Snake Pass hits the Nintendo Switch this week and we've already recorded some lovely direct-feed footage for you to gaze at longingly if you're still in two minds about making a purchase.
However, if you'd like to see how the Switch version compares to the PS4 edition then you might want to check out this short comparison clip. As you can see, the difference between the two isn't all that striking, which bodes well for future cross-platform ports on Switch in the future.
Have you downloaded Sumo Digital's latest game already? We've have a review soon but in the meantime, let us know your own thoughts by posting a comment below, and letting us know what you make of this comparison video.
Comments 107
I've played the first few levels on the Switch and it looks good to me. The PS4 version definitely looks a little nicer there but the difference is pretty insignificant. Much prefer the portability.
It's not a huge difference but you can definitely tell which is superior and this is from a small indie developer. A big 3rd party would really be able to push the boat out and show the difference between the platforms I'm sure.
Looks really good. The most noticeable difference is the forest in the background has the famous Turok Fog. Seeing as this game has a 64 vibe going on, I can live with that.
Well I've found the game super cute on Alex's video...
There's no argument that the PS4 looks superior on a few points, but nothing that would make me want to buy a PS4 and not be able to play on the train.
Unfortunately, I won't be touching this game because of how blurry it looks in handheld mode.
For shame Sumo. 720p native should be mandatory on the Switch.
Is it me or is the switch version faster loading than the ps4 version?
@tonyp1987 No, it loads a bit faster.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE thanks i thought i was seeing things lol. Hopefully at e3 we get new metroid game, new paper mario game, virtual console from wii down to nes, i am calling it star fox zero port, yoshi yarn port, mario 3d world port.
Got it on Switch and really like it so far. I think it looks nice on the handheld as well.
A graphical comparison for Snake Pass? Who cares? It's not exactly graphically amazing for either system.
Am I the only one who isn't head over heels for this game? It looks boring and I hate that snake's face. He looks like a bad parker brothers board game mascot. Or a cereal peddler.
As expected, PS4 looks a little nicer but given the portability aspect, I definitely made the right call with my purchase this morning.
Is it me or does it look really blurry and jarring on the Switch?
It's almost looks like it's not even 720p. :-/
I will choose Switch version then since I can play it on the go. Really great deal.
Some of the middle distance objects are blurry on PS4 but sharp on Switch. And is the Switch version running faster?
No argument both play fine
@SLIGEACH_EIRE in Switch positive comment shocker... Oh, it wasn't after all. Sorry!
@memoryman3 If you don't have it, how do you know how blurry it looks on a handheld?
Lol my dad's bigger than your dad syndrome. Really
It looks great. Does it really have to look as good as the other platforms. If had both consoles, Id probably pick up the Switch for portability because there is practically no large visual difference. By the way I do have a PS4 and I don't have a Switch.
If the price will be the same on both platforms I will prefer Switch version for sure, having games on the go is the key decision point for me.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE I wouldn't describe Sumo Digital as a small Indie developer.
Is there a nokia version of this?
I believe the ps4 version runs at 60fps. Other than that, the texture work, effects, physics and general solidness are all exemplary on the Switch. Its a really pretty game and runs at a smooth and constant 30fps on Switch. Plus, being able to play a collect a thon platformer like this is absolutely superior to only being able to play on tv.
So much Digital Foundry-like news and discussions
I really can't see a big difference, but it may be because I'm watching the video on my phone. I'm impressed!
So, basically the same minus some slight shader differences, like the distortion shader in the blue bubble pickups or the use of simpler "plastic sheen" shaders in Noodle on the Switch version.
I couldn't even make out FPS differences, i guess 30 for switch, 60 for PS4 ? Either way, if its 30 on Switch, those are keyed properly, unlike I Am Setsuna, where the Switch version just looks super jittery.
All in all, no real differences for the layman ^^
Doesn't tell us anything we don't know. The PS4 version looks better, as you'd expect. The Switch version looks very good especially as it was apparently ported in 3 months. Bodes well for future ports. That said, it doesn't look a terribly demanding game and the difference between Switch and other formats may be more obvious with more taxing games.
