Since its launch, Switch 2 has shortly adopted in its predecessor’s footsteps, attracting spectacular ports from other consoles which belie the modest energy of its cell chipset. It’s a large bounce up from Switch 1, but we’re still speaking about a pill smaller than the average paperback, and it’s mightily spectacular to see it handling some of the greatest video games from the best devs on the planet.
Naturally, some efforts are higher than others, and here we’re highlighting the very best ports on Switch 2; a choice of the best performers, encompassing not just “impossible” ports of video games designed to run on much more highly effective, home-bound {hardware}, but also efforts from builders who made the proper selections — the proper compromises — to get their recreation singing on Switch 2 without sacrificing what makes it particular.
Running these side-by-side with the same recreation on PS5 Pro, sure, you’ll be aware the distinction! But if you’re a Switch-only gamer (or you just treasure the comfort of moveable play), you won’t really feel short-changed. These ship the fully-formed expertise in type.
Let’s crack on in alphabetical order…
Apex Legends (Switch 2)
Following the disappointing Switch 1 model Apex Legends redeems itself on Switch 2. This improve gives us 60fps capturing motion with crisp, clear resolutions and none of that juddery, unresponsive, blurry stuff we had back in 2021.
It’s arguably still the best hero shooter/Battle Royale out there, with amazingly fluid traversal, best-in-class gunfeel, and a ping system that places correct teamwork and techniques entrance and centre. The cherry on high, of course, is that it’s free to play, too, so there’s no good motive for shooter followers not to dive proper in.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows (Switch 2)
Assassin’s Creed Shadows makes use of DLSS for upscaling and VRR to keep steady frames in undocked mode, with a 30fps goal. Visual sacrifices have been made to the recreation’s detailing to protect stability, yet it stays impressive-looking.
Taking its most fascinating open world to date and offering two distinct playstyles, Ubisoft goes a long manner toward appeasing present franchise followers while nurturing a new technology of assassins, presenting a big, intricately crafted depiction of feudal Japan and giving you pleasurable twin protagonists to usher you through it.
Shadows is not a excellent port, but it’s still a colossal achievement and one of the best-looking video games on Nintendo’s console.
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition (Switch 2)
This might have been a mess when it initially launched elsewhere back in 2020, but slowly and certainly CD Projekt Red rebuilt trust following a disastrous launch and got the recreation where it needed to be; come June 2025, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition was a exceptional launch-day port for Switch 2, with the dev’s deep, various, and tangible world is absolutely realised with spectacular efficiency for such a low-powered system.
If you’ve not taken your first steps into Night City already, or you’re a long-time participant with a portable-play itch that wants scratching, you’re in for a severe deal with, choom.
No Man’s Sky – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Switch 2)
No Man’s Sky – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition brings this wonderful, continuously evolving space survival journey to your new Nintendo console in nice type. This is an almost-perfect match for other variations of the recreation, barring some very minor hiccups here and there.
Combat is still a bit naff, particularly in space, and hardcore pirates might not get all they need from the systems in place here, but other than that, this is an nearly excellent port of an almighty behemoth of a recreation. The sky, it seems, actually has no limits.
Red Dead Redemption: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Switch 2)
This might have been a 15-year-old recreation by the time of its Switch 2 re-release, and this replace, on paper, served up the fundamentals and no more. But after a barebones Switch 1 model, this feels like the recreation it was meant to be.
You’ve now got mouse controls for fine-aiming, and the expected decision and body fee will increase look and really feel very good indeed. Remember the journey into Mexico, that magical bit with the music, the showstopping half? It’s all the more magical when you can see the very mud in the air, the shimmering heat haze in the distance, now as clear as day thanks to pristine visuals. HDR helps issues pop in comparability to the older port, that’s for sure.
There’s still no multiplayer, but it now feels as though the recreation is being introduced on a Nintendo console in a method befitting such an epic slice of gaming historical past. With slick controls, DLSS, HDR, volumetric results, choices to personalise mouse mode, 60fps that feels near-flawless, and a decision bump that’s got it wanting tremendous sharp, this is a gem that still feels fashionable, quick, and relentlessly replayable on Switch 2.
Simogo Legacy Collection – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Switch 2)
Polishing and repackaging its wonderful cell output, Simogo has created an important assortment of classics, where every one of the seven video games here is value your time.
