Topic: Is The Switch 2 Worth It???

For what it's worth, Xenoblade 3D can run on an original 3DS if you mod it. The code is 100% compatible, and it doesn't use the extra RAM or any of the other features. It just suffers from severe slowdown at points, so I'd guess that they just made it a New 3DS exclusive to avoid the criticisms that it would have picked up if released for all models.

There are, of course, several other games that will only work on the New 3DS, such as Fire Emblem Warriors.

I have some concern for the people who saw those "impossible ports" on the Switch and thought "this is acceptable, I don't see any need for better hardware ever. Not even in 10 years from now when that would be incredibly viable". Both for their general inability to see the issue but also for their poor grasp of the economics at play

And the response I expect to get for this comment will be something along the lines of "they should just optimise the game". Righto, let's just all push this "optimise here" button and all will be good right? Unbelievable

@BonzoBanana
Dude... barf. Seriously.

You're not telling us anything we don't know. There are entire Youtube channels devoted to running games on waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay underspec PCs. That sort of thing has been around for years and years.

But what those channels don't do is actually PLAY through the whole game and enjoy it lol

Curious... have you tried to play something like Hogwarts Legacy on the Switch? Would love to know the answer.

@rallydefault Yeah, there's also the related genre of running games on emulators for thirty seconds before the frame rate sinks, glitches start appearing and the game crashes.

On the whole, I'd stick up for "impossible" Switch ports being a good way to experience games on a handheld platform that wouldn't otherwise have been possible at the time. However, you're doing yourself something of a disservice these days by not using something more powerful to play them, and the Switch 2 is one such option.

@skywake The way I take advantage of crossgen is cheaper games and being able to get more true physical releases. I saved £28 just from Legends Z-A and Prime 4 having Switch 1 versions.

@rallydefault @Matt_Barber
"Impossible ports" are interesting and often impressive. But unless those limitations brought about some interesting/unique aesthetics or you're particularly nostalgic for that specific edition? I'm not sure why you would bother with them if better options are available

With that said I'm particularly fond and nostalgic for the GBC version of Donkey Kong Country. And there are also plenty of games which are well and truly not impossible where the compromise wasn't that great. Like that Prince of Persia game on Switch, or Street Fighter 6 on Switch 2. But that's certainly not all games

Best tool for the job is basically what it comes down to. And at this point in time, for my usage, the Switch was increasingly not that tool. The Switch 2 quite often is

That's the thing really isn't it. Switch 1 versions of multi-platform games have previously sold very badly despite the large user base. If such games were commercially viable they would be converted even if the results were compromised. It's about commerce not the performance level. Nintendo consoles are more linked to first party games and exclusive games. Everything would come to Switch if it was commercially appropriate because they would have the money to invest in full optimisation for the Switch.

I've definitely played many games on under-powered hardware. I've played a lot of skyrim on my Celeron laptop. The settings are 800x600 with a stretched to fill panel option, very low detail levels and the panel set to 40hz so I can get a good frame rate and playable state. Visually weak but didn't ruin the experience. I guess a console comparison would be more appropriate though and thinking about it you have a game like Kingdom Come Deliverance on Switch vs Xbox One S and you can see with everything dialled back you still get a great experience on the original Switch. From memory the Xbox One S is about 1700-1900 passmark cpu score so a bit less than the 2000 of the Switch 2. but the GPU is weaker in architecture but in the middle between Switch 2 portable and Switch 2 docked in raw performance at 1.4 Teraflops. So when I say Cyberpunk is possible on the original Switch I am saying in a playable state but with a much lower level of visual fidelity and a culling of many CPU processes that don't add much to the game like visual animations. I'm not saying only possible as a horrible jerky mess that is unplayable. Fixed platforms like Switch always punch above their weight if properly optimised. You will never get fixed platform optimism for PC games because there are 1000s of different configurations of PC. However such optimisation is very expensive in development time. A fully optimised Switch 1 game will probably run better than a afternoon port on Switch 2 like Tomb Raider where it was missing graphic detail that even the PS3 had.

Also as ever I realise you may be 9 years old or something but do you really have to respond in such a childish way? I've seen many of your posts that make zero sense at all but don't feel it is necessary to be rude in a response to them.

@BonzoBanana

When Skyrim originally came out, these kind of specs were pretty ordinary though, right? Or at least I remember playing it back in 2011 on a non-HD monitor with a resolution similar to your example. Back then a lot of people didn't yet have HD quality screens or computers powerful enough to run HD games, and I'm sure this was taken into consideration when designing the game, which takes place in a sparsely populated land with not a huge amount of environmental details.

