Topic: Major Switch games which haven't needed any updates or patches at all

Sorry if there's been a thread like this before, but the recent news on the Super Mario Wonder patch got me thinking: which major Switch games have been released in "perfect" state, meaning that they haven't needed any updates after launch? I know Captain Toad is one, and from what I've heard, Kirby and the Forgotten Land might also be like this? Any others?

I'm sure there are also a lot of small indie games with no patches because the developer didn't care or couldn't afford to update them, but I think those cases are less interesting than the ones where a "big" game was released in a complete, flawless state.

Captain Toad received an update alongside the paid DLC back in 2019, which really disappointed me as it was Version 1.0 prior to that.

I think updates are less noteworthy when it comes to digital exclusives as the software cannot be preserved by the end-user without modding the console anyway, but "perfect" releases sadly seem to be in the minority when it comes to physical.

There could also be inconsistencies between regions. For example, Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star has had updates for its Japanese/Asian releases, but it's very likely that the upcoming Western physical release will have all of the updates baked into the cart.

I have a pretty large collection, so I'll just have a look at my icons to point out any physical releases with no updates in no particular order: (correct at time of writing 21/11/2023) [All European/Australian copies unless stated otherwise]

• Super Mario RPG
• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
• WarioWare: Get It Together!
• WarioWare: Move It!
• Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
• Kuukyomi 1-2-3+ (Japanese physical release with bonus mobile game; digital versions were all updated at some point or another; this release consolidates all four games into a single launcher)
• Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salberg (Hong Kong)
• Humongous Classic Collection [USA]
• Detective Pikachu Returns
• Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe
• Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle [USA] (the original Asian release was updated prior)
• Taito Milestones [USA]
• Taito Milestones 2 [USA]
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Japan)
• Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? (DLC is actually on cartridge, but requires eShop purchase to unlock it)
• Let's Sing ABBA
• Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
• Super Retro Platformer Collection (Hong Kong)
• Metroid Prime Remastered
• Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection
• Goosebumps: The Game
• Senran Kagura Reflexions (USA)
• Burnout Paradise Remastered
• Mega Man Classic Collection 2 (Japan)
• Mega Man X Anniversary Collection (Japan)
• Mega Man X Anniversary Collection 2 (Japan)
• Project Highrise: Architect's Edition (like 5th Grader, the DLC's actually on the cart, but requires an eShop purchase to unlock)
• The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (USA)
• Space Invaders: Invincible Collection
• Space Invaders Forever
• Truck and Logistics Simulator (there was a large update announced for this years ago, but it has yet to materialise)
• The World Ends With You: Final Remix
• Okami HD (Japan)
• Metro Redux
• Mutant Mudds Collection
• Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore
• Namco Museum Arcade Pac
• Minecraft Story Mode
• Minecraft Story Mode: Season Two
• Giga Wrecker Alt. (USA)
• Resident Evil Revelations (Japan)
• Atelier Dusk Trilogy (Asia)
• Resident Evil 0 (USA)

There are others, mostly Super Rare/Limited Run releases, but I'm kind of not bothered to check those right now as it would entail a bit of work, but I'm happy to have a look in if anybody wishes to inquire about specific titles.

And the list would have been longer if I had included digital releases (which I don't have a whole lot of anyway), but I do recall Kirby's Dream Buffet never receiving any updates, to name an example.

Thanks for that list, it's quite comprehensive. I didn't realise Captain Toad's DLC included an update to the base game, so I guess that's not an example after all.

I forgot to mention The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; that is, the Japanese physical expansion release, which includes absolutely everything on the cart. It's also import friendly, but it's sadly out of print. I believe that there is essentially only one version of the game internationally, so it works without any issues with my existing save data.

Splatoon 2 got a similar release in Japan, but it only supports Japanese (for some reason, there were different versions of Splatoon 2 for each major region, while Splatoon 3 is identical internationally). I decided to hold off on buying Splatoon 3 until a similar release materialises.

If I were to guess, maybe 15% of my collection hasn't been post-patched.

I'll have to check my Switch later and see how many 0.0MB games I have under Manage Software.

The 0.0MB games I have are:
WarioWare: Get It Together
Nintendo Labo VR Kit (I don't have the other kits so don't know if they're the same)
Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy
The World Ends With You: Final Remix
Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins and Edge of Reality (released together on cartridge some time after the eShop release, so there may have been updates before the physical release)

And also Ring Fit Adventure, but that definitely had a major update - I got it a while after launch so the update had been added to the cartridge by that point. I also got Crash Trilogy a couple of years after launch so it's possible the same thing may have happened there (though I'm not sure Activision would bother reprinting the cartridge with updates so I'm guessing it didn't have any).

