Nintendo Switch 2's Latest $50 Game Isn't 'Definitive', And I'm Sick Of That AAA Label

The Nintendo Switch 2 is still a hard sell over one year after launch, and these ‘definitive’ versions of games aren’t helping its case.

Its first-party line-up has actually been pretty good. Donkey Kong Bananza, Pokémon Pokopia and Star Fox (2026) stand out as three titles that should sway you if you’re on the fence about Nintendo’s current home console.

What fails to build excitement though, and has specifically irked me recently, are re-released games that slap ‘definitive’ on the cover and expect you to buy them again.

There’s Nothing Definitive About Sonic Frontiers, So Why Does It Cost $50?

Sonic Frontiers is a great Sonic the Hedgehog game. Is it perfect? Not at all, Sonic games very rarely are.

The open-zone game is hailed as the title that saved the franchise, which is exactly what it was intended to do. SEGA’s Takashi Iizuka has stated Sonic Frontiers was the last chance to save the series after Sonic Forces, and if it hadn’t done as well as it did, the blue blur could have been shelved indefinitely.

Fortunately, Sonic Frontiers was well-received, and the world’s fastest hedgehog is still zooming around our consoles. The next game is something a little different, Sonic Pico Park. I played it at this year’s Summer Game Fest, and it was a joyous time.

READ NEXT: Sonic Pico Park Is Bringing Back Couch Co-Op, It's A Must-Play

Later down the line, Sonic Frontiers received a free DLC expansion that added a new finale. New missions, playable characters, cutscenes and more were added.

That version of the game was recently re-released on the Nintendo Switch 2 under the guise of Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition. It packages together the full-game, the DLC, and previously obtainable costumes for Sonic to change into.

SEGA

Even as a lifelong Sonic fan though, this re-release is hard to defend, especially when it costs $50 for no new content.

It gets a visual and performance boost for being on the Nintendo Switch 2, so in comparison to the original Nintendo Switch release, it does look and run better.

There’s really nothing ‘definitive’ about it, however. It’s a port. A simple new-gen port that re-releases the game as a complete package. It’s Sonic Frontiers: Complete Edition, not Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition.

So many games are guilty of this, too. Simply slapping ‘definitive’ on the front cover and hoping for the best.

The best example is probably the infamous Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, which wasn’t even serviceable as a complete collection of the PlayStation 2 games.

Dishonoured is another good one. The definitive version of that game somehow ran worse than the original.

The dictionary defines something definitive as “not able to be changed or improved.” That’s certainly not the case for Sonic Frontiers on the Nintendo Switch 2. The Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 versions are still the superior versions, so how can this Switch 2 port truly be called definitive?

Perhaps I’m just overreacting, but nothing irks me more than a re-release pretending to be something it’s not, when most of the time it’s just another quick cash grab.

These labels that are placed on AAAs just feel scummy. Like they’re designed to prey on non-gamers who don’t know any better, such as a parent buying a game for their child.

It sucks that before we buy, we need to do research into whether it truly is the best version of the market, or whether our money is better spent elsewhere.