The Best Nintendo Switch Ports

Highlights

• Nintendo Switch showcases top-tier ports, offering visually stunning gaming experiences even on a handheld console.
• Titles like Hellblade, No Man’s Sky, and Alien: Isolation prove that Switch can handle intense games without compromises.
• From Skyrim to Persona 5, the Switch offers a mix of graphically diverse and performance-stable ports for all types of gamers.

Reigning as one of the best-selling consoles of all time, the Nintendo Switch has delivered time and time again with stand-out first-party hits, an assortment of must-have AAA titles, and a vast collection of indie gems all from the last decade. Without high frames and intense graphical capabilities, many expected the Switch to stagger behind, but its immense number of ports have proven that even some of the top-of-the-range gaming experiences can be played on this little handheld console without compromising too much else.

Even some of the most expansive, visually demanding games have become staples for this portable gaming device (albeit with lesser visual prowess, generally speaking); keeping their charm and reaching new audiences on a console owned by both frequent gamers and casual gamers alike. With many years now passed since the Switch’s release, there’s never been a better time to look back on some of the greatest Nintendo Switch ports that players have adored over the years.

10

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

A Dark And Harrowing Adventure

Two years after its release, the dark action-adventure Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice finally made its way onto the Switch, blowing gamers away with the sheer quality of its port to the platform. Following protagonist Senua through the Norse and Celtic inspired dark-fantasy world, this narrative explores a relentless fight to gain back the soul of Senua’s dead lover, battling otherworldly entities and embarking on brave challenges along the way.

Compared by many to the performance of the PS4, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice reigns as one of the most visually spectacular games to come to the system. Targeting a consistent 30fps, the game generally performs well and only occasionally tends to stutter, The pre-recorded cut-scenes all look incredible, and the only noticeable downscaling is in the visuals, which while still epic for the Switch are at times noticeably more blurry and lower-res than the original.

9

No Man’s Sky

A Whole Universe On-The-Go

Known as one of the greatest comeback stories in gaming history, No Man’s Sky made its way onto the Nintendo Switch in 2022 following on from six years of much-needed updates and changes, delivering Switch gamers a full-fledged space exploration experience that’s still unlike anything else out there. In this action-adventure survival game, players are given free rein over entire galaxies to discover story-based content, never-ending procedural generation, base building, and more.

Despite the longer loading screens, the game maintains a steady 30fps even through some of the more demanding gameplay, staying surprisingly consistent through epic space travel but occasionally fluctuating in combat and mining every so often. Even the visuals are hard not to appreciate, limited only by a light blurriness for better performance, but staying perfectly in line with the game’s expected art style. For that, No Man’s Sky has to be one of the greatest ports with its sheer scale and outstanding gaming experience.

8

Alien: Isolation

Beware The Relentless Alien Stalker

Brought to the Nintendo Switch five years after its release, Alien: Isolation quickly became one of its most renowned ports of all time, showcasing the potential of the Switch’s graphics and performance like never seen before. As a survival horror game set 15 years after the original Alien film, gamers play as protagonist Amanda Ripley aboard the space station Sevastopol as she investigates the disappearance of her mother.

Through tense segments progressing and surviving from one of the most intelligent gaming AIs to date, this horror survival experience couldn’t be more perfect to play curled up on the couch with dimmed lights as the Switch makes possible. Even the few downgraded assets are hard to notice when the ambient lighting, volumetric effects, and extraordinary visuals run at a consistent 30fps, scarcely stuttering or dropping frames regardless of what players do, keeping gamers perfectly immersed in the relentless horrors they face.

Vast Fantasy RPG Goodness

It’s no secret that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a beloved game for many, taking players on a fantasy action role-playing experience that still hails as some gamers’ favorite title almost a decade after its release. With its vast open world, myriad story quests, magic and melee battles, and more, players will uncover all the fantastical elements that made this game a hit back in 2016.

While graphically gamers will only be getting fairly mediocre Xbox 360-level visuals, the experience of Skyrim portably is something that cannot be understated, in many ways bringing a new life to the classic game with this pick-up-and-play nature. The consistent 30fps is a nice treat too, maintaining reliable consistency for wherever players choose to embark on their adventures.

6

What Remains Of Edith Finch

An Immersive, Melancholic Indie Darling

As the Nintendo Switch has quickly become quite the hub for indie gaming, it makes sense that What Remains Of Edith Finch would slot neatly into its catalog, offering a story-driven indie experience like no other. At just two hours in length, this whimsical but dark tale follows the seventeen-year-old Edith Finch returning to her family home as the last surviving member. With childlike memories and flashbacks, notes, secrets, and more, players will uncover both their family history and the mysterious circumstances of their deaths.

