Editorial: Better Late Than Never—Hi-Fi Rush Finally Makes the Jump to Switch

The Bottom Line: After years of rumors and a frustrating delay that saw the game skip the initial wave of Xbox-to-Nintendo ports, Hi-Fi Rush has officially been rated for the Nintendo Switch as of January 16, 2026. This isn't just a port; it’s a major win for rhythm-action fans and a clear signal that the "Switch 2" era is about to kick into high gear.

We’ve seen this dance before. When Microsoft first announced they were bringing four "community-driven" titles to rival consoles, Hi-Fi Rush was the name on everyone’s lips. Then came the radio silence, followed by the shock of Tango Gameworks’ temporary closure and subsequent revival. While Sea of Thieves and Grounded found homes on Nintendo’s aging hardware months ago, Chai and the gang were nowhere to be found. This rating finally closes that gap, but it also raises some serious questions about performance targets.

The Port Breakdown: What We Know

Our Analysis: The 60FPS Hurdle

Let’s be real: Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm-action game. If it doesn’t hit a locked 60FPS, the combat loses its soul. On the base Switch, we’ve seen miracle ports like Doom Eternal, but they usually come with heavy compromises in resolution and frame pacing. Our analysis suggests that while this rating covers the current Switch, the "final product" mentioned in recent leaks is almost certainly being optimized for Nintendo’s next-gen hardware.

We believe this delay was strategic. Launching on the current Switch now allows the developers to double-dip. They get the install base of 140+ million legacy consoles today, while likely prepping a "Director's Cut" or "Enhanced Edition" to serve as a launch-window showcase for the Switch 2's improved processing power. For a game that relies on millisecond-perfect parries, the extra headroom on new hardware will be a literal game-changer.

Why This Matters for the "Switch 2"

• The Multi-Platform Pipeline: This confirms that the pipeline between Xbox/Krafton and Nintendo is wider than ever.
• Late-Gen Momentum: Similar to how Persona 5 hit the Switch years after its peak, Hi-Fi Rush is a "must-play" that fills a massive gap in Nintendo’s current third-party library.
• Technical Benchmark: We expect this to be the litmus test for how "high-fidelity" stylized games scale between the two Nintendo generations.

Unlike the botched launches we’ve seen with other late-cycle ports (looking at you, Mortal Kombat 1 on Switch), the stylized, cel-shaded art direction of Hi-Fi Rush gives it a massive advantage. It won't need to look realistic to look good; it just needs to stay on the beat. If the devs have used this extra time to properly bake the optimization, we’re looking at an instant S-tier addition to the handheld library.

We’ll be watching the upcoming Directs very closely. If history is any indication, a rating today usually means a "shadow drop" or a release date announcement is only weeks away.