Surprise! Saints Row: The Third Is Coming To Nintendo Switch

Awesome! I'd have preferred SR2 but 3 was pretty good too.

Cool! I've never tried it but it seems like it could be fun

This is great news!
While Rockstar doesn't release GTA V the competitor took notice of that and is going ahead with this game.
Very similar game that I'm sure will satisfy the players.
Certainly a nice addition to the library.

Honestly, eff off with the last gen ports. We knew the Switch can do 360 era gaming but this is just a lame, lazy cash grab. Plenty of new games I'd rather throw my money at.

Good game, but I've got it on PC and have modded out the more troublesome dlc

#%*+ yeah!! I preferred 3 over 4, anyway. This is definitely going on my list.

...I have never played a Saint's Row game. Am I still allowed on this website?

The 3rd party support just keeps coming.

Wow, that's... totally random. Does anyone care about Saints Row anymore?

Any open world games are welcome at this stage in my book, but given how you've been able to get this for peanuts for years in Stream sales, this had better be priced sensibly.

now we wait for GTA 5

@tourjeff We may still get GTA. Look at what is happening with Overwatch. First it was, Overwatch is not possible.
Since then Fortnite and Paladins were released for Switch with success. Suddenly it might be possible to publish Overwatch on the Switch (although nothing has been confirmed up to now)

@GrailUK it is the first time saints row appears on a nintendo console so... of course.

I've never played it either but I suspect it isn't my type of game.

"But not Saints Row IV?"

Because it's 3 but worse.

Port the second game after this, 2 and 3 are the ones I had a lot of fun with, and multiplayer wise also with 3.

But this is a nice big middle finger to Rockstar, so no excuses for not bringing GTA 6 to the switch (skip 5, online is a mess)

@ktej75 Oh yes, I'm still hoping for GTA V but while Rockstar doesn't do anything about it, it is good to see that the competition is paying attention to the market.
People have been asking for a GTA game for a long time and Saints Row might be closest we are going to get so yeah, they will get that market by releasing it first.

@gcunit If it has a Mario costume for your character I happily pay 60 bucks again. /s

I'll probably buy the game at some point. Enjoyed it on the 360 although 2 is still the best one in the series.

4 was terrible. Really enjoyed 3 back when it came out for the most part. Sure it'll do well as the first gta style game on the system. Would have preferred sleeping dogs though

The third installment is probably the best in the series. The 4th wasn't that great and didn't feel like a proper sequel, more like a spin-off or something

Waiting for GTA San Andreas to be announced for Switch....cause why not go back another 10 years. Maybe Quake II....

@AirElephant so don't buy it. Nobody is forcing you to buy the game

Saints Row is pretty cool, but personally I prefer 4. Though 3 and 4 do play pretty different.

Totally getting this! Had it for PS3, but never played it and sold it on. This time tho!

Well, that came out of nowhere. I'd say 3 is the right choice, since it's the best of the series. Though this series isn't what I'd consider amazing to begin with.

GTA V is a PS3 game, of course it will run on Switch. The problem is the cartridge size.

@electrolite77 SR 3 is decent, and worth it if you don't mind the story getting a little goofy and over the top.

It's a step up from 2, without going nuts like 4 and Gat Out of Hell.

I loved the Saint Rows series. Not sure I'll double dip to get it on the Switch, but it makes sense to do SR 3 first. I think the story is so over the top in SR 4 that it just wouldn't make sense if you've never played the other games.

Put your tampons in and lets do this!

I've never played it, so it's a new game coming to the Switch.

I've never played the game but will now it looks really good.

bought it on pc really cheap but could not get into it but il give it another shot on switch. Nice to finally see this type of game come to the switch hopefully it sells well and may the trend continue.

Nice,but why not a saints row collection?

Day one buy IF the entirety of the game is on cartridge.

If not, they can bugger right off.

@GrailUK Not the only one, just looks like a lame rip of GTA

Not my cup of tea, but a nice addition to the lineup.

day one purchase for this little guy

I’m in for the right price...

@FragRed aI do

@Frendo @Nincompoop GTA V is 45gb on PS4 and 18Gb on PS3.

@Bunkerneath and GTA on it's own is also a rip-off from something, point is that everything is a rip-off from something in the end.

