Video: Digital Foundry Puts Breath of the Wild, MK8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2 to the Test

I want to see how Zelda performs on the Wii U. I'm sure the game has improved since E3. I've seen the comparison videos between the 2 versions but it's not an accurate comparison as it's an old build of the demo. 720p, locked at a steady 30fps and I'll be happy. I think how the game runs in handheld mode on the Switch is how it'll run on Wii U. And that doesn't have any issues so fingers crossed that's how the Wii U version runs.

Just do whatever it takes to get dat framerate.

If Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have plenty of new things, i'm ready for double dipping. Well... better wait for further info.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE The Game Awards footage of the Wii U version didn't look very good, either.

Can someone summarize Zelda comparison? I don't have audio right now.

The obsession of those guys (DF) with anti aliasing is so boring. The majority of things they complain about in their videos (for every platform) are unnoticeable unless you pause the game and zoom in 400%

Anouma says they run the same. Is he wrong?

Just so you guys know, with Amazon Prime you can get a 20% off preordering games, so $50 MK8 is a bit better deal... 😐

@joealejos I mean... that's what they do. Obsess about performance. That's their thing.

@Megas I think it all depends on whether or not Nintendo adds more DLC to 8 Deluxe. Part of me thinks they didn't add courses to this one to save material for the ninth iteration. If more DLC is in the pipeline, I would imagine they plan on this being the Switch's sole Mario Kart.

Then again, two Mario Karts for one platform is unprecedented...

I have heard various Nintendo reps claim it will actually be 1080p 60fps on Wii U and that the hardware used in the events was actually based off older hardware revisions

Really wish they had just taken a bit more time to release a full Mariokart 9 release but Splatoon and Zelda look amazing.

@joealejos I agree that to the average person their analysis is worthless, but obsessed tech-savvy people really do appreciate this kind of stuff (if even just for curiosity's sake), and for those people, Digital Foundry does a great job of clearly breaking everything down.

@Megas I can see a "Mario Kart 9" on Switch but I don't think it would come out until 2019 or so.

Can't wait for digital foundry to eventually tear down a switch and really tell us what we are getting in there in terms of gpu/cpu.

I didn't even notice any changes at all. Like... what exactly are you supposed to be "seeing" when the framerate dips? Does the screen get blurry for a second? Do the images just wig out for a split second? Do the colors inverse? I really can't tell. Why does a single frame make a game worth paying 60 for? Or a new console worth the 300-500 you're willing to pay just for that? I don't get it.

Far be it from me to tell you what you should and shouldn't spend your money on but those videos didn't provide a good reason.

I'm a little confused about Mario Kart 8. The Wii U output at 720 while the Switch outputs at 1080. So, either the Switch version looks much better or it really doesn't matter (or at least is secondary to art direction). I suspect the latter.

Personally, having Wii U-like games on the go is more than enough for me.

Oh come on, at least try and summarise their findings as well as link to the videos

@Rhydas - no, a frame repeats itself giving a bit of stutter. But I'm not physically able to notice the difference between 60fps versus 59fps.

@joealejos They make more emphasis on texture filtering, and there is a noticeable issue, once you see it you can't unsee it. Look at the Zelda video around 4:49, when link walks, there is a clear line just in front of him where the textures are rendered and it's a bit distracting. I'm sure it's likely just on this build which is probably the same as the E3 one, but it is indeed an issue.

EDIT: That said, it bothers me on the MK8 video that they consider a single frame drop every 1 sec an "issue", something one would only notice when actually counting frames.

@joealejos Um, they are for the people who appreciate the finer technical details of the games they play. Don't rag on people for that.

I don't recall if they mention it on this video, since I watched it a day or 2 ago, but an additional benefit of MK8 is that it now runs much better with 4 players, better fps and resolution than on Wii U.

@JamesR @Rhydas I'm very sensitive to this stuff and can't notice it on MK8.

