Guardians rated for Switch 2

A 2021 game that only reached the first Nintendo Switch through cloud streaming has now been rated for Nintendo Switch 2 in Taiwan, which is usually the kind of paper trail that shows up before an official store page or trailer. (gematsu.com) That detail matters because Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was not a normal Switch release the first time around. Nintendo’s own store page still lists it as “Cloud Version,” which means the game ran on remote servers and the Switch mostly acted like a screen with buttons. (nintendo.com) Cloud versions are the workaround publishers use when a machine cannot comfortably run a game on its own hardware. Marvel and Square Enix announced that streaming version on June 16, 2021, for an October 26, 2021 launch on Switch. (marvel.com) Nintendo Switch 2 changes that equation because it is built to run a separate library of Switch 2 games in addition to older compatible Switch games. Nintendo says the new system can play compatible physical and digital Switch titles, but it also treats Switch 2 software as its own category. (nintendo.com) So a rating for “Switch 2” is more interesting than a note saying the old cloud version works through backward compatibility. Nintendo’s current Switch store page already says the cloud release is supported on Switch 2, which means this new rating points to something beyond simple carryover access. (nintendo.com) If this becomes a native port, the practical difference is simple: no permanent high-speed connection, no streaming lag, and no dependence on whether a cloud service stays online. The existing Nintendo page warns that the current version requires a “fast, stable and permanent internet connection” and can disconnect if the connection becomes unstable. (nintendo.com) The game itself was built by Eidos-Montréal with Square Enix and launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows in 2021, so it was always a full console game everywhere except Switch. A native Switch 2 edition would close that gap five years later. (marvel.com) It also fits the way Nintendo has positioned the new machine since launch. Nintendo set the United States price at $449.99 and launched Switch 2 on June 5, 2025, with a separate lineup of Switch 2 software, so publishers have a reason to revisit games that were too heavy for the older hardware. (nintendo.com) Ratings boards are not guarantees of release dates, and companies sometimes rate games long before they announce them. But when a title that used to be cloud-only suddenly gets a platform-specific Switch 2 rating, that is usually the clearest hint yet that the publisher is preparing a real port instead of just leaving the old streaming version in place. (gematsu.com)