Topic: How do Switch 1 games play on Switch 2 that DIDN’T get a Switch 2 Update

So, I've done some testing of this with a few games now and I think I can fairly confidently say two things. Firstly, that @Quantumz00 is overreacting. Secondly, there's a huge amount of variability to how Switch games look and run on Switch 2 presumably depending on how they're programmed. So running through some:

Animal Crossing: It's certainly sharper, I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe my TV's scaler isn't as good as the one in the Switch 2? Either way, I assume it's 1080p still but the lack of AA somehow sticks out more than I remember. I think that may just be because I had been on Mario Kart World before it? Not sure. I did transfer my island and I know the areas where the Switch usually struggles, no signs of that anymore. There may have been load speed improvements but if there were it wasn't enough to shock me

Hades: Massive improvements in load times. I can't really understate this one. Huge improvement. Visually? I didn't notice the chonky pixels like in AC but the output resolution must be higher or something has changed because there were some assets that looked very sharp while others were clearly lower res. When I moved to portable mode.... I assume it's just the smaller screen making it less obvious bit..... looked pretty good... I'd gladly play it like that

Cult of Lamb: Again, improvements in load times, improvements in performance. Nothing much else to say here. I'm not sure if it was this game or something else where the text was a bit smaller than I remember it being? Either way, it was pretty solid. Moves the game from ok for Switch to being maybe one of the better platforms to play it

All of these I would play on Switch 2 over playing on Switch

I also tested some enhanced games and games with free updates. Of these:
BotW: It's better but I don't think it should be a paid upgrade
ClubHouse Games: GameChat's killer app, easily.
ARMS: It was ok. Visually better? I assume so. But it wasn't blowing me away
Super Mario 3D World: Played a bit with GameShare, wasn't really paying much attention to the visuals was more just impressed that I was sharing the game remotely with GameShare. Which is pretty cool

Switch 1 games that I tested basically run very smooth. In Splatoon 3 for excample I thought the little hiccups when match making was because of connecting to other players. Turns out, that was loading. And framerate stays very stable in Salmon Run. The lag and framerate drops were a pain sometimes on SW1.

Another game I was really surprised how good it now runs is 'Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution!'. Yeaah I'm probably the only person (still) playing this game.
The AI plays extremely fast now. The AI used to take up to a minute to make a move.. Not anymore. This game kinda got too fast for me, kind of. 😂 It's like someone pressed the x1.25 speed button on a video.

I'll be very interested to test some OG switch Games on switch 2 and see how much better they run. Double Dragon gaiden notoriously loads extremely slow so that'll be one I'll check. Also heard Arkham knight doesn't have severe lag in the batmobile like before.

What games have you all tested?

A couple of videos on backwards compatibility:

Update on my testing so far:

I tested and loaded all three Xenoblade Chronicles games on my Switch 2.

Ironically both XC1 and XC2 look good and DLSS upscaling seems to work. They look tack sharp docked.
Sadly XC3 looks to be resolution locked and not scaling up and still looks blurry when docked. So no better than on Switch 1.

Skyrim seems to look great. So no resolution lock here and DLSS upscaling seems to work. It looks quite sharp.

The Witcher 3 seems to be resolution locked and still looks terrible when docked. Really could use a next gen update here. /fingers crossed.

Divinity Orignal Sin 2 also looks terrible. So no DLSS upscaling here either.

Pokemon Legends Arceus does seem to look a bit better on the Switch 2. So I think its not resolution locked and scales up well.

Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal seem to be resolution locked too sadly. So look really blurry still.

Rune Factory 4 is also resolution locked and still looks absolutely terrible.

Lego City: Undercover. Some strange stuff going on. The characters look very crisp, but the environment still looks hazy and blurry. On the other hand, it greatly benefits from the m.2 storage and load times are finally On par with other consoles. Loading takes under 10 secs now.

ACNH on Switch 2 only have faster loading time but the game was still running on 30 fps, according from YouTube video I watched.
Disappointing. 😑

@Anti-Matter Sadly a lot of Switch 1 games are locked at 30 fps and will require a patch.

The question is which publisher is going to do it, when and are they going to charge money for it.

I have a feeling that a lot of Publishers see the dollar signs in their eyes and going to charge 10 bucks for a Switch 2 upgrade and then do absolute minimum effort by only unlocking frame rate and resolution and let DLSS do all the work.