Never played any of the series but I’ve heard that the third is usually ranked 3rd amongst the four games.

The first was dull and too samey to GTA. The second hot a sweet spot of being quirky yet somewhat grounded. The thirs just went off the rails to the point that there was almost nothing to work towards whilst the fourth decided that it would play to the crazy by dumping crime game stype and more towards crazed superpower romp.

@chriscare
Sleeping dogs is a great shout! Would have been my preferred choice too. All these people on here talking about GTA V are unfortunately misguided. There is no way it would run on the Switch without some serious rework which I don’t believe Rockstar would see much value in.

@Grumblevolcano I do hope you're being sarcastic, because a port of seven year old last-gen game hardly counts as support...

These games haven't aged as well as I hoped they had. I was just trying to play this last week and the game play isn't nearly as impressive now as it was then.

But it's still another game I guess.

@Rayquaza2510 What's GTA a rip-off of?

@Mogster Yeah, games port themselves if you leave them alone for a while....

I have 3 & 4 on PC but barely touch 'em. Might be worth re-buying if optimized for the Switch.

I know a common criticism is that these are older games of a 360 era, and yeah there's a slight whiff of cash-grabbiness that pervades, but the flip side is that we're getting these games in a portable on the go format. And for me and I assume a large portion of other gamers, that's worth the double or triple dip.

It's been so long since I played SR3 that I could see myself double-dipping, it's my favorite in the series. I liked 4...but didn't at the same time; the constant dark reddish hue of the setting and the over-reliance on the super powers actually made it less fun.

They'll probably port SR4 at a later date pending how SR3 sells. Can't imagine them not doing that.

This might be in response to their recent game Agents of Mayhem tanking in sales...Switch is hot so let's put an old game there and make some working capital.

Awesome! Already got myself covered with SR2 on Steam (too bad the original never made it there) and this is where I'll be playing this one. I certainly hope IV (along with Gat Out of Hell while we're at it) is in the plans as well - the first I experienced of the series, it was damn fun, but came to gather dust on my PS4 hard drive as another unfortunate example of touchpad-mapped triggers and rather cosmetic control customization that doesn't allow to address this in-game. GPD Win will probably struggle with it, too. But the third game alone is already a jackpot - it has never even hit Gen 8 before.

I was only thinking about how good Saints Row would be on the Switch this weekend.

Nice. Finally some AAA goodness. I think the 3rd game sold better than the fourth, that could be why.

thats....really random. I might buy it eventually for a really really discounted price.

I’ll just wait for GTA... IV

Agree that this is a bit random, but the Third game is pretty much the one that put it on the map, so it makes sense to port over III and not IV. IV is generally considered to be one of the worst, with III considered one of the best. (I hear II has a solid following too, but haven't played that one.) One complaint I remember hearing a lot was how different Shandi (Spelling?) was in III compared to II.

Either way, I'll probably pass. Good game, but not one I absolutely must have on a handheld.

@Mogster I'm not being sarcastic, if you use your logic then the only 3rd party support is exclusives like Mario + Rabbids. Skyrim is a 2011 game, Diablo 3 is a 2012 game, Dark Souls is a 2011 game, etc. yet their appearance on Switch are still counted as (big) 3rd party support.

There is an issue with the code for Saint's row 4 being a bit unstable

@Razer There is word that the source code for SR2 being lost.

@Smash_kirby sorry i went to edit my comment and deleted instead 😂.

Previouse comment:

@Onion no the second game put it on the map.

The 3rd was rubbish. Ive played 1 2 and 3 on the Switch...

Normally i am all for ports and what not but this is a bit silly... Saint row the 3rd was a sub par game at best and its 7 years old... I know Skyrim is 7 years old too but this certainly is no Skyrim.

There's at most 60 to 70 hours of content on this game before it starts to wear thin, its a very hard sell for full price.

A remaster of 2 would be much more welcome but I'd be totally happy if this game actually gets scrapped instead of released... Games like this can do more bad than good.

7 year old port of a half decent game screams cash grab.

If you want to port games over (id be very happy with it) make them the best games of the last gen... Saints row 3 prob isn't even in the top 20.