The detail people go into regarding frame rates is ridiculous. In fact, it's stupid. Just play the game.

This sort of stuff doesn't really matter to me... there's only two things that will be influencing my purchase of any of these.
MK8DX will depend on discount... I don't really want to pay full price for it when I already have MK8, so I'm hoping for a sort of cross-buy discount via the eshop.
Splatoon depends on balancing... I loved the original when it first started, but as they added more weapons it just because extremely unbalanced, neglecting some weapons and favouring others... as long as they can sort that, I'll definitely be getting it.

@joealejos Trust me, aliasing can be VERY noticeable and distracting, especially when there's hundreds of blades of grass on screen at once a la Breath of the Wild.

Those comment sections show how bad the Switch or even Breath of the Wild are seeing from a lot of people.

The problem with their BotW test is that it's based on version 12S, which is the Switch version of the E3 demo, not version 1.0 which was played by the Treehouse team.

Sigh... the nitpicking. You do realize we have brains which fill in the blanks right?

@thesilverbrick Those are not the type of people usually buy Nintendo home consoles. Even on my Xbox one I don't care, I play games for fun not to cross the uncanny valley and have my games look real. Yes it's nice specially with games that are meant for immersion, but I have had more fun playing Mariokart 8 then an assortment of games that look better.

Pc gamers I understand the obsession, even though I don't have gaming rig anymore. When I did I kept,wanting to max Settings everything!

Technically, it's too early to tell. With all consoles comparable (Genesis, Super NES, N64, Gamecube, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, Xbox and the others), it's usually after it's first year when you start to see the graphics capability that a system can achieve. Let's look at PS3...it took almost until Uncharted to see what the system can truly achieve, and even into the PS4, the launch games don't really show or tell much...this was also true with the Wii...it took a while (basically Super Mario Galaxy and Smash) to see what the system could handle. Super Mario Odyssey on Switch looks fantastic, and once it's released, could show the graphics capability of the console itself...Splatoon 2 may or may not, the cartoony look won't show a lot but the depth and what they can fit into it could. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe can showcase that the system's cartridges can fit a Wii U game and a half into it, which shows that it is a step up from the Wii U...all in all, it's still portable, which means the technology is still not that powerful, but the VITA even showed that it can be, and (maybe not this Zelda, but the next Zelda they make for it...if it happens) can show that the system can carry it's own weight. Other than that, this is a news article that is pointless at this time...especially with the fact that the system isn't even out yet and barely has any games for it yet...it's too soon to tell, and this article should be something that should come out this summer...after the release of the console...after the release of more games...after everyone gets to fully try and enjoy it.

This is pretty promising, the early Switch games already running at higher resolutions & framerates than later games from the Wii U. This tells me that the Switch has the potential to bring us some amazing games in the future.

This also tells me that a lot of devs were pretty pessimistic about what the Switch could do, possibly leading to false rumours of the Switch being sub-Wii U in power. Likely why some devs are bringing us beautiful 1080p 60fps games & others are bringing us basic isometric or low res messes. :/

@Thaswizz You're like me, but I would still like to see a variety of titles on the Switch...I know Sony and Microsoft exclusives won't come out on it, but it would still be nice to have the assortment of games for those two...that have not come out on a nintendo console yet...release to be able to play them on the 'go'. I guess it's nintendo's portable part that I'm looking at though, I don't and probably won't care much for the console side, I'll be playing it on the portable side instead (at least more so). As long as the virtual console is good and there's plenty of good nintendo-made games that are enjoyable (I honestly hated the Wii U games except for Super Mario 3D World...sorry to say, didn't care for the system, thought it could have done and been made a lot better if it sold a lot more), I'll be one happy person with it and won't feel that need to set it aside. I agree with the high quality graphics though...I don't care about the graphics (I own Ghostbusters on PS4 for God's sake and actually enjoy playing it with my wife) and I have many non-graphic style games...Pure Pool, Pure Chess, Hasbro, Monopoly, Rabbids Invasion and more on it that I play more than the others I have for it, and there's a lot that I own on PS4 at the moment. The only thing I want to see on the Switch is nice looking high-quality sports titles...Baseball especially, not a kid-friendly cartoony style look to them (although, I'll pick up Mario Baseball in a heart beat).

