Video: Yooka Laylee Runs Surprisingly Well on Switch Compared to the Xbox One Version

Playtonic did say the Switch version would be one of the better versions. So once the video process's we will see if their words hold true.

Well, there you go, so it actually IS the definitive version. Haters, put foot in mouth.

It's a better version than the original, so it might even be worth that "more expensive" price point now...

That's good but man 40 bucks? ouch. I would have pulled the trigger if it was 30 but 40? Nah.

Waiting for the inevitable "It's still not worth my $40" comments. Smh

Also from the sounds of it, this is just going into what is better graphically as well as performance wise. Not going into the changes in how the game plays or the small additions to it. So even if it is slightly downgraded from the Xbone version, it may be the better version to play.

Usually 3rd party devs would just take the lazy route with the Switch version. Glad Playtonic actually put effort into their port. -w-

We have to give them a fair chance. They are a new and small team and they need time to evolve.

Glad to hear that it's not another Rime.

I only have two words. Day One.

Damn thats a huge step up, in terms of quality. Yeah it doesn’t look as pretty but im more than happy if it runs better than it did when i played it on PS4. I will gladly pay 40...... as soon as this gets a physical cart.

Nice, but the price is still a huge turnoff in comparison to other and better games (like A Hat in Time)

@Joeynator3000 The vast majority of third party ports haven't been lazy though. This isn't the Wii U.

Doesn‘t look as sharp but other than that I gotta say, I‘m really looking forward to giving this another chance over the Holidays (well, it and a bazillion other games). Especially after having replayed Tooie over the summer, which explained where some of my complaints in regards to YL‘s game design came from.

@Switch_will_fail You don't have to wait no more: it's right above your own comment.

For the record: completely agree with you.

I know some people are complaining at those of us who always the price dropped and for it to be physical, but not everyone has the funds to buy brand new games all the time.

Personally, I am not a high earner and I have a family to support. Because of this I always buy my games either on sale or second hand, and always physical. Why? Because then I can trade them in and get more games for less.

Gaming on a budget is tricky, and the Switch isn’t the best console for this right now.

I might have to buy this game in PS4, even though I was holding out for Switch. I really want to play it though and will one day. Just gotta be patient and thrifty.

I'm still waiting on my Switch backer code to arrive, and I will get to this as soon as I finish Odyssey and Skyrim. Does one actually finish Skyrim?

I am definitely in the mood for more platformers and more things to collect after Odyssey.

@ThanosReXXX
So we are at a junction where we are supposed to pay more for optimization? Also, the game is boring and that can't change.

@ThanosReXXX It's not more expensive, though. It's the same digital, non-sale price as all other versions of the game.

@Kienda Exactly!

I only buy 1 game a month. That is the budget I agreed with my girlfriend. Sometimes that is the limited edition (NinoKuni2) but I don't abuse it. I also always trade my old non LE games in at Amazon for credit for the next one (xenoblede 2 was 13 dollars after my trade-in / Amazon Visa points) and check Amazon Warehouse first.

I'll play this but not at $40 digital when I can get the PS4 at $18 physical and trade it back after I am done.

I just want a physical version........has they say anything about that?

@Kienda Why are you on consoles? Build a PC and buy games for less.

@Kobeskillz Same here. If there weren't so many amazing games on the Switch already, I may have bit the bullet at $40, but with my current backlog, I'll just wait a while to see if it drops in price. But I know at some point I'll definitely get it.

@Joeynator3000 I wouldn't say the 3rd party releases so far on Switch have been lazy, far from it. Doom, FIFA, Rocket League, NBA 2K18,Skyrim, LA Noire Resident Evil Revelations and Mario v Rabbids are all top quality. Some will say "Doom and FIFA were lazy ports" having never actually played them.

@Ralizah I was being sarcastic, hence the quotation marks. I have little love for all those price whiners.

glad to hear that. the game now at "yes" for me instead of "maybe"

@ThanosReXXX Gotcha. I think some price whining is justified (as when games debut on Switch at a higher price tag than they do on other platforms), but it baffles me that people think they're entitled to a "bargain" version of an older game that's released on a new platform. Especially if it was extensively optimized for the platform, as with DOOM and (probably) Yooka-Laylee. It takes time and money to do that.

