Capcom's Decision to Keep the Disney Afternoon Collection off the Nintendo Switch Is a Load of Duck Feathers

Time for a hot take. No, a nuclear take. Even as a kid, I thought the cartoons featured in the Disney Afternoon were kind of boring. I only watched them if I had nothing else going on, or I'd take in the energetic theme songs and then tune out.

But even I must admit those cartoons spawned some mighty fine NES adventures. DuckTales is the king of Capcom's licensed NES legacy; it's already been upgraded to HD.

I loved DuckTales on the NES, and I still do, but every ventricle of my young heart was stolen away by Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. Just listen to that Zone J music. How Mega Man can you get?

The nice thing about the upcoming Disney Afternoon Collection is we already know most of the games included on it are great. Even the contested titles, like TaleSpin [eyes Kat warily] are still at least a notch above the rest of the licensed garbo on the NES. We'll also get a chance to go hands-on with the Capcom titles that aren't as ingrained in popular culture but are still worthy of a play-through. Chip 'n Dale 2 and DuckTales 2 were originally released in 1993, just as the SNES was really coming into its own in North America, and even hardcore Disney fans had largely moved on by that point.

There's just one thing keeping me from rushing out the door and buying a skid of Capri Suns and slap bracelets in anticipation for the game's April 18 release, though. The Disney Afternoon Collection is coming to the PlayStation 4, and it's coming to the Xbox One and the PC, but there's no Nintendo Switch release in the cards.

We reached out to Capcom, and it responded: "The Disney Afternoon Collection is in development for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. No other platforms are planned at this time."

News like this makes me want to run away and join a cult dedicated to a soft drink. The Switch has generated quite a bit of positive buzz thanks to its strong debut and the stellar critical performance of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I'd think Capcom wouldn't be gun-shy about putting the collection on Nintendo's new system, but I clearly don't know very much.

I honestly can't think of a better home for the Disney Afternoon Collection, either. Not just because the Switch will benefit from numerous game releases between now and the holidays, but because the very idea of going portable with a whack of classic NES titles is delicious. The people who grew up with The Disney Afternoon and its accompanying games are welded to portable systems and tablets thanks to commutes, etc.

The Disney Afternoon Collection isn't exactly a high-resource title; the Switch is already slated to be home to a whole bunch of sprite-based indie games. The Disney Afternoon Collection would fit right in. It's a baffling decision from Capcom, but given the barrage of questions on social media about the Switch's absence, maybe we'll see a reversal.

The collection is being handled by Digital Eclipse. The studio's "Head of Restoration," Frank Cifaldi, says Capcom makes the final call about what systems the game is published on. "We're not involved in the decision-making process for specific SKUs," he told us. "But for what it's worth, we think the Switch is great, and would be a good fit for the kinds of projects that we do."

If a Nintendo Switch edition of The Disney Afternoon Collection isn't going to happen, I'd be happy to take a Mega Man X Legacy Collection as a consolation prize.