2023 was a year of highs and lows for AAA ports on Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch received ports for many beloved games this year, previously exclusive to more powerful machines, but the results were a mixed bag.
That a console as old as the Nintendo Switch continues to sell gangbusters truly speaks to its core appeal: the ability to play either in handheld mode or on the big screen. Even with other portable gaming devices like the Steam Deck OLED and Asus ROG Ally releasing this year, I still find myself sticking with Nintendo’s hybrid device due to its ease of use, great first-party exclusives, and reliable battery life. Playing Nintendo Switch was made even more tempting this year, too, due to the avalanche of long-awaited AAA ports it received.
We all know that the Nintendo Switch is an extremely underpowered device compared to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and, heck, even most modern smartphones. That said, so fervent is the console’s player base, developers and publishers remain insistent on porting over AAA games that were never originally designed to run on it. There was already precedent for this before, of course, with ambitious titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Doom Eternal receiving native Nintendo Switch versions – with mixed results. 2023 saw this continue, again to varying degrees of success.
The first major AAA Nintendo Switch port out of the gate was Rockstar Games’ original Red Dead Redemption on August 17. Originally released back in 2010 for Xbox 360 and PS3, this was particularly exciting because the story of John Marston was never, and still isn’t, available to play on PC, making this Nintendo Switch version one of the only legitimate ways to enjoy this sweeping, cowboy open-world adventure on the go.
For the most part, Red Dead Redemption on Nintendo Switch looked and played absolutely fine. Though routinely lambasted around launch for its (admittedly quite high) price point, lack of graphical upgrades, and nature to run at a locked 30fps, as you’d expect from a game first released well over a decade ago, I found it incredibly easy to fall back into this story about a relapsed outlaw tracking down his old criminal gang. Red Dead Redemption on Nintendo Switch quickly became my new preferred way to play. It doesn’t do anything particularly new or power-pushing, but this version very much maintains the essence of the original experience.
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High hopes
The next high-profile AAA port the Nintendo Switch received was ambitious indeed; not just because it was released on PS4 and Xbox One initially, but also due to how broad in scope it is. Borderlands 3 might not be the most beloved of Gearbox Software’s selection of chaotic, cell-shaded loot shooters, yet it finally took players off the planet of Pandora, presenting thousands more gun combinations to discover using the same comic book-style visuals.
Admittedly, Borderlands 3 being a lot more surrealist in its presentation would have made it a lot easier to bring to the Nintendo Switch than, say, a more realistic-looking FPS like any of the recent Call of Duty titles. However, despite some slowdown on the framerate side and drastic environmental pop-in when exploring larger environments, this was very much the true Borderlands 3 experience brought to a handheld device – and 2K Games stayed committed to updating its performance with various updates after release. Borderlands 3 on Switch is by no means the definitive version, but it works.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is a port that didn't add much new, but the games themselves are still great. (Konami)Borderlands 3 was released in 2019 before it came to Nintendo’s current console, so you think that any game released prior to this date wouldn’t struggle to perform. It was on October 24, though, that we discovered otherwise, as Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 arrived on the eShop. Now, admittedly, this collection – which includes the first three mainline Metal Gear Solid titles – are perfectly playable and look great, despite again being locked to 30 fps (much like Red Dead Redemption). That said, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was first released for PS2 in 2004, so it should run silky smooth on hardware from 2017, right? Apparently not.
The real kicker is Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3’s locked framerate. Both ran higher when ported to the PlayStation Vita years earlier, so it’s disappointing to see that Konami didn’t take the time to optimise either as best as it probably could. Then there’s the overall presentation of this collection which is… messy. Upon loading any of the three titles up you’re bombarded by message screens, multiple different versions of the same game, and so on. Fortunately, for the very first time, the original Metal Gear Solid was made playable on a Nintendo console – a silver lining.
The final AAA port collection the Nintendo Switch received is one that was well overdue. Batman: Arkham Trilogy brings all three of Rocksteady’s Metroidvanias based on the caped crusader to the device, with two out of the three playing exceptionally well. Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City are some of the best superhero games ever made, so having them come to the Nintendo Switch just feels right – despite it taking way too long.
Unfortunately, all my hopes about Batman: Arkham Knight on Nintendo Switch came to fruition within 10 minutes of me loading it up, with significantly downgraded textures, poor draw distances, and choppy framerate aplenty. This is a game, released in 2015, that was a technical showcase when it came out, with even top-of-the-line gaming PCs struggling to run it at the time. It’s unsurprising, then, that Batman: Arkham Knight on Switch is compromised and borderline unplayable. It’s hard to be too mad, though, given the impossible task port studio Turn Me Up Games had to fulfil. The two other games still make picking this collection up worth it.
Even though the Nintendo Switch had a pretty bumpy ride when it comes to receiving AAA ports this year, it’s probably still my favourite console of all time. Because in the six years it’s been in our hands it’s played host not only to great indies and amazing first-party exclusives, but has steadily built up an attractive back catalogue of video game classics, spanning everything from Bioshock to Portal. Picking up a Switch means being able to access so many all-timers, even if some technical compromises have been made to get them there.
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