If you’re interested in a review of for the Nintendo Switch, here’s a quick one. The new version, out on Friday for $59.99, is still . The game’s existing versions on PC and console are nearly identical to this new Switch port, and that’s great news.
Over the past few years, Blizzard climbed quite the corpse-laden mountain to get this dungeon-crawling game past its troubled 2012 launch.
The worst we could say last year, upon the launch of a $15 DLC expansion, was that the core of had already improved tremendously for all existing players—and thus rendered the paid Necromancer pack a bit moot.
So on Nintendo Switch, everything about , from its basic, loot-driven combat to its expansive, “seasons”-driven endgame, is the same. (Every DLC add-on and free patch from the console and PC versions arrives here intact.) Yet, it’s also born anew on this platform. truly is the ultimate kind of game to work on Nintendo’s hybrid console. It works as well for satisfying, quick-burst combat as it does marathon bed-battle sessions.
Plus, obviously, core engine was designed for computers made in 2012. This is a portable, power-sipping 3D system, after all, and that lower-powered target matters both in keeping frame rates locked to a crisp, 60 frames-per-second refresh and in making sure frantic combat always looks and feels smooth for intrepid adventurers.
Those qualities got us thinking about an obnoxious Nintendo Switch reality. Ahead of its two-year anniversary, the home-portable hybrid system has now seen a bunch of older games come back to life as perfect Switch fodder… but many of them are now lost in the Nintendo eShop’s hideous interface. Thus, we’re using ‘s Switch port as an excuse to talk about one beloved category on the system: ports of games that came out the Switch existed.
Further Reading
Nintendo Switch review: Meet the Game Boy Entertainment System
The above video rattles through personal favorites that fit this criteria, and my chosen games nail two other important aspects: they emphasize the Switch difference, and their graphical performance fits neatly into the Switch’s limitations. Does it run smoothly? Does it look good on a small screen? And might its action stand out neatly while propped up in “tablet” mode on a bar?
As such, your personal favorite “oldie but Switchie” may not have made our cut, but we’d still appreciate your thoughts below on the best older games born anew on Switch—along with your votes for other older games you’d love to see come back with Switch’s boons (and limits) in mind.