@DanteSolablood As long as 1 2 Switch doesn't sell increasingly well enough to get nothing but shovel ware. No offense to that game, but if the small party-game gimmicks sell well, we'll see more of that junk on the system than the really enjoyable games that could come out.

For those who are interested in/curious about framerates, maybe this video can give a quick overview and it is probably worth watching just for fun too :+).

@electrolite77
I'd like to see more content too for MK8 Deluxe, but hey, I'm just glad it's getting a battle mode.

The complete game with all DLC and a new battle mode with new battle arenas is a perfect fit for a portable console with 2 controllers built in.

I'm not a digital guy, but this one may need to be digital just to have with me at all times

I hope Splatoon 2 will be able to have 1080p while docked. If not as long as the framerate stays consistent then all will be groovy.

These games look impressive and will be fun to play on the go.

@2CUTE4YOU Maybe is just in italy but with amazon prime i got 2€ off and no 20% off

None of this even matters.I'll be playing the switch and Zelda about a hour after launch.

Mario kart 9 will be one of the big games next year. the team have had 2 years so far to get it ready.

Splatoon2, Mario Kart8, Lego City, Zelda...I FEEL LIKE I'M BLOODY DOUBLE DIPPING AN ENTIRE CONSOLE GENERATION!!! What are they gonna announce at E3? Mario Tennis Second Service? I..I...just don't know

@JLPick Agree these type of things as well as articles talking about how the Switch will perform in the future based on the launch games are completely useless.

It's practically a side step....

@Rhydas For my purposes, it's worth $60 to have a version of the game that is fully portable. MK8 is PERFECT for short bursts of play.

I don't feel like the WiiU ports are quite the same as typical double-dipping since they're not just remasters... the portability of the Switch already adds a ton of "feature"... and you will not need to purchase a much lower quality 3DS copy.

I know I would much prefer to have an updated MK8 available whenever I get my Switch, versus no MK for a long time... same with Splatoon if I were into that game, and surely Smash4 will get the same treatment.

It would be nice if the "ports" were less than $60 since a lot of the assets are being re-used. And as a favor to all the faithful WiiU owners that are buying the game again.

@Rhydas in these situations there trying to see if the new versions actually give us much improvement, which since this is a brand new $300 system it's nice seeing them compare it to the Wii U.

@dazzleshell I read that Arms is developed by the Mario Kart team.

@ZurapiiYohane64 I'm doubting the Wii U version new Zelda gets 900p. Considering how week the Switch is its more likely that version can only get 900p and the Wii U is probably stuck at 720p.

@holygeez03 Agreed, plus it frees up the team to work on different games. As I mentioned above, the MK team are the ones behind Arms from what I've read. Splatoon is an actual sequel though, not an update.

@Agentboolen Same here. And I bet both run at 30fps. Need to rewatch the trailer to see the framerate there.

@gcunit source? I remember a quote where he said something vague like they'd be the same experience but previously he also said it will perform differently, so what are you getting at? Something new that he said?

@gcunit Stat-wise, they may both be 720p and 30fps. However, that doesn't mean that the Wii U version can't dip in its framerate at all.

Oh and look at that, 900p confirmed for the Switch. Guess that "random Nintendo rep" was right all along.

@Rhydas There is a minor dip in the speed at which the characters or anything tat moves, er.,, moves. Still, when you play it is easier to spot as it can feel like a (very, very) small lag between input and action.

Go to the 7:59 mark and watch some dithering in the central part of the raising tower. The texturing seems kind of off for a few seconds. And this is in an smaller screen, cranking the video all the way to 1080p. On a 1080p TV I think it will look worse.