Looks well suited to a portable IMHO. But, is it any good?
Portability is an x factor
I bought this game on Switch yesterday, and it is really enjoyable, which should always be the major point. The difference on the background between the versions (Switch and PS4) is the only one I see and has no incidence on gameplay for this type of game.
Now it is a little blurrier in handheld mode, and we see the resolution difference between undocked and docked modes, but it's still a great looking game in both case for my money.
Looks great on both! No surprise PS4 is ahead of course but the Switch version is still a nice looking game.
If I could post a link to a better comparison video I would.. however not major differences apart from FPS switch 30 and PS4 60
I've heard that the time trial is missing from the Switch version, can anyone confirm?
@samuelvictor Interesting. I think I agree with you here. Video games shouldn't really be trying to ape film and television. The human eye doesn't work like a camera. In real life whatever I'm looking at is in focus, so if I want to look at a distant object it should be in focus, and if I'm not looking directly at it it doesn't matter if it's in focus or not.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE I can't tell which version is superior just by watching this footage. I can tell the PS4 version looks "sharper" but "superior" is not a term only related to graphics.
@Skunkfish just click the ignore button and you won't have to read the drivel anymore... worked wonders for me and I can read the comment section again, still have to read the responses of course but if enough people ignore him it won't clog it up as much.
Denser grass, more elaborate lighting and other perks to admire for ten minutes before the gameplay distracts you. And probably FPS, but it's not a racing game to make the difference consistently conscious. The usual.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE except there's not much further left to push the boat. We're at the point where the relevant graphical "gap" between platforms can only grow shorter with time.
I thought the Switch version was the PS4 version until I saw the controller icons. That alone is reason enough to go with Switch
Graphical discussions are always profitable for the site when it comes to comments numbers.
@Skunkfish Digital Foundry confirmed via PM that it runs at 675p when docked
This is the first time since I got my switch where I have had to choose which platform I buy the game for. PS4 for trophies or switch for portability ..... Switch won, will download later.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE I'd say a bigger difference would be how good a developer is at optimization. Sumo is one of the better companies at optimization (see Sonic All-Stars Racing Wii U). We'll probably see a much bigger difference from companies notoriously bad at optimization. Bethesda's Skyrim will probably give us a real good idea at that point.
Comparison is completely out of sync, and cuts out audio at certain points. Not a good showcase... 😕
A more jarring comparison would be NS vs. PS4Pro on a less than 4K display (higher frame rate) or on a 4K monitor (switches to higher resolution/graphical setting). Scorpio will likely have the same result. As noted above, the infamous Turok fog makes a reappearance here to hide low draw distance, and makes what already looks a little like an N64 game into a more "authentic" experience. (Not necessarily a bad thing, but at 30 FPS for a non-cinematic title? Eh...)
Well, it looks interesting, but this one is more of a "wait for bargain sale on PC" situation for me...
@chadir @samuelvictor Interesting remarks on close-distance objects, but in my opinion, it turns out that for the type of games I prefer the sharpiness of these close-distance objects to the sharpiness of background elements in the distance
@Sourcecode Sorry, didn't mean to reply to one... Still waking up. 😴
Now let's see how the ps4 version looks when played in portable mode. Oh wait.
So Switch is on the left and PS4 on the right....
Looks great on both systems, has some softness at times on both systems. I can live without the additional lighting shaders as soon as I saw the load time difference though. Switch was already playing the tutorial in the above video before Noodle even opened his eyes on PS4. Switch: It saves you time!
Downloaded this on Switch last night, just played level 1 handheld (was hooked on Has-Been Heroes which is oddly addictive even though it shouldn't be and Zelda the rest of the night), but it seems to play nice....glad to hear they're going to patch the rumble though, that slither rumble is kind of persistent Looks neat, shame it's not physical, though...I still need a physical copy of this in my life.
