My Selfish List of Remakes, Remasters, and Ports for the Aging Nintendo Switch

After watching last week’s Nintendo Direct, it’s plain to me that the Nintendo Switch is winding down its life. Just as the 3DS’s later years were filled with ports and remasters such as Metroid: Samus Returns, Fire Emblem Echoes, and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, we are seeing the same lineup appear for the Nintendo Switch, including a remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a remaster of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and re-releases of not one, but two well-loved RPGs: Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. At the time that I’m writing this post, Nintendo has yet to confirm the existence of the Switch’s successor, but this parade of re-releases has convinced me that the yet-unnamed Switch 2 will likely appear in Spring of 2025, maybe even earlier.

Looking back, the Nintendo Switch has spoiled me rotten. I have the trilogy of mainline Xenoblade Chronicles games, including a stunning remaster of the first game, all on one console. I have all four Pikmin games, including remasters of the first two, an enhanced port of Pikmin 3, and the brand-new Pikmin 4. Other games that I loved from my childhood, games that I once thought Nintendo would never acknowledge again, are here in full force, like Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp and Metroid Prime Remastered. And of course we have so many games of different genres from the Zelda, Mario, Kirby, Fire Emblem, and Splatoon series. So many of Nintendo’s major franchises have been represented on the Switch, and they’ve been represented well (well, aside from Pokemon’s mediocre titles). No library is perfect, but the Switch has delighted me so much over these past few years, that it feels wrong to ask for more.

And yet.

By allowing me to taste the sweet flavor of Possibility, Nintendo has awakened my appetite for more. Like a shark that has smelled blood in the water, I now ravenously search for more missing gaps in the Switch’s library, games that I want to receive that same level of love and care that others have received.

This post isn’t about what’s realistic for Nintendo to make; we can worry about that another day. Today is about indulging. Today is about drinking deep into deluded fantasy. Today is about unhinged, fan-entitled greed. There are games I want Nintendo to put on the Switch before it officially retires.

1) Port Xenoblade Chronicles X to the Switch, You Cowards

I know that the developer Monolithsoft has said in past interviews that it would be too expensive for them to port the Wii U spinoff game Xenoblade Chronicles X to the Switch. There’s probably a lot of work to do in changing the controls, and in optimizing it for the hybrid handheld. And yet, they didn’t say it was impossible… only that it would be expensive. That sounds like the perfect game to selfishly demand as a fan. It seems like a tragedy for such a massive RPG to remain locked to the Wii U for eternity. Every once in a while I pull up Nintendo’s trailers for this game, and I stare longingly at them, like a child gazing through a store window. Most Xenoblade fans on the Switch are like me — they’ve heard of this game, but they never owned a Wii U. Don’t we deserve to try this game for ourselves?

2) Let Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age See the Daylight Once More

I admit that Golden Sun and its sequel aren’t the best RPGs ever made, but nevertheless, they were a formative part of my teenagehood, and one of my favorite games on the Game Boy Advance. Between the characters, the puzzle solving, the atmosphere, and the combat, there’s a special sauce that transcends the flaws. I’d love for other people to see that without needing to emulate it. Whether it’s translated into an HD-2D style like Octopath Traveler, or redone entirely with polygons, a Golden Sun 1+2 remake would be the sentimental crowning jewel of my Switch collection.

3) Fire Emblem Fans and a Remake of Genealogy of the Holy War is a Match Made in Heaven

Genealogy of the Holy War is the fourth Fire Emblem game, and the next in line to be remade by Intelligent Systems. Last year I played a fan translation, and it convinced me that this is one of the best games trapped under the sands of time (and behind a lack of an official translation). The Fire Emblem series owes this game its undying loyalty — Genealogy of the Holy War inspired later games like Awakening and Three Houses to pair units together romantically, which brought the series to new heights of popularity. Fans across the world could finally see the epic scope of this Super Famicom classic, with some quality-of-life features for modern audiences. It’s too good of an opportunity to pass up.

4) Let Metroid Prime 2 and 3 Make Landfall on our Switches

When Metroid Prime Remastered got shadow-dropped this past February, it signaled to me that Nintendo was finally gearing their audience up to play Metroid Prime 4. I felt positive that Metroid Prime 2 was going to be released this Fall, with Metroid Prime 3 coming out sometime in 2024. However, my prediction was wrong. Metroid Prime 4 is likely going to release in 2024 or 2025, but now we have no guarantee that the remainder of its precursors are going to arrive on the Switch. Maybe Nintendo is going to skip them altogether? Not on my watch! The environments and atmosphere of the sequels are even better than the first Metroid Prime, and they’d benefit even more from a remaster. If it were up to me, I’d give Metroid Prime 2 and 3 the glow-up that they deserve and release them sometime next year. Time will tell if this September Direct was simply a fake-out for Metroid fans or not.

5) Let Pit Soar Again with a Remaster of Kid Icarus: Uprising

Similar to Monolithsoft’s disappointing interviews about Xenoblade Chronicles X, the director of Kid Icarus Uprising (Masahiro Sakurai) mentioned that it would be rather difficult to remaster Kid Icarus Uprising for the Nintendo Switch. But trivial obstacles like reality and facts can’t stand in the way of my pure Gamer fan fervor. This game deserves a second chance. It really does. It’s charming, funny, thrilling, and best of all, a blast to play. Its biggest flaw is its touchscreen-heavy controls, which allow for precise aiming, but will likely cramp your hands playing on the 3DS. Additionally, this game is one of the most impressive-looking 3DS games. I’m positive that this remaster would look better than most from that handheld. Kid Icarus Uprising deserves modern twin-stick controls and a new chance at impressing the Nintendo Switch’s audience.

Of course, there are many other games that would also find a good home on the Switch, like Star Fox Assault, Kirby Planet Robobot, and The Legend of Zelda’s Oracle duology, but these are the ones that I feel the strongest about. I know that the Switch already has a massive list of ports, remakes, re-releases, and remasters available. I know that some people dislike how said ports pad out the release schedule, claiming that they’re creatively bankrupt. But in my experience, people seem to complain about remakes and remasters until their favorite game has been chosen. This tells me that remasters and remakes are, in fact, an important part of a game console’s library. But I guess that whole topic is the subject for another day.

…Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I can come back down to Earth again. Will any of these come out? Who knows, Nintendo is a fickle creature. But if you hear a loud scream echoing across the planet’s atmosphere saying, “YES! GOLDEN SUN, HERE WE GO!” during the next Nintendo Direct, you’ll know who said it.