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Skyrim, Dragon Quest XI, Driablo 3, BioShock … The hybrid console is feeding on games that we thought were impossible to adapt. We roll call.
When Nintendo Switch went on sale in March 2017, surely we are not the only ones who thought that the policy of the Japanese company was going to look more like what was seen on Wii and Wii U than in what has ended up being what which refers to the support of third party companies. The reality is quite different: everyone wants to launch their games on the console, in any case.
Cradle of the independent scene, the desire of publishers large and small for the popularity of the machine in the main markets, the emerging digital market in an increasingly predisposed audience to buy in the eShop … There are many factors and skepticism is great, Because the power of the Nintendo Switch remains in question as it is sufficiently below its competitors that it cannot transfer ports 1: 1 in most cases. This is where technological engineering comes in to make these adaptations possible, the cornerstone of this article.
Nintendo Switch
Because today we want to review the most impressive ports that we have seen on Nintendo Switch during these more than three years. Titles that, due to their result, performance and comfort, have managed to enrich the catalog of a console that has a fundamental advantage: portability. An added value that the purchase of some titles that we even had in other systems can raise. The following lines also serve to highlight the work of a series of expert studies on these tasks, since the final result leaves no hint of doubt about the complete recommendation of these translations.
There are five studios that stand out above the rest when we look at teams that are experts in port creation: Saber Interactive, Virtuos Games, Panic Button, Iron Galaxy and Feral Interactive.
Know Interactive
His most notable project is undoubtedly The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition. It is also one of the most honorable ports, really. Its announcement took everyone by surprise because it is one of those games that perhaps nobody thought it was going to be able to move with the result that it has finally reached the stores (powered and improved through updates). In addition, CD Projekt RED provided the American team with all the necessary resources to not do things by halves: it is a 32 GB cartridge and not 16 GB, as we are used to.
Unlike most adaptations, in the case of Geralt de Rivia’s adventure, the physical version includes absolutely everything: you can start playing without further ado, without downloads. There is the original game and the two expansions. As we said, it is highly recommended to download the updates that have been published later, with improvements in quality of life and technical details that add so that the visual effort is even more optimal especially if we play in portable mode.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition
At FreeGameTips, we rate it with a grade close to outstanding. Beyond those undeniable sacrifices, being able to play the title on a six-inch screen doesn’t feel bad. It is a fluid version, adapted both technically and interface aspects, in the small details. What is lost is minimal if what we want is to enjoy a long hundred hours of game anywhere or on the television. A commission that we did not trust turned out so well and that reflects that Saber Interactive has perfectly understood the hardware of this system.
Currently, they have versions like World War Z, WWE 2K Battlegrounds and Crysis Remastered, planned initially for 2020. The team has declared itself a huge fan of the platform, they feel comfortable and are satisfied with the results they have obtained with their Most recent releases: “We are very fans of Nintendo Switch,” said Matthew Karch, CEO of the Maplewood, New Jersey-based company, where one of its five offices is located across the globe. “There is still great potential in both hardware and platform. We have had great success so far, releasing many titles on the Nintendo Switch, and we will continue to develop for the platform, ”he continues. “We think fans will be amazed at some of the upcoming titles that will hit her.”
It should be noted that, last February, Embracer Group (company that owns THQ Nordic) took Saber Interactive in exchange for about $ 375 million. This will allow them to be even more ambitious with their works, where Halo: The Masterchief Collection on Xbox One or the recent SnowRunner also stand out. There is one thing for sure: they are going to make more ports on Nintendo Switch that we don’t know yet. We are calm.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition – Review on FreeGameTips
Virtuos Games
Virtuos Games is, in a way, the trigger for this article after the remarkable stop they have achieved with BioShock: The Collection, XCOM 2 Collection and the Borderlands Legendary Collection. Although XCOM has not come out to ask for word of mouth, the adaptations of Rapture, Columbia and Pandora are to take off the hat. We are talking about a team based in Singapore, but that due to their position as port managers does not mean that they are a precisely small studio: they have a dozen offices around the world with more than 1500 employees. Since its foundation as an independent private company back in 2004, its growth in the digital entertainment universe has been exponential.
BioShock: The Collection
With experience in television and cinema, their economic capacity, human capital and willingness to take on a large number of jobs at the same time has allowed them to take on these latest 2K Games commissions with results that, as we say, are the umpteenth success of the company. We do not know what has happened with XCOM 2 Collection, with obvious visual problems, but both Borderlands and BioShock are among the best ports we have ever seen on Nintendo Switch both visually and technically.
