“Door certainly not closed” for Mass Effect Andromeda on Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch and Mass Effect Andromeda are releasing within a few weeks of each other, but will they ever work together?
Last year, when the internet was ablaze with rumours around the Nintendo Switch, there was a fresh industry leak almost every week. One of the most consistent, often coming from sources with a track record of getting it right, was that Mass Effect Andromeda would be releasing on the Nintendo Switch. And when you looked at the release dates – the NX (as it was known then) was listed as March 2017, and Mass Effect Andromeda was March 23, 2017 – the planets looked aligned.
However, in January this year, BioWare’s Michael Gamble burst the bubble, claiming there were no plans to bring the game to the Switch. And sure enough, there isn’t an EA game anywhere in sight now we know the launch line-up for the Nintendo Switch - for more on that check out the hands-on guide to the Switch at the bottom of this article. But there remains hope.
This week I got a chance to interview Mass Effect Andromeda producer Fabrice Condominas about the game, and I asked him what happened to the rumoured Switch version. This was his response:
If you're interested in the Nintendo Switch, this is your perfect companion book. Like a digital games magazine, it covers everything you need to know about the Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo Switch is launching on March 3 and gamers are starting to get very excited. And for good reason. The console is launching alongside the next entry in The Legend of Zelda series after all. Then there is the whole ability to take your console with you when you leave home, switching it to a portable device with ease. The new Joy-Con controllers offer the same kind of promise we saw in Wii Sports, but now the technology is actually up to the pace of the gameplay we desire. All up, suddenly it's looking pretty good for Nintendo again.
Whether you are sitting on the fence deciding whether to get a Switch or not, or just need help choosing which accessories and games to spend your money on, then this book should be of interest. The Nintendo Switch Guide, which is available now on Amazon, or on iTunes, takes you through everything there is to know about the launch of the console.
The author has had early access to the Nintendo Switch, so has been able to play a number of the titles well in advance of release. Plus he has been able to run his hands over the device, feel the controllers in action and talk to the creators. The full analysis is available in this guide, along with information like the specifications, button layout and what is happening with the online service. You can read a tonne more information and get a chapter overview here.
It looks like the indie game scene is going to get plenty of love on Nintendo's new console. Of the 10 Switch launch games, four of them are downloadable indies and one is I Am Setsuna - an indie-like from Square Enix. There's plenty more announced for the console, too, with some 90 games now revealed as in production for the Nintendo Switch.