PSA: The Switch eShop now has a useful ‘most played’ section for each region

Just scroll down from the ‘featured’ section

Stealth-added in a recent update, there’s now a Switch eShop most played functionality, which you can access under the featured section on the left menu of the eShop itself.

Naturally, since it is a Nintendo UI, it can be a bit tough to find at first. You need to select “featured” from the left side, then scroll all the way down past everything until you reach the very bottom of the page. You’ll see a new “most played” button all the way down there for the eShop most played section.

Amazingly, the list is fairly extensive, showcasing roughly the top 100 “most played” games. It seems to periodically update, as the eShop even has the date of the last refresh (currently it is 12/26/2021). If Nintendo decides to stick with this feature, we can expect it to change every so often.

In the US, here are the current top 10 games at the time of publication:

• Disgaea 6 (it’s long!)
• Football Manager 2022
• AAA Clock (I guess you’re leaving it running!)
• Pokemon Brilliant Diamond
• Pokemon Shining Pearl
• Garden Paws
• Grow: Song of the Evertree
• Shin Megami Tensei V
• YouTube
• Dragon Quest Builders 2

Showing eShop most played offering is a pretty unique feature, as it provides a snapshot of what people are actually playing, not what’s currently popular. While a lot of best-seller lists can be helpful, sometimes they just indicate games that are purchased on word of mouth, or are bought, but not actually played. By the same token, this eShop most played list will eschew a lot of shorter quality games. You just have to use all the tools at your disposal to make an informed decision. Now we have an extra one.