The Nintendo Switch will soon enter its eighth year and has the potential to become the best-selling video game system of all time, if Nintendo keeps it going for a little while longer. Still, they are with all certainty in the middle of preparing its successor and a number of new games for it, where it's even likely that any big titles that remain, like Metroid Prime 4, are going to be saved for the new system. In the meantime, Nintendo will tie us over with smaller titles, remakes, remasters, and ports, like Mario vs. Donkey Kong, or Luigi's Mansion 2 HD.
Now, this is going to be a wish list of ten titles, where I would still like them finding their way onto the Nintendo Switch, either for the sake of convenience or the sake of completeness. I will focus on games that can be either remastered or ported, meaning that they wouldn't need a from-scratch remake in order to look good enough. This essentially limits the choices to GameCube, Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS titles.
This can be anything previously published by Nintendo, so this won't just be about Zelda games. If you want to read more about those, check out my Future of Zelda Remakes & Remasters article, though there will be a bit of overlap here. Also, I'm perfectly aware that this post may look ironic, considering that I wrote this about six years ago. But times change and by now I really prefer having all games on my Nintendo Switch, where I rarely go back to my older Nintendo systems to play on them.
Luigi's Mansion HD
We're soon going to get Luigi's Mansion 2 HD for the Nintendo Switch, a remaster of the Nintendo 3DS title. The first game was brought onto the Nintendo 3DS as well in 2018 by GREZZO, where this could serve as the basis to later also have it remastered in the same style. With that we would have entire trilogy on the system.
The Wind Waker HD & Twilight Princess HD
These titles always have been such an obvious choice for ports from the Wii U that this kept coming up ever since the dawn of the Nintendo Switch. And after such a long time it's perfectly okay to take the last bit that the Wii U still has going for it. It would allow to play all 3D Zelda games on the Nintendo Switch, which is a big deal for those who don't own any older Nintendo consoles.
On the other hand, if Nintendo was willing to put more effort into these, then they would make great titles for the next console. Imagine Twilight Princess getting the same treatment as Metroid Prime Remastered – it would certainly make a lot of fans very happy if this were to happen over a simple port of the previous HD remaster.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Remastered
Speaking of Metroid Prime Remastered, it would be nice to see the sequel getting the same treatment, because it's really one of the best looking and most impressive games on the Nintendo Switch from a technical standpoint. This would serve as another filler in 2024, before we're finally getting Metroid Prime 4 and it could also be shadow-dropped in the same style as last year.
As a separate title once more, they could also put bigger focus on the multipayer mode, maybe even allow you to play it online for the first time ever. If Metroid Prime 4 also were to get multiplayer, this could serve as a play test, so to speak.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Remastered
At one point it will be nice to have the entire Metroid Prime trilogy on the Nintendo Switch in some form, but there may be a split here. If Metroid Prime 4 really is one of the first major games for the Nintendo Switch successor, then a remaster of Metroid Prime 3 might be something that they will keep for later, also making use of the better hardware. After all, there was a generational gap between the first two games and the third, even if it only was a slight one.
Wario Land: Shake It! / The Shake Dimension HD
This Wii game was the last entry in the Wario Land series, which is a shame, especially since it returned to its roots of Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land here, meaning that Wario won't transform whenever he gets hit by something. It is a hidden gem made by Good-Feel, the studio that would later make such cozy platformers like Kirby's Epic Yarn or Yoshi's Woolly World. Both of these got ported to the Nintendo 3DS as some of its last titles and maybe the Nintendo Switch will get a similar treatment from Good-Feel in its last years...
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
Coming from Jump 'n' Runs and games made by Retro Studios, we move on to a combination of both, where they had revived the Donkey Kong Country series with two fantastic games. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was already one of the first ports for the Nintendo Switch and it would be nice if its predecessor were to find its way right next to it. There was a Nintendo 3DS version, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, which added a couple of levels, better controls, and some helpful extras, but came at the price of the frame rate. A Nintendo Switch release therefore could become the ultimate version of the game.
Kid Icarus: Uprising HD
This was one of the early Nintendo 3DS games and the only "recent" game by Masahiro Sakurai that wasn't a Super Smash Bros. title. It was also the revival of the Kid Icarus franchise, which didn't last... But it had a number of barriers, where the biggest one were probably the controls. The whole AR card collection thingy, which was going on at the time, may also have been something to put you off. There have been rumors that Sakurai has been working on a remaster of this title, where this certainly would do it some good...
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Just for the sake of completion, to have the entire series on the Nintendo Switch, there's one more game to port over from the Wii U: Xenoblade Chronicles X. But if we're truly getting a "Xenoblade Warriors" this year, as I'm personally predicting, then this could also be something for later.
Metroid: Samus Return HD
Finally, after the success of Metroid Dread, MercurySteam may update their first Metroid title from the Nintendo 3DS for some quick cash. Well, they will probably go for another remake entirely, like Super Metroid or Metroid Fusion, or they are already working on Metroid 6. But in case that the assets for Metroid: Samus Returns already were developed in HD and only got downscaled for the Nintendo 3DS (which happened with other games, e.g. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS), then a remaster would be a very good side project for the meantime and allow you to play this excellent game in the same glory as Metroid Dread.
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