It's a very different situation with something like Cyberpunk 2077, where a large part of the experience is its dense, detail-rich cityscape, and which was developed to run on an HD/4K screen. I'm sure you could make it work on a old computer and an 800x600 monitor if you really wanted to, but it would lose a lot of what makes it a unique game. The Switch 2 version already had to somewhat cut down the number of random NPCs populating the city, and if you'd reduce those kind of details even more to make it run on a potato computer (or Switch 1), it wouldn't feel like the futurist metropolis that it's supposed to be anymore.

@Polvasti Even compared to Series S where I first played it, the S2 version is so pared back I barely recognise it a lot of the time. Out of curiosity I borrowed a friend’s copy. With all the DLSS instability and noise on top I’d say S2 is already far too much of a potato for the now five year old game. But it is probably better than not playing it at all.

@BonzoBanana
I am 9, yes.

Guys, this actually goes back a long way. The GBC could run Resident Evil, so what was the point in the GBA, DS, etc?

@Buizel They got Mortal Kombat 4 on GBA. That's it. Pack it up.

I feel you are not really appreciating how rubbish my Celeron laptop is, it has a quad core N4120 CPU that delivers about 2000 passmark CPU score which I guess is respectable as about the same passmark CPU score as Switch 2 however then we have the GPU which is around 120 Gflops, only 4GB of memory and because its only got 64GB of eMMC storage the game is stored on a micro SD card. Then add in the single channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of about 17GB/s. Even back in 2015 I had an i5 slightly overclocked to give a passmark CPU score of about 7000 and a GPU that was close to 1.2 Teraflops I think. Skyrim is known for being a game with very high CPU requirements. Even the original Switch is a graphic powerhouse compared to this laptop especially docked. However again I have to point out fixed platform optimisations which can often deliver performance up to 3x that of an unoptimized game going by how a PS4 massively outperforms a PC with similar hardware.

I have to say I love my little Celeron laptop though, its incredibly easy to carry at about 1kg and the battery since debloating can last as long as 18 hours for light browsing etc although I tend to have it on full power which lasts 4-5 hours. I can game on it for 3-5 hours. It can emulate up to Gamecube and a little bit of wii at full speed. At 800x600 in the 40Hz display mode I can play Skyrim at about 40fps. Dare I mention it but that is 10fps more than the Switch 2 version and its responsive with a far lower input lag. It actually feels very fluid you can spin around quite nicely.

Ark Survival was something like 320x200 on original Switch in portable mode and I could see Cyberpunk needing a similar resolution. It's never going to happen as the time has passed for major titles coming to Switch. If Cyberpunk ever gets decoded or goes open source maybe in the future someone will do a switch version as a project but unlikely. My original point though is its more about commerce than capability of a platform. Most game engines are scalable. When you look at Cyberpunk potato graphics they do have a certain appeal in their simplicity in fact many android games look like this.

You must have pretty good eyes then. I haven't played the game on any other platform, but I've been watching several Youtube videos like this one, where they compare gameplay between the Switch 2 version and the PS5 version:

And aside from the lower number of random NPCs walking the streets, my eyes can barely tell the difference between the two.

@skywake
DKC on the GameBoy Color was indeed awesome! I still pop that game in from time to time.

But that was a different age, man. 3D graphics are a whole different beast when you’re talking about getting stuff to work on underspec machines.

Going back to my example: has anyone on this forum actually played through all of Hogwarts Legacy on the original Switch? Because dang it, I tried. I tried for over 20 hours. But it was just too rough at the end of the day. The graphics were too blurry, the load times were make-a-sandwich long and I-need-to-breathe frequent.

@Polvasti YouTube compression does reduce some of the difference between the two, sure. Unless you set the quality to 1440p or above so you get less macro blocking making even PS5 look unsharp. If you can barely tell a difference even then, or more importantly in person not see all the artifacting, blurring, and noise of the upscaler, then you might indeed need an eye examination. My vision is not the best. I use glasses. Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2 is unpleasant to look at for any extent of time.

Nintendo Switch 2 sold 4.4m units in 2025, offset declined in hardware for the year, is the fastest selling system in the US history.

And it was top for unit and dollar sales in December.

So how's that doom feeling right now?

Wow, Nintendo is getting more doomed by the minute.

But it seems like plenty of people (outside Japan) think it’s worth it and more people can afford it than expected.

Even the Pro 2 controller is the best-selling accessory of 2025. That’s well-deserved. That thing is in the running for my favorite controller ever!

The topic isn’t about sales numbers. That doesn’t affect an individual’s feelings towards whether a device is worth it or not, unless all they’re after is chasing trends and popularity.

@OmnitronVariant
I think Switch 2 get popular from chasing trends and popularity, you know Monkey See Monkey do, not Monkey think Monkey Decide yes or not.