The Best Deals to Grab From the Nintendo eShop During the Golden Week Sale

There are only a few more days to get in on the Golden Week Sale deals over on the Nintendo eShop before the event comes to a close this Thursday, May 7, and players have a lot of incredible titles to choose from. For those not in the know, Golden Week is a very specific window of time in Japan (April 29 to May 5) in which several national holidays fall, prompting plenty of international travel to the country and cultural celebrations. With how central Japan is to the medium of gaming, this usually correlates to there being some video game-centric sales and deals, with the focus primarily on Japanese publishers and their titles. Right now, Switch and Switch 2 owners have a ton of great games available from Capcom, Square Enix, Koei Tecmo, and many others that have some deep discounts in honor of Golden Week.

• Release Date — November 14, 2021
• Developer — Cattle Call
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $8.99 (Normally $29.99, 70% off)

The name Hiroyuki Ito will likely ring a bell for any JRPG fanatics out there, as he's both a legendary Square Enix game designer and director and the creator of the Active Time Battle System (ATB) that forever transformed the RPG genre. But his latest game strips back all the bells and whistles of your typical RPG in favor of embracing the purity of the genre's twin pillars: combat and exploration. Dungeon Encounters is about as apropos a name as you could get for this game, which sees you assemble a party from a wide-ranging cast of heroes and take them through maze-like maps as you descend deeper and deeper into a massive, 100-floor dungeon filled with all manner of enemies. This is some of the best old-school JRPG fun you can pick up for less than $10.

• Release Date — January 25, 2024
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy); 85% (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy)
• Price — $26.99 (Normally $59.99, 55% off)

Jumping from Square Enix to Capcom, one of the legendary publisher's best series is currently on a massive sale on the eShop, with the entire Ace Attorney Anthology down to just $27 instead of its normal $60 MSRP. For less than half of the normal price of the collection, players are getting all three Phoenix Wright and all three Apollo Justice titles, which is an insane deal for some of the best visual novel/adventure games ever made. If you've never played any of the Ace Attorney games, they're an absolute blast and do a great job of offering up compelling stories mixed with some brain-teasing puzzles courtesy of their investigation segments.

• Release Date — February 14, 2025
• Developer — Omega Force
• Publisher — Koei Tecmo
• Genre — Action Roguelike
• Review Aggregate Score — 68% (Mixed or Average)
• Price — $12.49 (Normally $24.99, 50% off)

Of all the Koei Tecmo games that are currently on sale on the eShop for Golden Week, one that might fly under players' radars is Warriors: Abyss, the Vampire Survivors-like action roguelike featuring heroes from across the Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi series. As far as survivor-likes/bullet heaven games go, Warriors: Abyss is a solid one that has plenty of replay value thanks to some pretty great combat and a metric ton of unlocks, even if its Switch version isn't up to par with other consoles. Thankfully, there is a bit of a performance boost offered by playing the game on Switch 2 hardware, so if you're a fan of the genre and have Nintendo's latest handheld, you could hardly go wrong with picking up Warriors: Abyss while it's just $12.

• Release Date — June 5, 2025
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Tower Defense, Hack and Slash
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $29.99 (Normally $39.99, 25% off)

Capcom has been on something of a hot streak over the last few years, which has afforded the studio the ability to get a little experimental with some of its offerings. One of the most unique and entertaining titles Capcom has put out during this period is Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, a hack-and-slash/tower defense hybrid inspired by classical Japanese theater that is as fun to just sit back and look at as it is to play. Kunitsu-Gami isn't especially challenging or long, and you might just play through it once or twice to try and unlock everything, but that experience is well worth the admission price, especially when it's 25% off the normal MSRP. This game is clearly a work of passion that deserves to be played by more people, and its Switch 2 version is great.