@geox30 No, that's not the issue here. The thing is, and not just for this game, that people are constantly comparing prices of versions of games that have already been released to the versions on the Switch.

From a gamer's standpoint, it's understandable, because you only have so much cash to spend on games, but that doesn't mean that a company should forego their profits, let alone their return on investment, just because YOU don't think it's worth the price.

The Switch version still needs to go through the sales & marketing cycle and earn its money so the parties involved can get that back, something that the other versions have already done for them, for the most part, which is why there can actually be discounted prices on those versions, but not yet for the Switch.

And in the case of Yooka-Laylee, the Switch version definitely is the most complete, with all patches and DLC/mini-games included, as confirmed by the developers themselves, and now it is indeed also the most optimized version.

That ultimately means that it is now indeed the definitive version in all but graphics fidelity, which is hardly an issue, as shown in the video in this article, because the difference is more or less next to nothing, especially on the smaller screen.

@Ralizah Exactly.

I noticed there was a bit of moss on the pipes that was slightly less defined than the Xbox version when I paused it, took a screengrab and opened it and zoomed in in Photoshop.

Preorder cancelled.

Wow, XBox still hasn't fixed the black level setting?! That's just shameful. I'm guessing they like that everything looks so contrasty and moody and, like Samsung TVs overdriving default colors to make consumers think it looks "better", but the black crush is unbearable and everything still looks so wrong. I thought that was a vestige of the X360 not launching with digital out.....can't believe they carried that over to X1.

@Kienda its not that im complaining about the price. I always want games in physical form. As an avid game collector i love having these games in a library that i can show off and friends and family can all enjoy due to lending or just browsing what i have. I payed 40 for this game on PS4 but i honestly always wanted to play this on a nintendo console. I absolutley think this game is worth the 40 as its a well made game. (then again im in the minority thats likes banjo-tooie more than banjo-kazooie.)

@WiltonRoots For srsly? Ugh, that kills it for me. I was interested, but lazy devs like this mean Switch will never have proper moss sharpness. I'll get it for my PS4Pro. Then I can get checkerboard 4k moss.

@geox30 You're supposed to pay the same amount for optimization? Just because the PS4 version is currently discounted does not mean you're paying "more" for the Switch version. You're paying the standard amount

@Cheski Yup. Not happy with their communication on this. Or rather the lack there of.

Definitely scaled back from the Xbox one version but looking pretty good. Seems to run smoothly.

Am I the only person who the horrifically painful derivative nature of this game with Banjo just utterly rubs the wrong way? It is physically aggravating. (Which sounds ridiculous, even to me)

@MsJubilee Thanks for the tip. I actually have a gaming PC (although it is about 5 years old) and if it was just me then I would not have to spend a penny. I usually only play Free to Play games on there, but Steam sales have given me things like Skyrim for about £6 which was well worth the money.

Having said all that, the reason I still buy consoles is because I have two children and a wife who are also into gaming, and in my opinion, nothing really beats the multiplayer of a console.

Nintendonis best for this in my opinion as they have so many family friendly and multiplayer games. Our Wii U is still in regular use because of all the great multiplayer games and the huge catalogue thanks to Wii backwards compatibility. And you can pick those games up super cheap.

The Switch is the future though as my childre can take it anywhere and play two player games on the go thanks to the two controllers and portable screen. And as the popularity grows the games will get cheaper on the second hand market I hope.

@Malcrash I think Yooka Laylee is more charming than A Hat in Time. Really want to play that game as well though.. Been interested in that one as well since it's Kickstarter..

It's kinda funny how bushes are generally bigger in the Switch version.

@ThanosReXXX Thanks for a great explanation why the Switch version starts at normal price first at launch!

@imacdvguy How exactly is it "definitely" scaled back? The difference is more or less negligible and in some cases, such as the narrative scenes, even look better on Switch because the Xbox One version constantly blurs everything in the background.

The only two clearly lesser things I noticed in the Switch version, is a lack of an animated background on that title screen in the beginning in the video, and in the tunnels/interior levels, there are some tubes that are less defined in the Switch version, other than that, there are only some minor differences in grass and shrubs, but that is hardly something you should be paying attention to when playing the game...

