Hey! Listen!

I published my very first guest post on The Well-Red Mage, about a great game on the 3DS called Ever Oasis! If you enjoy reading long reviews, you should definitely go check it out. Afterwards, come back to this page and read on for something totally unrelated!

Prior to the launch of the Switch, I did a brief write-up of some games I’d love to see appear on Nintendo’s newest home console and portable hybrid.

First off, one of my wishes from that wishlist has already come true, as Metroid 4 was announced as “in development” at E3 a couple of weeks ago!

My other wishes, Monster Hunter, Ys, Hatsune Miku, and “more RPGs” are still up for grabs to any kind company who wishes to see my continued happiness while playing around on my Switch, like a kid in a candy store.

That wishlist article was posted back in March, and I still can’t believe it, but here we are already at the end of July. I’m practically a whole new person now! …or at least physically speaking: I’m definitely more tan thanks to spending a great deal of time get sun-burned, and my hand has been reinforced with titanium following an unfortunate downhill mountain biking experience. Good times!

I’ve done some damage on my Switch, and by that I mean I’ve finished a tiny handful of games. Or as my future wife would say in her native tongue, “un pocito de juegos!” Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and now Cave Story+ have been a great time, but for the forseeable future it’s been all about the older handhelds.

Lately I’ve been back on the 3DS chugging along in Ever Oasis, glancing over at the Switch lovingly while stuck playing this beautiful yet bulky Hyrule Edition New 3DS XL, with it’s pixelated goodness, wondering what’s next for the Switch. Hoping. Praying.

So let’s get on with it, here’s some more games I’d like to see roll on to the Switch!

Dark Souls / Bloodborne

FromSoftware’s masochistic titles have always intrigued me, but not enough to get me to pull the trigger. I find myself less and less willing to play games on the PC as I spend enough time already sitting here working and blogging, so having an on-the-go version would be just perfect.

With FromSoftware listed as a partner, there’s no doubt that something has to be in the works. Could this be a Bloodborne sequel? Dark Souls 4? Personally, I’d rather see a new IP if we’re being totally honest, because new IPs keep things fresh. We’ve suffered enough years of sequelitis now and starting something new to celebrate the newest console lineup would be great.

Still, I’m holding out hope for a Dark Souls Collection released for all the major consoles, as well as PC. For now, I’ll sit patiently and hope that FromSoftware comes through on their Nintendo partnership. The thought of a flesh-grinder like Dark Souls or Bloodborne on a Nintendo console is something that, until recently, felt like a pipe-dream. But seeing them on the partners list has made me much more optimistic.

Dark Cloud 3

In an upcoming review written by your truly (wink wink!) I made a comparison to Dark Cloud and the focal point around rebuilding a village to altar the future. I loved this dynamic in Dark Cloud 2 (I never really finished the first installment), and love this style of gameplay and the mechanics. Honestly it’s one of the first times I felt that randomly generated dungeons actually worked.

The Dark Cloud series, or Dark Chronicle as it was known outside of the United States, was developed by Level-5, the same team who brought us Yo-Kai Watch many years later. Well guess who showed up on the list of Nintendo partners? None other than Level-5 themselves.

While part of me doubts that they’ll go back to the time of the Playstation 2 and revitalize the Dark Cloud series, they did release an upscaled 1080p version of Dark Cloud 2 on the PS4 just over a year and a half ago. Gamers have and always will enjoy customizing things, because options act as rewards, and as humans, we instinctively like to be rewarded. Dark Cloud was a perfect example of portraying the feeling of success as you rebuilt the world around you and saw everything come back together.

Now it just needs a proper sequel. And 3 is such a nice number (as long as you’re not Valve). Your move, Level-5!

A Good Driving Simulator

This is admittedly a strange thing for me to request, and odds are, someone out there will be up to the task. I haven’t played many open-world driving games in my life, but the ones I have were fairly enjoyable.

