Neon City Riders Retail Edition (Switch)

Cyberpunk got a lot of attention in 2020, but Neon City Riders was doing the post-neon-apocalypse thing with a fraction of the budget and a whole lot more pixel art charm. The Neon City Riders Retail Edition for Nintendo Switch puts this 2D action-adventure on a region-free physical cart, giving it the permanent home it deserves.

This is a game about reclaiming a neon-soaked city from super-powered gangs, and it wears its influences proudly. There's Zelda in its exploration structure, Streets of Rage in its attitude, and a visual style that looks like someone fed a synthwave album cover into a SNES. The world is dense, the combat is satisfying, and the whole thing has the kind of handcrafted indie energy that's impossible to fake.

Physical Switch carts for smaller indie titles like this are exactly what makes collecting in this era interesting. These are the releases that fly under the radar at launch and then quietly become the ones everyone's searching for years later. The major releases will always be easy to find. It's the games like Neon City Riders that test whether you were actually paying attention to the scene or just following the crowd. A physical cart means this one stays playable and discoverable long after digital storefronts shuffle their catalogs. For collectors who pride themselves on digging deeper than the obvious picks, this belongs on the shelf.