Summary
After years of constant rumors and murmurs among the gaming community, theSwitch 2is finally here, and while there are a plethora of first party titles to enjoy, Nintendo’s brand-new system also supports some pretty surprising ports too. Everybody knew the Switch 2 was going to provide a drastic upgrade over its predecessor, but for a while it was unclear whether some of the high-end AAA games would actually be capable of running on the system, considering it can still be used as a handheld after all.
Thankfully, though, Nintendo has proven that this system has what it takes to support the best of the best, resulting in several games arriving on the console that many fans thought could never happen. Additionally, considering how Nintendo have slowly become more accepting of third parties over the years, it also means they’ve been able to collaborate with some developers who are usually only reserved for Sony and Microsoft consoles. All of this has resulted in quite a few unforeseen but incredibly exciting ports arriving on the Switch 2 which many Nintendo fans are eager to try out for themselves.
Nintendo and Square-Enix have always had a rather strange relationship, dating all the way back to the release of the originalFinal Fantasy 7. While that game was an exclusive tothe original PlayStation, over the years there have been severalFinal Fantasyports which have been released on Nintendo systems, though it was clear Sony would always get first priority. While there were rumors that the highly successfulFinal Fantasy 7 Remakemay one day become available on theSwitch 2, nobody expected it to be announced even before the console officially released.
Additionally, while the game is largely linear,Final Fantasy 7 Remakestill looks downright jaw-dropping from a visual perspective, resulting in some fans being skeptical about whether the system could handle it. The good news is, the game looks absolutely stunning when running on the Switch 2, with barely any drops in graphical quality to ensure fans get the most out of this much-beloved remake of the 1997 classic.
It’s not the fact thatYakuza 0itself was ported to the Switch 2 which is surprising; it’s that this is a greatly enhanced version of a game which is now almost 10 years old. ThoughYakuza 0is often considered to be one of, if notthe greatest game in the seriesby many fans, considering how many mainline entries there have been since then, it felt as though developers RGG was simply focused on moving on with the story.
To see them return toYakuza 0and pack in over 20 minutes' worth of new cutscenes, and even an entirely new multiplayer mode, was something nobody could have seen coming. It’s a massive love letter to fans of theYakuzaseries who have stuck with it for all these years and, needless to say, an extremely surprising announcement which took everyone aback.
While the firstBravely Defaultgame is often considered one of the best JRPGs on the Nintendo 3DS, it ultimately failed to break into the mainstream, and instead amassed a considerable cult following since its released. Overall though despite the game getting a sequel, it felt as though the Bravely Default IP was being largely overshadowed by much bigger JRPGs of the time, so it was certainly a shock to see the first game being ported to the Switch 2 withupdated HD graphicsand even new features thrown into the mix too.
Bravely Defaultreally stands out for its traditionalism, evoking that sense of adventure and wonder that classic JRPGs of old are often known for, but it also includes a modernized battle system which plays around with the turn-based formula in some pretty interesting ways. Pair all of this with a memorable cast of quirky characters who can all pick from a wide selection of jobs, and it’s no wonder why so many people have come to love this wonderful JRPG title.
WhileHitman 3technically made its way to the original Switch console in 2021, because of the technical requirements needed to run the game, it was only available on the cloud, which was less than ideal. With the first Switch having a hard time supporting the game, and now that all three of the recentHitmangames have been combined into a single title named World of Assassination, most fans of the series stuck to playing on PC or console.
Miraculously though, Nintendo has offered yet another way to play this addictive stealth action game by announcing World of Assassination for the Switch 2. With three games packed into one, there’sa staggering amount of levelsto play through, all of which have drastically different environments, targets, and methods that can be deployed to execute an enemy. The appeal of these games is being able to freely interact with the environment to find creative ways of killing Agent 47’s targets, and considering how well it runs on the Switch 2, it’s never a bad time to jump into this iconic video game franchise.
Elden Ringis an enormous game, much bigger than anything From Software had created in the past, yet they successfully managed to merge their immensely difficult gameplay loop with an open world formula extremely well, winning numerous game of the year awards in the process. The game runs extremely well on consoles and PC, but when taking into account the size of the world and the speed at which the game needs to be played in order for it to work,Souls-likefans had their doubts about ever being able to see it on a Nintendo system.
This is why Nintendo dedicated so much time to focusing on it in the Switch 2 presentation, as they realized this was a game many people were excited about but never thought they would see on an Nintendo system. ConsideringThe Duskbloodsis also coming to Switch 2, and is seemingly an exclusive, it seems likely this is only the first of many From Software games that will be ported to the Switch 2 in the next few years.
Despite having a rough launch, over the last few years,CD Projekt Redhas been updating and refiningCyberpunk 2077to the point where it has now become one of the most beloved RPGs of the last decade or so. The level of immersion and attention to detail in this game is truly outstanding, with Night City feeling like an eerily realistic projection of where our own world may be headed one day, but considering the game can already struggle to run on last-generation hardware, the question many began to ask was whether Nintendo were really up to the task of porting it over.
After all, while theWitcher 3made a fairly successful move over to the first Switch system, there were definitely a few technical issues which dampened the performance, but this doesn’t seem to be the case withCyberpunk. The game continues to look downright jaw-dropping even when playing on a handheld and with all the updates additions included in the package, such as the skill trees, alongside the enormous Phantom Liberty expansion, it’s definitely a game RPG Switch 2 owners will want to try out if they haven’t already.
