Nintendo’s never caught onto the whole systemwide achievement thing. The Switch is no different than the Wii U or Wii before it in that way: Profiles don’t have any trophies or achievements that users can boast about.
But companies like NIS America, whose Disgaea 5 Complete is out on Switch this week, know that trophies are a huge deal for a lot of players. That seems to be why the Switch re-release of the PlayStation 4 game carries over all of the PS4 version’s trophies, notifications and all.
Now that the game’s available, Redditors picked up on the in-game trophy feature. But unlike the PS4 version, these trophies are only catalogued within the game itself. A non-player character keeps a record of every achievement the player unlocks over the course of the game. As far as people who’ve already won some can tell, Disgaea 5 Complete has the same requirements for its trophies as the original PS4 game, so players can consult existing guides to get to 100 percent completion.
Users first pointed out this feature earlier this month, when Disgaea 5 Complete got into reviewers’ hands. It’s a clever way to circumvent Nintendo’s own achievement aversion, and a tactic that many other games have employed on the company’s systems over the years. That even includes Nintendo itself — Super Smash Bros. Brawl, for example, has an in-game achievement system that lets players unlock new statues, background music and stages for accomplishing certain goals.
Will Nintendo ever enable an achievements feature? It’s hard to say, but it seems unlikely after going for years without one. But Disgaea 5 Complete proves that there are smart ways to get around this lack, even if players can’t show off their accomplishments.