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Best Nintendo Switch games under $20

The Switch is the best handheld for cheap games ever made. These are the sub-$20 greats worth owning, ranked for value — with a skip pick.

By Stephen V.Deal hunter & value analystPublished July 21, 2026How we pick

#ad— Penny & Pixel is reader-funded. We earn a commission when you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes a pick or a verdict. Full disclosure.

Nintendo Switch handheld console — best cheap Switch games

The Switch is arguably the best machine ever made for cheap games. Its indie and third-party catalog is enormous, it plays everything in handheld, and the best of it regularly sells under twenty dollars. These are the picks worth your money.

We've ranked by value-per-dollar with live prices, and leaned toward games that shine specifically on Switch — great in handheld, great in short bursts, or great in local co-op. As always, we finish with the honest thing nobody else says: the pick to skip.

The short answer

Quick picks

#GameBest forValuePrice
01
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley

Nintendo Switch

The single best value in gaming. A farming-life RPG so deep people sink hundreds of hours into it, for the price of a sandwich. If you buy one cheap game, buy this.

Best value, full stop
9.7/10
Value
$14.89Amazon
02
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight

Nintendo Switch

A gorgeous, enormous hand-drawn adventure that regularly outsizes games ten times its price. Forty-plus hours of tight exploration and combat for about fifteen dollars.

Best big adventure on a budget
9.5/10
Value
$14.99Amazon
03
Celeste
Celeste

Nintendo Switch

A precision platformer with one of the best stories in the medium and an assist mode that lets anyone finish it. Tremendous value at its usual price.

Best platformer under $20
9.1/10
Value
$19.89Amazon
04
Cuphead
Cuphead

Nintendo Switch

A hand-inked 1930s-cartoon boss-rush that looks like nothing else and plays like a gauntlet. Endlessly replayable and shines in local co-op.

Best co-op challenge
8.8/10
Value
$19.99Amazon
05
Sonic Mania
Sonic Mania

Nintendo Switch

The best Sonic in decades — a lovingly built 2D throwback that plays better than the nostalgia it's selling. Great value on sale.

Best retro-style platformer
8.4/10
Value
$19.99Amazon
06
Human: Fall Flat
Human: Fall Flat

Nintendo Switch

A floppy-physics puzzle-platformer that turns into pure comedy in co-op. Cheap, endlessly memeable, and packed with free levels.

Best co-op laughs for the money
8.6/10
Value
$19.99Amazon

#ad · Live prices from the Amazon Product API, as of Jul 22, 2026. Where we have no verified live price, we show none — we would rather leave a gap than print a number that has rotted.

In detail

The picks, in full

01
Stardew Valley

Best value, full stop

Stardew Valley

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Farming RPG100+ hrs1–4 playersDigital
9.7/10
Value

The single best value in gaming. A farming-life RPG so deep people sink hundreds of hours into it, for the price of a sandwich. If you buy one cheap game, buy this.

Pros

  • Effectively bottomless — farming, mining, fishing, combat, relationships
  • Four-player co-op on the same farm
  • Runs perfectly in handheld; ideal pick-up-and-play

Cons

  • Slow, gentle start
  • No hand-holding — it expects you to explore

Don't buy this if…

…you want fast action or a clear finish line — this is a cozy, open-ended time sink, not a tight campaign.

$14.89View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 22, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Stardew Valley

02
Hollow Knight

Best big adventure on a budget

Hollow Knight

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Metroidvania40+ hrs1 playerDigital
9.5/10
Value

A gorgeous, enormous hand-drawn adventure that regularly outsizes games ten times its price. Forty-plus hours of tight exploration and combat for about fifteen dollars.

Pros

  • Vast interconnected world with genuine discovery
  • Precise, satisfying combat
  • Astonishing amount of content for the price

Cons

  • Genuinely difficult
  • Deliberately sparse map/guidance

Don't buy this if…

…you bounce off hard games or want your hand held — this one makes you earn it.

$14.99View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 22, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Hollow Knight

03
Celeste

Best platformer under $20

Celeste

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Platformer8–12 hrs1 playerDigital
9.1/10
Value

A precision platformer with one of the best stories in the medium and an assist mode that lets anyone finish it. Tremendous value at its usual price.

