Digital Foundry Breaks Down the Resolution and Framerate in Pokkén Tournament

No wonder why other major releases (SF V, Mortal Kombat X) didn't even consider the Wii U as an option. Performance is everything on fast paced fighting games.

@rushiosan I would argue not just fast-paced ones, but all fighting games period.

Smash bros runs on the Wii U at 1080p at 60fps. So why can't pokken tournament do that too?

@DLevene17 Smash Bros. plays on a two dimensional plane, while Pokkén plays on a three dimensional plane. That's why physics and animations are more complex.

I wonder if the resolution & performance issues have anything to do with the fact that this is a port of an arcade game.

@DoctorWily Yeah, considering it probably wasn't natively designed (I assume) as a Wii U game, that probably played a role in it.

That s what you get when you come out with extremely outdated hardware

@rushiosan this proves the exact opposite. They got a complex 3d plane fighting game at 60fps and @720p give or take, sounds better than most xbox games to me. Could easily have ported these games along the same lines. This, and many other games, prove that Wii U is just as powerful machine as the others. Not capable of everything, but most of it.

The game looks SIGNIFICANTLY better than Smash Bros U, also developed by Bamco, so if course there'd be some concessions made. It's a Wii U game after all.

I'd rather have lower resolution with solid 60fps in this situation. other companies would do the opposite.

@DLevene17 Lol. Are you being serious? Smash Bros is running on a heavily modified Smash Bros Melee engine and all action takes place on a 2D plane.

For all intent and purpose this game features more intensity than any other fighter I've seen. No other 3D fighter comes close for sure. 960x720p60 is a good trade off.

Still better framerate than Dark Souls 3 on Xbox One.

@dumedum
It proves nothing. Devs are far more ambitious with the other consoles and are also far more pressured to make the most out of them. True those two are really outdated in terms of PC hardware, however they still possess most, if not all, the graphical capabilities afforded by modern hardware and support every single current API and engine. There is a MASSIVE difference in power between the main 8th gen competitors and the Wii U. It's the exact same difference as the Wii vs the PS360.

Meh, I've already accepted that the Wii U is by far the weakest of the eighth-gen consoles. And with all the graphical detail in the models, the fast-paced and complex gameplay, and the need for 60fps, it makes sense there'd have to be some serious concessions for resolution.

In all honest, who would have thought it was sub-720p and not straight up 720p if they had not been told it was? Wii U is no XB1/PS4, but it is capable of enough that PS3/360 cannot. This has been true ever since launch with games like Trine 2 and NFS:MW.

@KoopaTheGamer Sm4sh is 2d in terms of your view, but everything is 3d, including hit/hurtboxes, heck even melee was 3d (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWO6iDefd-g)

As long as the framerate is stable, there is really nothing to mope about as far as im concerned. Its all that matters in terms of gameplay, the rest is just eye candy.

This game looks great, even on on 120" projector screen. Sure, the resolution is low, but it's so stylish and smooth that it doesn't matter.

EDIT: Yeah, it's obviously not HD, but these guys know how to get around that and make the game look fantastic. Cheers to Bamco!

I think anyone who thinks the wii u is a significant jump over the 360/ps3 is deluding themselves. The Wii U is basically a 7th gen console with mid 7th gen specs. There really isn't a single Wii U game you can point to and say, "This looks much better than anything on the PS3 and 360." Xenoblade X is grand but the character models are ugly, the animation is stiff and it has little to no AA to speak off. Mario Kart 8 suffers from lack of AA and simplistic textures, the list goes on and on. It's still capable of solid looking titles but c'mon folks, it's time to stop calling a spade a diamond when it's just a spade.

On topic, Pokken looks pretty neat though it's not my style of fighting game. Kind of wish we got more original titles for the Wii U this year instead of ports but everyone knows the Wii U is basically dead so I'm happy with just about anything at this point.

..so they're a little fuzzy, at least they're not slow Pokés...

Kind of disappointing but the framerate is the most important aspect anyway.

@liveswired Sm4sh Runs off a modified version of Brawls engine not Melee.

This sure looks good. I would have imagined the resolution to be around 900p actually, the game looks nice. The AA is great as well, I can barely see the aliasing.

Don't forget, kids. The important is the end result, not the marketing BS.

Yet no one was saying "Man, these graphics look sub-720" but instead "Wow, this game looks great!"

@DLevene17 smash is 2d....Pokken goes back and forth between 2D and 3D.

I don't think the characters look as polished as Tekken Tournament but then as everyone keeps saying its played on a 3d plane. Looks aren't everything. As long as it is fun to play.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the game and my eldest son thinks it's the best thing ever. When everything is kicking off, the game looks and more importantly plays great.

