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The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

Nintendo's hybrid has been the biggest success in its history, and even with that we've missed some releases that seemed obvious.

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With the re-release of Xenoblade Chronicles X on the horizon, the cycle of Wii U adaptations to Nintendo Switch is almost closed, a trend that was taken for granted this generation as the previous console was a commercial failure - but had a handful of brilliant exclusives. And I say "almost" because they're not all there, as you'll see below.

With this in mind, and the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal approaching, it's fair to assume that XenoX, along with Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, will be the last ports from previous machines to come to the original Switch only, as it's natural to expect any subsequent adaptations to take advantage of the additional power of Nintendo Switch 2, even if some are also coming out for Switch.

But this situation serves at the same time to take a look back at Nintendo Switch's catalogue to date and see that, while it has received its fair share of adaptations of AAA games from other platforms, there are a few that we've always hoped for on the system... but never made it.

Again, we're talking everything from multi-million, multi-platform releases to Nintendo's own adaptations that were even leaked. And before you raise your finger at the issues of open-world power or mature content, let us remind you that games such as the Batman Arkham trilogy, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Doom 2016 and Eternal, L.A. Noire, Borderlands 3, the new Wolfensteins, or Ark: Survival Evolved all made it to the platform with decent versions.

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Top 11 Nintendo Switch: Inexplicable Absences

Having made the introductions, let's talk about the eleven games that, surprisingly, never made it to the Nintendo Switch. Those that are still missing today, as its successor is about to be unveiled.

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

11. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, 2010) + Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo 3DS, 2011)

It wasn't just the Wii U that Nintendo Switch could live off when it came to remakes and remasters. It could always pull from the rest of its home console or handheld legacy, and looking at the top 25 Nintendo 3DS games and the top 25 Wii games we find some painful absences.

As for the glasses-free 3D handheld, while there are some like the excellent Rhythm Paradise Megamix or the legendary Kid Icarus: Uprising that were difficult to solve without the touchscreen, it's a little tragic that Super Mario 3D Land, its very best title, still can't be seen in HD.

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And the same goes for the best game in the entire Wii catalogue. Super Mario Galaxy being part of Super Mario 3D All-Stars for the first time in glorious HD on Nintendo Switch made many of us take it for granted that its even better sequel would follow soon after, but we're still waiting.

We understand that, aside from All-Stars, Nintendo released Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury as a Wii U port with extras, and that that release has sold millions and millions over several years, which may have come as a catalogue conflict. We also understand that with respect to the side-scrolling branch, the New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe remaster and the new Super Mario Bros. Wonder instalment were released on Switch, leaving little to no room for the inevitable New Super Mario Bros. Wii + NSMB2 compilation.

But 3D Land and especially Galaxy 2 are still very strange to us. They'll have to wait for Switch 2...

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

10. Fallout 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, 2009) and Fallout: New Vegas (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, 2010)

When I asked Todd Howard if Fallout 4 would be coming to Switch he was politically correct but very clear: Bethesda's experience with Nintendo for Skyrim has been very good, of course there's interest, but it's not something we're contemplating right now. Not then, not in the six years since.

As much as The Elder Scrolls V is a very good experience on the hybrid, Fallout 4's requirements made it much harder to port to Nintendo's machine. However, what still surprises us to this day is that Bethesda didn't dare to port what fans consider to be the two best instances of the series: the studio's own Fallout 3 and Obsidian's much-loved Fallout: New Vegas. Today, both Bethesda and Obsidian are owned by Xbox, but even that might have been a plus for the adaptations, rather than a hindrance.

Fallout 3 marked a milestone for the franchise by adopting a first-person action approach, which allowed it to expand its narrative to a wider audience that wasn't as familiar with the traditional RPG. New Vegas, on the other hand, offered a deeper story and a more robust RPG system, which made it very popular among fans of the series, being considered by many as the superior installment.

With the Fallout TV series taking the fandom by storm last year on Amazon Prime Video, interest in these instalments was reignited, but Microsoft/Bethesda weren't quick enough to surf the wave on the Switch tablet. There's no time left for them to do so, so they'll have to compile on a Switch 2 that can already run Fallout 4...

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

9. Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (Various platforms, 2009 -2017)

Of course, ninth place in our top eleven belongs in its own right to Kotaro Uchikoshi's Zero Escape series. OK, the visual novel/murder mystery franchise is niche, OK, its creators moved on after failing with the third instalment (the forgettable Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma), OK, no one even bothered to translate it into other languages and, finally, OK, AI: The Somnium Files and nirvanA Initiative are on the platform with a similar style and much nicer graphics.