@Jeronan
Slight technical correction on your list. Switch games won't be using DLSS when running on Switch 2 unless they have been patched to do so. Not saying what you're seeing isn't there it's just what you're probably seeing is games maxing out their dynamic resolution scaling. Probably you're also seeing a bit of a better image because the output is being scaled once (to 4K) rather than twice (to 1080p then to 4K)

But yeah, I hold out hope that a lot of these games get free updates to push them to Switch 2. Because I found myself scrolling through the eShop today, which is now much faster, and looking at all of the Switch games. A lot of them are already more appealing with the Switch 2 adding what it does already. I would imagine that's going to be even more true if some of these games get patched. Even if it's just changing handheld mode to 1080p, docked to 4K, raising the framerate cap. That's all most of these games need and they'll be easy buys

Trials Rising works with the new GameCube controller analog triggers!

And framerate is locked and resolution locked as well.

It is funny seeing all this info about how reliably great Switch 2 is at improving ambitious Switch 1 games, and Nintendo in usual fashion could've used this to mitigate the backlash and inexplicably didn't tell people much about this reliably good thing for no reason.

@kkslider5552000 o, i'm not the only one who thought this. yeah, i'm shocked how much better some games run on switch 2 compared to switch 1. playing disgaea 7 at 60 fps on the quality mode is one of the more notable jumps as the original would drop frames constantly on quality.

@kkslider5552000
To be fair to Nintendo the way the internet "works" these days I'm not sure there's much they could've done to "mitigate the backlash". People just exist in their own pools of outrage these days and are generally incapable of questioning where they land. Global group-think is the best way to describe it....

But yeah, if entire countries are struggling to navigate this new toxic world environment I'm not sure how Nintendo does. I'm not sure you can do much of anything short of taking the algorithm out of social media. Which obviously isn't going to happen

You're right though, I don't think Nintendo spent anywhere near enough time talking up how solid backwards compatibility is. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't. I don't think it stops the manufactured outrage but I do agree that its one story they just didn't bother to tell. They showed what, a few seconds in the Switch 2 Direct with Yoshi's Crafted World and then buried some text in a technical blog and one article on the Nintendo Today app. They could've pushed it further given it's clearly a key selling point for the Switch 2 early on (not that they needed extra sales momentum)

I also still think, from a messaging perspective, the Switch 2 Editions of BotW and TotK should've been free upgrades. Just outright free upgrades. Because I don't think they can really justify being the price they are, especially next to some of the other free upgrades. It doesn't bother me because NSO+ but I think for average Switch user migrating to Switch 2 the upgrade fee seems just a bit of a cash grab. It'll sell, I don't think it hurts their bottom line, but it's not a great first impression

Also.... Animal Crossing should've got a resolution and framerate bump as a free upgrade on day 1. It's clearly the one game people are testing, it's clearly something people were going to test. And of course the improved load times and performance stability you get natively is great and a good sell in its own right. But... just imagine how much easier to tell that story is if they had gone 60fps/1440p/HDR in a free upgrade

Skyrim runs very well! Resolution does feel dynamic and natively sharper, and the load times are much faster transitioning between doorways. Was only going to play for a couple minutes but I got sucked into a dungeon and couldn't stop for about an hour, naturally 😂

I'm nervous to test out all my Square Enix titles tomorrow. Fingers crossed they run well, especially Nier Automata!

I do very much agree with this, and the people who put out misinformation out of sheer incompetence/a rush to be first to the "news" (especially so called gaming journalists) should be embarrassed, but also agree that Nintendo still completely failed to get these positives across to people even giving them that benefit of the doubt.

I felt exactly the same way about the NSO Expansion Pass launch, where I was equally mad at Nintendo for rushing out N64 emulation to meet an arbitrary release date and the people clearly just pretending to know or care about emulation trying to dunk on them.

On another Forum I am on I have posted a massive thread detailing running information on games from several sources and I am now getting feedback from people on there to add to the list, id share it here but it would make a massive post and im not sure how people would feel about it... (Id post it with a spoiler so it didnt open unless you clicked on it but not sure how) but if anyone here is happy for me to include there insights into how games work with a credit let me know.

I've tried 3 games so far:

• Peach Showtime - still janky loading screens but significantly faster loading.
• Cult of the lamb - unbelievably less laggy and faster. It's now a pleasure.
• Mario Maker 2 - this was a test of my new pro controller 2. The d-pad is so much better that some levels which were agonizing with Switch 1 Pro Controller because of vines everywhere and mis inputs are easy and smooth now.

@FishyS
How about frame rate for Peach Showtime on Switch 2?
Still 30 fps?

Have anybody tested the frame rate of Monster Hunter Stories 1 & 2 on Switch 2?

@kerr9000 Are you talking about Famiboards? Regardless, I'd love to see you carry that message over here. We won't mind the wall of text! Always interested to understand something better.

It is a little more stable but almost no change besides slightly faster loading. That game could use an actual Switch 2 update.