@Dogorilla : Crash N Sane Trilogy is complete on cartridge (Version 1.0), which I have too, but it must have escaped my attention when putting that list together (which wasn't exhaustive by any means).

Either way, third parties almost never update their cartridges in reprints (at least I don't know of any that have), but Nintendo almost always does (with the likely exception of Smash as that would require a 32GB cartridge, and likewise of Fire Emblem Engage).

And your copy of Ring Fit Adventure would definitely have been a reprint as it's had a few updates after it launched.

What I meant with my original question are games which really were complete at launch, i.e. when they were first released. So games which were launched, then updated, and then they released a physical version that included those later updates are not good examples, because clearly they did need some patches after launch. The same applies to games which were originally launched on some other platform and got patched there, and then they were released on Switch with the updates included.

And silly me. It didn't even me to choccur to eck the 0.00MB games under Settings > Software.

Here's the rest of what I've got (mostly Limited Run/Super Rare releases)... [all EU unless otherwise stated]

• Save Me Mr. Tako: Definitive Edition (USA)
• Card Shark (USA)
• Contra Anniversary Collection (USA)
• The First Tree
• Double Dragon Neon (USA)
• Webbed
• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
• Castlevania Anniversary Collection (USA)
• Superliminal
• Mighty Switch Force! Collection (USA)
• Trover Saves The Universe (USA)
• Doraemon Learning Collection (JP)
• No More Heroes (USA)
• No More Heroes 2 (USA)
• Vitamin Connection (USA)
• Abzu
• Outlast 2 (USA)
• Katamari Damacy REROLL (JP/USA)

Judging by this small selection, it would seem Warioware and Kirby developers are good at finishing and testing their game properly before releasing them, because apparently none of those games on Switch have needed updates?

Not quite. Kirby Star Allies got a bunch of updates post-launch, but Forgotten Land and Return To Dream Land Deluxe remain at Version 1.0.

The developers of WarioWare, Intelligent Systems, are also responsible for the Fire Emblem games, which often come with updates and paid DLC, so, they're no saints in that regard either.

Vitamin Connection had an update to 1.01. Edit: ...and Super Mario RPG 1.01 was released today.

The Japanese version of Monster Hunter Stories 1 (which doesn't include Monster Hunter Stories 2 as a download, unlike the more expensive Western version) seems to be one of these. Or at least so far there's been no updates, and I can't imagine they'll add new DLC to a Switch port of an 8 year old game.

Not sure if anyone has said this yet but I believe that Kirby and the Forgotten Land/Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe are still at 1.0.0. Pretty impressive considering the state of the gaming industry is full of updates, patches, DLC, etc.

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is currently at Version 1.0. Here's hoping it stays that way.

Princess Peach: Showtime is 1.0 although I wish it wasn't because that just means they never went back to fix the jank loading screens 😆 You can have non-updated games because they are perfect on release and you can have them because the game got no developer love after release.

@SillyG Kirby's Dream Buffet is an example of a game which should have gotten updates. The lack of updates effectively killed the game.

I was looking at my other games and one of them was version 20.0 even though it is a single player non-online game. 😆 Lots of games are 1.0.1 which seem fair — normally that means the game is 100% playable and complete on release but they made some tiny improvement for the people with access to the patch so it is basically win-win.

Worth pointing out that the premise of this thread is flawed. There seems to be this view amongst some that patches are somehow a negative thing that suggests that games aren't "finished" when they're released. As if somehow before games could be patched everything went out the door in a flawless state. That's clearly not true

In many cases I would argue that a game not having any post release updates is a bit of a red flag. If anything no updates whatsoever suggests that there was no effort put into post release support. That any bugs or optimisations that might have been discovered post release were not. And instead what you got was just whatever they had when they hit their release deadline

I find it somewhat funny that Captain Toad receiving a patch is somehow surprising or bad, given any DLC will obviously need to be patched in- it wasn’t there in the base game after all.

(And even if the patch doesn’t include the extra content itself, they still needed to update the base game in order for it to be compatible with DLC)

@skywake
I tried to address the things your saying in my opening post:

Obviously I'm not trying to say patches are a bad thing, because they're not. But nowadays, with so many big games being rushed to the market with obvious bugs and issues that really should've been caught and corrected in playtesting, I was just interested to hear which big games had enough pre-release playtesting and quality control that they never needed to be patched.

Paper Mario TTYD is still 1.0 as of now. First time I've noticed it on a game actually.