The Handheld Deals Worth Your Money: Yakuza, Metroid, Ally
Nintendo’s first-party games almost never dip below $40, so when nearly half off becomes the going rate, it’s worth paying attention. The Customer Appreciation Sale running across Switch and Switch 2 has dragged staples like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons down to $31.97 at Walmart — and stacked with the retailer’s SAVE3X code, new customers can shave another $10 off orders over $35.
But the deepest value for handheld players isn’t all sitting in the software aisle. The standout gets this week are Switch 2 storage cards that finally undercut launch pricing, cross-platform releases discounted hardest on PC, and an open-box ROG Xbox Ally X that runs against the grain of climbing handheld PC prices. Here’s what actually deserves your money.
Nintendo Discounting First-Party Software Is the Real Story
Physical first-party Nintendo games hold their value with a stubbornness few other publishers can match, which is exactly what makes a $31.97 price point the exception rather than the rule. Among the discounted catalog, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is the one to flag hard: the physical Switch copy is $31.97 while the digital version sits at $41.97 on both Amazon and Nintendo’s own store. If you keep a cartridge slot warm — and plenty of handheld players do for resale and sharing — buying physical saves you $10 on the same game.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom also lands at $31.97, its lowest sustained price yet. The catch on the Walmart pricing is that the SAVE3X stacking code is new-customer-only, requires online pickup or delivery, and needs a $35 minimum — but the base discount applies to anyone, so even a veteran account walks away with 46% off. For a handheld-first library, this is the week to fill gaps rather than buy new.
Switch 2 Storage Cards Are the Underrated Buy Here
Switch 2 owners know the pain: the console takes the newer Micro SD Express standard, and those cards have carried a premium that makes 256GB of extra room feel like a luxury. Walmart’s listing has the Onn 512GB Micro SD Express card at $74.77 and the 256GB version at $36.77 — both stackable with the SAVE3X code and both meaningfully below launch-window pricing — part of the broader slide in Switch 2 storage costs we’ve been tracking. That’s the single accessory that changes how you actually live with the hardware, because a full internal drive is the fastest way to turn a portable console into a dock-only one.
It matters more than usual this generation. Key Card releases like Pragmata install straight to internal storage, and they accumulate quickly — as does every digital purchase from this very sale. If you’re grabbing three or four discounted Switch 2 titles this week, budget for the card at the same time. It’s the least exciting line item on this list and the one you’ll notice every single day.
Yakuza, Pragmata, and a $899 Open-Box Ally X
If you’re platform-agnostic, the cross-platform pricing this week is unusually generous. Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is down to $29.99 on Switch 2 — a straight 50% off that matches its all-time Prime Day low. For a full remake of the 2009 original with reworked combat plus the Dark Ties prequel starring villain Yoshitaka Mine, that’s a serious amount of game for the money, and the Switch 2 build keeps it playable in your hands rather than tethered to a TV.
Pragmata is the more interesting split. The Switch 2 Key Card sits at $49.99, but the Steam code at Fanatical is $38.99 — the same Capcom shooter for $11 less on Steam Deck or ROG Ally. Capcom’s RE Engine has scaled cleanly to handheld hardware across the last several releases, so the PC build is a safe bet on Deck if you value the lower price and the flexibility of SteamOS. And if you’re finally joining the Windows handheld crowd, Best Buy has an open-box “Excellent Condition” Asus ROG Xbox Ally X on Amazon at $899.99 — $100 under MSRP at a moment when rival handheld PCs are climbing in price. The GameSir Cyclone 2 at $40.10 and the last-gen Switch Pro Controller at $55.97 round out the accessory picks. The Pro Controller gives up the Switch 2’s GameChat button and rear paddles, but at $24 off it’s the price that’s hard to argue with.