But! The fact is that 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and, above all, Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward remain to this day two of the best exponents of the genre and of adventure games in general. The twisted narrative, which straddles philosophy, science fiction, parody, and branching stories, had a solid base on Nintendo DS and 3DS, and it's an absolute shame that at the very least Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (just those two games in a pack), which came out on multiple platforms, never did so on the most popular one. That's what its creator would have wanted, he confessed to me.

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

8. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1991)

OK, before you jump all over yourselves: this is the only entry on the list based on a game that... technically doesn't exist. I mean, the original Super Nintendo game is on Nintendo Switch Online, by all means, but let me defend it.

Granted, we could very well ask for a port of the brilliant The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds on Nintendo 3DS, and it's also very true that The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy remake) and last year's Echoes of Wisdom are the two top-down Switch entries in Grezzo's gorgeous miniature style.

So then what? Well, it was long hoped and rumoured that the time for a remake of the most transcendental top-down Zelda in HD for Switch had arrived. And it never happened. It also seemed early for another remake for Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask after the 3DS restorations and there are two elephants in the room in the series that we included higher up the list, but there was undeniably excitement for an ALTTP remake that will finally arrive, well... Late To The Party.

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, 2015)

Although in 2024-25 they're finally coming back, Konami had been shooting itself in the foot for over five years. Or scoring own goals, depending on how you look at it. If the former is more your thing, you'll find the absence of MGSV the most inexplicable in Nintendo Switch's catalogue.

"But the graphics." Nothing. It's a game that came out on PS3, and look how other open-world games like the Borderlands and The Witcher threequels fared on Switch. Hideo Kojima 's latest game under Konami's label was welcomed with open arms by critics and community alike despite initial misgivings about expanding the map and activities, and its unique concept of stealthy infiltration combined with military action saw many, many hours of gameplay across all platforms.

Konami failed to see the potential of adapting it to a console that you take everywhere with you, despite that proving ideal for these experiences from day one with Zelda: Breath of the Wild, making that Konami's second worst decision this generation. It didn't do it a year and a half after releasing MGSV, nor has it done it during the Switch's nearly eight-year lifespan.

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

6. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Nintendo 3DS, 2014)

If Capcom didn't deign to translate the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (which always had its first home on DS with Nintendo's brilliant translation) or the later Apollo Justice and Miles Edgeworth into its original European languages, how could this unique niche spinoff/crossover between the beloved investigators come in HD?

The truth is that we also can't explain why there hasn't been a compilation of all of Level-5's Professor Layton in HD for Nintendo Switch after selling over 18 million copies of the series, especially seeing as Professor Layton and the New World of Steam is expected in 2025 exclusively for Switch (and Switch 2). The fact is that neither Layton, nor Wright (nor Luke, nor Maya) are able to solve this mysterious absence in the Switch catalogue.

"A true gentleman never leaves a puzzle unsol~ Objection!!!"

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Gamecube, 2002/2003) and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Gamecube/Wii, 2006) | Wii U HD remakes in 2013 and 2016 respectively

This was the most expected one. The one that was expected to fill in any gap in the release schedule. The one that was leaked along with Metroid Prime Remastered. The one that, we're sure, has been sitting in Nintendo's drawer for a while, waiting for the ideal moment. But it hasn't arrived.

In the entry on this list dedicated to A Link to the Past we talked, as with Mario and Metroid, about the difficulty of balancing attention, marketing, expectations and resources when it comes to 80s series that have 2D and 3D branches. You have to be careful that one release doesn't steal the limelight from another, and play to what the fans demand. Zelda was redefined forever with Breath of the Wild and then Tears of the Kingdom, in the end the best selling games in its history. So, along with the top-down Link's Awakening (itself a remake of a classic) and Echoes of Wisdom (more experimental), we can recognise that there was little room left. Both for the Wii U HD versions and for Ocarina and Majora from 3DS.

That said, and given the fluidity with which Wii U projects were ported to Switch, The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were and will remain in all bets. And if Switch 2 doesn't come with a Zelda announcement (we think Mario will be the protagonist and that they'll wait until the successor to Tears of the Kingdom is further cooked before announcing it), it seems that 2025 would be the ideal year to release the Gamecube compilation on Nintendo Switch... and in 4K on Nintendo Switch 2.

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

4. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Xbox 360, 2009)

Sony has been pushing for Final Fantasy not to come to Nintendo platforms since.... Well, since the soap opera of the original FFVII on the Ultra 64. Now, Square Enix has found a goldmine with their RPGs on Switch, and where their HD-2D games have succeeded, an installment like the legendary FFXIII would also have worked. We're not asking for Final Fantasy VII Remake or the already demanding Final Fantasy XV with its more open world, but it did make sense to us for this classic. By the way, there have also been a thousand rumours and hints about the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, and we're sure it won't miss the Switch 2.

