Nintendo Switch should become the indie platform of choice PS Vita never was

Sony intended PlayStation Vita to be a handheld on which high-end, console-like games would flourish. It worked quickly to bring first-party series Uncharted and Killzone to the platform, but it never took off, slowly becoming less and less of a priority for the company.

Those who did buy it were often left frustrated at the lack of releases, but eventually it became apparent that Vita was an excellent device for smaller, budget third-party and indie titles. With Cross-Play and Cross-Buy allowing PS4 games to support the device with ease, suddenly Vita became a popular port of call for indies.

Vita's meagre sales meant this didn't take off, but the handheld's only real use could be something Nintendo turns into a compelling reason to own a Nintendo Switch.

Switch, for the uninitiated, is both a home console and a handheld. It is a portable device capable of playing games, which can also be slotted into a dock connected to a television set for big-screen gaming.

It supports high-end, traditionally home-console games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Just Dance and Skyrim, but with the option to also play them on the move. Whether users would is up for debate, but having the option to it crucial and would be of great benefit to a lot of games.

Such as indie games. Stardew Valley, one of the big indie hits of 2016, is heading to Switch, as are games like Rime, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Seasons of Heaven and The Binding of Isaac.

Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight is also heading to Switch, following a string of successful releases on other consoles, starting with releases on Wii U and 3DS. That initial success on Nintendo devices, as well as on PC, should show Nintendo the potential rewards that come with fostering an environment that works for smaller-budget, smaller-scale games.

Already I can look to upcoming indie slate and see titles I'll happily consider buying on Switch, because the portable aspect makes so much sense: Night in the Woods, Frozen Synapse 2, Pyre and Overland, for example.

Looking back, there are a ton of indies that immediately strike as games that would have benefited from Switch's capabilities. Top same-screen multiplayer games such as Nidhogg, TowerFall Ascension and Overcooked would be fine fits for Switch's portable multiplayer options.

Roguelikes such as Spelunky, FTL: Faster Than Light and Enter the Gungeon suit the console's portability and the ease at which it switches from being a home to a handheld, and the touch screen would suit point-and-click adventure games such as Day of the Tentacle and Broken Age.

Banner Saga, Invisible Inc, Hyper Light Drifter, Super Meat Boy, Darkest Dungeon, This War of Mine, Broforce, Owlboy, Titan Souls: you get the point. Switch becoming a hotbed for the scene that so often produces gaming's best and brightest games would also benefit Nintendo. It'll add a string to their bow, and it'll be easier for them to woo smaller developers than it will be to convince the likes of EA and Activision to regularly bring their biggest hitters to the platform.

The very concept driving Switch's existence favours smaller games and so the console can and should be a platform on which they can thrive. Nintendo needs to make this happen.

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