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For another example, consider A Hat in Time (published by Humble,

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system that literally has Mario on it. Because the game ran on Unreal

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developers at Gears for Breakfast originally maintained that a Switch

port was “impossible.” A similar problem plagued the Switch port of

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It turns out that wasn’t the case. A Hat in Time is now on Switch and the

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constantly threatens to tip over into generic if not for truly bizarre

details like a planet of mobsters and a war between two bird movie

studios. I experienced some hitches, as well. Still, compared to

something like Yooka-Laylee, the scale and creativity of these sandboxes

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can enjoy these big worlds in bite-sized pieces thanks to the formula

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POWER VERSUS FLEXIBILITY

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also care more about the cost of physical cartridges keeping these ports

of old games at higher prices than on competing platforms—the dreaded

Switch tax. But for me, and surely others based on the Switch’s success,

the added ability of easy and frictionless quick portable play is more

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resolution. I’m not saying I don’t also enjoy seamlessly switching to the

TV and using a pro controller. I’m just saying being completely tethered

to a TV is a compromise, too. Folks just aren’t as used to realizing that.

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