@JpGamerGuy90 "character models are ugly"

What? Are you talking about the art style or the actual textures/texture details? Because I see no problems with the texture detail, and I personally like the art style (although many would disagree)

I really couldn't care less about how good it looks, if I want pretty games, I play my PC (which destroys the PS4/XB one in pretty much everything). As long as there's no graphical glitches and no noticeable stuttering, I really don't care.

Huh, good to know my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, I did feel like something was weird with the resolution that made the game look worse. Now I don't have to bother fumbling around in any settings trying to fix it

Here's my obligatory "The person playing this game for the footage is bad at Pokken" comment. I know it adds nothing to the discussion, but I want to say it anyways.
I knew the game looked the teensiest bit blurry, but I don't think this holds it back too much. It's still a good time. If theres a game that's held back by being on Wii U it's almost certainly Xenoblade X, however.

@DLevene17 Because Smash is just smoke and mirrors and it uses clever techniques to make things like stages not look like cuss, which they would without it.

@Monado_III Except in social features, XBOX One and PS4 have excellent interfaces, PS4 more so. They're good consoles for the price, the performance for the most part is pleasing as well.

So a 1080p setting on the wiiu with a 1080p tv screen won't make the game run at 1080p?

@Jazzer94 Smash Bros Brawl is a modified version of Melee's engine. They both go back to the source.

Well I onky play on the Gamepad so the game looks great to me.

@GamePerson19 No. It just 'upscales' the image to 1080p. Which is essentially 'stretching' the native image out.

@DoctorWily more like it's a game running on weak hardware.

@rushiosan - I don't understand...the PS4 and XB1 struggle to hit 30fps in most major releases.

So is performance just resolution?

I know a lot of games have suffered on PS4 and XB1 because devs were forced by obnoxious game journalists and memes to boost their resolution to 1080p despite not being able to handle it...and as such they run at low, clunky frame-rates with many advanced effects removed.

Is that what you're talking about here?

@liveswired oh! It still looks super nice though!

@GamePerson19 - A lot of people don't understand how resolution works in regards to gaming.

Your TV has a resolution of 1920x1080p if it's a typical modern HD tv.
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The Wii U is capable of rendering out to 1920x1080p as per the hardware
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Not all games will utilize the full allowable resolution, and the hardware will "up-rez" or stretch the image to fill the full screen.
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Think of it like a youtube video: many are created on low resolution cameras like 480 or 720, but you can bump them to full screen...but the same quality of video is just being stretched to fit your screen.

@Action51
Oh cool! I didn't know that! Thanks!

@GamePerson19 - No problem!

Some games and developers do a better job with it then others. Mario kart 8, Bayonetta 2, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical freeze look really good despite both being under 1080p resolution.

If you game on PC, there is always the option to set the resolution and framerates yourself to get the most out of your video card.

@liveswired
From what I've seen of Pokken it doesn't seem any more intense than most other fighters, 3D or otherwise.

@Project_Dolphin Yeah, consoles finally got the short end of the stick in the 8th generation. Even a $600 PC blows the PS4/XB1 out of the water, and more spent on hardware only widens the gap. Significantly reduced PC software prices in big sales have brought overall expenditures on par or less than consoles now, too.

Moore's Law is starting to hit the major wall that silicon based processors were bound to be limited with... And consoles get hit with the brunt of that limitation. Nintendo has the right idea, I think- try to innovate in how the console works.

@Mr_Diabolical Until games like Witcher 3 and Dark Souls 3 came along... Mega long load times on consoles compared to a PC with a solid state drive, and DS3 only runs at 20-30 FPS depending on location at 900p for XB1. Not even the so-called "higher end" consoles can hold a candle to the requirements for many newer games. It seems the days of massive numbers of console exclusives are over... Only the Wii U had a decent amount this time around.

The very first time I boot up the game I could tell it was Sub 720p. The textures are muddy and the environment looks fuzzy. The game itself is good looking but playing on a 60" TV exposes a lot of the bad textures. I feel Wii U games are best played on 40" TV's or below. The resolution trade-off was maybe wise decision overall but I'd have preferred sharper textures and rather toned down graphics a bit to run smoothly. But overall achieving a constant 60fps was better for the game so It's ok, but not impressive and I can live with it.

@PlywoodStick I think it is going to break down soon I give it one or two more cycles and we will be maxed out.

When I got the game at first the visuals bothered me. Now I don't care in the slightest, cause it's so damn fun.

I still enjoy the game but how blurry and pixelated it is in areas on the Wii U is pretty noticeable. I remember when I started the game the first time and went into the tutorial the first thing I thought was "why are there squares on Gardevoir's dress?"

Smash Bros isnt a good comparison point. It has very low poly characters and the 2D nature helps even more, you dont need to fully render in a 3D environment even if it is a game with a 3D graphic engine.

