BioMenace Remastered Confirmed for Switch, Switch 2 on October 8, 2026

Daniel Carter09/09/20264 min read

BioMenace Remastered is coming to Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on October 8, 2026. Developer Rigel Gameworks confirmed the port through its own Steam Community page, and the date has since been picked up by Nintendo Everything.

BioMenace Remastered is coming to Nintendo Switch™ on October 8, 2026, the studio wrote in its Steam post. Rigel Gameworks is putting BioMenace Remastered on Nintendo Switch, the developer has announced, and it launches on October 8, 2026.

Retro platformer fans are already comparing this to other 90s ports getting a second life on Switch this year. Here’s how people online reacted to the news:

Every episode, every user level, one cartridge-free package

This new version includes all the content (episodes 1 to 4) of the PC version, and user levels created on PC will also be available for Switch players to enjoy. It has online leaderboards too.

The game runs on Switch and Switch 2, this is a digital only release, self-published by Rigel Gameworks, and the studio says it did all the porting work itself. No price for the Switch listing has been published yet, so we’re not putting a number on it until Rigel or an eShop listing does.

Where BioMenace actually came from

The source material is 33 years old. Bio Menace is a 1993 game developed and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS, built on a licensed version of id Software’s Commander Keen game engine, the same tech base that fed into id’s later work. It was created almost entirely by programmer Jim Norwood, who also worked on the Duke Nukem Trilogy and, later, the original Shadow Warrior and its 2013 reboot.

A remastered version was released on Steam and GOG.com in December 2025, months before the Switch date landed. On PC the base game listed at $14.99 new on Steam, $11.25 new on GOG.com, with a launch-week discount PC Gamer reported bringing the price down to $12 for a limited window. None of that pricing carries over automatically to the Switch build; it’s a separate listing with its own number still to come.

What the remaster actually changes

The remaster brings a complete visual overhaul to Snake Logan’s adventure, with more detailed pixel graphics, a modernised HUD and UI, parallax backgrounds, controller support and full Steam Deck support. It also implements a full difficulty rebalance, and adds features like infinite lives and a killstreak system.

That’s a fair list of quality-of-life additions on top of a 1993 engine, and it’s the kind of pass that actually matters for a run-and-gun this old rather than just a resolution bump.

Episode 4, “Menace from Above”, adds 15-plus levels

Episode 4 is called “Menace from Above” and features 15 regular levels plus multiple secret levels, including new environments not seen in the original. The new episode also adds new artwork, additional boss fights, and several additional mechanics, including two that were cut from the 1993 version.

That episode almost didn’t happen under the Rigel Gameworks banner at all. According to an interview with the studio published by Evercade, developers Nikolai Wuttke-Hohendorf and Bart Remmers first pitched the remaster to Apogee directly. “They really liked what they saw,” Niko told Evercade, “but they ultimately decided against publishing the game due to their priorities being elsewhere, and also them not having the capacity to help us out with art and level design.” Apogee instead put the pair in touch with Jim Norwood, who as it turns out actually owns the rights to the game, and the project went ahead as a self-published release.

Our take: a two-person team convincing the actual rights holder to sign off, then porting the whole thing to Switch and Switch 2 themselves, is a heavier lift than most 90s remasters bother with. It’s the difference between a quick emulator wrap and something that’s actually been rebuilt.

The eShop listing itself will confirm the last two details worth waiting on: local pricing and whether the Switch version ships with the same leaderboards seen on the PC build at launch. October 8 is the date to watch either way.