Nintendo passed on a Switch version of Tank Troopers

Just a short while before the Switch launched, Nintendo put out a little title on the 3DS eShop titled Tank Troopers. Vitei, the studio behind the Steel Diver games, led development.

Vitei founder Giles Goddard revealed in an interview with MinnMax that the studio actually had a Switch version ready to go. However, Nintendo ultimately passed on it. Nintendo also removed a multiplayer mode from the 3DS game prior to release “for some unknown reason.”

Goddard’s full words:

“We all really wish we could have kept the multiplayer mode in. We actually had it working – it was fine, it worked really well, we tested it, and then they decided to take it out for some unknown reason. So that’s my only regret – we didn’t push back hard enough to keep that in.

And also we had a Switch version. It was running, it was perfect. It looked really, really cool, really high-res, but they didn’t think it was worth sort of putting out on the Switch, which was a disappointment.”

Goddard mentioned that Vitei’s rendering engine is what would have made the Switch version possible. Since the technology was multiplatform, Tank Troopers can be easily scaled. It allows the team to dial back the resolution when needed (which was done on 3DS) or bump it up to high-res (which could have been done on Switch).