Despite their cell origins, these titles really feel tailor-made for Switch. The devs absolutely embrace the console’s function set with intelligent implementation of Mouse Mode and twin enter that makes these ports nearly as approachable on a TV as they are in their natural touchscreen habitat (where rotating the small screen in your fingers is elementary).
With 120fps handheld and docked (at 1440p for the latter, though there’s a 4K/60 option), plus a trove of archival extras and audio-visual goodies in addition to the library itself — which consists of the sensible Device 6 and Year Walk — Simogo Legacy Collection is one of the most unabashedly authentic units of experiences we have encountered in a long time. If you get pleasure from puzzle-driven narratives and experimental design, this bundle is nothing less than important.
Star Wars Outlaws (Switch 2)
Star Wars Outlaws on Switch 2 is a very nice port of a strong Star Wars recreation. Kay Vess’s story may over-utilise tried and examined gameplay mechanics, it may not carry anything new or massively thrilling to the desk, but what it does do is give you a well-crafted world stuffed full of lore through which to discover, sneak, and forge your own path.
With strong efficiency and beauty in both docked and handheld, and movement controls and cross-saves thrown in for good measure, this is an simple suggestion for Switch 2 followers of Star Wars. It was also through this recreation that we discovered out that the efficiency of some video games constructed for SSDs was being bottlenecked by the slower speeds of Switch 2 recreation playing cards.
And there we are – Switch 2’s best ports. Not a dangerous begin!
Honourable Mentions
Here is where we’ll give video games we actually appreciated a nod, even if the Switch 2 model did not do fairly enough to make the checklist above.
Switch 2 Port FAQ
Before we go, some housekeeping and ideas on ports.
What do you imply by ‘port’, precisely?
Generally, when we say ‘Switch port’, we’re referring to a recreation that launched on more highly effective home-console {hardware} in the previous and has been tailored for Switch (or in this case, Switch 2).
However, Switch 2 blurs the line more than ever between straight-up simultaneous cross-platform releases — the likes of the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem, for occasion — and video games we’d more historically think of as ‘ports’.
Historically, a port would refer to a downsized or tailored model of an arcade recreation rebuilt to run on less highly effective {hardware}. If a recreation is constructed to run natively on a (sometimes very) completely different system structure, a port makes an attempt to translate it to another setting. Think the Atari 2600 model of Pac-Man, for occasion, which shares only the most primary gameplay template and iconography of the authentic coin-op.
Nowadays, recreation makers and engine designers usually issue in scalability from the starting of development, thanks primarily to the significance of cell gaming and the success of the Switch. This muddies definitions, regardless of whatever a recreation’s ‘lead platform’ might have been. As an Unreal Engine 4 recreation, is Persona 3 Reload on Switch 2 a port, technically, or just a late-releasing model of the 2024 recreation? Are the NS2 Editions ports? Are all video games ports?!? WHAT IS VIDYAGAM?
For Switch 1, The Witcher 3 and Doom 2016 were quintessential “miracle ports” that introduced massive, technically formidable video games to a small console – video games which you would not expect to run on a handheld hybrid at all, not to mention properly.
The checklist above primarily focuses on video games that launched elsewhere prior to showing on Switch 2 and carried out beyond our expectations on Nintendo’s system. Something like Yakuza 0 (where the Switch 2 model is technically the first release of the Director’s Cut) would not really feel out of place here, though, so if you’d colloquially call it a ‘Switch 2 port’, you may discover it listed above — if it’s good enough.
As a further instance to illustrate the fuzzy definitions, the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which launched on Xbox back in 2024, suits the more conventional definition of a port – a recreation developed with more highly effective {hardware} in thoughts that’s tailored to something smaller. But then RE Requiem, despite launching concurrently on all platforms, also arguably suits that definition, would not you say? IF that turns out to be an wonderful model, we do not think it would be out of place here.
tl;dr
If it’s a multiplatform recreation and an spectacular technical achievement on Switch 2 — and if the recreation is great, of course! — we’ll take into account it for the checklist.
What about first-party Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of previous Switch 1 video games?
We’ve targeted on third-party efforts here. The Switch 2 variations of Nintendo’s first-party output — video games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, for occasion — are usually wonderful 4K/60 variations (Metroid Prime 4 boasts a 120fps mode, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons will stick to 30fps) and undoubtedly the ones to decide given the option between S1 and S2.
Here’s a checklist of all first-party Nintendo Switch 2 Editions for reference: