Kingdom Hearts fans aren't impressed with the cloud releases on Nintendo Switch.
Without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts is one of the most frequently requested game series to be ported to the Nintendo Switch. Fans have been asking for it ever since the release of 1.5 + 2.5 HD ReMix on the PS4 and more recently when Melody of Memory released on the Switch, although Square and Nomura have both gone on record several times to say that nothing is in the works.
Towards the end of Sora's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate reveal trailer, Square added another tease for Kingdom Hearts fans - all of the games up until that point coming to the Nintendo Switch. There was one catch though, that they were all cloud versions. After the release of a free demo, fans are calling the games "unplayable".
Following the demo's release, several Kingdom Hearts fans took to Twitter and Reddit to share their thoughts on the collection. Bio-Roxas, a Kingdom Hearts YouTuber, said, "I’m usually pretty positive about kingdom hearts games. These switch cloud games are like… really bad", while Bizkit, another Kingdom Hearts YouTuber, said, "cloud gaming already looks scammy, but at any rate, I don't recommend KH on Switch. Overpriced for what you get. Unless you're on a super potato PC, get PC versions, or buy a used previous gen console for KH (and hopefully other games too eventually to make it more worth)".
Videos have popped up on social media of how poorly the cloud versions run and it's a far cry from the 60fps experience that can be had on last-gen and current-gen machines. You can see one example of slowdowns and stutters below from Twitter user ash2_kai, who shared a video of Roxas fighting a Nobody in Twilight Town.
Another big reason that the community isn't happy with the re-releases is that they cost $80. Although you do get seven playable games and three movies, these games are just ports of the HD ReMixes but in a cloud format and have been much cheaper on other consoles, frequently appearing in sales. For reference, you can get copies of Kingdom Hearts 3 on current, non-cloud, hardware for around $10.