Games That Should be on Nintendo Switch - Part 1

Anyone that says the Switch has no games is either extremely picky or is willfully ignorant. The Switch has more games than a front lawn has blades of grass. As many games as the Switch has, however, it could still do with more, but there are some games that would be a perfect fit for the Switch. Read on to find out my picks.

Pac-Man 256

We Can play Pac-Man and Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 via Namco Museum Arcade Pac on the Switch. So why, oh why can't we play one of the best games to star the cheery chasing dot muncher, Pac-Man 256 on the Switch? 

Pac-Man 256 originally started out a free mobile game with everyone's favorite things, ads and micro transactions. The game was later brought over to PC and consoles where it ditched the micro transactions and ads and was a better game for it. 

For the unaware the original Pac-Man has a kill screen once the player reaches the game's 256th stage. Pac-Man 256 take's the kill screen and turns it into a literal kill screen that constantly pursues the player in the endless maze. You still eat dots and evade ghosts like usual but that glitch/kill screen hangs over your head like an unpaid bill. As you run for your life, you'll collect power ups to keep the ghosts off your trail such as laser, freeze and the good old fashioned Power Pellet As you play you'll unlock more power ups to choose from on each run. There are a variety of themes you can use to play Pac-Man 256 such as the classic 1980, Super Pac-Man or even Crossy Road. The game is quite addicting when playing alone but adding three other friends into the mix looks like a lot of fun (I've yet to play the game with other people) and as long as one or more of you is still alive, those players can revive fallen allies.

Given the origins of Pac-Man 256, I find it baffling that the game has yet to grace Nintendo's console/hybrid money printer.

Tempest 4000

Anyone that was down with Atari back in the early 1980s has more than likely played the original Tempest, the vector graphic tube shoot 'em up. I eventually got to play it in the early 2000s on the Atari Anniversary Edition and while it was a splendid game, what I really wanted to play was the 1994 Tempest 2000 and that was in very large part thanks to the game's amazing electronic soundtrack. While I never did get to play Tempest 2000, Tempest 4000 is the next best thing, if not better.

You want to power up your Claw (the name of your craft) to stand a chance against the onslaught of enemies each level throws a you, because as good as your default fire is, it doesn't take much to get overwhelmed in this game. The Droid provides additional fire while Jump will let you leap above the stage for several seconds to get above surrounding enemies and take them out. Once you begin a new stage, you're back to your bare bones claw. Each time you start a level, you have a Superzapper, which is basically a screen nuke. Most SHMUPs give you an entire screen to maneuver around, but the 100 stages in Tempest 4000 consist of  some pretty limited space, many in the form of geometric shapes. The stages manage quite a lot of variety, coming in the form of waves, triangles and an ear among other things.

Trippy, hypnotic, and psychedelic. I imagine these are words people used to describe Tempest 2000 the same applies to Tempest 4000. The vector visuals are now in HD and sharper than ever. It truly is a feast for the eyes but at the same time, it can be too much too take in, especially when the screen gets hectic. Between the enemies exploding into dots along with the background imagery, it can be easy to lose focus and see your stock of lives deplete. Even so, Temepest 4000 is a quality SHMUP and it not only has the soundtrack from the Jaguar version of Tempest 2000, but from the soundtrack CD, which used arranged tracks of the Jaguar game.

Tempest 4000 can be bought for around $20 on PS4, XBO and PC and is worth every cent and given the Switch's rich and ever growing library of shooters, it would feel right at home on Nintendo's money maker. 

Tetris Effect

Tetris is a game that is more than 30 years old and yet the gameplay has not aged a day. Certainly some Tetris games stand taller than others such as the recent, battle royal driven Tetris 99, which is a game exclusive to the Switch and those that have the system's online service. Before Tetris 99 landed, however, Tetris Effect released on the PS4 and PSVR and as of this writing, it is still tied to those Sony systems.

I don't think a title for a game has ever been more accurate. From the various colors the tetrominos change to to match the backgrounds be it the vastness of space, the dry desert, the big, busy cities, Tetris Effect sucks you in and has you thinking about falling blocks long after you've turned the game off. The audio/visual presentation is every bit a part of the experience as forming lines and while the rectangular space that houses your tetrominos is zoomed out to place emphasis on the scenery, you'll get used to it as the game hooks you like no other Tetris has before. If you're worn out of Tetris with gimmicks and want a pure Tertirs experience, Tetris Effect was made for you. They say the experience is even better with PSVR and in Switch is getting VR via the Labo in April so I'm really hoping Tetris Effect producer Tetsuya Mizuguchi would like to get this game on the Switch.


Crazy Taxi

You ever play a game that immediately put a smile on your face? Even without being a pro at the game, Crazy Taxi is a title that gives me endless amounts of fun and for me, is one of SEGA's best arcade games. DC, PS2, GCN, 360, and recently Android and iOS devices, this sucker has been on just about every system you can imagine. Sure, you could play Crazy Taxi for free on a mobile device but you'd have to deal with ads and touch controls, sooooooo, no thanks. I'd much rather have buttons, an analog stick and pay for Crazy Taxi on the Switch.

If you've never played Crazy Taxi, the idea is simple: pick up passengers and rive them to their destination. Just make sure you get them there as quickly as possible. Oh, you know all that stuff you learned in Driver's Ed? Being a save driver and whatnot? Screw all of that noise. If driving underwater or on the wrong side of the road gets the customer to their destination faster, do it. Crazy Taxi encourages players to drive as recklessly as possible. Near misses will make passengers dish out more cash on the way to their destination and the higher your cash is at the end of a run, the higher your license rank.

M2 has been doing outstanding work on the SEGA AGES Switch titles and the possibility of Dreamcast titles coming to the Switch has been discussed. If the original music like Offspring can't be in the game for copyright reasons, as much as I love the original AC/DC release's music, the loss of that is a sacrifice I could live with. If M2 gave as Crazy Taxi on the Switch, it would be the definitive version. Man, I want this to happen so bad, you don't even know!

Currently Playing #13: Crazy Taxi, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

Crazy Taxi (PS2)

I'm not sure what got me to take this game out for a spin. Maybe it's because I'm in the mood for a game that I can play in short bursts. Or perhaps it's that Crazy Taxi is one of my favorite SEGA games. Maybe both. I could have played the Dreamcast version but the PS2 is hooked up and this version is identical to that one. Besides, I don't make it a serious issue to play games on the original system (besides, Crazy Taxi was originally an arcade game to begin with) so I have no problem with playing a ports.

Anyway, it felt like old times zipping around town driving to a churches, Fila and Pizza Huts (they still make the best pizza). It took me a few minutes to remember the controls. When I go away from Crazy Taxi for a while, I always forget that there are two different buttons for drive and reverse. As much as I love drifting around sharp turns in the Ridge Racer series, Crazy Taxi is THE game for wreckless driving. It's so satisfying to get those narrow misses when dodging traffic to get your customer to their destination on time. And All I Want is such a good tune to speed to.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (3DS)

This game. This game right here is my new addiction. I cannot go a day without playing it. I feel incomplete without Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. I think I may have found my favorite music-based game of all-time.

I've gotten so much better on the Basic Course version of songs. Those yellow marks are still the bane of my existence, but I've improved a lot on sliding them to get criticals. I'm getting a ton of A ans S ranks but I still have a ways to go on certain songs. The Man with the Machine Gun is one that I still struggle with. I only recently manged to move my grade up from a C to a B. And it kills me that I'm still having a hard time on Celes theme.

When I got paid last week, I spent $20 on Add-on Content songs. I had no idea over 50 songs were up for grabs on that list. Among the songs I bought were Matoya's Cave (FF), Sunken Shrine (FF), This is the Last Battle (FFIII), Battle 2 (FFIV), In Search of Light (FFV), Force Your Way (FFVIII), and Final Battle (FFX) to name a few. I wish I could have spent more to get the remaining songs but those will just have to wait until the next pay day.

I attempted to clear some Dark Notes in Chaos Shrine mode. The first song it thew my way was Mambo de Chocobo from FFV. In my opinion that's one of, if not the best Chocobo theme and I thought it would be easy enough to clear. I couldn't have been more wrong. Mambo de Chocobo is an expert-level track. It throws so many triggers at you and each of them come your way so fast that it's easy to panic and fail. It took me a few tries before I passed this track and even then I got a D rank. The second track, Ending Movie from FFXII wasn't any easier and I was quickly met with the failure screen. Chaos Shrine seems like it was designed for expert level players and since I'm still trying to get S ranks on all the Basic Course versions of the track, I probably won't come back to this mode until I accomplish this feat. I also need to properly adjust to the pace of Expert Course tracks.