Over the previous few console generations, video games like God of Warfare, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and The Final of Us have helped Sony to take a commanding lead over Microsoft in the case of console gross sales. Nevertheless, there are a handful of PlayStation exclusives that would arguably have been higher had they been launched for the Nintendo Switch relatively than their respective consoles.
Nintendo’s dwelling console/handheld hybrid boasts quite a few options that the PS4 and PS5 are missing. Granted, not each PlayStation-exclusive title would profit from having a touchscreen or movement controls, notably given the enormous tradeoff in processing energy. Some undoubtedly would although and would additionally be extra fulfilling have been they playable whereas on the transfer.
1 Astro’s Playroom
Metacritic Ranking: 83 (PS5)
Workforce Asobi’s Astro video games are all about celebrating {hardware} innovation, which is one thing that the Switch affords up in droves. Granted, it might not have an inbuilt microphone or adaptive triggers like the DualSense does, nevertheless it greater than makes up for this with issues like HD Rumble, a multi-input touchscreen, and dual-handed movement controls.
Integrating these options into Astro’s Playroom would arguably have made for a a lot better expertise, whereas additionally offering the added bonus of having the ability to play the sport on the go. Such a title would possible have executed a a lot better job of showcasing the Switch’s spectacular capabilities than 1-2-Switch ever did too, although Nintendo would maybe beg to vary.
Astro’s Playroom
- Developer(s)
- ASOBI Workforce
- Writer(s)
- Sony
- Launched
- November 12, 2020
- Style(s)
- Platformer
2 Shenmue 3
Metacritic Ranking: 67 (PS4)
The Nintendo Switch hadn’t been launched when Yu Suzuki introduced the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter again in 2015. Quick ahead to 2019 although and Nintendo’s hybrid console was promoting like hotcakes. In Japan, Switch video games often occupied all 30 spots on Famitsu’s weekly online game chart and the console itself broke numerous gross sales data on its approach to surpassing the PS4’s lifetime complete in early 2023.
In the years since the sport’s launch, Suzuki has spoken of his want to introduce the collection to a wider viewers, suggesting that the choice to restrict Shenmue 3 to a single console could not have been the wisest. Given Suzuki’s curiosity in touchscreen gaming although (one thing that he is explored each earlier than and after Shenmue 3 via Psy-Phi and Air Tornado respectively), it will have been fascinating to see how he would have utilized the console’s multi-input panel had the sport been launched for the Switch as a substitute of the PS4.
Shenmue 3
- Developer(s)
- Ys Web
- Writer(s)
- Deep Silver
- Launched
- November 19, 2019
- Style(s)
- Motion, Journey
3 Desires
Metacritic Ranking: 89 (PS4)
Desires might be considered one of the most underrated video games in the PS4‘s expansive library. It encourages gamers to unleash their internal creativity, offering all method of instruments with which to take action. Sadly, nonetheless, regardless of its many successes, the sport struggled to discover a constant viewers on the platform, with day by day participant counts dropping under one thousand inside a yr of its launch. A multiplatform launch would undoubtedly have helped on this regard, although so too would Switch exclusivity.
The spectacular gross sales of Mario Maker 2 and different video games prefer it have proven that there’s a clear demand for this sort of title on the Nintendo Switch. Greater demand means extra gamers, which invariably results in extra content material being created and thus a greater total expertise for all. This reliance on user-generated content material additionally makes Desires an amazing sport to play in brief bursts; one thing that the Switch’s moveable nature permits it to cater to remarkably effectively.
Desires
- Developer(s)
- Media Molecule
- Writer(s)
- Sony
- Launched
- February 14, 2020
- Style(s)
- Sport Creation System
4 Shadow of the Colossus
Metacritic Ranking: 91 (PS4)
Talking of video games that are greatest loved in smaller, extra bite-sized chunks, Shadow of the Colossus is one other title that would have felt proper at dwelling on the Switch. Its sixteen colossi boss fights function the good breakpoints, permitting gamers to separate the seven-hour most important story up into rather more manageable twenty to thirty-minute segments.
Having the ability to play the sport whereas on the go would have been improbable, however there are different methods wherein the Switch might have enhanced the total expertise. For instance, Shadow of the Colossus is usually praised for the means that it handles climbing the titular colossi; a course of that might arguably have been enhanced by non-compulsory movement or touchscreen controls.
Shadow of the Colossus
- Developer(s)
- Bluepoint Video games, JapanStudio, Workforce Ico
- Writer(s)
- Sony
- Launched
- October 18, 2005
- Style(s)
- Journey
5 Stray
Metacritic Ranking: 83 (PS5)
Although it has since been launched for the Xbox One and Xbox Sequence, Stray was a PlayStation-exclusive sport at launch. It is considered one of the only a few titles that was made accessible to upper-tier PlayStation Plus subscribers proper from the get-go and proved to be massively profitable on the platform in consequence. Greater than 4 million folks performed Stray in the six months following its launch, although it is attainable that a Switch-only launch would have been much more profitable.
Many indie video games have discovered success on Nintendo’s hybrid console, from Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights to Doki Doki Literature Membership, so there isn’t any motive why Stray could not have executed the identical. The sport’s simplified leaping mechanics would have meshed effectively with the console’s touchscreen too, whereas different actions like scratching would have felt an entire lot extra immersive with the addition of movement controls.
Stray
$25 $40 Save $15
- Developer(s)
- BlueTwelve Studio
- Writer(s)
- Annapurna Interactive
- Launched
- July 19, 2022
- Style(s)
- Journey
