Portable-Focused Switch Games

This hybrid needs more handheld

BoTW is a great game, but it does not work quite as well
in 30 minute chunks, I'd rather spend hours with it

With the Switch, Nintendo has played up the angle of taking your home console games on the go. For me that is a huge selling point. Shortly after the Switch launched, I went on vacation. Usually that means halting the progress on whatever console game I’m playing and throwing a handheld in my bag. Last March through, I was able to continue playing Breath of the Wild the whole trip. That was very exciting and helped demonstrate the Switch’s potential to me. Now that I’m back home, whenever I’m taking a short trip, I usually throw my 3DS in my pocket instead of my Switch. On the 3DS there are so many great pick-up and play titles that I can spend any length of time with. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild aren’t conducive to a 30 minute car ride. Even games such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Ultra Street Fighter II were designed to be played in longer sittings. I think Nintendo should work to cultivate portable-focused games for the Switch, to complement the larger experiences.

Kirby's Pinball Land has a lot of
elements that set it apart from
traditional pinball games

Oddly enough, my favorite Gameboy game is Kirby’s Pinball Land. It is extremely replayable and well designed. The game is comprised of three tables, and each is themed off of a Kirby villain. These boards are chock full of personality and things to do. Pinball is a pretty boring video game usually, since you’re just controlling the flippers and watching a metal ball fly around. Here though, there is a lot to see and do as you whack Kirby around the Gameboy screen. There are three tiers to each of the tables, and they all have different gimmicks. In Whispy Woods’s table, the bottom tier has you hitting Gordos to build a warp star to blast to another board. The tier above has you spinning a slot machine to line up three Kirbys who will fling you up to the top screen. This screen has you bouncing into enemies until a warp star appears to carry Kirby to a boss fight. Here you slap Kirby into Whispy Woods as he drops apples and Gordos onto your head. All the while you are racking up points for knocking Kirby into things. Part of the game’s allure is getting a high score, making it a very addictive title. And, unlike most kirby games, it is actually quite difficult to complete the tables, which makes me want to keep playing the same board over and over. I think a new Kirby pinball would be right at home on Switch, and fill the gap for a portable-first focused title.

Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire for the GBA was Nintendo's
most recent pinball game, but I have not played it

Dyna Blade could have a colorful,
avian theme to his table

Kirby Pinball Switch could easily be positioned anywhere in the calendar as an eShop title. I can play Kirby’s Pinball Land for ten minutes, or an hour. A sequel would perfectly accent the bigger releases, such as Super Mario Odyssey, which I’ll be playing for hours at a time. There is plenty of ground for Nintendo to cover in a sequel anyway; plenty of classic Kirby villains were not used. Meta Knight and Dyna Blade are still available and could have their own tables. A couple of games of this caliber could help flesh out the ‘hybrid’ concept because right now, the Switch feels mainly like a home console that you take on the go. That is great, but Nintendo has always done so well with their handhelds that I hope they play to that strength with the Switch. Franchises such as Warioware, Rhythm Heaven, and even New Super Mario Bros. fill this gap as well, but we have not heard about any of those so far. However, I'm sure that as the Switch's library grows, more games of different magnitudes will come out. For now though, this is something I've noticed during my time with the Switch. On the whole though, I'm confident that Nintendo will remedy this once all more developers shift their focus from 3DS to Switch.