@samuelvictor Only in video games and art house portraits does shooting everything wide open at f/1.8 actually count as a good thing
@PlywoodStick 30fps is not bad for a 3 month port of a PS4/X1 game to a handheld I'd rather play this game handheld myself, and it bodes well for other UE4 games in the future. Keep in mind this was built with UE4 for Switch BETA as the final release is not out yet and is Switch's first UE4 game (using a beta build of the engine.) It's a nice start!
@NEStalgia Three month port? Try one week port:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/120840159?t=03s
https://mynintendonews.com/2017/02/09/video-snake-pass-developer-states-that-the-game-took-only-one-week-to-port-to-nintendo-switch-shows-how-it-fairs-next-to-ps4-version/
http://www.gamepur.com/news/25789-only-one-week-port-ps4-snake-pass-nintendo-switch-easiest-platform-develop.html
This tells us two things:
1. The NS can be a ridiculously easy platform to port for, and now no one should have any excuses for not porting Unreal Engine games in particular.
2. No one is capable of doing full QA on any title after such a short porting period. Updates may improve performance on NS, since what was released is literally a result of a quick turn around. (Not because of shoddy rushing, but because the tech is so receptive to porting.)
I think that's the really interesting story here. We should heed the comparison to other platforms with this context in mind.
PS4 for cross platform stuff. Switch for Nintendo stuff.Best of both worlds.
I dont think this is the game to really show difference between switch and ps4, it would be like comparin Mario Bros 3 running on original Nes and on Switch.
@memoryman3 I just played the game in handheld mode and it DOESN'T look blury at all. Clean your screen. It might be dirty.
Lol no difference with this game
@PlywoodStick A week? Wow. I'd heard it was a few months and we've known about it for a few months now. That's impressive!
The fact that they managed to get it up on the eshop on the announced day after whatever issue they had getting it up is great too.
That does bode well for ports. And again it's a BETA of the engine itself. Who releases a game on an engine beta on a 3 week old console? That took guts, and I'm glad to see it's working out well.
@Skunkfish ive been playing it on handheld mode and it is definitely blurrier than the video here.
There's a noticeable difference, but handheld mode beats ... anything!!
I've been playing Zelda pretty much exclusively in handheld. I'm too frickin' lazy to play things on TV anymore!!
TV is over. The future's in my hands!!
I don't notice the difference.
'As you can see, the difference between the two isn't all that striking'
I don't know what video you're looking at, but there are drastic and pronounced differences.
@ballistic90 @memoryman3
I just downloaded it and I concede, it is a little bit blurry. The resolution looks pretty low (540p?) and looks like it's using anti-aliasing that makes it appear more blurry. It still looks alright although I hope they can tweak it slightly...
@Tsusasi What are these 'drastic and pronounced' differences? The depth-of-field one is obvious but apart from that they look surprisingly similar (consider one platform has many times the performance of the other)
@Skunkfish The frame rate seems quite steady. Maybe they can.
@BJQ1972 It is definitely small indie developer with 270 employees on it ))
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumo_Digital
I hope it sells well on Switch and sends out a signal to third-parties that the market is there.
I have a feeling it will do pretty well sales wise though...
@Skunkfish will buy when it become physical on a cartridge.
@Kopchony I didn't think it was going to be physical on any platform? And if they were to release a physical edition, it wouldn't be £16/$20. Why not just get it from the eShop?
@Skunkfish Overall visual quality, richness of the color (Switch version washed out), texture quality is far FAR better, shadows and lighting are FAR superior on the PS4 version (nearly nonexistent on the Switch version), geometry obviously... the PS4 version is superior visually in a very noticeable way.
That's not to say it won't play well or be fun, but rather that the comment in the article wasn't even close to being true or accurate.
Looks good. Come on payday! Mama needs some eshop cards.
Is the right one the PS4 version? For me that is the one that looks slighty better.
@samuelvictor Yep. I think game devs tend to love playing with their digital toys too much. Every effect ever produced has been overused in painful ways. As soon as the "plastic" reflection shaders came out everything in every game looked like it was made of the same material as the WiiU. When HDR & Bloom came out every game had glowing orbs radiating from every surface. Now that we have DoF filters everything is set to have all the DoF of a Fast Fifty with a dead aperture ring at best. A pinhole camera at worst.
