Before I get started, the me get this out of the way: the Switch is definitely my most-played console of the year. Between The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Fire Emblem Engage and Pikmin 4 (the less said about Vampire Survivors, the better), the hundreds of hours that I have poured into Nintendo’s hybrid hardware far outweighs my time on any other console over the past nine months. But when it comes to my most-played game, it’s a different story.
You see, despite all of these wonderful offerings from Nintendo this year, the game I have come back to every single day is not on the Switch, but rather on my phone. Just in case the above video hasn’t spoilt it already, I am, of course, talking about Marvel Snap, the digital collectable card game from Second Dinner Studios and Nuverse. The title is weeks away from its one-year anniversary on 18th October and, following a successful launch of the PC version last month, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a Switch port is on the cards. Surely?
If you have yet to hit the digital decks and you have somehow avoided those YouTube ads, I’ll provide a quick(silver) refresher. Marvel Snap is a card game where you build a deck of 12 heroes and use them to fight online opponents and win locations. On a basic level, each card has its own cost and power values and you have six turns to try to get the highest amount of power at two of the three given locations. This simple premise is given a tactical spin with each card/location’s special abilities (adding power, moving/destroying cards, swapping decks with your opponent etc.), meaning that what 12 cards you choose for your deck and how you play them is often the difference between victory and defeat.
I was a little disappointed to find that the rules weren’t quite as simple as the classic card game ‘Snap’ (come on, anyone would think it from that title) but the rewarding mechanics soon meant that I had built a deck for each and every occasion. Certain cards’ abilities directly complement those of others; for example, Moon Girl duplicates your current hand while Devil Dinosaur gains +2 power for each card you are currently holding. So putting together a deck that circulates around one specific playstyle quickly becomes the aim of the game.
Through seeing what kind of decks other players were bringing to battles, I started to build skill-specific teams of my own. My most-used lineup at the moment — which relies on movement bonus cards like Vulture and Human Torch — regularly sees me going into my last turn with my opponent ahead, only for me to pull my faithful Heimdall (which moves all of my other cards one location to the left) and get a clutch win. It might not quite be the high-octane thrills of some Fortnite-style PvP, but there is a unique rush that comes with watching those shiny cards flip.
This fast-paced gameplay loop immediately had me hooked, but it’s the nostalgia-inducing collection aspect of the experience that keeps me coming back for more. Almost every card has different art variations which can either be bought from the in-game store (microtransactions are very much present, though this is no play-to-win format) or unlocked as you level up from battling, and there are over 200 cards in total, some rarer than others. Fortunately, these are purely aesthetic differences, but not since I was opening packs of Pokémon cards on my school playing field have I felt quite so proud of my collection of shiny rectangles — albeit virtual ones this time.
The necessity for an online opponent makes this a fantastic template for the on-the-go playstyle that mobile gaming affords, but seeing Marvel Snap’s PC release back in August got me thinking that perhaps a Switch port isn’t such a pipe dream after all. It runs on Steam Deck, too! A tactical deck builder based on one of the most popular IPs in the world with a ready built-in fanbase? It’s screaming out to make the jump to Switch. Add in an accessible control scheme, collection mechanics and the PvP online component, and Marvel Snap on Switch starts to feel like a no-brainer.
Besides, Nintendo and Marvel have formed a pretty strong pairing in the past. Yes, that Midnight Suns port might well be “no longer planned”, but let’s not forget that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is a Switch exclusive and managed to sell well, despite its flaws. It’s good fun, particularly if you can get some friends together for couch co-op.
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