I think the best reasons for this poor performance are two:rushed release and straight port from the arcade, instead of developing a port with the Wii U capabilities in mind from the start. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 runs smooth and it is way more detailed.

Smash Bros isnt a good comparison point. It has very low poly characters and the 2D nature helps even more, you dont need to fully render in a 3D environment even if it is a game with a 3D graphic engine.

I think the best reasons for this poor performance are two:rushed release and straight port from the arcade, instead of developing a port with the Wii U capabilities in mind from the start. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 runs smooth and it is way more detailed.

Smash Bros isnt a good comparison point. It has very low poly characters and the 2D nature helps even more, you dont need to fully render in a 3D environment even if it is a game with a 3D graphic engine.

I think the best reasons for this poor performance are two:rushed release and straight port from the arcade, instead of developing a port with the Wii U capabilities in mind from the start. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 runs smooth and it is way more detailed.

I even remember on the launch of Pokken Tournament arcade that Namco itself dont confirmed a Wii U release, everyone just "assumed" that it will released at some point or another. I think that, without the buzz around the game, it was going to be another arcade exclusive like "Mario Kart Arcade DX".

Who cares about Digital Foundry!
They can go and make articles from PS4BOXONE resolution all the year, because people who love Nintendo are not interrested on his "insights" about that, we prefer to spend time playing and having a blast.

@PlywoodStick Well console exclusives really aren't too big of an issue anymore when most people can play what they want on either consoles, more freedom of choice there I suppose.

XBOX One was the outlier for console performance issues this generation it seems, Dark Souls 3 and Witcher 3 run at 1080p with a mostly stable 30 fps on PS4.

Besides I've had a hell of a lot more fun with Bloodborne than any of the Wii U's exclusives so far. Small party games with repetitive gameplay like Smash Bros really don't catch on much nowadays. Hell, I had much more patience for the load times in Bloodborne than the startup time in Smash Bros.

@Mr_Diabolical So what's stopping games like Bloodborne from coming to PC, so people can finally play the game in 1080p or 1440p at 60 FPS, and have faster load times with a solid state drive? Why stay rooted in the PS4 hardware if the games don't do anything particularly different? At least Nintendo tries to do something different with their hardware to maintain some relevance for existence...

@PlywoodStick Their hardware ends up being convaluted and difficult for third parties to develop for, just because the gamepad is different does not make it relevant or any better.

I was only mentioning Bloodborne because you said Nintendo had better exclusives, so I used it to counter that arguement. Wii U really doesn't have that many exclusives on Wii U that people would want to play, at least someone who isn't a Nintendo fan.

Besides, Bloodborne at 1080p 30 fps isn't a bad thing at all, 30 fps is a respectable framerate and still provides a smooth experience. And the long load times have been cut in half and remedied over several patches.

@Mr_Diabolical By "relevant" I just mean that it actually stands out from PC. It used to be that every console stood out on their own, but PS4 and XB1 are basically just weak modified PC's with some nice social features. Nintendo failed to handle the Wii U properly, a miserable failure even, but they at least tried to differentiate themselves from just being another weak PC.

I didn't say Nintendo has better exclusives, I just said that Wii U actually has a decent amount of exclusives (as well as some multiplatforms like Rayman Legends and ZombiU) that just don't play as well on other platforms. (And some like Bayonetta 2 that would have been discarded otherwise.) For PS4 and XB1, on the other hand, there's really nothing holding back a proper PC release from obsoleting them beyond the social features. (Of which are easily replaced anyways.)

I agree that 30 FPS isn't bad, and PC, PS4, and XB1 games in general have had increasing issues at launch that have to be patched later. Yet, having the option for higher than 30 FPS @ 1080p or 1440p and a solid state drive for phenomenally faster loading is good for those who want it. The PS4/XB1 doesn't provide that option, and their games are rarely optimized for their particular hardware these days, compared to the PS2/XB days.

@PlywoodStick 30 fps was quite common on consoles regardless of generation, PC gaming has just desensitized people and made them set their standards too high for something that was not much of a standard and people didn't make too big of a deal of it back in the day.

@Mr_Diabolical Except for arcade, shmup, and fighting games, back in their heyday. People expected 60 FPS for them. Having only 30 FPS in their cases was considered to be unacceptable. The PC market didn't create that expectation, rather, it was inherited from the arcade market. And that translated into people demanding consoles to come as close as possible to providing arcade perfect experiences- which is exactly what Sega, NEC, SNK, and others prided themselves on.

@PlywoodStick Well Arcades are irrelevant now I suppose and you don't see Street Fighter V in the arcades so it isn't much to get an arcade experience when right now if I went to an arcade I'd be lucky if they had pac man.