What's a good <$30 Switch game for a 9 year old?

My S/O has a 9-year-old niece who has a Switch and likes it. My S/O wants to get her a Switch game for Christmas. Her family also does somewhat strict price caps for gifts, and this year the price cap is set at $30.

It's been a long time since either of us were 9 years old, so we don't really know what a 9 year old would like, games-wise. Here's what we do know: she likes puzzles and puzzle-style games. She already has Minecraft on the PC and doesn't care for it much. It doesn't have to be a physical game, we can put a gift card code in a Christmas card. And that's all we have to go off of.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

Battlechef Brigade

Wandersong

As a 9 year old, I liked Contra, so Blazing Chrome.

Wait, puzzles. Umm... Monster Boy? It's a sidescroller game with a ton of puzzle solving. Not sure if she'd be into the more fast paced platforming bits, though. I would've said Hollow Knight but those boss battles can be tough, too.

BoxBoy! + BoxGirl!

It’s a fun little puzzle platformer, which I think has just the right amount of difficulty and cute characters for a 9-year-old. There is a quick look on the site. I believe it is $10 USD, which is honestly kind of a steal. The story is pretty minimal, and told wordlessly, so I’m not sure if that’s a plus or a minus depending on how verbose she wants her games to be.

I’d like to recommend Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for almost the same set of reasons, but that game just costs too much dang money. Wish it was $20-$25, instead of whatever it actually is ($35-$40, I think).

I don't know if these games manage to end up below the 30$ limit, but i'm thinking about

• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
• Snipperclips
• Untitled Goose Game
• Layton's Mystery Journey
• Pikuniku
• Katamari Damacy Reroll
• Unravel 2

God, it’s a sorry state of affairs when a halfway interesting new thread is actually just some kind of bot making a new account and stealing a post from the much more vibrant Giant Bomb subreddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/giantbomb/comments/e54z5t/whats_a_good_30_switch_game_for_a_9_year_old/

Why do I ever trust threads created by usernames that are [FirstnameLastname] with 2 posts?

@bisonhero: Man... i'm dissapointed in myself. All the new bots have this name pattern indeed.

Any LEGO Switch games on Amazon,

LEGO The Incredibles is $20 right now

Lego City Undercover

Lego Ninjago is not on prime pricing right now, but just about $35

If you look into Lego DC Villains a little closer, you’ll see it from Amazon seller for $29.83 on prime shipping. Anyway, DC Villains is arguably the prettiest one since it’s newer, but ah they’re all good.

Lego Jurassic World is only available from 3rd party for $42, wow.

Lego Movie 2 game is kinda the same deal

Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 is 28.99 from Amazon seller prime.

And ahm I saw Spyro Trilogy advertised on Switch for a solid $35, so there’s that.

Minecraft

😊

Rocket League.

EDIT: Should have read the whole thread, huh.

If you’re looking for affordable puzzle games I’d say Untitled Goose Game, Battle Chef Brigade (it’s a puzzle/beat em’ up hybrid), Gorogoa and Baba is You. Though Baba can get pretty hard early on despite its cute looks.

I also second Wandersong! It’s a Rhythm/adventure game hybrid that has some clever puzzles tied to the singing mechanic. The art style and writing is also charming and I’d say is age appropriate.

@bisonhero: Banned the bot but I'll keep this thread open in case that Reddit OP (or some other parent of a young puzzle fan) stops by.