I'll wait until I see the games firsthand and reserve judgment until then. I will say that the fact that this system can perform this well at launch is pretty impressive - it speaks well to the system's capabilities and the ease of creating high-quality software for it.

@JLPick Yes I would like that as well, but I think the system will be plenty powerful and so far third party lineup looks great. Specially rpg wise. I Mean disgea! I don't even like the game, but that plus release of Dragon quest MMO(day 1 buy for me) and xi, atlus, from software( darksouls Trilogy All dlc hopefully!) , and it could Slow Down If It doesnt sale well, but I think it will do way better then Wiiu which confused most people of if it was an extension of regular wii. I would love to see port of New Rainbow, among others. All 4 my kids birthdays are in first 6 months of year so I probably won't get one till early summer anyways and by then information will be vast of upcoming titles.

Have you seen smd64 comparison video? Wiiu has better lighting

@Thaswizz At leats for the Wii U , Mario Kart 8 was the most good looking game.

Regardless of what DF discovers, I'm not paying an additional $300 to play Zelda. Until the console gets a proper Metroid title and Monster Hunter 5, that's all the Switch is to me.

@GrailUK Monkey! Don't be sad! Splatoon is a brand new sequel and Zelda is a launch title that you can also get on the Wii U. Then there is Arms, a new IP. Snipperclips!!! XD Xenoblade 2, Mario odyssey!!!??! Bomberman! And your personal favorite: JUST DANCE! And I guess more to come and more I forgot

@JamesR 720p vs. 1080p does make a difference, but it all depends on how far you sit from your TV and what screen size it has.

So far the new Zelda, Splatoon 2, Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart 8 deluxe look amazing as well Arms has got my attention and a title coming March 31 here in the states Redout is looking good I don't know about all the technical observations and don't care what I've seen so far looks more than good to me .

@ThainEshKelch This has largely been my take, too. I notice it when switching between resolutions while playing PC games on the TV, but rarely would I be able to tell whether something is rendering in 720p, 1080p, or something in-between. Framerates are another matter, where significant dips bother me, but even there, I would have told you instinctively that the Zelda HD remakes on Wii U ran at 60fps when they certainly do not. That said, I'm sure this kind of thing is more bothersome for some folks than others.

@Spanjard Ye, I am well excited for Arms! Punch Out evolved )

This it's so whatever. It is a hand held that can be a console. they talk so much smack about WiiU Zelda and didn't have anything really bad to say about the switch. they just basically nitpicked at minor things. What really was so pathetic, was that he was so annoyed with the Frame rate of Mario Kart 8 on the WiiU. MK8 ran very smooth to me.

@singingbrakeman WW HD ran at 30 FPS throughout the game, with the occational 20 FPS drops.
Personally I need a minimum of 30 FPS in order to be happy, as I have a VERY easy time of telling the difference..

@ThainEshKelch Good point. 30fps really ought to be the standard, as I recall feeling like N64 era games were a little sluggish even back at the time. The biggest issue is steadiness, I think, since it's having an immediate point of contrast that makes the framerate more noticeable.

@River3636 I didn't even watch video with sound , hate punks complaining. MK8 ran smooth with 12 people online, game was smooth!

@JLPick it would be nice if Konami brought 1 or both of its baseball games to the Switch.

@Thaswizz I didn't even finish the video. I called rubbish.

DF is a cancer in the gaming community. only focusing on technical aspects is not what gaming is about.

@DanteSolablood It is also very impressed for a hanheld. For a console, it is a bit too early to tell, but Splatoon 2 is really disappointing. I was hoping for at least a 1080p docked.

Given that MK8 sold 8 million copies on Wii U, Nintendo must have made good money from MK8 sales. Development costs for MK8 on Switch must be minimal, if Nintendo had any real idea how to shift consoles they would do a Switch pack with MK8 pre-installed for say an extra£20/20 Euro/20$ and see how that sells. Instead they expect you to pay £35 for Tech Demo in 1-2Switch and £60 for Zelda. Bonkers. No surprise why I won't be buying a Switch.

