00:00Third-party titles can do a lot to bolster the success of a Nintendo console release,
00:05and the original Switch had some real surprises in its life cycle.
00:08From The Witcher 3 to Doom Eternal to Skyrim,
00:11the Switch never fails to impress with the games it somehow brings to possible hardware.
00:16But of course, the handheld gaming landscape has changed again in recent years,
00:19with the introduction of the Steam Deck and other portable PC devices,
00:23pushing the limits on what can be achieved in the palms of your hands.
00:26So with the Switch 2 supposedly getting a considerable bump in power,
00:30let's take a look at a few third-party games we'd like to see make it to this new console.
00:35Hal from GamesRadar here, and welcome to Switch On, where we talk all things Nintendo Switch 2.
00:41Starting strong, Baldur's Gate 3 was a phenomenon, one of the games of the decade.
00:47It really had the gaming community by the, um, sensitives.
00:51Baldur's Gate 3 was everywhere, received overwhelmingly positive reviews,
00:55and remains to this day one of the most popular games of all time.
00:59Originally exclusive to PC during its early access,
01:02after its full release, it eventually made its way to console on the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S,
01:08in September and December of 2023 respectively.
01:11Both vastly outspecning the Switch by a large margin.
01:14However, the biggest surprise was how well this Behemoth runs on Steam Deck.
01:18There are caveats, with graphic fidelity and FPS being nerfed considerably,
01:22but it is a fully playable, and dare I say enjoyable, experience handheld.
01:27Baldur's Gate 3 could be the Witcher 3 of this generation,
01:31and getting it to run on an arguably more accessible handheld console would be nothing short of a massive win.
01:37Sticking with RPGs, we have Elden Ring.
01:39When Dark Souls Remastered released for the Switch, it was something of an oddity.
01:43Putting aside for a second that this title set a precedent in its heyday,
01:47establishing a format that's proven endlessly popular with the hardest of hardcore gamers,
01:51its release on the Switch was, how to put this delicately, unorthodox?
01:56If you were to think of the least Nintendo game,
01:59it would probably either be a From Software or a Doom title, yet both made it to the Switch.
02:05But where Dark Souls started a gaming paradigm, Elden Ring epitomized it.
02:10Its open world full of beautiful yet haunting art design and truly terrifying boss encounters,
02:15it's no wonder Elden Ring remains firmly in the gaming zeitgeist,
02:19especially after the fantastic DLC Shadow of the Erd Tree released last year.
02:23Nintendo has made concerted efforts over the years to expand its hardware's audience outside of its comfort zone,
02:29with powerhouses like Dark Souls and Doom Eternal.
02:32So with that initiative in mind, Elden Ring seems like a no-brainer.
02:36Okay, one last RPG, and CD Projekt Red's other victory at that, Cyberpunk 2077.
02:42It's been a rough road for Cyberpunk.
02:44When it first released in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was a bit of a farce.
02:49The epitome of, this game isn't ready to release, but it released anyway.
02:53The controversy culminated in its PS4 listing on the PlayStation Store being pulled,
02:57with refunds issued to early adopters.
03:00However, CD Projekt didn't give up on the Juggernaut,
03:02and within a few years, Cyberpunk 2077 was much closer to the groundbreaking experience
03:08promised throughout its development.
03:10While often considered one of the most demanding games to play of this generation,
03:14following this continued development,
03:16even the PS4 and Xbox One versions run pretty well today, all things considered.
03:21Helped by the title's seemingly equal emphasis on technical performance and narrative prowess,
03:26making concessions on the former doesn't necessarily detract from the latter.
03:30And similarly to Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk is a perfectly competent experience on the Steam Deck.
03:35I genuinely believe Cyberpunk 2077 to be one of the most important gaming experiences of the last few years,
03:42and opening up that experience to a whole new audience would be well worth it.
03:46Wake the f**k up, samurai.
03:50We have a city to burn.
03:57Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S,
04:01PlayStation 3, 4 and 5, and PC.
04:05What platforms didn't this institution of a game release to?
04:09Well, obviously, anything Nintendo.
04:11It seems bonkers in hindsight that this title, determined as it is to conquer all markets ever,
04:17never made it onto a Nintendo console.
04:20True, the 12-year-old open-world city of Los Santos may have been just a little too much for the original Switch,
04:26but the Switch too.
04:27Now, Grand Theft Auto on a Nintendo console isn't a completely unheard of premise.
04:31There was the DS release of GTA Chinatown Wars,
04:35and of course, the quote-unquote definitive edition of the GTA trilogy on the Switch,
04:40which was, well, you know.
04:42And also, let's not forget that after years of anticipation,
04:45GTA 6 is finally on its way,
04:47and in light of this, the future of GTA 5 has been brought into question.
04:51So what better way to give 5 one last lease of life
04:54than porting it to a brand new console?
04:56Okay, okay, okay, yes, these are two very different franchises, not one game,
05:01but bear with me on this.
05:032025 really is a weird time to be an Xbox flagship franchise,
05:07with the days of Xbox exclusivity seemingly coming to an end.
05:11After a shift in focus from Microsoft to equally support PC and console releases
05:15seemingly working well for the giant,
05:17there have been rumors and murmurs of massive titles like Halo and Forza
05:21coming to their competitors' hardware.
05:23This came to fruition with the announcement of the upcoming release of Forza Horizon 5
05:28on the PlayStation 5 this April.
05:30It's finally happening, and if it's capable enough,
05:33the Switch 2 would be a fantastic place to play this masterclass of an arcade racer.
05:38As for Halo, well, it's been reported and corroborated
05:41that the Master Chief Collection,
05:43the fantastic anthology of the first six Halo FPS titles,
05:47is on its way to the PS5,
05:48with rumblings of indeed making its way to the Switch 2 as well.
05:51Xbox has on record stated that they're open to bringing their titles to Nintendo consoles,
05:57and the Switch 2, if powerful enough,
06:00could be just the opportunity to reach that coveted Nintendo audience.
06:04Alright, digressing even further from what this video was originally about,
06:08I'd like to touch on the Pokemon franchise.
06:10It's completely baffling that not one entry of the mainline Pokemon series
06:14from previous hardware made it to the Switch.
06:17The 3DS was the closest thing we've had so far to an ultimate Pokemon machine,
06:22with Generations 4 to 7 able to be played natively,
06:25and 1 and 2 playable via Virtual Console.
06:27And while you couldn't play Generation 3,
06:30you could play their Generation 6 remakes.
06:32So that's every mainline Pokemon region playable on one console.
06:37And you'd think that Nintendo would have carried this onto the Switch,
06:41but they didn't.
06:41Despite its shortcomings, most notably the recent installment's underwhelming performance
06:46and presentation on the original Switch,
06:48Pokemon remains one of the most successful franchises exclusive to Nintendo hardware.
06:53And surely, sales of the first two generations of games on the 3DS
06:56would have displayed this demand.
06:58Yes, there's probably some legal shenanigans that we don't know about,
07:02but surely, resolving what's ever stopping Nintendo getting these old games onto the Switch 2
07:08would pay dividends by the truckload.
07:11So, what third-party games do you think will make it to the Switch 2?
07:15And more importantly, what games would you like to see?
07:18Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you next time for Switch On.
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