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

3. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Gamecube, 2004) and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007, Wii)

When the masterpiece Metroid Prime Remastered arrived in 2023, it was a given that Nintendo would release the next two Prime games, albeit not as elaborate remakes. Even if it was on digital. Even if... Whatever! But it never happened. How could Nintendo release Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Switch in 2025 without letting fans play the two in-between games first?

So here we are, and while there are already fears that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be delayed to 2026 and will look much better on Nintendo Switch 2, Samus Aran is missing a piece to complete the puzzle. And while we're at it, Metroid: Samus Returns also deserves the HD treatment sooner or later, given how MercurySteam killed it with Metroid Dread and it's understood that they're secretly developing Metroid 6 for Switch 2 at the moment...

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

2. Pro Evolution Soccer / eFootball PES (Multi-platform, every year)

Could very well be in the top spot. The second most inexplicable absence of all. We could have titled this...

"11 games that NEVER made it to Nintendo Switch (number 2 will surprise you)".

... But, as we said with MGSV, Konami has lately been able to outdo itself in the inexplicable things.

Let's remember that it all starts back in the days of PES, when they were still releasing an annual football game to compete with FIFA. Those were the days! Well, even then, although there was a version for PS3 and Xbox 360, even though low-end PCs were running the game, they refused to adapt it to a console that was already on the rise.

They didn't do it either when they saw that EA sold millions and millions of FIFA for Switch every year despite despising its users, omitting new features and releasing the same game with squad updates, claiming that their Frostbite technology couldn't be brought to Switch.

But they kept selling and selling, and the version of FIFA or the most recent EA FC for Switch was the best-selling game for a few weeks, so they even ended up supposedly adapting the engine for Nintendo's machine to keep making money. Konami still didn't react.

But perhaps the most incredible thing is that, when Konami decides to completely redesign its business model and turn PES into the free-to-play eFootball platform, a game compatible with consoles but also with PC and mobile, it once again excludes Nintendo Switch from the equation.

No matter how many signs of potential it had, no matter how much "another" great game of the beautiful game could have succeeded on Nintendo Switch, Konami never saw it and had no intention of seeing it. You could tell it wasn't "in the game". Someone in their offices will still be banging their heads against the wall for such an own goal.

All that remains is hope. Despite the doomsayers, eFootball has finally been evolving in a positive way and is now fitter than ever, offering a fun, deep, decent and revamped experience. Impressive even for an F2P. By the way, with FIFA as Konami's partner for esports competitions. If they don't jump on the Nintendo Switch 2 bandwagon first, they'll be throwing millions of yen down the toilet again.

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up

1. Grand Theft Auto V (PS3 and Xbox 360, 2013)

And finally we come to the winner, the game whose absence from the Nintendo Switch catalogue is and will remain for ever and ever absolutely inexplicable. Unbelievable, unacceptable, unforgivable, and anything else you can think of that begins with "un".

We are talking about the best-selling multiplatform video game of all-time. The title capable of topping the sales charts in all markets in three different generations. The game that everyone buys, the launch that, as GTA VI which will arrive at the end of this year is proving, is capable of paralysing the entire industry and becoming the most anticipated event of the year, not just in video games, but in entertainment in general.

And Rockstar never adapted it to Switch. It released the original GTA Trilogy, yes, and a port of the first Red Dead Redemption, apart from the aforementioned LA Noire, but nothing of the most important game in its history.

And, "why did Grand Theft Auto V never make it to Nintendo Switch?" That's the million dollar question, and I'd love to ask some management if they ever let themselves be interviewed again in the future. Again, excuses about performance or graphics just don't cut it. This PS3 and Xbox 360 game has been ported ad nauseam, and while there aren't many exponents of urban open worlds on Switch, we're reminded again of the successful port of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Borderlands 3, Skyrim or ARK.

"It's because of the violence, that's why Yakuza took so long to come to Switch". Sure, and Doom, Wolfenstein, Hotline Miami, Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat or Bayonetta are actually cosy life simulators starring Hello Kitty.

Some argue that, like Yakuza and Fallout, it may be more about politics and social issues than dismemberment and bloodshed, but really all arguments fall apart when you think about how this game has succeeded for so many years on so many platforms. And let no one forget that Nintendo and Rockstar collaborated just fine for DS to receive the exclusive Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars back in the day, a game full of drugs, roadkill and explicit murder.

It's not that Rockstar needed those extra millions, but from the outside looking in, not releasing GTA V on Switch still strikes us as one of the worst business decisions in the industry's recent history.

The 11 games that were surprisingly missing from the Nintendo Switch line-up


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