His experience goes back a long way, both in taking on assignments on their own and in direct participation with some companies. For example, with Sony they received outsourced orders for Uncharted 4: A Thiefs End, Horizon: Zero Dawn or The Last of Us Remastered. They have also collaborated with Ubisoft, Square Enix and Electronic Arts. In the absence of knowing how The Outer Worlds has come out on the Nintendo Switch, which has confirmed control by movement – just like Borderlands – and 1080p resolution on television / 720p in portable mode always maintaining 30 FPS, there is room for optimism.
Borderlands Legendary Collection
And yes, there will be more from Virtuos Games on the Nintendo Switch. Zhang Chengwei, producer, has been very confident in recent interviews when evaluating the work they have done in the last two years with the Nintendo Switch and they are able to port any PS4 and Xbox One game. “I would say that we have Half the year has passed simply to optimize memory, and we have used many methods throughout that period, ”says Chengwei. According to the producer, they have used “efficient formats” for the files and have eliminated the use of memory that they did not need. “We have even modified and optimized the console’s original memory system,” he says.
His best conversions for now on Nintendo Switch are BioShock: The Collection, Borderlands Legendary Collection, Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remastered and Dark Souls: Remastered.
- BioShock: The Collection – Reviews in FreeGameTips
- Borderlands Legendary Collection – FreeGameTips Review
- Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remastered – Review on FreeGameTips
- Dark Souls: Remastered – Review on FreeGameTips
- Starlink: Battle for Atlas – Review on FreeGameTips
Panic Button
Panic Button is one of the companies that began to delve into blockbuster conversions sooner on Nintendo Switch. Rocket League started as a game far from what it is now. The updates and the care taken to make this title something more similar to what we find on the other platforms was such that it now seems like another work. Based in Austin, Texas, this is a team of just over fifty people eminently charged with this type of task. They worked on Wii, Kinect, and PS Vita, but for the past eight years, they’ve done next to nothing besides small things on portable consoles.
When we played Subnautica on PS4 and Xbox One, one of those few exceptions, we already saw that regarding the computer it was impeccable; because porting a video game to a platform other than the original is not only a technical, graphic and performance task, but also in the control scheme: optimizing and adapting. Panic Button’s experience with Nintendo Switch has been extensive since 2017: Rocket League, Astro Duel Deluxe, DOOM (2016), Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Warframe, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, DOOM 3, Tochlight II and DOOM Eternal, the latter still in development.
Rocket league
Marty Stratton, producer of id Software, was the first surprised after what he saw with DOOM Eternal in a project still to be finished. Because beyond the technical, they are in charge of redrawing the menus, the interface and other elements so that it is readable in portable and desktop mode. “I can say that I played it a week ago and I am impressed. Our partner Panic Button are masters of the platform and they are proving it once again. I think it will really surprise people. “
It is interesting that they are the ones who stepped forward by daring to develop so closely with the Nintendo Switch hardware. They had other proposals for derivative assignments, but “we saw a lot of potential” on the console when they started working on the Rocket League. According to study co-founder Michael Traub, in an encounter with Engadget, “We realized that there was a little more muscle hidden in that little device, more than people might suspect.”
Warframe
Although there is nothing announced for now, there are many fans who expect something more from this excellent relationship with Bethesda. To ask, Dishonored is requested, a contemporary intellectual property in time with DOOM and Wolfenstein that, perhaps, is one of the chosen ones in the future to make the jump to Nintendo Switch.
- Tochlight II – Reviews in FreeGameTips
- Warframe – Impressions with the game
- Rocket League – FreeGameTips Reviews
- DOOM – Reviews in FreeGameTips
Iron Galaxy Studios
Iron Galaxy Studios also deserves a mention in this article because they have specialized in ports and, also, in Nintendo Switch. Divided into two locations in Chicago, Illinois, the team has more than 130 employees and is led by Adam Boyes, former vice president and public relations for Sony Interactive Entertainment. Over the past four years, the Canadian has led a constantly growing studio that handles Joy-Con better and better.
They were responsible for what many had been waiting for years: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on a portable console. And they did it, the truth that with great results. A version that looks and plays wonderfully, which has certain winks in its control to take advantage of the controls of the console if we play on TV and, which is for many more important, it more than fulfills in portable mode.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Iron Galaxy doesn’t have the ability to work on half a dozen titles each year, but a couple of them. During this last triennium they have combined a port for Nintendo Switch together with a port for a computer (Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy in 2018 and Spyro Reignited Trilogy in 2019), but in the console that is the main protagonist, the trident started by Skyrim and continued for Diablo III and Overwatch.
Remarkable results, which were not exactly easy approaches, but which were carried out with a more than acceptable reception. Because beyond the Bethesda saga (which invites you to think that Fallout is not impossible on this platform), Diablo III is another one of those wishes fulfilled for fans of the genre. Blizzard placed all their trust in this team to bring one of their most legendary IPs to a Nintendo console.