It’s simple: I want a game where I can take on missions, earn money, and buy new cars + upgrade and customize the ones I have. Basically, living life like a drug dealer, I guess. I might be describing Grand Theft Auto V more than anything else, but I don’t even require the ability to get out of the car. I just want a good driving simulator that I can take with me on the go.

I recently played Forza Horizon for the first time over the Fourth of July weekend at the in-laws house. Their kids have an Xbox One and I was blown away by how much you could customize the vehicles.

A few years ago I got into The Crew for a good thirty hours. I never had a steering wheel, and that is partially why I gave up on it, because I could never dial in the controls properly. But as far as freedom and scale, that is the level that I’m talking about. I want to see other people in that game work simultaneously wreaking havoc. There’s a fine line between arcade driving simulators and realistic ones, and a nice balance would be a blast to enjoy on the go.

Half Life 3

Final Fantasy XV

My relationship with Final Fantasy is very… checkered. On the one hand, one of my favorite games of all time is Final Fantasy VII, but that is my nostalgia-ridden brain speaking. Truth be told, I hate turn based battle. It’s just antiquated and it always, always makes me anxious to finish a game at some point or another. It’s rare that I enjoy a turn-based battle system, and Final Fantasy games traditionally have not had them. Of course, I’m more referring to the classics: IV V, VI, VII, VIII, and (I believe) IX. Final Fantasy X had an awesome battle system, somehow managing to turn turn-based into more of a strategy, and the ability to switch out characters on the fly made it work for me.

But I digress.

This is definitely divisive amongst the Final Fantasy crowd, particularly those who have been there since the beginning, but I adore the turn-based western MMORPG-style method of fighting. “Aggro-arrows” that show you which enemy is attacking which team mate, cooldown-based attacks – that’s my jam. Give me the same battle style as Xenoblade Chronicles and I’d die a happy man.

Final Fantasy XV looks like just about the weirdest game ever, like every other cinematic trailer for a Final Fantasy game, but the overall vibe to it has drawn me towards it since launch.

Look – I know that it will remain exclusive to PS4 for probably another decade, and then it will meander its way towards the PC. Then, if there is any justice in the world, maybe, just maybe, right around the time that my grandchild graduate from law school, it can make its way to the Switch 4K. This is a wishlist after all, it doesn’t have to be realistic!

The Tony Hawk Pro Skater Collection

Now here’s one that came to me out of left field! The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise is one of the most successful franchises ever in the realm of action sports, and I think we need a resurgence of the games that made it popular. The first four Tony Hawk games, on one cartridge, upscaled into 1080p.

Crazy? You bet your kick-flippin’ butt it is.

Now, Activision is a listed Nintendo Switch partner, but to be honest, I can’t decipher the Wikipedia page enough to figure out if they are still even remotely connected to the franchise. The original developers Neversoft who were in charge of 2007, now those are the games I want to see on here. Just give me the first four games on one cartridge. I will pay 60 Hard-Earned American Dollars for it. Although to be honest I’ll probably put it on my travel card to get the points.

Personally, I think the franchise tanked once it hit Underground, and so I’m content with the first four perfect games. Let’s do it Activision. Or whoever owns the Tony Hawk rights.

I am aware that an HD version of the first three games was released as a package back on the Xbox 360. That would also be nice. But please – give them to me in a nice packaged deal. I’ll pay you for it and everything!

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon

This was a bit of a sleeper hit on the 3DS, as it was widely talked about for about 2 weeks in the window of its release, but overshadowed by such a good release cycle around the launch date. I got into it about six months after release, but had a blast, spending almost 40 hours thrashing ‘mon in dungeons, burning through floor after floor.

I have high hopes that we’ll see something like Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon at some point, albeit not any time soon, if I’m being honest. Game Freak seems capable of producing one quality game at a time, and as they’re focusing their efforts on a main-line Pokemon game for the Switch at this point already, I don’t think we’ll see this one for a while.

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So that’s my updated wishlist, with a hint of “totally unrealistic” thrown in for good measure as well as fun!

What are you guys hoping to see on your fancy Switch devices? What are you playing now / planning for the foreseeable future? Let me know about it in the comments!