Scroll down below to find our picks for the 10 Nintendo Switch exclusives that we wish were on the PC.
Astral Chain
This Nintendo Switch exclusive is an equal parts action title with frenetic gameplay and an open-world adventure game that has you investigating an interdimensional threat to humanity. What makes Astral Chain unique is that the combat system is atypical from your standard PlatinumGames title. You’re not just going to hack and slash your way to victory. Instead, the twin protagonists can take control of the interdimensional creatures known as “Legions” that play a role in combat, as well as in solving puzzles, among others. Considering that PlatinumGames have made their Nintendo exclusives available to the PC in the past, we’re hoping that Astral Chain follows suit someday.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order lets players assemble their own super team of heroes from Marvel’s roster of characters. This includes anyone from the X-Men to the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers, among others. The plot is nothing special. It’s your typical heroes and villains working together to put a stop to an ultimate baddie. In this particular case, it’s Thanos and the rest of the Black Order. What’s interesting here is that you can immerse yourself into the story even further by moving the camera to a “Heroic Camera” view where you’re looking over the shoulder.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Breath of the Wild isn’t the best Legend of Zelda game on the Nintendo Switch, but it’s the one we would love to make its way to the PC. The open-world take on the traditional Zelda formula features backgrounds and environments that would look amazing on the PC, especially in 8K resolution with the graphical settings maxed out. Not only will it look more real, but it’ll also be more immersive. With Breath of the Wild 2 set to release in the future, a Breath of the Wild on the PC should help drum up excitement.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
PC gamers aren’t really left wanting more farming simulators, but none are as cartoony as Animal Crossing: New Horizons. What makes New Horizons different from other farming simulators is that you’re not just building a farm here. You’re building your own community from the ground up via a deserted island given to you as you transform it from a vacation getaway place fit for yourself only to a busy place full of interesting places to see and people to meet.
Tetris 99
Bizarre doesn’t even begin to describe the concept of Tetris 99, where you’ll take on 99 other players in a contest of speed and accuracy. Although it’s still the classic Tetris that most of us grew up playing, the fact that you’re playing against 99 other players adds an extra layer of challenge. By sending extra lines to the boards of other players, you can choose to attack players at random or those that are close to being knocked out of the competition already. One can only imagine the hilarity and chaos should the game be made available on the PC.
Splatoon 2
Splatoon 2 is a unique multiplayer shooter that takes away the focus from other players and instead prioritizes covering parts of the map with ink. However, unlike the first title, the sequel encourages players to work together and be tactical in their movements even more, with a more entertainment campaign mode to boot. Whether you’re a competitive or a casual player, Splatoon 2 has something for you. Considering the population of gamers on the PC, it only makes sense to port it over to the PC asap.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
The Fire Emblem franchise has been strictly a Nintendo exclusive save for the few that were made available to iOS and Android devices, which is a damn shame and arguably one of the many reasons why it doesn’t seem to receive much recognition outside of its fans. Of course, part of the blame goes to the game being a hardcore tactical RPG franchise. It’s a heavy game, or so to speak. It’s not exactly something that you can casually stroll into, log out off, and expect to come back in again. It’s a game that demands that you invest in it, not simply because of its difficulty, but because of its story and depth. Speaking of the story and depth, Fire Emblem: Three Houses reportedly has around 40 hours worth of content if you follow the story alone. You can easily multiply those number of hours by 5 or 6 if you want to experience everything that game has to offer. A game that encourages multiple playthroughs but doesn’t get boring each time you play through it, Three Houses would fit perfectly on the PC.
SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech
The SteamWorld franchise isn’t one to stick to a particular genre. It has games in every genre imaginable. However, of the ones already out, we feel like SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech, would be a perfect fit for the PC. A traditional RPG without the expected wall of difficulty, this humorous title from Image & Form sports a unique combat system. Instead of just letting you duke it out with other monsters, you’re in control of a party of individuals, each of which has its own characters that let you experiment with countless combinations of moves. While the adventure is rather short at around 10 hours, you’ll feel like you’ve played the game for hundreds of hours as you spend just enough time switching up the characters to get to know each of your party members.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is your typical Japanese anime-style RPG title, complete with a story that’s equal parts suspenseful, mysterious, and goofy, and a fully customizable battle system that lets you fight according to your preferred style. It’s a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch, as an RPG to play on the go, but it would literally look better on the PC. The gorgeous floating in-game world is a sight to behold. This is especially once you realize that you’re literally on the backs of gigantic beings known as Titans.
Super Mario Odyssey
Just when you thought that Nintendo had decided to move away from their open-ended 3D Mario platformers, they release Super Mario Odyssey, which is essentially a modernized version of Super Mario 64. The addition of Cappy to the game was a nice touch. Because he can turn Mario into a variety of objects, the way you traverse the world becomes so radically different. Not to mention, it’s one of the few games in the Mario franchise where you don’t see the surprisingly agile plumber chomp down on a single mushroom to power-up. While we know that this is the most unlikely game on our list to make its way on the PC, it won’t stop us from wishing that we’d get a chance to see its creatively bizarre environments in 4K or even 8K running at a minimum of 60 frames per second.