Diablo III
And it did not fail anything: fluid and without jerks, controls designed even to play with a single Joy-Con, all expansions and content, including Ganondorf as an incentive for the most nintendero fan … The online, for more inri, works as luxury and still have many active people. A true pocket devil. So happy were they that they repeated the move with Overwatch. This was much more complicated, but they were also able to do it by making a remarkable fit of the experience in portable mode and adapting the control by gyroscope. Not ideal for such a hectic FPS title, but there it is, with all the content and current updates, accurate and fun targeting, good netcode…
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Review in FreeGameTips
- Diablo III: Eternal Collection – Review on FreeGameTips
- Overwatch – Reviews in FreeGameTips
Feral Interactive
We travel to Europe. Feral Interactive needs no introduction. They do not have as many millions as other studios, not as much glamor or fame; but experience is a grade. Founded in 1996 in the heart of London, UK, Feral was until 2013 participating almost exclusively in titles for macOS. From there, they made the move to Windows computers and, after some foray adapting games like ROME: Total War and GRID Autosport on mobile devices, they agreed to launch with Nintendo Switch.
Alien: Isolation
There are two titles that have been made so far and, why deny it – we have played them recently and often at the beginning of the year, not an accidental coincidence – the work is excellent. We are talking about Alien: Isolation and GRID Autosport. Of the first, our colleague César Otero already told us: “It is one of the best ports we have seen on Nintendo Switch.” The Creative Assembly game was moved intact, improving even in some sections to the original title five years ago. Escaping the Xenomorph on this console has very few flaws, beyond the minor input lag that has been corrected over time. But it is that graphically it does not differ at all with respect to the original Alien: Isolation, it is commendable.
You already know that at FreeGameTips we really like the driving genre. When we learned that Feral Interactive was going to update GRID with performance improvements, local multiplayer and other additions… we ended up falling. And it was not a mistake at all. The game adapts to the experience you are looking for: o 30 FPS and better graphics, or more modest textures in exchange for around 60 FPS, which, we tell you from experience, are great. For the rest, the same remarkable 2014 GRID Autosport from the last generation, which was already quite ambitious at the time.
GRID Autosport
It is, in a way, romantic for those of us who follow Codemasters’ career that the game reached Nintendo Switch in these conditions, without giving up content, with load times that do not extend beyond the account and at the same time covering a gap that was not fully stocked. Mario Kart 8 and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled have dominated the market on the more arcade side, but what about the solution? We hope and wish that Feral Interactive has something new on its hands soon on Nintendo Switch.
- Alien Isolation – Reviews in FreeGameTips
- GRID – Original Reviews in FreeGameTips
Other essential ports on Nintendo Switch
Surely you’ve come this far and said, how come we haven’t read the name Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of a Lost Past – Ultimate Edition yet? Here it is. First, we have preferred to give prominence to expert studies in these tasks and, now, specific cases where on many occasions it has been the mother company itself that has been in charge of these works, without outsourcing them to third parties. The Dragon Quest XI case is one of those that make you smile. We had to wait a long time, but the experience – except that its visual aspect had to be sacrificed somewhat – is even better than that of PS4 and PC because it has more content, more details of quality of life in the playable and allows playing in 2D mode. , as if it had integrated the unpublished in the West version of Nintendo 3DS.
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of a Lost Past – Ultimate Edition
In the fighting genre, there is surely a reference both for the name it carries and for the final result obtained: Dragon Ball FighterZ. Arc System Works was always open to it and, although Bandai Namco refused to contemplate the possibility that this shocking title visually reached the Nintendo Switch, it finally did. The port, despite not being as spectacular as on the other platforms, is played perfectly, it did not give up any game mode or content. It is up to date and precisely controlled if we use a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. Great work from the Japanese firm.
Cuphead is another highly recommended port. Studio MDHR and Microsoft began an ongoing courtship with Ori and the Blind Forest which appear to be the perfect Redmond combo on the console. Cuphead is perfectly suited for Joy-Con, with the ability to use only one controller per player, while Moon Studios’ Metroidvania looks great in portable mode. It is splendid.
Finally, two names that we don’t want to stop mentioning before finishing: New Super Lucky’s Tale, by Playful Entertainment and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, by Ninja Theory. After its passage through Xbox One, this improved version of the 3D platforms was expanded in the hybrid to serve as a more than valid alternative to Super Mario Odyssey. The port is more than compliant, fits the Nintendo audience and is very well optimized. Finally, the most recent and recognized work of the English studio is also another approach to what Nintendo Switch is capable of offering if you want.
