It wasn't long ago that Earth Defense Force: World Brothers arrived and wowed us with its wild mix of characters and elements from past EDF games. Gamers will soon have a chance to experience some classic EDF action firsthand when the appropriately-named Earth Defense Force 2 for Nintendo Switch arrives on July 15. The only catch is this is a Japanese release, with an English release presumably to be announced in the future.
Earth Defense Force 2 for Switch will be a mildly enhanced port of Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Space, a formerly PlayStation Vita-exclusive remake of the original PlayStation 2 game. The Switch game features three playable classes: Ranger, Pale Wing (Wing Diver), and Air Raider. There are 78 missions and five difficulty levels to complete, with mission completion percentage shared between single-player and co-op games.
Earth Defense Force 2 might seem like a dated game for re-release given that Earth Defense Force 6 is coming sometime in the next year or so, but EDF 2 is a pretty special installment. Not only did it introduce the Pale Wing/Wing Diver - many fans' favorite playable class, it also utilized a very specific B-movie art style that hasn't been replicated in any of the sequels. For instance, EDF 2 introduced several cool enemy types like Saurus (kaiju), Darogas (walkers), pillbugs, and centipedes that recently showed up in EDF: World Brothers. It's important to know your roots, gamers!
Earth Defense Force 2 for Nintendo Switch features 4-player online and wireless LAN co-op. Sadly, no split-screen feature has been announced - a real missed opportunity to make this the definitive EDF 2 release.
D3 Publisher chose not to release an English Switch version, but you can import the game from retailers like Play-Asia ($37 shipped) or digitally from Nintendo (use this guide). The graphics and gameplay features of the Switch version are nearly identical to the Vita version, in case you were wondering. The dialog and menus are entirely in Japanese, but my Vita menu translation guide works for the Switch game too!
A Switch version of Earth Defense Force 2017, the third game in the series, was also released in Japan in 2021.