Sometimes I feel like Nintendo hates money. Sure, the Switch is still selling like hot cakes, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the fourth most popular games in the series. Tears of the Kingdom looks set to break every sales record under the sun, and a new Mario platformer would likely rival it if it was to ever rear its head. So why do I think Nintendo hates money? It’s simple: it could make the Switch into the ultimate Nintendo game system, and yet it simply refuses.
This week, the company announced that it has sold 125 million Switch consoles to date. I reckon a quarter of those people would buy Pokemon Red & Blue if they were ported to the console. That same quarter would likely also buy Gold & Silver. Slightly fewer, but still tens of millions of people, would buy Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Porting the old Pokemon games to the Switch, either as a new version of the 3DS’ Virtual Console or to the Nintendo Switch Online system (its Game Pass equivalent), would be a license to print money. So why hasn’t it done so?
Take the Virtual Console for example. The Pokemon Company released Red, Blue, and Yellow on the 3DS for a tenner each. It was a bargain that Pokemon fans were eager to snap up, and they did the same for Gold & Silver when those were added, too. I loved replaying Yellow and Silver on my 3DS, rather than having to dig out my Game Boy and cartridges from whatever attic space I’ve stored them in, rig some kind of torch to the screen so I can play in the evenings, and then feeling too sentimental to overwrite my progress.
While I can still dig out my Game Boy – or 3DS – to play these games, it would make sense for Nintendo just to put these games on the Switch. It would make sense for players, who likely only have the current Nintendo console to hand on an average day, and it would make sense for Nintendo, who could charge a tenner a pop to millions of eager players.
Pokemon Red, Blue & Green sold over 30 million copies, and while I don’t expect them to sell 30 million more in this day and age, 25 million people bought Sword & Shield, and 22 million bought Scarlet & Violet. There is clearly an appetite for Pokemon, and if a tenth of the people who bought the latest entry buy an old port, Nintendo has just made 20 million dollars. The port has already been made, there is no downside to this.
Nostalgia is a powerful thing, but there’s also a legion of new Pokemon fans who never played the original games – most of them weren’t even born. Some of them would pick up a new (to them) game with Pokemon emblazoned on the front. They’d probably hate it because you can’t run and the attack animations give you a migraine, but they’d buy it nonetheless. And this doesn’t just go for Pokemon — there are loads of classic games just waiting to be ported to the Switch. While the 3D Zeldas would likely be a more tricky task and involve more development work, I would pay a large sum to play Majora’s Mask on my Switch OLED, and I’m certain I’m not alone. I’m sure most of us wouldn’t say no to updated ports on 3DS alongside Ocarina of Time.
I, along with many others, thought that Pokemon Stadium would get the ball rolling when it was added to Switch Online. It had new connectivity functionality that screamed ‘transfer your Pokemon from our new Pokemon Yellow port to Pokemon Stadium’, and yet nothing happened. Switch Online added Game Boy games, still no Pokemon. Nintendo could create the ultimate console in the Switch, preserving its history while forging the future with its new releases. There’s a massive profit in it for them, too, but I guess Nintendo doesn’t want our money after all.