Feature: Nintendo Life eShop Selects (August 2026)
Nintendo Life has published its August 2026 eShop Selects, the site's monthly ranking of the best digital-only Switch games it reviewed, chosen by staff vote. This edition was unusual in that two of the featured titles were previously unreleased Virtual Boy games that finally reached players via Nintendo Switch Online, decades after being shelved.
Third place went to Kynseed, a life-sim from former Fable developers, while Dragon Hopper (also known as D-Hopper), a long-lost Virtual Boy platformer from the mid-1990s, took second. First place was shared between House House's co-operative puzzle game Big Walk, the follow-up to Untitled Goose Game, and Zero Racers, a resurrected F-Zero spin-off originally cancelled following the Virtual Boy's commercial failure. Eight games in total met the site's 7/10 review threshold to qualify this month.
- Nintendo Life ranks August 2026's best Switch eShop-only games
- Two unreleased Virtual Boy titles surfaced via Nintendo Switch Online
- Big Walk and Zero Racers share first place; Kynseed takes third
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Nintendo Life is a UK-based fan and news site covering Nintendo consoles and games. Each month its writers pick out the best games available only as digital downloads on the Nintendo Switch eShop, choosing from titles that scored at least 7 out of 10 in the site's own reviews, and rank them in a feature called eShop Selects.
This month's list is notable because it includes games originally made for the Virtual Boy, a 3D gaming device Nintendo released in 1995 that flopped commercially and was discontinued within a year, leaving several finished or nearly finished games unreleased. Some of these have now surfaced decades later through Nintendo Switch Online, the subscription service that gives Switch owners access to older Nintendo games, allowing them to be played and reviewed for the first time.
The ranking also features newer independent and studio titles, including a follow-up to a previous cult hit and a spin-off tied to Nintendo's long-running F-Zero racing series. The list matters mainly to Switch owners looking for recommendations on lesser-known digital games, as well as to those interested in the unusual story of long-shelved Virtual Boy titles finally reaching an audience.