A short list of some fascinating double a jrpgs coming out on switch 2 in 2026:
Another Eden Begins, directed by Masato Kato is coming September 2026, it has 60fps and 4k for switch 2 edition, per the eshop page.
Masato Kato worked on Xenogears, Chrono Cross and final fantasy.
Brigandine Abyss, which has a eshop demo currently, is looking promising with a few staff who worked on previous fire emblem games helping out developing it.
Trails in the sky 2nd chapter by falcom, coming September 2026
I have zero clue which games count as AA versus other categories.
I suppose Expedition 33 is a good example, but the devs sadly just said that it would be hard to port the game to Switch 2 and implied they weren't working on it currently.
@FishyS double A are games with mid-budget and are often developed by a small team, all the games I mentioned fit into that category, a perfect example is falcom because they have 70 staff and the trails series is classified as double a,
Double-A studios tend to range from 50 to 100 people in size, this Wikipedia article helps to understand the difference between double a or triple a:
@XenobladeKisekiFan Ha, it's funny that the Wikipedia article also uses Expedition 33 as a standard example of AA even though some people (cough the game awards) like to label them as indie.
That's the ongoing issue of people mistakenly insisting that there are only two possibilities: "AAA" and "Indie", with anything that isn't one having to be the other. Its why I take a somewhat hard line and insist that if a game is to be called "indie", it needs to fit fairly stringent requirements.
For what it's worth, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade would typically be though of as AA games. They're sitting in that middle tier of Nintendo franchises that doesn't get the wide-open money tap that the likes of Mario, Zelda and Animal Crossing would. I guess you could have Pokemon too, for AA production values, even if it's got AAA sales.
For the upper end of indie RPGs, you're looking at the likes of Cross Code, Dread Delusion and Sea of Stars. There's quite a gap in budget and production values between them and the AA games.
Expedition 33 is, I suppose, indie in the way that matters most, i.e. the team who made it had complete creative freedom and an arrangement with a publisher who worked for them rather than the other way around. However, it still feels distinctly unfair to compare it to games like those above, which really had to punch up. AA feels a lot more appropriate, because you can look at it and, say, Persona or Xenoblade and feel like it's a fairer match up.
I actually enjoy double a games more than triple a games.
With Xenoblade games, Xenoblade 1 and X are probably double a, with Xenoblade 2, 3 and Genesis, those games are most likely higher budget due to Nintendo's investment in the series,
Also the xenosaga games are double a, speaking of xenosaga there are rumours currently that Bandai Namco no longer hold the rights to xenosaga leading fans to believe Nintendo may own the rights which could hopefully lead to a remake for switch 2.
To be honest, despite my first party Nintendo roots, over the past few years, double A JRPGs have inserted themselves more and more into my gaming schedule. Not that I mind, though. There's tons of fun to be had playing them, and I've been making a list of the ones I want to try out in the future, like Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter (which I could potentially have the time for in 2027).
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@Nep-Nep-Freak
Yea, I like to use a good JRPG or two throughout the year to really sink into a good story, take my time with a game, etc.
I think it's refreshing to switch up genres in my playtime regardless. If I just played action games and platformers constantly, I probably wouldn't be a gamer because I'd be so sick of it all lol
The Trails in the Sky remake was one of my favorite games I've played in the last decade, by the way. I highly recommend it. It really sucked me in and kept me rooted all the way through, and it's a pretty meaty game.
Isn't literally every JRPG made by a major company except Pokemon, KH, FF and DQ (and arguably only mainline games for most of these), AA?
Square Enix was putting some budget into a few of them a few years ago, and maybe once a year one AAA-ish one will show up on a Playstation showcase (and Xenoblade you could make a case for in terms of sheer scope + credibility of being the reason the world of BOTW/TOTK is what it is), but otherwise, they're basically all AA. Like you don't see the latest Mana game try to compete with even an Avowed graphically when comparing to western RPGs still made by major companies, Atlus isn't going full Persona 5 with any new release except maybe SMT V and Metaphor. It's practically a AA genre, no more no less.