By the way, the Xbox version is noticeably blurred and quite ugly on many occasions.. It has higher textures here and there but many geometric details and lines are far sharper and just better rendered on the Switch! (just look at the bubbles in the duck's tank-suit-thing
Clearly they did a lot to improve the game! Very impressive!

@LittleLion You're welcome, no problem.

@geox30 But the thing is, it isn't more expensive. It's the same release price across the board for all platforms, and I quote:

"Today we can finally confirm that Yooka-Laylee will launch on April 11, 2017 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac and Linux, with pre-orders now available at £34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99 for non-Kickstarter backers in both digital and physical formats from all participating stores worldwide! "

This comes straight from Playtonic's own kickstarter page, so all that price difference nonsense has really got to stop, now. It has been thoroughly debunked, so it has no basis in reality.

The only difference is that the Switch version is so far only available in digital form, but the developers have previously said that they are considering physical, so who knows.

@Switch_will_fail
What makes you think that the Switch will fail, so much so that you have it as a nickname?

@geox30 Nothing, the name is a joke. I just like triggering Nintendo fanboys. It's funny af

@ThanosReXXX
Have you played the game in any platform? Did you like it? Do you think it is worth the asking price?

@geox30 That wasn't the issue, that's moving the goal posts. The whole debate was about the perceived (release) price difference between the Switch version and the other versions, and there simply isn't any.

If you didn't like the game, then that's an entirely different topic. Nobody likes all kinds of games, and even in genres that you do like, there's always going to be the odd one in there that you don't like, for whatever reason, and that goes for everyone of us, me included.

So, that's just perfectly fine, but there's no direct relation between a price point and a person's individual taste. And no offense, but to think that a company needs to adapt it's price point because you personally don't like a game and think it isn't worth it, truly is beyond ridiculous.

@geox30
No, no, this is a genuine question. I want to know what you think of it.

@geox30 I haven't got a Switch, or any of the current gen consoles, and my PC isn't up to snuff, since it's an old beast, so I haven't played it yet.

But having said that, that still wasn't the issue, since it wasn't about whether or not this is a good game.

I know that value is subjective. I don't expect any game developers to adapt their prices to my taste. I am expressing a personal opinion here. Why are you so touchy to a man's personal opinion?

The way I see it is, the original product was poor and scored low on the PS4 and Xbox1 and now its selling for £16 on Amazon.
The game game has had some work done to it to bring it up to the standard it should have been to start with.

OK the Switch version is not as good graphically but other issues we are told have been resolved. And so the Switch gamers pay for this fix.

If it turns out to be as good as the Banjo games and scores a 9 and has some replay value, then maybe it will be worth the asking price.

Still not paying $40. No way. Will hold out hope for a physical version I can get used.

So when you're actually playing it looks virtually the same, the problem is still that the game itself is decent at best. I played it at launch and I'm one of those weirdos who never noticed any apparent issues with the N64 3D platformers and honestly, if it had launched then I still think it wouldn't be remembered along the lines of Banjo and Mario 64

Bloody hate platformers

@Fuz: Totally agree. Plus, this version's portable. Switch wins. Definitely buying this on the eShop unless certain game reviewers I trust say there's still some big problems with the actual gameplay.

Still a mediocre game.

I'm really curious to see if this game is as bad as most people said. But will probably try the PC version, unless the undocked version is really good, which I don't think is likely.

Still can't wait. Looks awesome to me.

@audiobrainiac
It does look awesome. That is why people were exited for it and the fact that it is the spiritual successor to Banjo Kazooie from some of the people involved in the original games.

Is it bad that I have never heard of the expression "on literally some people's minds"? Does that mean I have been living under a rock?

I was expecting a bigger visual downgrade, it looks great on the Switch.

I was already pretty happy with $40 on the PS4, since I really miss 3D collectathons, but now I kinda wish I would've waited to play on Switch.

Good to hear. Still can't get it though. My wallet and time takes a huge hit in holidays

@Kobeskillz Give it time, it'll probably get to under 30-ish once it receives its first Sale Discount.

