After a long wait, the Nintendo Switch 2 has hit the scene – and people are loving it. Boasting much stronger hardware that brings it up to current-gen standards, third party support is about to look much better. As it should, as the final years of the Switch life saw a myriad of sub-par ports, struggling to run on the dated horsepower of the Switch. Triple-A blockbusters and even some AA and indie titles suffered from poor framerates and long load times, which made the Switch ports look like a raw deal compared to the likes of the Steam Deck.
Fortunately, the Switch 2 boasts a wealthy catalogue of backwards compatible games – virtually everything, in fact. Better still, the raw performance enhancements means that some games are able to run better than on the Switch immediately. However, to take full advantage, some games will definitely need full-on upgrades, developed especially for Switch 2. Nintendo and certain third parties are already offering plenty, such as Pokémon Scarlet/Violet and Sonic X Shadow Generations. With these in mind to set an example, here are 10 more games that need a Switch 2 upgrade.
Mortal Kombat 1
Marking a reboot of the long-running fighting game franchise, Mortal Kombat 1 was a gory good time. However, porting the graphical powerhouse to the Switch may have been too ambitious. Upon release, the port was ridiculed over immense graphical regressions, and glacial loading times. Worse, the framerate was terrible – a death knell for fighting games that require split-second inputs. Fortunately, extensive patches brought the graphics and performance back up to par. The loading times, however, remain agonisingly slow on Switch. If you want to see how bad it got, look right here (credit to IGN for the video, violent content warning):
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- The faster internal storage and SD card type can boost loading speeds
- A further graphical boost to bridge the gap between current-gen consoles some more
- Possibility of restoring crossplay, with the Switch version currently excluded
While content updates for MK1 are sadly at an early end, there’s still ample chance for WB Games to bring the Definitive Edition to Switch to take advantage of the new specs. In the meantime, the other Mortal Kombat 1 – and a whole load of classic MK games – are headed to Switch 2 and all other major platforms via the new Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection later this year.
Kingdom Hearts
What started as an unlikely collaboration between Disney and Square Enix has branched out into 3 beloved games and countless spin-offs. With a majority of titles scattered across 6th generation consoles and handheld systems, a Switch port seemed like a no-brainer. As it turned out, brains may not have been involved with what followed! For some reason, the Switch ports of the Kingdom Hearts franchise turned out to be cloud ports. These “ports” are in fact streaming the game via the internet, with gameplay relying entirely on internet speed. Worse, if the servers ever go down – your game is gone. If the Switch, somehow, wasn’t considered powerful enough for PS2 and PSP era games, I can guarantee you the Switch 2 is more than enough.
So much as a small tremor in your internet connection means lights out for these ports.
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- For one, an actual proper port!
- Likely complete parity with current ports on PS4 and PC
- While Kingdom Hearts 3 may have been too demanding for Switch, the Switch 2 should be enough
Honestly, it’s doubtful that existing owners of the cloud ports will be compensated with a native Switch 2 port. But let’s hold out hope – just as fans continue to hope for updates on Kingdom Hearts 4‘s development. Hopefully history doesn’t repeat itself with a cloud port for that!
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
With Castlevania benched for the foreseeable future, many fans have taken it upon themselves to make successors. But there’s no bigger fan than Koji Igarashi, head honcho of the franchise from 1997 through 2008. After Castlevania was put on ice, he’d go on to make this crowdfunded spiritual successor. While the game was fantastic, Switch owners didn’t quite get the same experience. Crashes, frame drops and input lag littered the experience for disappointed fans. Years of patches of this maligned port still haven’t cleared up everything. Even as of a year ago, reports persist of crashes and frame drops.
Perhaps Miriam wouldn’t need to fast-travel if the game didn’t have slowdown…
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- Performance and input lag should be no issue for the upgraded processor
- Devs can go over and stop whatever is causing the crashes
- Perhaps some extra content to sweeten the deal?
It’s disappointing that Bloodstained performs so poorly on the Switch, despite the rich history of Castlevania games on Nintendo handhelds. To make matters worse, the recently announced sequel Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement appears to be skipping both Switch and Switch 2 entirely. Here’s hoping developer Artplay return to Nintendo eventually.