@sonicbooming If the Switch library was new 1st party Nintendo games and basically all the old Gen games that I never got to play, I'd be happy

@Razer

False. SR2 only sold 2.8 million, the Third sold 5.5 million. The casual gamer hadn't even heard of Saints Row until the 3rd game. Whether or not you like the 2nd game more has nothing to do with which game broke the series through. SRII has a good following, but as I said, it was The Third that put it on the map. You can't really argue otherwise with sales numbers like that. People simply didn't care about Saints Row until 3, largely due to the timing of the release and the marketing campaign.

Also I think you meant Xbox or PS3? The Saints Row games aren't on Switch yet.

@Smash_kirby oh... Damn, well thats new. How disorganized are the devs? Lol

@Onion lol dude you kinda just proved my point... Sr2 doing 2.6m sales = putting the game on the map.

The only reason why sr3 sold so well is because sr2 did well... It got the word out.

Game sales have nothing to do with quality though, have you played them? The 3rd one was not that good.

Day 1 purchase. Shut up and take my money. ***throws cash at screen***

@Drommajin gta IV is way better than V imo

@AirElephant

show me where they are making new 360/ps3 games and i'll agree.

till then this is what the switch is. indies and old stuff. blame N for making it so weak.

@superpotion

wrong.. SA/V are the best. Vice city close 3rd. 4 isn't anywhere near any lists. so bad. so so bad.

@Razer I'm pretty sure Nintendo has lost code over the years. I'm actually excited to be able to play the third game again. I really like it and I hope there is support for same system multiplayer as well as online.

@AirElephant
Then throw your money at those other games. No one is stopping you.

@superpotion Well, I like them both

@sword_9mm

You do realize that this is a handheld console... Right??

I mean how much money would you expect to pay if you wanted to play red dead 2 portable? Not to mention that there are not batteries good enough to support any sort of high end game being played portable?

Maybe you wanna tell me how portability is a gimmick? A gimmick thats been selling 70m+ consecutively for 30 years.

Did you expect to get gta 4 on the ds?

If not tell me how your expectations have any basis in reality?

Another game that was lost to me in the blur that was my kids early years! Again, I don’t care when the game originally came out, if it’s a decent game with plenty of play time I will buy it.

@Razer

yep. so expect 360 ish type games.

i'm not the one complaining. it's that other fella. i know the switch is weak and i expect indies and old ports. some expect too much imo.

I actually liked this game back on 360. I couldn’t really get into 4 though.

Awesome. A much better game than 4 so this is pretty cool.

@electrolite77 Me too but... er... I was being sarcastic about getting an older version of the game... :/

@Razer

Not really, the game sold below expectations and while it was a commercial success, they lost a lot of money on the 2nd game due to how much they spent trying to market it. How can a game selling less than the sequel make it the one that put it on the map? That logic is completely backwards. It was the Third game that made them the most money and got the most media attention. The Third was an unexpected success for THQ.

These are the kind of qualities that quite literally define which game put the series on the map, you're just letting your blind hate for 3 fog your judgment here. If II sold less than III, then it was III that made the series popular, not the other way around. The series dropped off with the fourth game, which sold fairly poorly. If III remains the top selling game in the franchise, then it quite literally was the one that made it popular.

I shouldn't even be having to explain this. It's fairly simple to understand. Going by your logic, it was Fire Emblem 7 on GBA that made the series take off, despite Awakening being one of the highest selling games in the franchise. That logic simply doesn't work.

I might consider getting this. 3 and 4 should technically be able to run on my Windows tablet but I always get issues with force closing. At least I would t have to worry about that issue on Switch.

@Onion all of this has no basis in actually reality (except maybe some initial loses that were soon recouped) but here. I was wrong about its sales... It shifted 6.5m 😎.

"Saints Row 2 sold approximately 365,000 copies in its first month, outselling Dead Space, which was released the same day.[165] The Xbox 360 version comprised the majority of these sales.[166] The game shipped over two million units by the end of 2008.[167] Still, analyst Doug Creutz reported that the game's sales to this point were well below expectations.[168][169][170] Following Saints Row 2's January 2009 Windows release, the game had shipped over 2.6 million copies by the next month.[171][172] In May 2009, THQ reported a $431 million loss in revenue, but Saints Row 2 sales totaled 2.8 million.[173]

Combined with the original release, the series had worldwide sales in excess of six million, making it one of the best-selling video game franchises.

