The recent Nintendo Direct showed off some exciting third-party video game ports coming to the Switch. It’s no secret that the Nintendo Switch is noticeably inferior to the PlayStation and Xbox home consoles in terms of hardware power, but its attractive form factor and first-party titles are its main draw.
However, the technical leaps that the Switch enables can still welcome several other games from the PS3 and Xbox 360 era as ports. From the acclaimed Batman: Arkham series to Rockstar’s backlog, there’s a diverse library of games ripe for porting.
10 Batman Arkham Asylum
Rocksteady has revived both the superhero genre in gaming and the reputation of the beloved brooding Dark Knight in it. It came at an appropriate time, as director Christopher Nolan was busy doing the same for Batman in his theatrical Dark Knight Trilogy.
With Rocksteady’s talents as a studio and acclaimed Batman and DC writer Paul Dini at the helm, Arkham Asylum created a captivating gothic world that honors the myths of the superhero and borrows elements from the revered Batman: the animated series. With purifying, fluid combat, powerful stealth action and clever Metroidvania-lite level design, Arkham Asylum has cemented itself as a signature game.
9 Mass Effect Trilogy
The original Mass effect trilogy remains some of BioWare’s best games ever and a sci-fi pillar of the game industry. The exploits of Commander Shepard and Co. in the games have been praised for their gripping storytelling, investing character arcs, rewarding role-playing elements, and spirited third-person combat.
Although the recent well-executed Legendary Edition collection of the Mass effect trilogy would be too much for the Nintendo Switch to handle, it doesn’t change the fact that these are PS3 and Xbox 360 games in their origin. Therefore a scaled down version of what the Legendary Edition was for PS4 and Xbox One shouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.
8 Batman: Arkham City
Following the acclaim of Arkham Asylum would always be quite a task. That’s why it was very impressive that Rocksteady largely improved the original with Arkham City. The story was better, grander and grittier, filled with a rotating cast of Batman’s colorful allies and villains from the comic book source material.
It makes really bold choices with real stakes in its story, and expanding into an open-world sandbox fits seamlessly and made playing and sliding through the super-prison like the Caped Crusader as satisfying as ever. Batman: Arkham City deserved its place next to the will of Skyrim as one of the best games of 2011 and the generation as a whole. Porting the Arkham Collection should be a given – but an honorable mention goes to the solid of WB Games Montréal Arkham Origins also.
7 Fallout 3
Bethesda’s area of expertise has long been in the RPG space, and Fallout 3 was a new high point for the dystopian sci-fi series. This bleak world has been praised for its open approach to just about every aspect of gameplay, storytelling and the now iconic VATS combat system.
Since the studios The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – a newer game – had such success on the Switch, it’s a bit of a surprise that Fallout 3 hasn’t found its way to console yet. RPGs are great for the platform thanks to their form factor flexibility.
6 Fallout: New Vegas
Just as acclaimed as Bethesda’s work on Fallout 3 was, Obsidian Entertainment’s (from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II fame) Fallout: New Vegas is the one that seems to be best outdated. Although the game launched in 2010 in a state of many bugs, post-launch support and the dedicated modding community have helped New Vegas became one of the most replayable RPGs available.
It begins as a revenge story, with the Courier protagonist traveling through this punishing land to track down their potential killer. From there, it spirals into an intricately fleshed out world of rival factions and nuclear-infested monsters. New Vegas would do well to be ported alongside Fallout 3 in a bundled package.
5 Bully
Most fans understandably think of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption as Rockstar’s flagship series and best games, but Bully deserves much more attention than it has received. The game was an open-world action-adventure game that followed school delinquent Jimmy Hopkins as he navigated the cutthroat ecosystem of the swanky Bullworth Academy.
It was critically acclaimed for its satirical story, gameplay, and varied mission structure. It’s a shame that Bully hasn’t gotten a sequel or actual remake, but a Nintendo Switch port would at least be a good way to make it more accessible in 2022.
4 Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Although CD Projekt Red is recent Cyberpunk 2077 is the most recent – and infamous – cyberpunk themed triple-A RPG, Deus Ex: Human Revolution remains an exciting experience. It follows protagonist Adam Jensen, a reinforced security officer for a controversial developer of artificial organs, as he investigates the source of an attack on Sarif Industries.
It was praised for its rich sci-fi world, players’ freedom in shaping the equally engaging story, and character customization options. The game is holding up well today, and it’s an RPG that would feel right at home in handheld mode on the Switch.
3 Dead Space Trilogy
The original has a remake on the way, but a collected port of the acclaimed Empty space trilogy on the Switch would be good timing. The will of Resident Evil have become synonymous with the survival horror genre, but the first two Empty space games have left their mark on the genre.
They have been praised for the creepy, claustrophobic atmospheres and creative combat system, life-or-death inventory management elements, and some of the most horrific monster designs in gaming. The third game took a disappointing direction in action setpieces, but a bundled package would be worth the price of admission on Switch.
2 Half-life 1 & 2
Given the recent spotlight of Nintendo Direct on the Portal: Companion Collection ports, other games in Valve’s library should also be fair game. Both half-life and Half-life 2 are some of the most iconic first-person shooters for PCs credited with bringing the genre to the fore. Despite the painful cliffhanger of the second game, they are still fondly remembered by longtime fans.
Players take on the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist thrown into a fight for survival amid an alien invasion, while uncovering conspiracies. These games shouldn’t be a problem for the Switch from a technical standpoint, so a bundled port should be easy to do.
1 Red Dead Redemption
Another landmark game in Rockstar’s catalog that should justify a Switch port is the western epic Red Dead Redemption. The 2018 prequel/sequel is definitely out of the question, but an updated form of the former should be decent as long as it doesn’t get the sloppy treatment of the recent GTA Final Edition receive.
John Marston’s gritty spaghetti western has been widely acclaimed as one of the best games of its generation for its grounded, cinematic storytelling, compelling morally ambiguous characters, and trigger-happy gameplay. It’s a game with such a strong foundation, mechanically and narratively, that it’s still worth playing in 2022.
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