Star Fox
We feel pretty strongly about legendary Arwing pilot Fox McCloud. Alas, his last venture on the Wii U in the form of Star Fox Zero was an underwhelming blast through space, with its commitment to motion controls tarnishing the experience for many.
That’s why it’s about darn time that Nintendo gives the Star Fox crew the return to form they so desperately deserve. What we’d really like to see is an evolution of the core Star Fox 64 formula. Players would go from planet to planet, completing missions and quelling the threat of Andross or whatever new villain Nintendo opts to introduce. However, each planet could be its own open world, littered with additional side quest missions, ship upgrades, challenges and collectibles. Bring the classic Arwing action into the current generation, without tarnishing the experience with a hammy control scheme.
The Star Fox name has long been close to the heart of Nintendo fans, and following the disappointment of the Wii U entry in the series, an ambitious new game could be just what’s needed to kickstart the series once more. Just look at Fire Emblem for an example of how a minor series has transcended to making Nintendo millions in the last few years.
Animal Crossing
Honestly, we don’t know how this hasn’t been announced yet. Almost every single time a Nintendo Direct is announced to be taking place, the internet takes to creating unnerving Animal Crossing pentagrams in the hope they can finally will the game into existence. Sadly, nobody has succeeded as of yet.
Animal Crossings’ life sim gameplay is kind of perfect for the Nintendo Switch. It’s got that pick-up-and-play factor that makes it easy to stop in for 15 minutes, catch a few fish, pay off some of your loan, and buy some new threads before switching off. Or you can binge it for several hours at a time on a nice big screen, inviting your anthropomorphic friends round to check out your house, actually paying off your full debt, and then getting yourself into debt all over again when that home improvement gets too tempting.
Each new entry in the Animal Crossing series has continued to expand the size of the town, as well as the amount of control over how it grows and changes over time. Long-term fans will just be eager for another mainline entrance in the series following the 2012 3DS release, while now seems about the perfect time to capitalize on the popularity of last year’s more casual mobile experience, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.
That Mother 3 Localization…
If there was one game that Nintendo fans have probably been waiting for longer than any other, it’s the release of Mother 3 in the west. Having never released in the West thanks to the demise of the Game Boy Advance, many fans in the territory are still crossing their fingers and hoping that one day Nintendo will finally let them play the sequel to one of the publisher’s most beloved series.
With charming, retro visuals, witty writing, and a compelling turn-based battle system that requires you to tap along to the rhythm of the music in order to deal more damage, Earthbound is the kind of experience that would resonate perfectly with the RPG-hungry Nintendo Switch audience.
Due to how niche Earthbound’s release was in the West back when it released, we’re almost tempted to suggest just making it a remaster of the entire collection of games. The Switch audience is proven to love it some RPG goodness, and if there’s an IP that could 1000% capitalize on that, it’s Earthbound… Mother… whatever you wanna call it!
Golden Sun
Set in the fictional world of Weyard, the Golden Sun series is a pretty well-received RPG series that’s existed solely on Nintendo’s handheld systems. Though its last entry was on the DS back in 2010, and subsequently saw the lowest average critic score and lowest sales figures of the series, the resurgence of interest in JRPGs, in particular on the Nintendo Switch, makes it the perfect time to bring it back for another adventure.
Golden Sun was always praised for its vibrant visuals and excellent, high-quality soundtrack. Though its combat had its blemishes, with modern-day knowledge and technology, we’re more than confident that this could all be ironed out for the Switch audience.
Perhaps Nintendo could even seek out a third-party developer to work on the property, while it continues to toil away on the likes of Fire Emblem, Mario, and more.
Pikmin 4
We’re pretty sure this one is coming to the Switch at some point… but when? We already know that Pikmin 4 has been in development for a while now, but Nintendo has never really shared any further details on when we can expect to be reunited with the colorful critters and the ever-noble Captain Olimar, or what would make Pikmin 4 better than its predecessors. Once again, it missed Nintendo’s E3 showcase this year, despite Miyamoto telling Eurogamer last year that the game was still in development, which itself followed a comment from 2015 in which Miyamoto stated that Pikmin 4 was “very close to completion.”
If the end result is a beautifully-polished puzzle strategy experience with all the charm and vibrant visuals that fans have come to expect from the series, we certainly don’t mind waiting. Pikmin 4, while still yet to be confirmed as a Switch title, certainly seems like it’d fit right at home on the hardware. The touchscreen would make selecting smaller groups of Pikmin or individual ‘min far easier. The HD Rumble in the Joy-Con could certainly be utilized to make the Pikmin feel like they’re actually dawdling about, carrying junk around inside your Switch, and there’s even the chance for local co-op play, too with the two Joy-Con doubling up as mini controllers. Have we thought about Pikmin 4 on Switch a lot? Yes, yes we have. How did you guess?