Pros

  • Tight, fair, brilliant level design
  • Moving, genuinely well-written story
  • Assist mode makes it as easy or hard as you want

Cons

  • Short if you skip the brutal bonus content
  • Default difficulty is demanding

Don't buy this if…

…you dislike reflex-based platforming — even with assists, the core loop is jump-and-die-and-retry.

$19.89View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 22, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Celeste

04
Cuphead

Best co-op challenge

Cuphead

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Run-and-gun10–15 hrs1–2 playersDigital
8.8/10
Value

A hand-inked 1930s-cartoon boss-rush that looks like nothing else and plays like a gauntlet. Endlessly replayable and shines in local co-op.

Pros

  • Jaw-dropping hand-drawn art
  • Excellent two-player co-op
  • High replay value

Cons

  • Very hard
  • Boss-heavy structure isn't for everyone

Don't buy this if…

…difficulty frustrates you — Cuphead is a wall of tough bosses by design.

$19.99View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 22, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Cuphead

05
Sonic Mania

Best retro-style platformer

Sonic Mania

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Platformer6–10 hrs1–2 playersDigital
8.4/10
Value

The best Sonic in decades — a lovingly built 2D throwback that plays better than the nostalgia it's selling. Great value on sale.

Pros

  • Gorgeous pixel art and animation
  • Tight classic-Sonic physics
  • Local co-op

Cons

  • Short main run
  • Leans heavily on old-Sonic nostalgia

Don't buy this if…

…you never liked classic 2D Sonic — this is a love letter to exactly that.

$19.99View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 22, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Sonic Mania

06
Human: Fall Flat

Best co-op laughs for the money

Human: Fall Flat

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Physics puzzle6–10 hrs1–2 playersDigital
8.6/10
Value

A floppy-physics puzzle-platformer that turns into pure comedy in co-op. Cheap, endlessly memeable, and packed with free levels.

Pros

  • Deliberately hilarious physics
  • Loads of free community levels
  • Very cheap on sale

Cons

  • Wobbly controls are the point but frustrate some
  • Thin solo

Don't buy this if…

…you want precise controls — the clumsy ragdoll is the entire joke.

$19.99View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 22, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Human: Fall Flat

The honest part

What to skip

Skip · Waiting for first-party Nintendo games to get cheap

Here's the honest Switch truth: Nintendo's own big games — Mario Kart, Zelda, Smash — almost never get cheap. They hold their price for years. If your plan for a sub-$20 Switch library is "wait for Mario Kart to hit $15," you'll be waiting forever.

The good news is the third-party and indie catalog on Switch is spectacular and genuinely cheap. Build your budget library from picks like these instead of holding out for a first-party discount that isn't coming.

Buy instead: Stardew Valley.

Digital or physical on Switch?

For the indies here, digital eShop codes are usually cheapest and most convenient — no cartridge to lose, and they go lowest during eShop sales. For bigger third-party games, a physical cartridge can undercut the digital price and can be resold later. We note the format on each pick; the full trade-off is in physical vs digital games.

When Switch games are cheapest

The eShop runs frequent sales, with the deepest cuts around spring, summer, Black Friday and the new year. Third-party publishers discount aggressively; Nintendo itself barely does. Track the timing on our Nintendo eShop sale datesguide, and see what's cheap right now on Switch deals.

How we picked

We don't test games in a lab

Most "best cheap games" lists just re-rank the same store page. We don't, and we won't pretend to run a test lab we don't have. What we do: compile the real current and historical-low prices, the actual playtime and replay data, and the sale cycle — then do the value math and tell you what to skip. The full method is on how we pick. Everything here is checkable.

Questions

Frequently asked

01What are the best cheap Switch games?
Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight and Celesteare the standouts — all under $20 and all among the best games on the system.
02Why aren't Mario or Zelda on this list?
Because they're basically never under $20. Nintendo's first-party games hold their price for years, so they don't belong on a cheap-games list. The Switch's budget strength is its third-party and indie catalog.
03Are these good in handheld mode?
Yes — we specifically favored games that play well portable and in short sessions, which is how most people use a Switch.

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Sources

Where this comes from