It was inevitable that sooner or later, Otomate would turn their attention to the Nintendo Switch—after all, their specialty is visual novels, visuals novels are a perfect fit for handheld consoles, and the Switch has dethroned the Vita as the premier handheld. What is, perhaps, surprising is just how many Switch games the developer has in the works: at least 12, according to a showcase they shared this week.
As expected, a fair few of those are ports of previously released games, like Hakuoki Shinkai and Code:Realize, but there are also a fair few brand new titles in the works as well. Here’s the full list (via Gematsu):
- Hakuoki Shinkai: Fuukaden for Nintendo Switch (includes both Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds and Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms)
- Code: Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ (includes both Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ and Code: Realize ~Future Blessings~)
- Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Irodori Nadeshiko (includes both Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan and Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Kuroyuri Enyoutan)
- Cendrillon palikA (PS Vita version cancelled)
- Shiritsu Verbara Gakuen: Versailles no Bara Re*imagination
- Norn9: Norn + Nonette LOFN for Nintendo Switch
- Amnesia for Nintendo Switch
- Reine des Fleurs for Nintendo Switch
- Birushanah Senki: Genpeiden
- Sengoku Night Blood
- LoverPretend (produced by Ichijoo)
- Hakuoki New Title
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At this stage, none of these games have been confirmed for a Western release, but that seems like a given—especially for ports of games that are already available globally on other platforms, like Hakuoki and Amnesia. Given the success of Aksys and Idea Factory International’s otome game localisations generally, I’d be surprised if we didn’t see all of these games see a worldwide release at some stage,
Needless to say, the new Hakuoki title is particularly intriguing for me as a big fan of the series, but I’m also very much looking forward to Sengoku Night Blood, given the involvement of Kadokawa and Marvelous and its fantasy Sengoku setting. Really, though, let’s be honest—I’ll play anything that Otomate puts out at this stage. They’re definitely one of the most creative and innovative developers in the game industry right now, despite (or because of?) working within the confines of the visual novel genre.
Nintendo Switch was always going to be a home for otome games, in the same way that Vita was. With Otomate coming out so strongly, it looks like Nintendo’s handheld is finally realising that potential.