Batman: Arkham Knight
When the Batman: Arkham Trilogy was announced for the Switch, one question was on everyone’s mind: how would they squeeze Arkham Knight, one of the best looking games of its time, onto the humble Switch? The answer – uh, they couldn’t. Performance was terrible, barely reaching 30fps with heavy stuttering. Despite patches, visuals remained blurry and unimpressive. Between this and the legendarily bad PC port, which was recalled at launch for its problems, this game seems to be cursed. Fortunately, it has been found that the Switch 2 already offers improvements to performance (via Eurogamer). That being said, a native upgraded version could go further and bring it up to par with the current PC version.
It doesn’t take the world’s greatest detective to tell what’s wrong with Arkham Knight’s Switch port
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- While the Switch version now runs at a stable 30FPS on Switch 2, an upgrade could push it to 60FPS
- Restore the original textures to replace the garish compressed ones
- Fix the aliasing issues that are still present
If you were unlucky enough to get Arkham Knight on Switch, at least you may feel vindicated that the Switch 2 already restores it to a playable state. But there’s still work to be done, and it might earn some goodwill back after the failures of Rocksteady’s most recent flop.
My Time at Portia
This cozy farming simulator came to Switch back in 2019. After all this time, and many patches…it’s still not quite up to par, sadly. The original port was the stuff of nightmares; poor framerate, crashes, and load times reportedly in excess of four minutes. At the end of 2024, one more patch released that was meant to fix everything. Despite this, users continue to experience crashes and small bugs. It seems the devs at Pathea need to redesign a port from the ground up on Switch 2 to iron out these problems for good.
After years of patches, hopefully the wait won’t be too long for Switch 2 enhancements
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- Get rid of the remaining crashes and bugs
- Further improve performance
- Shorten the loading times
- At least make it as good as the mobile versions!
The chances of this are slim, as Pathea are working on not the second, but third game in the franchise – My Time at Evershine. It’s already a nice gesture to support the Switch port of Portia as long as they did, but sadly it’s still not good enough. Farming enjoyers may have to look to the sequel My Time at Sandrock, or wait for Evershine instead.
Disco Elysium
Sweeping awards and acclaim, this social RPG would eventually arrive on the Switch two years after its launch. Unfortunately, despite the low-key graphics and emphasis on text, the game would crash at an absurd rate. If that wasn’t enough, the game would come to softlock. Developers ZA/UM would release a patch for the softlocks, but the game still lags and crashes. It’s hard to guess what’s causing this to happen, but the raw horsepower of the Switch 2 should be enough to prevent this from happening.
Disco Elysium’s uniquely absurd writing deserves a better portable home
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- Boosted performance from the new CPU to mitigate the lag
- Stop whatever is causing the game to crash on the original Switch hardware
- Improve on the load times with the faster storage, and hopefully do all this without adding the softlocks back in
Early adopters of the Switch 2 are already noting small improvements (via Reddit) on some of these fronts, which is a good sign. A proper upgraded port would still be ideal to fix these. Sadly, the internal issues and dissolution of the team at ZA/UM might be a roadblock. Or perhaps what Switch 2 will instead get is a version of the upcoming mobile port of the game, designed to “captivate the TikTok user” (via IGN). Good luck with that!
Payday 2
This next one has entertained gamers for over 10 years now, and no wonder. Released back in 2013, this iconic bank-heist FPS still brings in tens of thousands of players across platforms. Even a (admittedly disappointing) sequel couldn’t overtake it! The Switch version would materialise later in 2018, bringing the experience to a portable system. For what it is, performance and graphics are acceptable – compromises were always going to be made. What’s less ideal is the removal of content, and complete lack of post-launch support. Hastily ported by a third party, the game was already many versions behind PC and no attempt was made to catch up.
It’s rather ironic that the Switch port was something of a smash-and-grab
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- Boosting the performance to be more in line with PS4 and Xbox One
- Bringing across all the missed updates over the years (expired licenses notwithstanding)
- Utilise the mouse function in the Joycon 2 for precision aiming on par with PC
Back in September of 2024, people noticed that the game was suddenly gone from the eShop (via DelistedGames). While it’s somewhat of a mercy kill, it’s a waste of what could be a great port. Starbreeze doesn’t seem too interested in the Switch 2, but perhaps the improved graphical capabilities and mouse support from a Switch 2 upgrade are key to addressing these shortcomings.
