Which Nintendo game do you wish was on PC?

During the latest Nintendo Direct it was announced that the Portal games are coming to Switch. That’s cool, more people should play Portal, and the Switch already has Portal Bridge Constructor. Still, it sure would be nice if the river would turn around and flow in the other direction once in a while. You know, like rivers do.

During the same Nintendo Direct new Fire Emblem, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Splatoon games were announced, along with a remakes of Live a Live, a new Kirby where you can eat urban foxes and a car or something, and more. That Kirby game looks exactly like the kind of indie platformer with a gimmick Steam is full of. Bring out a PC version, Nintendo, you cowards.

Here are our answers, plus some from our forum.

Nat Clayton, Features Producer: I adore Splatoon. Before I became the insufferable Apex person I was the insufferable Splatoon 2 poster, and that game comfortably sits as one of my most-played games despite only arriving to it long after the major updates ceased. And yet, I sorta hesitate at the idea of it ever coming to PC—it’s a game best played not only with analogue controls (for fish-like movement) but also gyro aiming, which hasn’t become ubiquitous on PC quite yet, Its lack of text or voice chat beyond prompts for “This Way!” and “Booyah!” work in tense three-minute matches, but would likely be unforgivable on desktop. It manages to look gorgeous and run phenomenally on the Switch in the way only first-party Nintendo games ever manage—and it is, unavoidably, a Saturday morning cartoon without a hint of irony.

That said, Splatoon is one of the best shooters of the past 10 years, Nintendo’s squid kids easily deserving mention alongside the likes of Titanfall 2 and Doom ’16—and the fact it’s not talked about as such is likely down to it being “the Nintendo shooter”. Its ink ‘n’ swim mechanic is a perfect marriage of map control and mobility, every weapon balanced not just for damage, but for how effectively it can lay down turf. It’s also a shockingly good competitive game, as attested to by my six-month career as a frontline player for a European Splatoon team—frantic, tense 4v4 battles played across unique twists on modes like Payload (Tower Control), One-Flag CTF (Rainmaker), King of the Hill (Splat Zones) and the bizarre shell-collecting basketball nonsense of Clam Blitz. 

Splatoon is so married to the idea of what the Switch is to ever fully imagine it running on my PC. But hey, I bet that game’s inksplosion of colour would absolutely pop running full res on my 1440p screen at framerates the Switch could only dream of. 

Fraser Brown, Online Editor: None of them! Unlike the PlayStation and Xbox, the Switch isn’t just a cheap PC that you can’t upgrade. Like all of Nintendo’s consoles, it’s a toy with plenty of quirks, and the best Nintendo games typically take advantage of the system they’re designed for, so moving any of them to PC runs the risk of cutting out a lot of what makes them so memorable. I’d never want to play any of them in the office, and while I could stream them to my living room or, eventually, chuck them onto the Steam Deck, at that point I’m just going to extra lengths to get an experience that still isn’t exactly what the developers had in mind. 

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Jody Macgregor, Weekend/AU Editor: Turn-based strategy games like Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle all belong on PC. I used a GameCube emulator to play the first Advance Wars all the way through on my phone, which was fun, but dang it all I want those games on the same box as XCOM and Jagged Alliance. And then I want mods for them. Seeing what people have done with mods for emulated Smash Bros. makes me wish more Nintendo games could get that treatment.

Robin Valentine, Print Editor: Nintendo’s Mario Maker games are so clever, inviting even the most uncreative of louts to design their own tight platforming levels. But they’re totally hamstrung by a lack of ongoing support, and more importantly, dreadful online features that make sharing your levels with others unnecessarily awkward and unsatisfying. 

Take that brilliant core design, put it on Steam, and you’d really have something special. Proper online functionality, a friends list without the faff, and workshop support for an endless stream of weird mods—that would give it a chance to build a proper community, rather than just being a flash in the pan. And I’d love to see how weird the world of Nintendo’s mascot could get with a bunch of degenerate PC players pulling it in every direction. Mario with a Portal gun, Mario battle royale, Mario being chased by a Bowser with Macho Man Randy Savage’s face… the possibilities would be endless. 

Chris Livingston, Features Producer: MLB The Show. Ha ha! Little joke there. I’m not at all bitter that MLB The Show is on Switch now, and on PlayStation 4 and 5 and on Xbox One and Series X/S but still not on PC, which sorely needs more baseball games! Anyway, my default pick is always going to be Breath of the Wild, ‘cuz I think there’s nothing like a great big open world game on PC. I know there are probably ways to emulate it but I’m supremely lazy, and I know deep down probably the best way to play it is on the Switch anyway, but I can still dream that some day Nintendo will throw us a bone (it won’t) and BotW will be legitimately playable on PC (it won’t).

From our forum

WoodenSaucer: I wish any and every Zelda game would come to PC.

flashn00b: Bayonetta 2 and 3, along with Astral Chain. It just seems pretty criminal that better Devil May Cry games than DMC4 and 5 aren’t on PC, and I’m reminded of PC Gamer Magazine’s interview with PlatinumGames about how they want as many of their games to be on PC as humanly possible, only for that statement to be a load of crap.

And I think this could go back to why I’m oddly okay with Square-Enix’s recent EGS exclusivity deals.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Pifanjr: The Super Smash Bros. series. Especially Brawl and later games, as I really liked the little bit of the story mode I played of Brawl and it seems like a fun game to play together with my wife.

Greyfoxcal: All the Xenoblade games could really do with that bit of extra PC horsepower to let them shine.

Komodo: 100% Xenoblade. I can imagine playing Chronicles and Chronicles 2 at 4k uncapped FPS and it would be spectacular. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would be really fantastic as well. And obviously any of the Zelda titles would be great fun, as well as the often slept on Hyrule Warriors spin-offs.

(Image credit: Square Electronic Arts)

Zloth: I would love to see a full-on Xeno re-make. Start with Xenogears (yeah, it’s a PS exclusive, but the rest of the games weren’t). Then do the big one: Xenosaga. That was supposed to be six games but ended up getting crammed into three, with the last game tying up plot threads every time you turned a corner. Do it again, do the full six games, and for pity’s sake don’t censor it for the USA. Finally, do the Xenoblade thing.

DXCHASE: MARIO KART!!! Both the old versions and the new ones in an official capacity. Mario Kart 64 the most. Loved that game growing up.

Alm: Love Mario Kart but an official way of playing Zelda Breath of the Wild in high res would be amazing!

McStabStab: Mario Party would be pretty great to play online on PC, especially if they allowed modding.