In recent years, Switch has become a home to a wide variety of quality ports from other platforms. Games from all over have made the leap to Nintendo’s portable hybrid, including smaller mobile hits, releases from a few years ago on various consoles, and more unexpected and recent multiplatform titles. 2020 was no exception, with some fantastic ports coming to the console, including goliath efforts like DOOM Eternal and Ori and the likes of the wisps, excellent innovations from older games such as Xenoblade Chronicles and the Subway remasters and sensitive custom adjustments such as Jurassic World Evolution and Hypnospace Outlaw.
For the past few years, we’ve been looking at ports we’d love to see arriving on Switch, and it’s a pleasure to look back at how many have appeared on the console in one way or another. Below we’ve rounded up just a few of the games we’d like to see on Nintendo’s system over the next twelve months. Some of them are relics from previous years that we’ve still crossed our fingers and toes for, while others are new releases that we think would complement the Switch library perfectly.
However, there are still a few leftover Wii U ports that didn’t arrive on Switch (which we’ve rounded up and evaluated elsewhere) Super Mario 3D world comes in February. We’re also really looking forward to the announced Switch versions of indie classics Spelunky, Spelunky 2 and Braid in 2021.
Let’s take a look at our top ten port-based hopes for Switch in 2021, all of which debuted on non-Nintendo systems.
Fall guys
One of the breakout hits of 2020, Fall guys is a battle royale party platformer that gave lockdown players a social outlet with its collection of chaotically fun mini-games. Our friends at sister site Push Square loved the colorful multiplayer mayhem, and ‘colorful multiplayer mayhem’ certainly sounds like it would be at home on some Nintendo system.
What are the odds?
Strong, we would say. After an overwhelmingly successful launch on PC and PS4, developer Mediatonic has been catching up by releasing content and squashing bugs. Season 3 is live at the time of writing, so provided creators and publisher Devolver Digital can find the time to put together a strong build of the game for other platforms, we’d imagine the will exists, even as the route is currently a bit blurry.
A good FIFA game!
Sing! The time has now come that we’re just fed up with the ‘Legacy Edition’ treatment. If EA isn’t going to invest in bringing the full FIFA experience to Switch, we’d rather they don’t bother at all.
What are the odds?
Depressed slim. We’ve previously looked at the short-sighted chicken-and-egg situation EA has self-worked in, and despite supporting the Switch elsewhere with releases like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered and the next Apex Legends, it clearly doesn’t matter that a similar pocket change needs to be made from a great Switch port, as FIFA Ultimate Team is bringing in millions elsewhere every week.
It seems our best hope is for someone else to fill the football void on Switch.
Outer Wilds
Yes, this was on our wish list last year and we are still out on it on Switch. Not to be confused with similar names The outer worlds (which did come to Switch in 2020), Outer Wilds is a mysterious space-based open-world (s) FPS with a repeating time loop of 22 minutes. As lovers of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, we’re big fans of time loops and publisher Annapurna Interactive has a good track record of bringing games to Switch.
What are the odds?
As we mentioned last year, Outer Wilds is built in Unity and the stylized art and solitary exploration would work well on Switch. The biggest problem against this is the workload for the small development team Mobius and 2020 probably didn’t help in that regard. However, we are still hopeful.
Bugsnax
One of the breezy highlights of the year for Playstation owners, Bugsnax is a delightful first-person bug hunting adventure with a surreal (and marginally gruesome) edge and a hint of Pokémon Snaps about it. If nothing else, Kero’s catchy theme song Kero Bonito is worth the price of admission, and we’d love to hear it on Switch.
So, are we talking about Bugsnax on Switch?
Could be. Indie studio Young Horses may have signed up with Sony to make Bugsnax exclusively for PS launch, but as far as we know there is nothing that could prevent the game from hitting other platforms at a later date. Performance was a bit choppy on PS4, but with proper care and attention, a Switch version is well within the scope.
It’s hard to argue that the colorful creatures wouldn’t fit very well on Nintendo hardware, is it? Nintendo gamers also can’t get enough of catching cute creatures catalogs.
Person 5
There is a fantastic library of JRPGs on Switch, and Joker’s recording in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate made us believe that Person 5 on Switch was just a formality – maybe a release of Person 5 Royal with extra content? But no, April will be the game’s fourth anniversary in the West and Persona 5 is too still not available on a Nintendo system.
Yes, yes, we get Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, a Musou crossover (en Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity turned out to be very good), but it does not replace the dripping style of the original. Come on, Atlus!
What are the odds?
10%? Err …, 90%? It feels like a no-brainer, but we’ve given up on pinning Atlus and parent company Sega down to things like ‘logic’. Remember Persona 5 came out on PlayStation 3, so Switch was able to ‘handle’ P5 just fine. Not turning off a Switch port feels like Sega is leaving a big wad of money just sitting on the table.
Speaking of Sega …