We'd argue that, in its first 2.5 months on the market, the Switch has already delivered some top-notch gaming experiences of various types. Thumper can be added to that elite list and we got rather excited about it in our review, giving it a 9 out of 10. There's good stuff on the way, too, and recently we spent time with ARMS and became increasingly optimistic about its unique and quirky gameplay.
What those games, and various others on Switch, have in common is that they're delivering strong performance and 60fps gaming. We stated that Thumper and ARMS were buttery smooth in our coverage, and now Digital Foundry has videos and non-wavering fps lines to prove it. In the case of ARMS it halves the framerate when four players are brawling locally, but outside of that we're looking at 60fps experiences in both cases.
The videos are below, which also go into visual effects and resolutions. ARMS, unsurprisingly, comes out well, but credit must also go to Indie developer Drool for the impressive work it's done with the Thumper port, out now on the eShop.
Which Switch games stand-out for you, in terms of performance, so far?
Comments 30
Wow this looks nice
Yep, this seals it. I'm going missing when ARMS comes out.
Good thing ARMS runs at 60 FPS. A game like that can't run at anything less without ruining the experience.
So much switch goodness ☺️
These games need to be as responsive as possible, so it's no surprise they run at 60. Splatoon will probably be the exact same, at least as far as matches (and the single-player stages!) are concerned.
I really appreciate the focus Nintendo places on performance, btw. I can sacrifice 30 frames for Zelda or Xenoblade to make the experience more flashy, but not in games such as these.
Good thing Arms plays at 60 fps.
Me?
I'm so old school I only play at 30!
Oh alright, I'm just old.
Looking forward to Arms, although I have been since its original announcement.
Still loving my switch
i kind of like this trend. the 60fps trend too, but i'm referring to games being on everything but xbox instead of everything but nintendo.
another game to add to my switch game library.
Everyone always complains about Nintendo having bad hardware, but even though it is less powerful I'm pretty sure Nintendo have put out more 1080p 60fps games than most developers.
With the Direct yesterday and all the coverage of ARMS I'm really starting to consider getting this game, looks like it'll be a lot of fun
@Danpal65 I wish more developers focused in 60 fps.
So Digital Foundry are basically saying; put the work in and the Switch ports can offer just as rewarding an experience as on PS4 Pro? Can't wait to hear how well this is gonna go down with the non-believers.
All this info does is prove that if you put in the time and effort games can run at top spec on the Switch.
There is no excuse for things like NBA Playgrounds to look so cheap or for Minecraft not to function fully because Microsoft don't know what they are doing.
Why did he talk about input lag on the TV as if it is the fault of the Switch?
@Freek Actually, most old games ran at 60fps. If you go back and check most of the games running on the likes of the NES and SNES you'll find that to be true for most of the time; although slowdown was an issue at times in games that really pushed the hardware (but even then the games were almost always designed to run at 60fps until the slowdown kicked in).
For anyone who hasn't played Thumper yet, it's super rewarding and thrilling if you can handle rhythm. Get it for Virtual Reality if you can, but otherwise it's a perfect game to take on the go.
I think I'm sold on Thumper and ARMS
The amount of 1080p and 60fps we're getting on Switch so far is beyond what I would have ever expected, honestly. Very pleased to see people optimizing games for the platform well. I think it also speaks to the developer-friendly nature of their new chip architecture and the great development tools. Wonderful news all around!
@impurekind
True for NTSC.
But I live in Australia on PAL systems which did run a little slower, just like me.
@BJQ1972 He didn't say anything about input lag being the fault of the system, it's just a really good thing to consider, especially for those of us who'd simply never thought about it. Basically, if your TV is a laggy piece of crap you can just undock the Switch and play it lag-free. Try that with a PS4 or an ill-equipped PC!
Is it just me or does arms look way too slow?
@BJQ1972 He wasn't blaming the Switch, but highlighting that on PS4 and PC it played best (without that input lag) in VR. He highlights how playing in portable mode removes any of the lag, so that's a positive for Switch.
I have a pretty good TV in that sense so it's not an issue for me, but it's useful to play in portable mode for those with a TV that can't quite handle Thumper's quickfire inputs.
It's nice to see good performance on the Switch after all the rumors and opinions before launch. It's impressive that the MK team can launch Arms at locked 60fps just a couple months after launch!
I'm really excited for the games that may come down the road, when devs start pushing the system to its boundaries.
Great job nintendo and the wider developer teams for both these games.
Other gaming sites i less frequently check nowadays are full of spiteful fanboys slating the switch and nintendo, yet the platforms they soapbox struggle to deliver 60fps at 1080p across the majority of their game catalogues, years after release.
I understand that some may have a wider use of things like particle effects and aliasing, but from someone who owns all of this generations systems speaking objectively, Nintendo are delivering fun AND fluid titles for this new platform early on, and i expect they will continue to as devs get their heads around the tegra chip.
Nice. It's just a shame that Splatoon 2 is running at 720p. Surely, considering the Wii U's performance, as well as ARMS and MK8 Deluxe, Splatoon should definitely run at a higher resolution on the Switch. Or at least have some anti-aliasing. It has some really noticeable aliasing when it the battle arenas are shown at the start of a match.
@BJQ1972 He did not.
Do we lnow yet if ARMS has a LAN mode like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?
@ThatNyteDaez Um. We're talking about Thumper here, not Skyrim.
@gatorboi352 My point still stands: It's not always about graphics.
@ThatNyteDaez we're talking about Digital Foundry. It's literally always about the graphics.
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