When we really stop and think about it, it’s hard to believe how much time has passed in the world of gaming. This especially rings true for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, which is celebrating its 25th birthday on the Game Boy Color this year. A lot has changed in the two and a half decades since, but the core of the shooter remains solid, so much so that Rainbow Six Siege is one of the most popular FPS games of all time, with over 70 million players across all platforms and a booming presence in the competitive esports scene.
One such platform that is noticeably missing, however, is the Nintendo Switch. Despite Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six having its own version on the Game Boy Color way back when, we never saw Siege on Nintendo’s current handheld console. We’re hopeful that Ubisoft will port arguably one of the best FPS games onto the Switch 2, but for now, we have to sate ourselves with a healthy dose of nostalgia.
The GameBoy Color version of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six might not have been anywhere close to the best entries in the franchise, but what it did do was push the boundaries of what the series would eventually become capable of. It wasn’t just a simple port from the original PC version to a handheld device. Developer Crawfish Interactive tailored the handheld version specifically to the Game Boy Color. With pre-mission planning sessions, a heavy focus on the tactical in ‘tactical shooter,’ and surprisingly complex gameplay, it might not have been for everyone. However, it set the stage for what the series would eventually manage to achieve.
Now, Siege is a powerhouse in the FPS arena. And while things certainly move fast in the gaming world, it always pays to remember your roots. We’d love for Nintendo to team up with the franchise once again and maybe curate a version of Siege for the Switch 2 in the same way they recreated Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six for the Game Boy Color. With the newest Nintendo handheld shaping up to be bigger and better than ever before, we’d love to see some of the more taxing FPS games appear on the second-gen console.
If you’re wondering just what it’s capable of, you can check out our Switch 2 hands-on preview, and if you’re saving up to get one regardless, we have everything you need to know about Switch 2 pre-orders and the Switch 2 price. If you’re after something new, you can also check out our picks for the best action games and the best multiplayer games.