• Release Date — November 4, 2022
• Developer — Live Wire
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — Action RPG, Farming Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 73% (Mixed or Average)
• Price — $23.99 (Normally $59.99, 60% off)

Would I recommend picking up Harvestella at full price? No, no, I wouldn't. Especially not when that full price amounts to $60. But for its current sale price of just $24, Harvestella is an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys action RPG/farming sim hybrids. Funnily enough, developer Live Wire consists of several key team members who previously worked on the long-running Rune Factory series, which is one of the more noteworthy FarmPGs out there, and you can absolutely see that pedigree shine through in Harvestella. The game also runs significantly better on Switch 2 hardware than on the original Switch, so Switch 2 owners looking for a fun action RPG with a surprisingly great story and some simple yet satisfying farming mechanics should give Harvestella a shot.

• Release Date — June 5, 2025
• Developer — Cattle Call
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $31. 99 (Normally $39.99, 20% off)

The original Bravely Default was one of the first moves toward Square Enix's acknowledgement that fans are really hungry for old-school-inspired RPG experiences harkening back to the 16-bit classics on the SNES, so it felt like a natural fit for an HD remaster on the Switch 2 as a launch title. Sure enough, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster feels just as essential a pick up now as it did back in 2012, standing tall alongside its sequel, Octopath Traveler, and a myriad other great newer RPGs inspired by Square Enix's back catalog. If paying $40 for a game more than 10 years old wasn't all that appealing, though, you're in luck, as you can currently grab the HD remaster of Bravely Default for just $32 as part of the Golden Week Sale.

• Release Date — October 24, 2024
• Developer — Arte Piazza, Square Enix
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $24.99 (Normally $49.99, 50% off)

Square Enix's modern era has gifted players with one incredible remake after another as the company digs through its back catalog of classics and reimagines them for newer hardware. One that may have slipped players by, though, is Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, the 2024 remake of the 1993 Super Famicom original. The SaGa series is one of the more unique in Square Enix's catalog, with players developing their characters according to the skills they actually use in battle (a system later utilized by games like The Elder Scrolls). Romancing SaGa 2 is both an excellent remake of an underrated 16-bit classic and just an incredibly solid RPG that does a great job of underscoring how unique the SaGa series truly is. If you enjoy old-school RPGs at all, pick this one up now while it's half off.

• Release Date — November 2, 2023
• Developer — Gemdrops, Square Enix
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $24.99 (Normally $49.99, 50% off)

Yet another incredible remake from Square Enix of one of its beloved classics that's half off is Star Ocean: The Second Story R, the 2023 remake of the 1998 PS1 classic by the same name. Star Ocean originated as a spin-off of the Tales of... series, beginning on the Super Famicom before making its way to the PS1 for its first sequel, and The Second Story has long been regarded as the franchise's peak in terms of both its storytelling and its gameplay. The remake is no different, standing tall as both one of the better modern remakes of a 32-bit classic (every bit as essential as the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy) and one of the better role-playing experiences available on current-gen hardware. Getting this excellent modern classic for just $25 is a steal.

• Release Date — June 14, 2024
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $24.49 (Normally $69.99, 65% off)

What's that? Another killer JRPG on sale? Why, yes, Capcom's Monster Hunter Stories Collection is a whopping 65% off right now as part of the Golden Week Sale, bringing it down to just $24 for two incredible monster-collecting and taming role-playing games. Monster Hunter Stories does a great job of acclimating players to the Monster Hunter IP's unique take on a Pokémon-like experience, while Monster Hunter Stories 2 develops that formula even further with a better story and more in-depth combat mechanics. If you've been eying the Switch 2 version of Monster Hunter Stories 3 (which is excellent, by the way), you could hardly do better to catch up on the series than with this killer deal.

