In the last seven years, the bounty of software that has come to Switch is really remarkable. You might argue that, in fact, there’s too much great stuff being released — too much to be able to play everything you’d like, at least.
Let’s get things straight — we ain’t complaining! But given the games that have come to Switch, you look at the ones that are MIA and it makes you wonder why.
We’ve looked at various games we’d like to see come to Switch previously, whether it’s potential ports, retro games on Nintendo Switch Online, or dormant series which we’d like to see return. Recently, our video team sat down and looked at a host of games that, surprisingly in most cases, still haven’t found their way to Nintendo’s handheld hybrid as it heads into its eighth year.
The video above features all the games below, although if you’d rather peruse the list in good old-fashioned scrollable text form, well we’ve got you covered there too. We’ve distilled a few of the 33 into single entries here to keep things tidy.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is the missing piece of the Xenoblade puzzle on Switch, a sprawling, open-world epic we’d love to see sprung from its Wii U containment unit and enjoyed by everybody with a Switch. Well, maybe everybody is ambitious but, at the time of writing, there are around 120 million more Switches in the world than Wii Us. They should all have the opportunity to pilot a Skell.
In June, we’ll have Luigi’s Mansion 2 on Switch, and we’ve already got the excellent LM3. It’d be weird if the only one missing was the original, right? It got re-released on the 3DS, a system that currently equals Switch in the number of Luigi’s Mansions it hosts. We can’t be having that.
Okay, technically this is on Switch via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack in Japan. And you can play it easily enough, too, although you’ll be a bit stuck if your Japanese isn’t up to snuff.
In the last seven years, the bounty of software that has come to Switch is really remarkable. You might argue that, in fact, there’s too much great stuff being released — too much to be able to play everything you’d like, at least.
Let’s get things straight — we ain’t complaining! But given the games that have come to Switch, you look at the ones that are MIA and it makes you wonder why.
We’ve looked at various games we’d like to see come to Switch previously, whether it’s potential ports, retro games on Nintendo Switch Online, or dormant series which we’d like to see return. Recently, our video team sat down and looked at a host of games that, surprisingly in most cases, still haven’t found their way to Nintendo’s handheld hybrid as it heads into its eighth year.
The video above features all the games below, although if you’d rather peruse the list in good old-fashioned scrollable text form, well we’ve got you covered there too. We’ve distilled a few of the 33 into single entries here to keep things tidy.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Monolith Soft
Xenoblade Chronicles X is the missing piece of the Xenoblade puzzle on Switch, a sprawling, open-world epic we’d love to see sprung from its Wii U containment unit and enjoyed by everybody with a Switch. Well, maybe everybody is ambitious but, at the time of writing, there are around 120 million more Switches in the world than Wii Us. They should all have the opportunity to pilot a Skell.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo EAD
In June, we’ll have Luigi’s Mansion 2 on Switch, and we’ve already got the excellent LM3. It’d be weird if the only one missing was the original, right? It got re-released on the 3DS, a system that currently equals Switch in the number of Luigi’s Mansions it hosts. We can’t be having that.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: HAL Laboratory
Okay, technically this is on Switch via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack in Japan. And you can play it easily enough, too, although you’ll be a bit stuck if your Japanese isn’t up to snuff.
Publisher: Konami / Developer: Climax Entertainment
Konami? Not putting out games? To be fair, Konami’s output in the retro realm hasn’t been bad on Switch, thanks primarily to their association with the excellent Digital Eclipse, but we would certainly like the opportunity to soil ourselves in Silent Hill while we’re out and about with our favourite handheld hybrid console. The classic games remastered would be fine. We’re not asking for a PT re-release or anything.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo
Yawn. This one again?
Yes, this one again. Preferably with a filter that lets us switch instantly between the bloom lighting of the HD Wii U version and the flatter-looking shading of the original GameCube release.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo
Yes, we want all the Zeldas! Chop chop, Nintendo.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Rare
This one, along with Banjo-Tooie and Donkey Kong 64, would go some way to plugging the remaining gap in Rareware’s catalogue on Nintendo Switch Online. Given how pally Nintendo and Microsoft have been of late and the previous Rareware arrivals on the subscription service, it’s surely just a matter of time.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Starting with Mario Land 2 on NSO makes sense, probably — it’s certainly the most technically impressive of the Mario platforming pair on Game Boy (Mario Land 3 is a Wario game, folks!). However, we have a special place in our hearts for Mario’s quirky GB debut and would love to be able to blast through it on Switch.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo
We’ve been jonesing for some Rhythm Heaven on Switch for years now, and while Tempo Labs’ upcoming Bits & Bops looks set to tap that same vein of rhythm-based minigame mayhem, we’d dearly love to see Nintendo’s series return, too.
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