Announced today alongside the final character reveal for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was that Kingdom Hearts is coming to the Nintendo Switch. Three titles will be available, letting you catch up on all the series lore: Kingdom Hearts I.5+II.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts II.8, and Kingdom Hearts III. These games will utilize cloud streaming to be playable on the Switch, rather than be straight up ports to the console. No release date was given.

Source

 

[Deleted member 534570]

Fuck me, this is depressing. And here I was expecting them to release KH 1.5-2.5 + 2.8 as games while releasing KH 3 as a cloud game. What a joke.

 

[Jiehfeng]

Fuck me, this is depressing. And here I was expecting them to release KH 1.5-2.5 + 2.8 as games while releasing KH 3 as a cloud game. What a joke.

I heard it's due to how they made them in Unreal Engine or something. Basically the way they're made is way too intensive for the Switch even though it looks simple, and they can't be bothered to do it all again.

 

[LanHikariDS]

Fuck me, this is depressing. And here I was expecting them to release KH 1.5-2.5 + 2.8 as games while releasing KH 3 as a cloud game. What a joke.

We won't really know until a proper announcement gives us more details

 

[Viri]

I remember playing KH1 on my PS2 when it first came out, my cable got shut off, so I beat it over the weekend. That was the only KH game I've ever played.

Sure would be nice to play it on my Switch. Yes, I have a PC, but playing it portably would be nice.

 

[RatherSimple]

am I the only person who doesn't even remotely like and care about this series?

 

[Plazorn]

I am sure you have to have a Square Enix online service to play such games, with its notoriously expensive prices…

 

[luigismentor]

Cloud streaming? Pardon my noob-ness, but what does that mean? I'm guessing the idea is that if you pay for online, you can play them for free, but only when online? I was a pretty stupid kid growing up, so I need elaboration.

 

[DJPlace]

should of saw this when sora came to smash.

 

[MikaDubbz]

That Direct from a couple of weeks ago kinda just keeps delivering, feasibly this all could have been in one extra large size Direct with all the reveals we just got, plus whatever all the info the Animal Crossing focused Direct will drop. I'm sure if Sora wasn't the final fighter here, the reveal of these games coming to the Switch via the Cloud would have certainly been revealed in that most recent Direct instead.

 

[MikaDubbz]

so not "for sale", really. Just "rent for a while with heavy drm". not my cup of tea at all. I hope this trend of leasing games without the ability to purchase crashes and burns.

I get your frustration with it, but this is the only way one can feasibly play the likes of Kingdom Hearts 3 on the underpowered Switch, it's either a cloud version of the game for the system, or no version for the system at all.

 

[LanHikariDS]

Cloud streaming? Pardon my noob-ness, but what does that mean? I'm guessing the idea is that if you pay for online, you can play them for free, but only when online? I was a pretty stupid kid growing up, so I need elaboration.

Basically, you won't be playing the game directly on your switch. Another system hosted by the company will be running the game and streaming the video to your switch, while your Switch sends controller inputs back to the computer running the game. Imagine playing a game through Twitch, but slightly better

 

[JeepX87]

Cloud? Hard pass and Square Enix is fucking lazy ass, so they used to be great and reputable during SNES-PS1 era.

 

[MikaDubbz]

Basically, you won't be playing the game directly on your switch. Another system hosted by the company will be running the game and streaming the video to your switch, while your Switch sends controller inputs back to the computer running the game. Imagine playing a game through Twitch, but slightly better

I found cloud streaming of Control on the Switch to work great. I know people shit on the concept, but at this point, if you have a solid internet connection it will work. It's obviously a means of playing not without it's own issues, but it's also the only way for games that otherwise the Switch could never handle playing natively, to be experienced on the system.

 

[Gunstorm]

Maybe a test for something like Xcloud on Switch?

 

[the_randomizer]

Not buying a cop out version

 

[Glyptofane]

What an absolute joke.

Yes, it's disgusting. If this is what the remainder of Switch's future of ports is going to be, I'm totally done with it.

 

[LanHikariDS]

I get your frustration with it, but this is the only way one can feasibly play the likes of Kingdom Hearts 3 on the underpowered Switch, it's either a cloud version of the game for the system, or no version for the system at all.

Highly disagree, considering we have seen native ports of games like Doom Eternal and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Sure, they're not on full-parity with the fidelity of their original versions, but they still run natively. It's certainly possible to run Kingdom Hearts 3 on Switch, but that requires effort and compromise, which most devs don't want to do, so they opt out of doing a creative port and just stream the original game through external hardware that brings nothing new to the table.

I found cloud streaming of Control on the Switch to work great. I know people shit on the concept, but at this point, if you have a solid internet connection it will work. It's obviously a means of playing not without it's own issues, but it's also the only way for games that otherwise the Switch could never handle playing natively, to be experienced on the system.

I don't really mind the concept of cloud gaming, but doing so instead of properly porting is where I start to take issue, as a large portion of developers have become rather spoiled with modern hardware, and don't want to work around limitations like they used to, which stops creative ports like Half-Life 2 Xbox from happening, as well as providing a (often single-player) game that won't be playable once the publisher loses interest. Moreover, the fact that a lot of these titles are being sold on a per-title basis on Switch is just a bad deal for the consumer. Were it a more unified subscription service (ala XCloud), it would be a more worthwhile investment, rather than renting a single game from a publisher for nearly $20 every few months

 

[the_randomizer]

Dear SE, go fuck yourself and your lazy ports. I hope they lose sales.

 

[eyeliner]

Wait a minute...
I care not for this franchise, really, but I'd like to know how does the game behave if you don't have Nintendo Online. Are you required to have a subscription, or are you golden with the game, only?

 

[MORSHU8KRTXON]

Do they think we are stupid enough to buy this collection?