As of September 2010, Saints Row 2 has sold over 6.5 million units worldwide.[176] The game's success led THQ to shift its focus to large franchises."

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Row_2

Sorry buddy but if your going to make baseless ramblings do it to someone who isn't a research nut.

@Onion just reread the part where it says

As of September 2010, Saints Row 2 has sold over 6.5 million units worldwide.[176] The game's success led THQ to shift its focus to large franchises."

Reread that a few times and tell me how the game didn't put the franchise on the map.

Saints Row: The Third is awesome. Looking forward to this.

@Rayquaza2510 18gb is still too big. No games were using more than 16GB cartridge. With DLC and patches added in, the Definitive GTA V will be twice as big.

@Frendo PS3 is 230 gigaflop, Switch is 1teraflop. It's technically 4x faster.

Ref: https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/console-gpu-power-compared-ranking-systems-by-flop/2900-1334/16/

Would have preferred 2, either way I wouldn't pay more than $19.99 for this.

Eh, I already have 3 and 4 for the PS3, and on the same disc.
It’s true that I’ve actually never played 3, but they could at least port the fouble pack they made for the PS3.

If this does well maybe it will convince Rockstar to put GTA V on Switch too

We've had so many really great and exciting announcements the past 2/3 weeks what on earth were Nintendo playing at at e3.

@Supadav03 to be honest gta 5 is light years better than this game. This shouldn't be an indicator for Rock Star to bring GTA 5.

But i think we will prob get a remastered red dead 1 first.

Well the third is arguably the better game. And is more in line as a gta clone which makes it a bigger jab at gta. Also 4 is a direct follow up to 3, you can play 3 without the first two but 4 would be really confusing without 4. Since it’s the only gta game I like (except sleeping dogs but that is a true crime game anyway) I shall get this.

I am worried that it won’t sell considering folks are going to expect it to be 5 bucks when it will likely be 50.

@Razer

"On 2 November 2011, THQ CEO Brian Farrell announced that Saints Row: The Third was already the most pre-ordered title in series history. In fact, the game had four times the number of pre-orders Saints Row 2 had two weeks before its launch. THQ estimated the game would ship over 3 million units before the publisher's fiscal year ends in March 2012. By comparison, Saints Row 2 launched in October 2008 and sold 2.6 million by the end of the fiscal year. On 25 January 2012, THQ announced that The Third had shipped 3.8 million units globally and are expecting to ship between five and six million units lifetime on the title."

The Third literally saved THQ, and it went on to have more than 6 million sales. Now that The Third is coming to Switch, these numbers will only grow and The Third will outsell II by a large margin, unless the game turns out to be a flop. There's a reason they picked The Third as the game to port over and not something else like IV. (Although if it's true they lost the source code for II, that could also be a factor).

And before you try to claim the sales of 3 were because of 2, that logic doesn't work on account of the fact that if that were true, then IV would have outsold both, and we all know it didn't.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter which game put the series on the map because both games sold ridiculously well, but The Third still saved THQ from financial disaster, to the point it prompted an article from Polygon about how it saved THQ from going under at the time.

I think we should agree to disagree, and just agree that Saints Row II and III sold a lot. Whether or not II is better than III is pretty subjective and since I haven't played II anyway, I really don't care which is better. It's just a fact that The Third sold extremely well and contributed to the series' success.

I imagine that this will be $30 or $40.

As long as this isn't 50 or 60 if it's 30 or 40 i think it might have a shot.

With Rockstar keeping quiet, and an easy sequel already ready if (or when) sales are high enough, this port makes a lot of sense actually. And while it didn't have my attention originally, I may dive in this time.

I think I've gotten through 40% of this on the 360 and for whatever reason, haven't gone back to it. So depending on the price, I might seriously consider double dipping and just starting over on the Switch. Such a fun game regardless

Awesome!

Switch is perfect for ports of 7th gen games. Its powerful enough to run them well, look good and with a high resolution.

I've been saying from the get go- Switch needs to become a portable PS3 in addition to the current gen games it's getting. Since current western AAA games cant run, substitute with ports from the PS3/360.

