Every game ever should be on the Nintendo Switch. Every. Game. Ever.
That being said, there are a number of forgotten game series that would work especially well as revivals on Switch. Whether they were made by Nintendo or not, these series deserve love that they haven’t received for a good long time. So, here are 5 dormant game series that should be resurrected on the Nintendo Switch.
F-Zero
Even if we may never get another F-Zero from Nintendo, that still won’t stop us from dreaming, and we think that the Switch would be the perfect place to reinvigorate the series.
Galaga
For being one of the most influential arcade games of all time, the Galaga series has certainly been quiet for the past 30 years. Back in the day, this shoot-em-up took the simple concepts laid down by the incredibly successful Space Invaders and perfected them: varied enemy patterns, brighter color palettes, more responsive shooting. It was addictive like no other shmup ever was, putting it as one of the successful arcade games of all time. But then, Galaga’s legacy just kind of… stopped. Sure, there was Galaga 88, but that game didn’t have anywhere the impact that the original did. What if Galaga made a comeback? What if Namco made a new take on the classic, updating the visuals and sound effects but keeping the same addictive gameplay loop? And of course, the best format to place this new Galaga on would be the Nintendo Switch’s vertical screen! To blast down spaceships in Galaga vertically – the way it was intended to be played – would be a wonderful revival of an old classic.
The Chrono series
Ah, Chrono Trigger – how you’ve been forgotten. Long ago, no one doubted that you would eventually blossom into a full-grown series like your brother Final Fantasy, with many entries, spin-off series, and perhaps even a movie or two! But after you blessed the world with your gorgeous graphics, compelling narrative, and ground-breaking combat system, all we ever saw from you again was a single sequel. And even that was barely released! So what happened, Chrono Trigger? What did we ever do to harm you? Is it too much to ask for a new game on the Switch? After all, your parent, Square Enix, just recently released Octopath Path Traveler for the Switch, so there’s clearly a market for old-school JRPG’s. Please, Chrono Trigger, come back. We all need you.
Mother
The Mother series is one of the most subtly influential in history, especially the second game. Known in the states as Earthbound, Mother 2 took the concepts of the JRPG genre, and brought them into a contemporary setting. Instead of fighting dragons and bards, you would fight new-age hippies and grumpy old neighbors. Instead of traversing across the plains of Gaia or Guardia, you ride buses through the cities of Fourside and Summers. Mother 2 was a game that was brimming with personality, quirkiness, a deep combat system, and a memorable story; put simply, it’s one of the greatest RPG’s ever made.
But after Mother 2, anyone living outside of Japan never got to see the Mother series ever again. Mother 3, exclusive to the Gameboy Advance, has never seen the light of day outside of its country of origin, speculatively because of its controversial material. Even if Nintendo finds themselves in a dilemma of whether to censor the questionable content or not, we believe that it’s still possible for Mother 3 to make it to the rest of the world via the Switch. And beyond that, maybe we’ll get a Mother 4 or a tactics spin-off! Who knows?
Banjo-Kazooie
In the late 90’s/early 2000’s, one of Nintendo’s most prolific developers was a little British company named Rare Software. Rare was known for a variety of things at Nintendo: Goldeneye 007, The Donkey Kong Country games, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day, to name a few. But perhaps the greatest of the Rare games was Banjo-Kazooie, a 3D platformer that took the concepts laid down by Super Mario 64 and perfected them. It had a bigger world, more elaborate environmental puzzles, and two lovable furry protagonists. What more could you ask for!
Unfortunately, even though Rare’s success at Nintendo left them as legends in the industry, they were bought by Microsoft in 2002, and promptly put to very little use. Since switching to Microsoft, Rare has made a few mediocre Banjo games, a bad Perfect Dark sequel, the Xbox avatars, a bad Kinect Sports game, and, most recently, the disappointing Sea of Thieves. Alas, this may be a pipe-dream, but we thank that Rare needs to ditch Microsoft, come back to father Nintendo and make another (good) Banjo-Kazooie game for the Switch. That’s what they should have been doing all along! C’mon, Rare, give it a shot.
So what do you think? Are there other series that you’d like to see make a return on Nintendo’s most recent device? Are there any of our picks that you disagree with? Be sure to comment below, and let other people know what you think through Twitter, Facebook and Reddit!