Even my die hard Nintendo loving mate who intended to buy one on release, now won't because the only launch game he's interested in is Zelda which he can buy £20 cheaper for his Wii U.

He is stunned by the price of the games and the peripherals.

It's good to see Zelda running visually better than the blurry version we saw running at E3. Not sure if that was because it was WiiU or just because it was an early build, but it's definitely looking slick, and a bit less like the "water color" art style of SS and more like a cross between SS and TP with a little WW mixed in (I'm partial to TP since it reminds me of the way my mind saw ALttP back in the day. Both had a very dark world in the middle of being rent apart and filled with despair versus the more colorful BotW that seems to maybe be in the remains long after the dark times had rent that world apart.)

I do think the focus on "only 900p" is a little exaggerated. It's a launch-day title for a new console that was ported, theoretically, last minute from a console of an entirely different architecture. It surely won't show off what the Switch can do any better than TP showed off what the Wii could do with it's hasty GCN port (+ waggle!) I doubt switch is a powerhouse given its need for mobility, but I don't think launch day titles are ever a good testament to a system's abilities no matter the brand. (Do we forget what the PS3 launch looked like. Those games looked BAD. PS4 games looked ok, but nothing like current titles. XBone...well those games weren't worth looking at. X360 looked like a beefed up PS2. Launch day games are always half a gen behind.

I have to admit I see zero difference between the two Splatoons. That's not a bad thing, Splatoon 1 looked amazing on WiiU. But I'm sure it's all Youtube's fault.

I think the Switch version of Zelda looks better in some ways but I swear the lighting in the Switch version of Zelda is worse than the Wii U version.

Have a look at the opening section and you can see there seems to be far less of a realtime effect coming from the various blue-green coloured lights in the room, and in particular, also pay attention at the end of that section where the large door opens to outside (around the 3:40 mark) . . . and you'll see that there is basically no realtime effect of the light flooding in on the Switch version, whereas on the Wii U version you can actually see the shape of the door-opening lighting up the area on the floor behind Link as well as his shadow being cast in that light-flooded area too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgT6KpNnILc&t=318s

Urgh. DF are a buzkill. I bet they are run by Buzz Killington.

@NEStalgia personally, Zelda seemed to have far less slowdowns on Switch and Mario Kart and Splatoon look smoother in the graphics department with better textures, making them look even more beautiful.

Interesting conversation about the Switch and its potential towards the middle to the end. They love it as a portable, but they think its under powered for a home console.

After seeing this footage, I am even more excited for this game!!! I can't wait to explore the world...reminds me of the first time I played OoT.

DF's videos are always interesting but im not that sensitive to frame rates etc to busy enjoying the game (Unless it looks like a bad stop motion video). I wonder how many people after seeing their videos slate a game or console even though they personally don't see a difference.

@joealejos I struggle to maintain interest while trying to watch their videos. They are even duller than hifi enthusiasts to listen to but cheaper than valium. I imagine they're tedious as hell to try and have a conversation with in a pub.

@joealejos I don't know about you, but I've noticed the hell out of aliasing, ever since the PS1/N64/SAT days. The N64 was the first console that turned me on to anti-aliasing. (Yes, Nintendo used to emphasize that as a major feature of their home consoles 20 years ago.) So the NS better have some sexy MSAA going on in dat trunk.

@Wolfgabe The only way that would be possible on the weak Wii U hardware is if they use various rendering reduction effects, like artificial fogging and reduced draw distance. (Which they are.) Even then, I think 30 FPS on Wii U is more likely. And there's no way it'll be 1080p on Wii U. It could be 900p at best, but I suspect it will be 720p.