• Release Date — February 24, 2023
• Developer — Acquire, Square Enix
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 85% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $23.99 (Normally $59.99, 60% off)

Square Enix's Octopath Traveler 2 is one of the best games the company has released in the last decade, and it's currently down to an incredibly appealing $24 asking price instead of its normal $60 MSRP as part of the Golden Week Sale on the Nintendo eShop. The first Octopath Traveler was a great homage to Square Enix's 16 and 32-bit classics that let players choose from 8 different characters, each with unique backstories and motivations, only to eventually build out a party of all of them as their paths converge and intertwine. The sequel is somehow even better, with a more interesting and diverse cast of characters, some truly great turn-based combat, and yet another phenomenal use of the HD-2D art style the original popularized.

• Release Date — February 16, 2023
• Developer — indieszero, sAs
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — Music/Rhythm
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $24.99 (Normally $49.99, 50% off)

Easily one of the best spin-offs in the entire Final Fantasy series, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is a game that no Final Fantasy fan should ever go without. This phenomenal rhythm game features an incredible collection of tunes from across the Final Fantasy franchise while letting you compile an adventuring party of your dreams featuring heroes and villains from the series' history. The better you do with timing your button presses to the music, the further you make it in each game's campaign, unlocking new tracks, characters, and modifiers that transform your effectiveness in battle. Somehow, Square Enix figured out how to make a Gitaroo Man RPG, and that it collects some of the most iconic music from renowned composers like Nobuo Uematsu is the icing on the cake.

• Release Date — June 26, 2018
• Developer — Nihon Falcom
• Publisher — NIS America
• Genre — Action RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $19.99 (Normally $39.99, 50% off)

Are you in the mood for the best action RPG you've ever played? Well, then, allow me to point you in the direction of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. The Ys series has long been one of the more underrated and criminally overlooked action RPG franchises out there, and the eighth entry is an all-timer in terms of its story, combat, boss encounters, and rewarding exploration. The Switch version is an incredible port of the PS4 original that is all too easy to get lost in for hours at a stretch as you explore its captivating open world and engage with its fantastic, Robinson Crusoe-inspired story. Ys VIII is worth every penny that Nihon Falcom charges for it, so to get it for 50% off at just $20 is an opportunity worth seizing.

• Release Date — April 30, 2019
• Developer — Square Enix
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 85% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $19.99 (Normally $49.99, 60% off)

Lo and behold, we have not one, but two Hiroyuki Ito-helmed RPG classics on this list with Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age rounding out the duo. As someone who played the original Final Fantasy XII when it was brand-new on the PlayStation 2, it's amazing to see how many differences there are between that initial release and the later Zodiac Age rework. There's a good reason Zodiac Age is considered to be the "definitive" release of one of the best games in the Final Fantasy series, as it's generally better balanced, features some additional content, and allows for more build variety with its refined License Board system. Anytime this title goes on sale from its normal $50 asking price, it's an easy recommendation to any RPG fan who doesn't already have it in their library.

• Release Date — September 30, 2025
• Developer — Square Enix Creative Studio 3
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — TRPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $34.99 (Normally $49.99, 30% off)

The Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is the first truly portable version of the game since the War of the Lions re-release on the PSP, and it just so happens to be on a nice 30% discount as part of the Golden Week Sale. There's good reason for Final Fantasy Tactics being considered one of the greatest turn-based tactical RPGs of all time, and this definitive remaster allows players to experience both the modern rework and the original, all in a single package — something more remakes/remasters should do as an effort toward game preservation. Fans of TRPGs or Final Fantasy (or both) can't consider their game libraries complete without this absolute juggernaut of a game.

• Release Date — April 19, 2023
• Developer — Tose, Square Enix
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)
• Price — $48.74 (Normally $74.99, 35% off)

Rounding out the essential pick-ups from the Golden Week Sale is this insane deal on the entire Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters collection, netting you the remasters of the first six Final Fantasy games for $48 instead of $75 (about $8 per game). These are some of the best and most important role-playing games ever made and a critical piece of Square Enix history, sitting right alongside Dragon Quest as the foundational building blocks of what would become the JRPG. Truthfully, this collection would be worth it just to get Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI, so the fact that you get I-III along with those titles makes this deal practically impossible to pass up.