Minecraft
The best-selling game ever made, Minecraft is naturally still going strong today. Fresh off the back of the box-office hit A Minecraft Movie, regular free updates continue to be pumped out. Just earlier this month, they released the new “Chase The Skies” update on all platforms. Alongside it was “Vibrant Visuals“, a graphical overhaul that makes Minecraft look absolutely incredible. Except…that update is specifically skipping the Switch entirely. Based on the Bedrock version, itself known for some strange bugs such as randomly dying, it’s a little too taxing on the hardware. Slowdown and long loading times are abundant – but as well as that, Minecraft was always a PC game above all else. As such, the Switch 2’s mouse function can be a big factor in making more precise inputs and emulating the PC experience better.
At least you can still take to the skies on Switch – if you can wait long enough for it to load
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- Stamp out loading times and slowdown
- Improved hardware should see Vibrant Visuals make its way to the console
- Mouse mode on the Joycon 2s can deliver more precise inputs
While there’s no current sign of a Switch 2 upgrade or port, it remains backwards compatible. While this hopefully makes for better load times already, Nintendo users deserve better. With Minecraft fever arguably at its peak following the movie, Mojang could definitely benefit from investing in an upgraded version.
Pillars of Eternity
It’s not every day a developer throws their hands in the air and publicly shouts “I give up!”. But that’s exactly what RPG fans witnessed when Versus Evil announced they would no longer be updating the Switch port (via X) of Obsidian Entertainment’s throwback CRPG, Pillars of Eternity. Graphical bugs remain rampant, and even the game logic malfunctions. With all these problems, it’s no wonder the Pillars of Eternity 2 port was cancelled entirely. Of course, the Switch 2 provides the perfect opportunity to try again with these games, and provide a much better PoE experience with what should be a more co-operative console.
The instability of PoE on Switch is shocking – for all they know, that campfire might spontaneously un-combust
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- The graphical overlapping and other such issues
- Improved load times thanks to the faster storage
- Fix stat bonuses not working, spellcasting not working, and other volatile programming errors
With Obsidian moving into bigger and bolder projects such as Grounded 2 and The Outer Worlds 2, it would be nice to see some appreciation shown to their back catalogue as well. Fortunately, if you really need to play this on the go, both Pillars of Eternity games are playable on the Steam Deck. In the meantime, the busted Switch version of PoE makes for an… interesting challenge run.
The Witcher 3
One of the most acclaimed videogames of all time, seeing The Witcher 3 come to Switch was cause for celebration. That being said, as many anticipated, this came with some caveats. Graphics were heavily downgraded in the interest of maintaining a stable 30FPS. Loading is a little longer than other platforms, and there are very minor audio bugs. But all things considered, it’s not a bad port by any means – a miracle, in fact. However, this game is so influential and high quality that it deserves even better, and a Switch 2 upgrade can provide that.
Geralt’s legendary adventures are great on Switch, but it’s hard to go back to after the graphics update on current-gen
What a Switch 2 upgrade can fix
- Bring the graphics up to PS4/XONE quality, maybe even with the PS5/XSX enhancements
- Target 60FPS and higher resolutions, getting rid of the blurry output of the docked Switch
- Utilise MicroSD Express to eliminate long load times
Fortunately the Switch version is feature complete – it didn’t get the graphical upgrades of the 2022 update, but it did get the new sidequests inspired by the Netflix series. CD Projekt Red have commented saying there are no current plans for the Switch 2 (via Reddit), but perhaps they’ll find time once they’re done fine-tuning Cyberpunk 2077‘s excellent Switch 2 port.
Nintendo has done a great job at ensuring the Switch 2 has vast backwards compatibility features. Indeed, of the thousands of Switch releases, less than 1% have game breaking issues. However, a handful of games could really benefit from improvements – and the initial rollout of Switch 2 upgrades, free and paid, have done absolute wonders for games such as No Man’s Sky, and Link’s Awakening. It’d be great to see the same care given to these ten games, and any others that were bottlenecked by the original Switch hardware. Feel free to sound off below if there are any other Switch games you think could use a tune-up!