The idea of making it look like your average 23mm WA at a normal aperture setting, or, actual human DoF ranges seems not to have occurred to most devs as cranking every slider to max is more "visually impressive"
That fad will wane as the next toy comes out and we'll see more games with realistic DoF.
What's interesting in this game is while PS4 runs at 60fps and has the enhanced lighting shaders, I think the Switch one ultimately looks better if not pixel peeping because it has a pretty realistic DoF. The PS4 one has a veiled curtain at a fixed distance. Shot wide open AND with a close focus! It's distracting. Noodle really needs new glasses on PS4
Both versions run at 30fps. PS4 is sub 900p, Switch is sub 720p (docked). Switch has worse textures and is missing some water effects. PS4 has strong depth of field, but I'm not a fan of how blurry the distant objects are so I prefer the Switch version in that regard.
Solid result for the first quick UE4 port on Switch. Kudos to Sumo for putting their best foot forward. They deserve it for getting Snake Pass out on Switch alongside the other versions without compromising the game.
This game is awesome. I downloaded it last night. Does it remind anyone else of N64-era Rareware? Like it feels like something they would've come up with. Which is a very good thing. Only downside IMO is I wish it wasn't digital only... But still fantastic game!
The figures I'm seeing thrown around are 864p/30fps on PS4, 675p/30fps on Switch (docked).
Would go for the switch from what I saw. Don't really see much difference at times and having the game on the go is more important then the small improvement in visuals for me.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE and they'd also be able to push the switch as well, it works both ways
Not sure I understand the point of these articles on a Nintendo site. PS4 will always look better. This game isn't really demanding at all, so a little embarrassing that there isn't more parity between the versions.
That's pretty close all things considered. Add in the portability and I would say the Switch version is superior.
@BJQ1972 you're not helping their case...
Pretty ironic, the same folks that are downplaying the Switch looking inferior to the PS4 here were the same folks talking about how much better the Switch version of BotW looked compared to Wii U.
kermit the frog sipping tea
@gatorboi352 not helping their case in what way?
@Steel76 That sounds pretty low compared to how it appeared to me. It wasn't tack-sharp 720p in handheld when I tried it last night, but it didn't look like stretched SD either.
@Cosmic-K9 David Wise did at least some of the music AFAIK, so it actually IS a little bit of 90's Rare.
@NEStalgia That's true he did do the soundtrack. That's probably part of it, but I dunno I think maybe it's the structure of the levels and the goofy look of the snake and bird. It just seems to have a Rareware style to it.
@Cosmic-K9 Definitely, that's what interested me the moment I saw it, TBH!
@BJQ1972 if anything, with them not being a small indie dev, they shouldn't be having such an issue optimizing this game for Switch.
@NEStalgia Same!
@Steel76 Guy, I created an account just to reply you. At what moment of the video do they say that it runs in 475p in portable mode? I watched it all but I really couldn't find it. It'd be really nice if you could point it out to me.
be it as it may, the both did a great job.
Bulevur.blogspot.com
@gatorboi352 It sounds like they didn't do much optimization for PS4 either. It's running on PS4 at lower res than BotW on Switch and is certainly a less graphically complex game (and arguably BotW has big optimization issues of its own.) It seems like it runs at lower than expected resolutions on every platform, so I'm guessing it's a design decision in general, for whatever technical reason. Switch was a pretty quick port (I thought a few months, Plywood pointed me to a few links showing it was done in about a day) so it wasn't too optimized on Switch and turned out pretty much identical to PS4 proportional to hardware difference (and the fact that UE4 is still beta on Switch and this is the first commercial game using it.)
I don't think they're having an issue optimizing it on Switch, I think the whole game has optimization limitations given the budget of the game and the fact that it's Sumo's first self-published game (and they managed to hit their release date while the AAAs and 1st parties flounder around...), and Switch is pretty proportional to the hardware difference and time spent on it.