I've been told this game is better than the 4th. But I imagine they're gonna bring that one too, and just want to release 3 first because, well, it's easier to sell 4 after 3 than 3 after 4

Happy to hear it, but let's see the game being sold at $60 with other versions costing pennies by comparison. Just like so many other titles lately.

Finally a open world game like gta for Nintendo glad they chose the 3rd one the 4th one i couldn't even finish didn't like it. Can't wait to play this game again its been years.

But why.gif

@Razer I agreeGTA is a much better game. A lot of time developers say a game doesn’t fit Nintendo’s demographic so I was thinking if something GTA like showed it had an audience on Switch, Rockstar may not think it’s such a gamble to put the time & money into a Switch port.

Circa 2011 on Switch, again. Watch it be 59.99 and basically ignored. This is $4 on PC.

Honestly, just going to keep tabs of all the cash I am saving by not buying any of this - And putting it back into my gaming budget. $54 for Syberia 1/2 and $55 for this (assumption)... just pay myself $60 for downloading Diablo 3 on my PC again.
$169! 😃

i wasn't expexting this but it's sweet!

@Onion yeah i never actually said the 3rd didn't do well... My point was that the second game put the franchise on the map.

I even actually said the 3rd one did so well off the merit from the second.

Stand alone the 3rd was a solid game (not so much for me but i know people liked it). But you should try the second, defo a great game 👍.

Yep both did sell well though so we can agree on that. Also i didn't actually know the 3rd saved THQ. I knew they had struggles though. This will be an interesting read for tonight inbetween Switch recharging 😀.

I don’t even care about this game but it makes me so happy to see new games/series coming that we’re once “impossible.” It gives me hope for the future!

@JaxonH

IMO it's better than 4, and that also seems to be the consensus. Probably the reason they went with 3 over 4.

@Razer

I still don't really agree that it put the series on the map, since no one I knew had even heard of the game until 3, and 3 was the one THQ said sold the best. However, looking at the sales of 2 and 3 more closely, they're pretty much on equal footing so, the idea of 2 being the one that made the series popular isn't really as outlandish as I thought. 3 just seems to be the most popular one and I almost never hear anyone talk about 2. Even in this topic, people are talking about 3 and 4, 2 is being scarcely mentioned.

I have however heard people talk about 2 vs 3 a lot in the past, and it seems a lot of people who liked 2 didn't like 3 and there were complaints about Shandi behaving differently. I view SR3 as the big name in the franchise that everyone talks about, but I agree that SR2 holds it's own in terms of sales. I mean, there's a reason why people debate whether 2 is better than 3.... Both games stand-out a lot and it's really up for debate which one really established the series. I personally think it's 3, but 2 sold well enough too.

Bottom line is that 2 and 3 really made the series what it is and helped it stand out as more than just a GTA clone. Doesn't really matter that much which one made the series a top seller. I would much rather we get a fifth game rather than just a port of the third, but I doubt that's going to happen unless The Third sells really well.

@electrolite77 For sure. I'd get 'em all too.

They should bring the 2 and GTA IV.

Odd to put such an old game on the Switch, but I loved SR3 so for the right price (aka dirt bloody cheap), I'd absolutely play it on the Switch.

@hatch Of late, practically all your comments have been very right, but unfortunately, we can still rest assured in the knowledge that this is never going to stop the droves of whiners and professional negativists, who only have unrealistic demands such as getting just as much current gen games on the Switch as on the other consoles, less types of older or smaller games that the Switch can actually handle, and if these older games DO come, they also want them to cost less than $10, and to come on a cartridge as well.

They haven't even got the faintest notion of an idea about the time or costs involved into bringing these games to the Switch, which simply makes it impossible to make the games as cheap as their Steam or older console counterparts, regardless of the prices of those versions, which should not and cannot be a good indicator of what a Switch version should rightfully cost.

But hey, apparently, short-sightedness and being uninformed is all the rage, nowadays...

@Onion Thats funny because i remember hearing a lot of noise about 2, i did hear a lot about 3 at first but not much after it released.

Actually a simple search on google on best saints row game will tell you a lot... From magazine's and fan sites.

