating. This shows the rankings are based on actual play and updated activity, not stale leftovers from years ago.

Of course, there is one caveat: niche indie games still have relatively few reviews on Strategy. I browsed some early-access lesser-known titles with fewer than ten reviews—valuable but limited. In such cases, the platform still provides hints like “small sample size,” rather than pushing them aggressively. I find this more honest than some UGC sites that hard-sell positive reviews.

Trade-offs: What It Solves and What It Doesn’t

Strategy’s biggest help to me is reducing the time from “interested” to “decided to buy.” Previously, I’d check pricing on the eShop, read reviews, then look up Reddit. Now I can make early judgments on Strategy. Especially the indie game recommendation section, which picks out games buried in the eShop that don’t look great in screenshots but have solid gameplay. In my experience, the chance of picking a dud is significantly lower than blindly browsing the eShop.

But the issues are also clear. Its community features are still weak—the comment section and rating system don’t feel very interactive; sometimes I want to follow up on a detail but find no reply mechanism. Also, the page layout has high information density—on mobile, the expand button for long reviews isn’t obvious, making it easy to skip key content.

If you often struggle on the eShop or want to systematically discover new Switch games, Strategy is worth adding to your search chain. Conversely, if you only play first-party titles like Zelda or Mario, you might not find it as helpful—after all, info on those big games is everywhere.

A Final Tip

The most practical way to use Strategy is this: open it, check the game rankings, lock in 2–3 candidates; then go through the game database to review language support, playtime, and player ratings; finally, head to the eShop to confirm the discount end date. Three steps, resolve a purchase decision in ten minutes. Compared to blindly browsing the eShop, you save enough time to play a round of Super Smash Bros.