Nintendo gamers may be getting another new release on the Switch, as rumours of a cloud version of Resident Evil 3 circulate after an alleged datamine. Fans of the Capcom horror survival series may be in for a pleasant on Nintendo's current console may be in for a pleasant, and grisly, surprise in the wake of Nintendo's approach to bringing more technologically demanding titles to its Switch hardware.
Nintendo took the gaming community by surprise yesterday, as it released a mini direct out of the blue. During the short announcement video, a host of new games and news was revealed by the company. It was confirmed by Nintendo that the demo of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was available, while updates on the release of Bravely Default 2 were also included in the announcement. Most surprising of all though was the news that Control and Hitman 3 would be coming to Nintendo’s cloud service, with Control being available to play now, and Hitman 3 coming in the near future.
It now looks as though Resident Evil 3 will also be making the journey over to Nintendo's cloud services. Newly found links and references by the data miners at Reset Era show evidence that Resident Evil 3 is in the works for a cloud release. The references were discovered within the Control: Cloud Version website by the eagle-eyed fans. There was even an image of the cover art in the finds, as shared by Resident Evil author Alex Aniel. Resident Evil 3 was recently remade by Capcom, following its original release in 1999. Thus far though, it is only available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.
This would not be the first time that a Resident Evil game was made available on the Nintendo Switch. In 2018, Resident Evil 7 was also released on Nintendo’s cloud service, although it was only available in Japan. This could potentially have been a soft opening of sorts for the now suspected Resident Evil 3 release which, if anything like the release of Control and Hitman 3, would be made available to a wider audience.
While nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo or Capcom as of yet, the unearthed leaks do appear to be genuine. As always though, these reports should always be met with a certain amount of scrutiny. Until the developers confirm anything concrete, it is all just hearsay. Either way, the release of Hitman 3 and Control on the Switch do point to Nintendo adding more mature third-party names to its gaming roster, something that Resident Evil 3 most certainly is.
Source: Rest Era, Alex Aniel