Strategy games have made a recent renaissance on every major platform, but particularly on the Nintendo Switch with major releases such asFire Emblem: Three Housesand the upcomingUnicorn Overlord, while most popular strategy games over the last two decades have been largesprawling battlefields on PC such as Civilizationand Europa Universalis. The recent trend has been towards testing the limits of this genre on theNintendo Switch.
One could easily forget that a litany of prestigious strategy games have found their home on Nintendo consoles since the early 2000s. Nintendo’s own reputation has usually been for fun, colorful, and lively games but they have also published a ton of difficult strategy games that not only test the player’s tactical acumen but are fun and rewarding to beat. It is no coincidence that some of the best games in the genre are known for their difficulty and intricate gameplay.
This game is a delightful experience.Pikmin 4is a real-time strategy game with tons of exploration, looting, and exciting combat. Players have access to a multitude of customization options, and different classes or types of Pikimins, each with their own niche.
While the base game isn’t exactly hard, players should expect tons of challenging levels and hard-to-beat enemies in both the Night Expeditions and the Dandori Levels. The Purple Key challenge, in particular, is one of the hardest parts of the entire franchise. Players who look to optimize their gameplay on higher difficulties will also find it quite tough.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Discover the origins of the Fire Emblem saga! As young hero Marth, you must reclaim your stolen homeland and save your sister from the evil forces of Medeus.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is an enhanced Nintendo DS remake of the original Fire Emblem for Famicom, which was previously released only in Japan. Assemble an army and plot your strategy in turn-based battles, taking into consideration the terrain, unit strengths and weaknesses, to defeat enemy forces.
Become a living legend, save the kingdom and your family’s future!
In the original Nintendo DS game, certain weapons were available by connecting to the internet. In the Wii U Virtual Console feature, these weapons are available without an internet connection. Rare weapons are only available during specific times of the month, so if you see something good, snap it up!
Shadow Dragonis probably the hardest game in theFire Emblemfranchise, and consequently, the hardest strategy game published by Nintendo. The DS remake of the originalFire Emblemgame follows Prince Marth’s journey through five hard difficulty modes, with the final two being extremely difficult. This is an unforgiving and difficult game. Enemy units have tons of movement and super high weapon ranks, making their accuracy really high. Thus, players cannot try to “dodge tank” or luck out. The combination of cavalry, ballisticians, and powerful mages makes every map a grueling exercise.
To top it all off, this game has ambush reinforcements, which spawn in, and attack on the same turn. Players have to account for so much, especially during the first three chapters, which also have some of the hardest bosses in the series. It is very possible that if players lose Ogma early, and Abel and Cain haven’t leveled up well, players would have to get the boss to break their weapon to clear these early chapters.
Triangle Strategyis a recent release in the vein ofTactics OgreandFinal Fantasy Tactics,with thebig focus being on players' choicesand their moral consequences. On the harder difficulties, however, this is a very hard game, and players can be quickly overwhelmed.
While there is no perma-death as one would find inTactics OgreorFire Emblem,the hard mode of this game is ostensibly tough. Even the tankiest of units get whittled down quickly, and players need to rely on the supporting cast, particularly Benedict. The reduced damage enemies take, and the in-depth map design complement each other perfectly. Players need to learn how to bait in enemies, switch around enemy focus, and utilize their ranged units like Hughette quickly. Overall, it features some of thebest map designs in the genre.
The first portableFire Emblemgame was also one of the hardest. Published by Nintendo,Binding Bladefollows the story of fan-favorite Roy as he tackles a country-wide invasionby the enigmatic Zephielwith the help of a few staunch advisors.
Binding Bladecan be unforgiving at times, the early levels are difficult, and players have to navigate the weapon triangle, an onslaught of different enemies whilst trying to improve their modest army. The Wyvern Riders in the Ostia maps in particular can be a shock to newcomers. While the game’s difficulty does level out, the first 7 or so chapters are extremely difficult and players have torely on Marcusand Dieck a lot to get through them.
The originalAdvance Warsgame is very difficult, to the point where it can get frustrating. While, admittedly, in this remake, the original game isn’t as difficult even on the classic difficulty, it still poses a challenge. What edges this remake overAdvance Wars 1is the difficulty spike in the second game.
The sequel has some extremely tough-to-beat levels, and players' wits are tested. There are a few difficulty spikes and if players aren’t at the top of their game, they will quickly lag behind, leading to long arduous battles lasting over 40 in-game days. Players have to learn how to micromanage everything. This difficulty ramps up even more on the ‘challenge’ difficulty level.
