Over the vacation season, we’re republishing choose articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors as a part of our Best of 2023 sequence. Enjoy!
Soapbox options allow our particular person writers and contributors to voice their opinions on scorching subjects and random stuff they have been chewing over. Today, Ethan ruminates on how, over time, Switch has develop into a wonderful instructing device for Sony neophytes…
Here’s a reality diehard proponents of the console wars received’t readily admit: the grass is at all times greener on the opposite facet. For any shopper dedicated to a single ecosystem — be it Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, or PC — the slew of unique video games their platform of selection receives is usually the only most necessary consider maintaining them invested. Of course, exclusives are a double-edged sword. For each scorching new sport on one system that gamers obtain, there’s one other sport distinctive to a different system that continues to be tantalizingly out of attain.
As a born-and-raised Nintendo child, I spent my childhood firmly rooted on the earth of platforming plumbers and Triforce-seeking youths. I used to be completely comfortable to remain there, too, distant from all of the swear-filled, shooty-bang video games I’d catch glimpses of my dad taking part in. Still, I couldn’t assist however sneak peeks on the competitors, and as I grew older, it grew to become obvious that there have been a number of parallel strands of gaming historical past on the market I knew subsequent to nothing about.
Access to an Xbox 360 helped assuage my curiosity, however even then, PlayStation was a giant blue query mark. I by no means would have guessed on the time that my best ally in discovering the historical past of Sony’s gaming platform wouldn’t be a PS3 or a PS Vita, however a system from a special firm completely.
Early on within the Nintendo Switch’s life, a delicate development started to emerge. Layered beneath the discourse of the lacking Virtual Console and the agonizing drip-feed of retro Nintendo video games was one thing thrilling and unprecedented: former PlayStation exclusives from throughout all generations have been beginning to trickle onto Nintendo’s platform for the very first time. Final Fantasy VII and Katamari Damacy, two behemoths of Sony’s model I had solely heard about for years by way of the energetic suggestions of gaming YouTubers, lastly got here to Switch by means of port or enhanced remaster. As I sat there in my freshman 12 months dorm at school, listening to the shimmering sounds of Final Fantasy’s Prologue theme and the vivacious nah-nah-nahs of Katamari, I lastly understood what I had been lacking out on.
Thankfully, the choices didn’t cease there. Final Fantasy VII hasn’t been the one landmark PlayStation FF title to come back to Switch, with Final Fantasy VIII, IX, X and X-2, and XII finally making their approach over. Even Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, beforehand confined to the PlayStation Portable, has discovered new life with a shiny remaster. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, two monoliths of early PlayStation, have had their unique trilogies remade and dropped at Switch. Groundbreaking RPGs Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal all lately joined the line-up. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is there — additionally launched afterward N64, after all, however an iconic PlayStation launch. Klonoa is there. Chrono Cross is there. Ōkami. Devil May Cry. Ni no Kuni. Some of those titles getting a launch on a Nintendo system was deemed a ridiculous pipe dream, however right here they’re.
Let’s get one factor clear: nearly each single basic PlayStation title that has come to Switch is multi-platform and available on the PS4 and the PS5. That is sensible — Sony’s fashionable programs can and needs to be the premiere place to expertise the total extent of PlayStation’s legacy. I’ve even purchased into that ecosystem myself with a PS5 and some legacy consoles in recent times.
Nonetheless, the Switch is much and away my most popular option to play these outdated video games. Some titles, like the unique Katamari duology, really feel particularly at house on the system, and the portability issue is unbeatable. It’s a comparability that has been drawn earlier than, however the Switch actually does really feel just like the true successor to the Vita — a system that primarily based a lot of its life round providing retro PlayStation titles in a modern and fashionable type issue.
If the Switch’s present PlayStation-original choices weren’t spectacular sufficient, the longer term is simply as brilliant. Several of the earliest Metal Gear Solid titles are set to affix the Switch by means of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 later this 12 months. HD remasters of the Suikoden duology are equally headed to the platform in 2024. Even a number of the unlikeliest candidates for a revival are occurring, with Limited Run Games lately asserting ports of area of interest classics like Tomba! for Switch. Between all of those titles, the Switch has develop into the proper approach for non-PlayStation customers to study crucial highlights of Sony’s retro historical past.
At least, that’s what I might be saying if there weren’t a number of irritating omissions from the Switch’s catalog. Don’t get me unsuitable — I’m not anticipating a bunch of first-party Sony franchises like God of War or Twisted Metal to all of the sudden make the soar. Still, there are some video games and sequence intertwined with PlayStation that deserve to come back again for a brand new viewers to find. Having not one of the early Tekken titles is a missed alternative, particularly with Kazuya combo-ing Mario and mates into oblivion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Some of the outdated Ridge Racer video games can be a terrific lesson in retro racing bliss. Metroidvanias clearly aren’t missing on Switch, however as we have mentioned earlier than, not having a port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is simply pure insanity. And for the love of all that’s good, the place is Jeopardy! from the PS1? (Okay, perhaps not that one.)
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