Driver – coming to Switch in 2025? (Ubisoft)
With its own developers busy making games for the Switch 2, Nintendo has apparently been asking other publishers to remaster their old games for the original Switch.
It’ll be the last week of October soon and that means the chances of Nintendo’s next gen console, nicknamed the Switch 2, being announced this year are slowly slipping away. Nintendo has said they’ll announce it before April though, so at some point the reveal has got to happen.
When the console will be released is an even bigger mystery, but so too is what will happen to the original Switch. The current Switch has had a busy year of new releases and Nintendo is playtesting a new online game for it right now, but a rumour suggests they’re also planning a number of new remasters for the format.
Supposedly they’re asking third party publishers to remaster some of their old games, in order to ensure new releases for current Switch owners – with titles such as Splinter Cell Blacklist and Driver 1 and 2 already mentioned.
The suggestion comes from regular Nintendo leaker PH Brazil (real name Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe), who is well regarded within the fan community and has accurately predicted Nintendo Directs in the past.
However, he continues to insist that the Switch 2 is going to be unveiled this year and while that can’t yet be disproven it is, as we say, looking increasingly unlikely.
Nevertheless, Lippe claims that Nintendo has been talking to various third party publishers – including Ubisoft, EA, Bandai Namco, and an unnamed Western company – to convince them to remaster some of their games for the Switch 1. Some or all, and particularly Blacklist, are expected to also be released on other formats.
What new remasters are coming to Nintendo Switch?
The idea is that because Nintendo’s own internal studios are busy making Switch 2 games, and many third party titles aren’t released for the Switch, they want other publishers to release remasters so as to keep a steady stream of new releases on the original Switch.
The specific titles mentioned include Splinter Cell Blacklist and Rayman 3, plus two more unknown games from Ubisoft. Lippe isn’t sure if the Rayman 3 release is the same thing as the recently announced new Rayman game – which is rumoured to be a full remake of a previous title.
Nintendo and Ubisoft have always got on well, so it’s no surprise to find them contributing so many games, although the most surprising suggestions are PS1 games Driver 1 and 2. How you remaster those for the modern day, without making significant changes to the controls, graphics, and difficulty is a mystery, even if they were popular games back in the day.
Lippe also suggests that the somewhat more recent Driver: San Francisco may also be remastered, but he only heard that from a ‘lesser’ source.
Blacklist was originally an Xbox 360 game and Rayman 3 a GameCube title, so that’s three separate generations just in the few games that have been named already.
Lippe also suggests that Bandai Namco will be contributing a former PlayStation 3 title and at least one other unknown game, while apparently EA will be releasing more of its old Wii games.
To much surprise, they have already announced remasters of two of their MySims games, which seemed odd at the time but potentially helps to confirm Lippe’s rumour.
EA didn’t release a lot of Wii games but there were versions of Need For Speed Carbon, ProStreet, and Nitro, as well as SimCity Creator and sandbox game Create.
Perhaps the most likely candidates though is SSX On Tour, which featured Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach in the GameCube version. So did NBA Street V3, while Little Mac was in Fight Night: Round 2, but EA don’t have the licences for those sports anymore.
According to Lippe, the initiative is not an indication that the Switch 2 will be released later than expected, but merely that Nintendo won’t have time to make any more Switch games.
However, he does claim to know of two unannounced remaster projects from Nintendo themselves, one for a GameCube game and the other for a 3DS title.
Nintendo still has a few high-profile releases already announced for the original Switch, including Metroid Prime 4, Pokémon Legends Z-A, and a rumoured remake of Japanese-only SNES game Fire Emblem: Genealogy Of The Holy War.
Metroid Prime 4 is assumed to be a cross-gen game and Pokémon Legends Z-A likely is as well, with the recent hack suffered by developer Game Freak suggesting that the next mainline Pokémon game will also be released on both the current Switch and its successor.
Splinter Cell Blacklist is definitely a fan favourite (Ubisoft)
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