Yeah, the lighting on the Sand(s)witch version looks really bad here. You can tell that they haphazardly slapped it together using the overemphasized bloom/blur lighting effects that NVIDIA hardware is so (in)famous for, by amateurs to their technology. By contrast, the Wii U lighting clearly has a more balanced spectrum, and represents the years of work put into the title.

Well, this is a conundrum.... Either the Wii U's lower resolution/frame rate/draw distance/anti-aliasing, or the Sand(s)witch's crappy, washed out, bloom-ridden lighting... I think this one's gonna need a patch job, folks...

@Jimmy_G_Buckets Yeah, same here. Playing Breath of the Wild on the go and getting slightly better performance over the wii u version isn't nearly enough for me to justify buying a switch at launch.

@impurekind Holy crap... The draw distance/blurring is awful on the Wii U, and the contrast on... everything is awful on the NS. We need an update or a mod for this already... Overall, I'd say the Wii U version is far more appealing, though. It has fairly good contrast that can be externally improved.

@tedko
The way I've always looked at it is, if I'm gonna buy it eventually anyways then why wait. Might as well just get it right away, enjoy the launch day excitement (come on, it is exciting getting new hardware day one).

Idk if portable Zelda and Bomberman would be enough on its own (who am kidding, it would be), but knowing that Ams and Mario Kart and Splatoon and Dragon Quest XI and Heroes 1 and 2 are all gonna be out by summertime, with and Mario, Xenoblade and FE Warriors by year's end...

Screw it ya know? Might as well, and for the same price I'd end up paying later anyways, at least I'll be able to enjoy the launch hype with everyone else and bring Zelda to work with me.

@River3636 I watched almost whole presentation of switch, it was quirky and funny at times. Love the fun they have, wish Shiggy woulda been there. I'm excited for future of this system, I see it being very well received. Third party looks great, joycons Look Amazing For Local play, portable mode, and no region locking! Potential is great

At a middleware price--say, $30-45, this would be fantastic. But no higher for 3DS ports. One of the more exciting things about the Switch is the prospect of more cheaper first-party options like we saw with Captain Toad.

@JaxonH yeah, fair enough. Maybe I'm just cheap, and I have never bought into any hype about anything, ever, since becoming a jaded old curmudgeon

I don't plan to get MK8 deluxe because I'm fine sticking with MK8 on wii u (don't really play battle mode) and I never got into splatoon. Even Mario Odyssey isn't such a big deal to me. Once Monster Hunter is on Switch, that'll likely be what convinces me and by then I hope to get another game bundled with it and save a few bucks. I waited to get my wii u and saved 100$ getting it on a sale, and didn't feel like I missed out by not getting it at launch. But hey to each their own.

@tedko
Haha ya, there's a lot of that going around. For me video games are a release and I try to squeeze as much fun out of them as I can, so one of my favorite things to look forward to is getting new hardware day one

I hear you with Monster Hunter though! Maybe I'll see you on the hunt when it arrives.

@joealejos "The obsession of those guys (DF) with anti aliasing is so boring. The majority of things they complain about in their videos (for every platform) are unnoticeable unless you pause the game and zoom in 400%"

I know, but what they do is big business in today's era, where many gamers seem to be obsessed with system spec numbers. I'd say that the only thing that bothers me about what they do is when people overreact to a petty result, one or two frame drops and the game is a mess.

@Ralizah "I mean... that's what they do. Obsess about performance. That's their thing."

True that.

@idrawrobots I'd even go for nintendo bringing back their classic triple play baseball games back. I'm still wondering why nintendo quit their sports franchise like they did...most were pretty good!

@Thaswizz It can't do worse than the Wii U, so that's one good thing. All honesty, I didn't mind the Wii even having a ton of shovel ware, at least they had a large library of titles. Wii U just struggled from the beginning. I honestly hope (and I guess it goes on if the system truly is easy to port to) that the games just pour in for it, especially since it's a handheld too...will be nice to have a large library again for a nintendo console.

@PlywoodStick I was mainly referring to the Switch version.

