The Kingdom Hearts games and 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue soon, and they'll come as cloud versions rather than physical discs or digital s. This will be the first time any of the mainline Kingdom Hearts games have come to a Nintendo console, as the series has stuck to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC releases over the years.
The news comes as a bit of a Kingdom Hearts celebration, as series protagonist Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on October 18 and will be the final character added to the long-ed fighting game. It's currently unclear if actor Haley Joel Osment is reprising the role in an official capacity or if he will be replaced by a soundalike, but the Super Smash Bros. series historically brings back characters' original actors. Kingdom Hearts is a storied gaming franchise, and - although some spin-off games have made their way to Nintendo platforms - this will be the first time players get to play the core saga on Nintendo.
During the final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate presentation, Nintendo announced cloud versions of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Remix, Kingdon Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts 3 will be coming to Nintendo Switch. No release date has been given for these releases, but more information is expected to follow in the near future.
It's not exactly clear why these are cloud versions, as it's probable the console could handle the first two games at the very least with ease. However, perhaps Kingdom Hearts 3 could be too intensive for Nintendo's handheld/console hybrid to make an effort to port it. There have been some Kingdom Hearts 4 recently, but nothing concrete has been announced. If the sequel is real, it's unknown if it would even come to Nintendo Switch if it does release, as that could be a long way off.
There has been demand for the Kingdom Hearts series on Nintendo Switch for quite some time. Nintendo players have exclusively had to stick with the spinoffs like Melody of Memory over the years, but now they'll finally have the opportunity to experience the full story from start to finish.
The announcement of Kingdom Hearts on Nintendo Switch took many aback. The collective surprise was largely due to Square Enix having previously stated it had no plans to bring more Kingdom Hearts games to the Nintendo Switch after Melody of Memory. It's possible that could be why the new ports will be cloud versions, which may have been easier for the publisher to justify than full-blown ports.
Source: Nintendo/Twitter