Not too into the game yet, just played a little at the end of the night after I downloaded it, and it plays very smooth and looks pretty on handheld FWIW. DF has a way of making things sound unplayable compared to how they look in hand
@NEStalgia Actually, they stated that, although running on low resolutions, the game looked pretty nice on all versions because of the high-quality anti-aliasing.
@Steel76 Okay, now I found it, but it was not on the video. It is interesting to see that digital foundry considered the performance to be fine, albeit the low resolution. It seems that anti-aliasing can really do wonders.
@Moon I'm not sure how you unlock it on PS4 but I've seen no time trial so far. (on 5:th level with three levels perfectly cleared.
I'm going to be pretty pissed if game modes are missing and no review mentioned it!!
I need a review of this game so bad, trying to decide if I should get this or has been heroes!!
@tonyp1987
If we get a Starfox Zero port for the Switch, then Nintendo needs to fix the controls. I don't care what Miyamoto thinks lol.
No question about it, the Switch wins hands down in every respect.Try carrying your ps4 to the bedroom or bathroom and continue playing or better still take your ps4 out in the car.
No time trial and no leaderboards on Switch version. I'm surprised no one cares about this.
@Meaty-cheeky i hope they port the good wii u games i skipped the wii u wasnt feeling it.
@Marshi Only the PS4 Pro version runs at 60 fps. The PS4 standard is 30 fps.
@PlywoodStick This is great news, Unreal and Unity games are so easy to port to the Switch. I am sure patches will come out for this to fix it up. But porting it in a week? That's insane and kudos for Nintendo making porting to the Switch so easy.
What's next an Angry Birds comparison? Skyrim Switch and Dragon Quest XI should be better benchmarks
@NEStalgia Yeah, that's the funny thing, Snake Pass isn't optimized on the PS4, yet the NS port isn't really any worse off, and somehow became better optimized. (Turok fog notwithstanding, although that's arguably a positive, since it imparts an appropriate environmental effect instead of using a somewhat distracting camera lens focusing effect on draw distance.) That's an additional wrinkle that a tech demo will not tell of.
@the8thark And apparently, the PS4Pro version only cranks up to 60 FPS on a less than 4K display. The resolution upscaling to 2160p prevents the PS4Pro from raising the FPS, because it couldn't handle that load. So we can see that the whole "play your games in 4K!" marketing point behind the PS4Pro is a little bit of a scam. Yet another reason why Nintendo was smart not to attempt a power play with NS.
@PlywoodStick Yep. I played it a bit more yesterday, all handheld still, and it really does play delightfully smooth. They did a great job, if they didn't carefully optimize it, with just eyeballing the spec and dialing it in sight unseen. It's also a really fun game. I feel bad it's overshadowing Has-Been which is also pretty unique and fun (if visually little more than a browser game )
Anyone who believed they were "playing games in 4K" on a Pro was deluded from the start. 1080 would be nice though I don't get how they're actually hard to find, I guess VR curiosity is driving it for now. Personally I'm not sold on 4k in general yet. For monitors, yes, absolutely, I love mine. For TVs across the room typically playing compressed, meh.
I also miss the point of "upscaling" to 4k in the PS4. Doesn't the TV have it's own scaler? Granted, probably a cheap one, but I imagine the console isn't exactly establishing new scaler standards either.
Seems the Switch version is a little faster. Great music by the way.
So exactly the same with a slight edge towards the Switch Oh yes, and Switch is Portable and PS4 is stuck there like an old brick under the TV. Yep, this is good.
@samuelvictor Guess who I saw popping up in the top-right corner of my YouTube recommended videos list...
@samuelvictor You're most welcome, man. Gave me a bit of a chuckle as well when it popped up.
And not too shabby indeed...
@Skunkfish Just like physical copies, when Nintendo will shutdown the eShop all games will gone but cartridges will remain. Have got this situation already with digital games on Wii. Still do not trust Nintendo online service.
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