On the Switch, What Remains Of Edith Finch continues to impress as it did on all other platforms, rarely stuttering, containing few loading screens, and overall transporting players into its beautiful, highly detailed scenes both within the home and on its grounds. Sitting at a mostly stable 30fps, it’s hard to fault and is completely worth diving into.

5

NieR Automata – The End Of YoRHa Edition

Top-Notch Edition Of A Solid Action-RPG

• Release Date: 23 February 2017
• Developer: PlatinumGames, Virtuos, PlatinumGames Inc.
• Genre: Action role-playing game, Fighting game, Shooter Video Game, Adventure game
• Systems: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

The action role-playing game NieR Automata – The End of YoRHa Edition may have taken a number of years to come to Switch, but it was certainly worth the wait. Fighting against the threat of machine lifeforms from another world, it’s the player’s job to take back the planet from these unwelcome invaders as part of the military force YoRHa.

With a stark mix of anime and realistic visuals, the Switch is the perfect platform for its artwork to shine. While some textures are lowered and the resolution may compensate during the action, it otherwise looks clear and beautifully captures the world as if it were made to be viewed handheld. A consistent 30fps with only a few dips is also guaranteed, surpassing expectations for a performance that’ll make it worth picking up on the go.

4

Persona 4 Golden

An Older JRPG With Plenty Of Style And Substance

Since releasing way back in 2014, Persona 4 Golden has established itself to be a classic JRPG that any gamer needs to play. From its roots on the PS Vita to its return to handheld on the Switch, it now offers greatly enhanced visuals for gamers to rediscover this gem in the modern day scene. Like most Persona titles, players follow the life of a high-school student with gameplay that merges RPG and life-simulator elements into an incredibly replayable bundle.

As an older game, Persona 4 Golden visually shows its age at times with more simplistic models, but the well-built 3D world and minimal graphic requirements for it make the Switch experience feel like one of the best ways to discover and play this classic hit. Perhaps most impressively, it also runs at 60FPS in both docked and handheld mode, keeping gameplay smooth at all times without compromising anything.

3

Divinity: Original Sin II – Definitive Edition

Deeply Engaging And Meticulously Crafted

Ported to Switch not long after its release, Divinity: Original Sin II – Definitive Edition delivers astonishing role-playing action even when the scope is limited to the Switch’s handheld performance. As an indirect sequel to 2014’s Divinity: Original Sin (which unfortunately hasn’t been brought across to the Switch), this gaming experience follows a new protagonist who is able to use the banned magic of the Source. As their fellow Sourcerers are blamed for the new threat of the Voidwoken, and subsequently imprisoned, it becomes their job to make things right.

As for its performance on the Nintendo Switch, Divinity: Original Sin II – Definitive Edition knows how to deliver. With incredibly detailed visuals, the open areas all look colorful and clear, all while promising 30fps throughout players’ journeys. Though large drops aren’t uncommon, the turn-based combat keeps it often unnoticeable, mostly challenging players with long initial loading and saving times that’ll die down the more gamers get through.

2

Persona 5 Royal

A Stylish, Well-Rounded, And Engrossing JRPG

Hitting Nintendo Switch markets just under three years from its launch, Persona 5 Royal offered what was the first-ever Persona experience on the console – just a few months before Persona 4 Golden joined its successor. Following another high-school protagonist, this new installment sees the group battling foes with distorted desires while donning the mask of the Phantom Thieves, but not without plenty of school days, friendships, and life events to work through too.

The animated stylistic design of Persona 5 Royal makes it the perfect addition to the Switch’s catalog, hiding any graphical lows behind clean visuals and cartoonish assets. Matching the performance of the PS4, the Switch also maintains a steady 30fps throughout the game’s entirety, even with some of Persona‘s more striking visual effects at play.

1

Portal: Companion Collection

Pitch-Perfect Puzzle Gameplay In One Solid Package

Condensing the original Portal and Portal 2 games onto Nintendo Switch was always a must, and the Portal: Companion Collection does so with excellence. Giving new and old gamers the chance to experience these surprisingly story-heavy puzzlers for themselves, the Portal: Companion Collection takes players from start to finish through Portal‘s test chambers, accompanied by the voice of a mischievous artificial intelligence over the intercoms as players progress.

While Portal: Companion Collection doesn’t offer the most graphically intensive gameplay, its visuals are still strikingly clean, capturing the ambiance of Aperture labs to a tee. A solid 60fps gameplay both handheld and docked also makes it rather impressive, dipping only when gamers push the game’s limits of portal creations or loops a little too far. Longer loading screens between levels may be the only negative for performance, but it’s sometimes nice to appreciate the brief intermission between the intensive puzzle-solving.