Is it wrong that I really don't care much for specs? I understand that they are crucial to making a successful modern day game console, but the Switch seems like a fine console to me.

Mario Kart is such a gorgeous looking and Splatoon is just so colourful i see the sequel being no different. I dont mind Zelda at 30fps but its gotta be smooth tho.

It's funny they were surprised at the notion that A is the default button for selecting things.
I mean, of course it's in a different position than on Xbox and PS (in the West), but it's been that same button forever on any Nintendo hardware, hasn't it?

Well since not Nintendo will be sending out 2 million switch consoles.GameStop has 1.2 million preorders. Does this mean the other 8 million units are sold too?if so that's a good start,I'm glad I have mine preordered

Just wondering if you people ever listen to what Nintendo has said a few times already????this is for the Nintendo switch version of Zelda. When docked it will run 1080p at 60fps.undocked it wouldn't. Nintendo has said this already lol

Not surprised about BOTW but MK8 and Splatoon are very polished. Not noticing the aliasing they are referring to in those games.

As for whether or not MK8 will be the only entry on the Switch, I think they will add more DLC but personally, I'm hoping for characters and retro tracks like Maple Treeway ONLY. They should save their original tracks for MK9. I'm still expecting that to be on the Switch but I'm fine with either route Nintendo takes.

@JaxonH Sounds good. Are you still playing Generations? I didn't touch it for a couple months but got back into it over the holidays. Is there still an active Monster Hunter community here?

It is true that better dev tools/kits allow consoles to be maxed out sooner but it still takes time. I waited a year to buy ps4 at then od of 14 and it took until fall of 2015 until MGS5 came out....which blew me away and truly looked nextgen.

We always get a lot of ports, and re masters in year one. It took a while to get the max out of WiiU but look at games like Bayo2, xeno, and fastneo that just look sweet.....so no I dont think launch titles will show us what Switch can do .

That aside switch looks like a WiiU powered portable which is pretty amazing, docked it is probably like WiiUPro...lol.

I think its a good start......one thing I keep thinking about was how Iwata said shortly before his death that Nintendo wanted to move to a more scaleable design platform and said more like Ios/Droid. So i think Switch is a possible new direction and their long term deal with Nvidia plays in to this. So a SwitchPro could eaily be possible in 2.5 years and be 1080/4k support their virtual tech and run all Switch software......so this could just be the beginning of a much better technology stategy for the big N.

@Rhydas you dont just "see" framerate dips. You feel it. Like the stuttering in bloodborne and ffxv.

If the Wii U can do Xenoblade Chronicles X at a very good 30 fps, it can handle Breath of the Wild at 30 fps.

Interesting, sure, but this is still focusing on the wrong thing. As long as the game looks good, the gameplay is fun and the framerate is stable enough not to interfere with those factors, then I don't care if the game occasionally drops a few frames or has some jagged edges visible. People put way too much stock in the raw power of the machine which is why Microsoft and Sony keep releasing high priced consoles that are just hardware upgrades of the previous generation.

@tedko
Um, I moved on to other games after putting 600 hrs into MH3U, 400 hrs into MH4U and another 400 hrs into Generations.

But I believe there is still a small community playing. It might be down to just a few players at this point but I think if you check the forums you might find a couple people who are still hunting.

At this point I'm waiting for a new Monster Hunter on Switch to be announced.

@joealejos maybe you don't notice them.

If you knew what you were looking for you would see these things everytime.

would love to see splatoon 2 make it to 1080p in dock mode. but 60fps is more important. either way this is going to be tones of FUN!

It seems that Nintendo pushed hard to get Zelda as a launch title, much like they had released Twilight Princess at launch for Wii. I think Nintendo will likely take some time to optimize it shortly after launch with a patch would be my guess.

Dayum MK8 is stable

Wish they would re release star fox with normal controls instead of the crap we got. I finished it but I must say with those controls it was a task to keep playing. A couple of adjustments and we have a great game.