Saints row 2 batters 3 in 9 out of 10 articles, fan site polls ect... (after doing some reasearch, im wrong on this one, they are actually about even)

https://www.gamegrin.com/articles/ranking-the-saints-row-series/

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/kotaku.com/saints-row-2-was-so-good-1783158492/amp

We are just going to have to agree to disagree, i have played the first 3 games... I can defo tell you the second was a lot better and clearly more popular too.

Why not 1 and 2 though?

@Onion actually having read a few more articles and fan sites... It seems very even, SR2 slightly edges out on more popular sites like reddit though... Funny how people who like 2 hate 3 and people who like 3 hate 2.

I wonder how THQ managed that...

What i read is: 2 had better story with more interesting mission, world and customization

3 had better visuals, controles and a lot more crazier...

Sr2 is praised for its perfect balance of seriousness and whackyness...

2 and 3 are my favourite SR games, so I'm totally okay it's only 3 hitting switch.

I'd rather have IV, but cool. I'll take this one.

I haven’t played SR in years. I am looking fwd to picking this up. More mature games and 3rd party support is good in my book.

That's pretty random! Never saw it coming. Seems cool. I never played the series until I tried 4 on a whim and particularly with the "Nolan North" voice selection it's kind of a trippy, crazy game and pretty fun. This from someone who generally can't stand GTAV.

@hatch Yeah, true. I've already given up on trying to do that with most of them. There's a select group of people on here that are able to think further than their own desires/unrealistic demands, and are also able to hold interesting and polite discussions about it. (even if we don't always agree with each other)

Now, I'm not saying that all these negativists are dumb (although some of them might very well be), but often times, they sure are acting dumb, or at the very least extremely short-sighted, only believing what they themselves think is right or true, much of that caused by being influenced either by other delusional individuals, or by populist and/or unreliable information sources, without doing any actual research themselves, causing a lot of sheep-like behavior.

The only difference between them and those animals, is that they're all saying "meh" instead of "baa"...

Great never played it and this is exactly of what I want to see more on a Nintendo console. If it’s ported well I am all in.

My brother had this on his Xbox 360, and it was hilarious. Not in a bad way,but more in a "I wish I had time to play this game more" kind of way. We had fun creating the most outlandish character possible, and have him do some things I cannot mention here. It's the superior version to the newer one, that's for sure.

Isn't that the one they announced for 3DS at E3 2010 XD ?

Awesome

@NEStalgia IV is a bit more of an acid trip but III (while still weird and hilarious) explains how the Boss ends up the President. The GatoutaHeck game...not so much...the only thing good with that is the flight.

While it has the portability selling point going for it, they have been offering this and all the other Saints Row games on 360 for like the price of a fish and chips many many times.....plus they're all backwards compat with XBONE. Not sure they're going to get a lot of early adapters when you can just wait for the next 360 sale and pick them all up for a fraction of the price.

I loved Saints Row 2, but never played 3 but I will buy it. I don't think it would be worth more than $30 though. The only thing that has me worried is, that this will release at $50-60. I much prefer the Saints Row series to Grand Theft Auto.

I'm quite happy about this, the switch has been crying out for this type of game and GTA doesn't look like it's coming

Depending on price point, i will (re)buy this. Love the Saints Row series much more than GTA.

I might pick this up if it's cheap, but I've already played through it plenty of times on other systems.

I mean.. It's a good game and feels like it would be a good fit on switch but it's strange they announced it so early. I feel like this is more of an impulse buy game they could have announced with 20 minutes notice and sold better haha.

Not the one I would have chosen of the series (both 2 and 4 were better games) but it's still fun and provided it's not full price when it's released, I will definitely grab a copy.

@AirElephant , will you stop being a party pooper. There are at least some people are excited that this is coming on the switch. Bring on more games people.

Have this on Steam, played it for half an hour in co-op with a friend and had a blast but never went back to it because my friend had already beaten the game multiple times.

I'll give it a go on the Switch. It's not a game i reckon i'll install on my PC right now but i'll likely play it on the go.

You folks know that Lego City Undercover was the first GTA game on Switch right?

Then LA Noire...

I still have not played GTA V !! One of the last three gamers on earth it seems like sometimes. I had great fun in the other GTA's both mainline and sony portables but I just never felt ready to give 5 a 100 hours of big screen time. I'd pick it up on Switch for portable play

Finally, there's an M rated open world game on Nintendo Switch.