Nintendo has a lot of series under its belt and some of the most timeless and well-known characters in all of history. But the Switch era has really shown that the company doesn’t just need to lean on its stable of classics, it can invent new ones as well. That’s never been more clear than with Xenoblade Chronicles, a franchise that has, quite suddenly, rocketed into being one of the best RPG sagas ever created. And now that entire saga will soon be playable on a single console as the sole outlier, Xenoblade Chronicles X, is getting a Switch port. Xenoblade Chronicles X was one of the very best, and most overlooked, games on the Wii U, and it’s finally getting its second chance to shine.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Nintendo has announced Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, launching for Nintendo Switch on March 20, 2025. It’s a “visually enhanced” version of the Wii U game that also contains new story elements, although we don’t know how extensive those might be. The style of this remaster does look extremely similar to the Definitive Edition of the first Xenoblade Chronicles — which added on an entirely new epilogue story that lasted roughly 10-15 hours. The eShop description also states that the 32-player online mode will also be coming back.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is technically the second game in the series, although it’s completely unconnected from the first Xenoblade — taking place in an alternate world and history. In the year 2054 Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic battle between two alien races, and as the planet hangs by a thread humans launch a colony ship called the USS White Whale. This last remnant of humanity crashlands on the alien planet of Mira, where the survivors try to establish a new home for humanity. Xenoblade X is fascinatingly different from the first game, a much more systems-based RPG that takes a wider view of its storytelling that focuses on overall conflicts and humanity as a whole, rather than a tight-knit cast of main characters. That’s not to say there isn’t a main party, there is — it’s just integrated into the story much differently.
Working from your home base of New Los Angeles, you can strike out across the planet of Mira to explore, find resources, and make contact with other races. Xenoblade X has an interesting way of doling out its story, by splitting quests up into a few different categories. There are story quests, affinity quests with party members, and smaller missions that reward money or items. But your progression through the story is entirely based on how much of Mira you’ve explored — meaning you’ll actively need to be engaging with the open world to keep advancing.
Past that, Xenoblade X’s other biggest strengths are a phenomenal combat system that feels like a faster-paced version of the first Xenoblade and a genuinely unique sense of style. Xenoblade X has an intensely sci-fi aesthetic that falls somewhere between Star Trek and Halo. The soundtrack is also extremely eclectic, with an almost delirious mix of pop, rap, and rock. It’s a massive shift from the first game, but it grows on you.
While the Switch has had dozens of ports over the years, Xenoblade X is a particularly momentous occasion. For one, it’s the single port that fans and Wii U owners have been begging for, literally since the Nintendo Switch was first announced. There are various forum posts over the years, wondering why we’d never seen it.
Part of that is because Xenoblade X truly felt like a visionary game and the single one that pushed the Wii U to its limits, graphically. The world of Xenoblade X is absolutely stunning, even to this day — letting you freely roam a dynamic open world both on foot and in the cockpit of a mech. In many ways, the game felt like the precursor to Breath of the Wild, which developer Monolith Soft worked on. Even in 2015 on an underpowered console, Xenoblade X felt like it pushed the boundaries of open world games, especially in terms of how the story flowed into that experience.
This release is also significant as it means the entire Xenoblade franchise, from start to finish, is playable on one console. It’s actually the only Nintendo franchise that can say that, not counting one-offs like ARMS. It’s a true testament to how far Xenoblade Chronicles has come — from the first game almost not even getting localized in the West on the Wii, to becoming one of Nintendo’s most important cornerstones.
It’s incredible to think that in its ninth year, the Nintendo Switch still has a pretty strong lineup that includes a brand-new Pokémon game, a brand new Metroid Prime, and now a gorgeous port of one of the most overlooked RPGs in Nintendo’s history.