@JLPick I think we're good in that department specially with region free, and host of 3rd party. Switch is looking hit new gamers, old gamers, and nostalgic gamers! So excited, then got people hating. And guess what Nintendo could literally make console after console for failure because they have billions, and their profit margin is higher then Sony n Microcroft, so they will be good regardless.

@Thaswizz I know they have billions, but if they would continue to have more Wii U's (like 3 of them in a row), they'd probably force something new. 3DS basically helped them in the post generation, but imagine if they didn't have the handheld market at all...they'd sink mighty quickly. Luckily they keep this in mind, and I think they learned with the Switch (since it's both). I think we're good with games coming over to the Switch, but it's still going to all come down to sales of the system itself...and with Zelda being the only good launch game until later on down the line, it's not going to see the greatest sales until the holiday season (when more will be out hopefully). I hope I'm wrong about the sales perspective, but I'm even going into the system with caution, not picking it up day one, but waiting until closer to the holiday season...the one game I was interested and excited with (besides Zelda, it was Super Mario Odyssey) and it's not coming out until next year probably.

All this talk about fps and power these days.. So tiresome. Whatever happent to just enjoying some games? You want fps and power then stick to pc and shut it. I for one haven't thought for a second on the fps in the game since I saw the first trailer, just thinking about how badly I wanna play it.

@Wolfgabe Comment #11: "I have heard various Nintendo reps claim it will actually be 1080p 60fps on Wii U..."

@skrax "these days"

More like for the past 20 years. And guess who started the fire of the console specs race?

Nintendo.

There's no point in fans defending Nintendo, we all know we are bummed out the Switch is last gen visuals, no one REALLY wants that. No one REALLY wants a weak line up.
Don't be a sycophant. You are a customer and you know you are not very happy.

@Benji_Nottz Nah, the NS definitely has better graphical fidelity, going without render reduction effects. Wide open fields with a far horizon and distant objects are no better place to see that in action. The problem here is that Nintendo is exhibiting amateurish execution of the NVIDIA hardware- the washed out lighting, unintelligent shadows, and faded contrast ratio are dead give-aways of BotW's visual touches being a rush job on NS. The Wii U version just has more years behind it. Future NS projects will look far better than this. Hopefully we'll get a graphics patch, otherwise, there's going to need to be either some major display settings fiddling or a mod...

@Rhydas It really depends on what range the fps drops at and how much of a drop it is. Also depends on what kind of scene you're playing through.

Say if I was playing through a thick foggy area (ie not many noticeable, defined edges) compared to a vast cityscape, if a FPS drop happened it would be more noticeable in the latter.

Or if a fps drop happened during a slow motion scene compared to a normal scene.

Generally speaking, I don't find small drops while in 60fps range noticeable unless I'm playing online (compounded with latency) or I'm playing some game heavy on slow motion or twitch action (ie shooters). As you can imagine though even a small drop will be very noticeable when playing a shooter online.

@PlywoodStick So would that mean that SE is also doing an amateurish job? I'm a bit curious on this since it seems DQ Heroes 2 also has some lighting differences.

It's too bad Zelda can't hit 1080/30 when docked...

Looking forward to 1080/60 MK8.

Does anyone know if Splatoon2 is going to have a campaign?

@PlywoodStick Well I've been gaming since before 8bit nintendo and while it was talk about the bits back then it wasn't ppl on forums swearing at eachother cause you liked something that they didn't and I could happily play my nes even if snes was out on the market. These days ppl attack others on forums and stuff even if the one who is bashful isn't even interested in the game themselves and they always bring up the usual power talk about how sony is best and all the fps and power talk. So "these days" it worse than before. And yes I know there weren't exactly forums around nes days but you get my point.

900p30?

My poor eyes....that's unplayable!

Right. Back to the Last Guardian.

So we have graduated from Nintendolife videos as articles to now outside videos as articles. Have you just given up on news and editorials?