@XenobladeKisekiFan
Would personally love to see a Xenosaga trilogy remaster especially since 1 and 3 never made it to europe.
Xenosaga Episode 1 was one of the first games i got when i eventually imported a US ps2 (was pretty cheap at the time) alongside Tales of the Abyss (which became a fave tales game of mine, replayed the heck out of it too when it came to 3ds) though on the subject of Tales, unsure if Arise would count as a AA one or not since it does seem to have higher production values than the games prior but am definitely curious how that is on switch 2 since i did initially play it on ps4 and iirc on that it had an unlocked but unstable framerate so if the framerate on switch 2 is stable 30 when exploring i am tempted to replay it on that.
@Mgalens I have watched the xenosaga trilogy on youtube and it looks very simular to xenoblade in terms of being a story focused rpg and its exciting if there will be a remake because of how inaccessible those games are nowadays.
I remember a rumor from earlier this year that the voice actress for Kos mos in xenoblade 2 said she worked on a xenoblade game, however it was momo who was added recently in xenoblade 2, I have a theory it could be that Kos Mos is a new hero blade in xenoblade 3 NS2 edition,
I have beat and finished tales of arise switch 2 last month and it was good locked at 30 fps throughout the entire experience, however it might be worth picking up on a sale as that game has bad story pacing towards the end.
@rallydefault Fair or not, no one considers any game reliant on 2D sprites to be AAA, outside of being published by a AAA game company.
And I would not be shocked if the budgets reflect that compared to even the most forgotten 3D PS5 game (especially since they're able to get roughly two HD-2D games out every year by now).
@XenobladeKisekiFan
Yeah i definitely remember the late game story pacing in Arise to be a point of contention at the time (that and the enemies getting HP-spongey especially as it went on were 2 of the main criticisms back during the original release and iirc the DLC didnt really remedy that) It wasnt to the degree as say, Xenogears, or FFXV in terms of a jarring shift but it definitely felt like it was dumping half the story on you during the last few hours. Am glad to hear the switch 2 port was smooth sailing.
In terms of Xenosaga i remember the games having some LONG dungeons and combat was all over the place in each game especially 2 but remember enjoying them overall (haven't played in a long time, my US-ps2 sadly got the dreaded disc-read-error) would be curious if a remake ended up following the original plans for the story (From what i hear the japan only game "xenosaga 1 and 2" for DS was closer)
Xenoblade/xeno series is far more popular now due to the excellent switch 2 editions, for example xenoblade 2 NS2 edition feels more like a remastered version than a switch 2 edition due to massive improvements and the series is more popular nowadays, so hopefully it would be profitable to remake the xenosaga games due to xenoblade fans being familiar with some of the lead characters such as momo and kos mos.
Xeno series = max hype.
Falcom series = max enjoyment.
I kind of take the Momo addition as a positive sign. It could just be that Monolith wanted an easter egg cameo, and Namco has a close enough relationship with Nintendo that they'd allow it cheap and easy. OTOH, it could also be a sign that Namco and/or Nintendo is planning to do something with Xenosaga and wants to promote it.
As for AAA JRPGs, I'd say Persona absolutely qualifies. It comes from a suitably large publisher, gets a fairly large production budget put into it, and sells better than almost anything else in the industry as of Persona 5. There isn't really a plausible argument for why Persona "isn't AAA" that would apply even moreso to some combination of FF, DQ, or Pokemon.
@kkslider5552000
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the mindset of lots of people, but it’s a pretty dumb mindset lol
I also think almost any publisher can produce AAA titles but maybe it’s just more in ratio with their typical AA or A budget games. For example, Marvelous publishes a ton of games I love, and I’m sure they could do a AAA Story of Seasons or something if they really wanted to fork out the budget for it.
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Topic: Switch 2 double A jrpgs 2026
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