Well, what was probably the final Nintendo Direct dedicated solely to Switch just passed, and it really was quite a doozie. There were far more big announcements than I expected. Nintendo’s going bonkers with Mario RPGs these days, so I feel like I should have seen some sort of Mario & Luigi coming, but not a whole new game. Same with Zelda. I thought for sure we’d be getting remakes of the Oracle games because well, that's just such a low effort thing that would be perfectly crowd pleasing, but no. We got a whole new 2D Zelda game instead. Metroid Prime 4 has been in development for ages, so naturally I assumed that was going to land on the Switch 2 or whatever it’s going to be called. But no, wrong again! It’s coming to Switch next year, and it looks great! 

But before I go forward, I have to say that it is absolutely not my intention to look a gift horse in the mouth. I am positively over the moon with what the Switch’s final year is shaping up to be. That said, there are a few relatively simple projects that I honestly can’t believe haven’t shown up yet. Nintendo's current platform has been a haven for some truly masterful ports, giving new life to some great classic games that have been stranded on older hardware, so again, while this new slate of games looks freaking fantastic, let’s take a look at a few Nintendo games that will hopefully make the jump to Switch before its life is over. 

First, we have my beloved Metroid. Samus Returns laid the framework for Dread, which I absolutely loved. That game took what was established in Samus Returns and made it so much better. So taking the 3DS Metroid II remake, sprucing it up with the modern changes made for Dread, and polishing it up for HD would be outstanding. 

It really is a very good game that I think would benefit so very much from a simple HD upgrade. It already looks pretty darn great on 3DS, and the addition of a more traditional control scheme with enough buttons to make things more streamlined is a no brainer. I really hope it winds up happening someday. 

Next, we have Star Fox. Considering how much effort was put into Star Fox Zero on Wii U, it’s genuinely shocking to me that they haven’t remastered this one for Switch yet to prevent all that work from going to waste. Naturally, this one would require some relatively serious retooling in the control scheme department, but from the few hours I remember putting into it, I don’t think the whole second screen experience thing added all that much to the game. Take those basic level designs, apply traditional Star Fox camera angles to it, and boom. You’ve got yourself a winner. 

It also already looks pretty dang god on its own. Platinum didn’t exactly bring a life-altering graphical showcase to the Wii U, but it’s a nice-looking game that wouldn’t take much extra horsepower to push it over the edge to being genuinely great. Fixing that game could be a wonderful way to give Star Fox the shot in the arm it needs. 

When Punch-Out!! released on Wii, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve always loved Punch-Out!!, but this Wii game was like a dream come true. It’s absolutely gorgeous, incredibly fun to play, and honest to goodness one of the best games on Wii. It sold pretty well too, easily making its way to Nintendo’s Nintendo Selects line, one of the few non-Mario games to do so. 

It’s a genuine masterpiece, if you ask me. And while I’d love to see a proper sequel someday, this game being stranded in standard definition on Wii is really kind of a tragedy. I have absolutely no doubt, given the system's insane install base, that a port of Punch-Out!! would perform extremely well. 

Probably the easiest of all though, and the most bewildering oversight in the Switch’s library is Wind Waker. How in the world has this not been ported to Switch yet? The Wii U’s HD port arguably made some graphical choices that weren’t as good as the original, but it made others that made it look simply breathtaking. 

The Switch’s Zelda lineup hasn’t exactly been lacking, so maybe they’re keeping this one in their back pocket for a software lull, but seriously, where the heck is this game? 

But last and certainly not least, we have my absolute #1 port request for the Switch, Kid Icarus: Uprising. This game is so good it seriously should have launched Kid Icarus into becoming one of Nintendo’s premiere franchises. And you know what? If it was released on Switch, I think it still could.

Uprising is such a special game. It’s got incredibly high production values, a great script, top notch voice acting, the works. It was easily one of the best, if not THE best looking 3DS game ever made, and it really wouldn't take a whole heck of a lot to get it looking just as impressive on Switch. The only real problem was the controls. If they can apply something more traditional like they did with Metroid Prime, I honestly believe in my heart that they could have an easy multi-million seller on their hands. 

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Now, my current dream is a full on remake for their next platform because that would probably have en even better chance of being the success it deserves to be, but I’d be just as happy to have it on Switch. I just want it somewhere where I don't have to break my hands to play through the dang thing.  

Now, all of this could be in vain. All of these games and more could still find their way to the platform, especially if their next system is backward compatible. Putting ports on Switch that can also be played on Switch 2 late in the system’s life cycle could be a great idea. Granted, it didn't work out too well for the 3DS, but I truly believe that’s a very different kind of situation. But I guess we’ll see.