Can't wait! I am constantly refreshing my inbox waiting for my backer code to arrive.

the differences are negligible, but even on the xbox one, this looks no better than a 360 game in my eyes. If this was shown 5 years ago I don't think it would have wowed graphically.

@Grawlog
"If the game was a good game worth $40, only the haters would care."
Funny thing is, all the people complaining shows that there is still a big interest in the game. So unless they are all haters who love to spend time complaining about the price of a game they don't even want to play, there's a good number of people who still want to play the game.

They just don't want to pay $40 for it.

But as the interest is this high, there are per definition a good number of people who do want to pay that amount rather than wait. (Even though some of them might even be among the complainers.)

What's more is that kickstarter backers originally paid a certain amount ($21 for the bare digital version) for the game. That was a cheaper price than it would be at launch as thanks for supporting the project. It would be really bad to not launch at normal price from that perspective as well.

Really, the quality perception is a non issue with this amount of interest. A good number of people who aren't going to get it at this price will just get it when the price drops eventually. And the rest are indeed like you say, haters.

Sorry but I'll wait for A hat in time that game blows this one out of the water in my opinion.

FFS they didn't remove those ridiculous voices?? I can't play this game due to those awful voices.

"Nah nah nah.. ni ni nah nii nah nah nah nah nur nah nah ni nah"

@Grawlog Well, the game does justify the price, the substantial size and length of development completely warrant a $40 starting price.
Really, the starting price isn't determined by subjective opinions of people, it's determined by the size and cost of the project.

The subjective opinions on how good people think the game is affects sales, not (starting) price.

Lowering of the price and discounts are also mostly not because of peoples opinion or reviews (although those can definitely have an impact on price timeline, particularly for retail units). Instead lowering the price or discounting is a tactic to target other groups of consumers who are only willing to buy the game at a lower price for any number of reasons (yes, including their opinion on the game).

So you see, setting the price isn't done from a consumer perspective. Consumers look at it as a potential purchase, publishers look at it as a potential sale. The approach is fundamentally different. One is evaluating personal budget and the value of a product, the other is evaluating the production cost and value in different segments of the market.

P.S. If the game launched for $24.99, you bet backers would be even more dissatisfied. After all, they should have gotten a great deal as reward for backing the project. An effective five buck discount would be insulting to backers.
P.P.S By the way, launching at a sub par price on Switch would also be insulting to the system and to the game itself. Really, part of pricing is also setting the value of their game, and the standard for future games from Playtonic as well.

The big question is, will there be a physical version for switch??

From a graphical standpoint this looks almost identical. But maybe it performs bad and looks bad in handheld mode (hopefully not).

So far the biggest change seems the title-screen, wich oddly (and sadly) isn't animated.

@Alcovitch I believe there's an option to turn them off (and you can speed up the dialogue too).

@Grawlog Not a dev or ties to the game, if I did I wouldn't talk about it like this since I'd have a conflict of interest. I am simply good at observing different perspectives, although I do have a small background in product design and know a bit about marketing and product strategy.

Don't worry your opinion of the game doesn't sting, I haven't played the game myself so I haven't formed an opinion myself yet.

I don't think I missed what you were saying. I was just adding to your highlight of the consumer perspective with the perspective that actually determines what the pricing of a game will be. An explanation on why the game is priced this way.

From the consumer perspective of a certain segment of the market the product isn't worth the current price because the game isn't good enough in their opinion. Like I said given the interest there will be segments of the market that do think it's worth the current price, just as there are segments that don't think it's worth the time at all.

From a publishing perspective the development cost of the game justify this starting price. Regardless of how the end product is evaluated by critics and consumers you don't base your (launch) pricing on those opinions. Sales are certainly affected by them, but you don't base your initial price on opinions.

The comparison with Super Bomberman R is not completely on point, that game has a significant lesser amount of content than Yooka Laylee. That game will have made a lot more profit per copy than this game will at this price. From a consumer perspective the situation might have been similar when it comes to public opinion about the pricing, but from a publishing perspective they are totally different.

See how the different perspectives matter? That's exactly what I tried to clarify. The pricing is justified by the development cost. The sales will be justified by the quality (and popularity) of the game. And over time the price will change to address different market segments and according to the progress of the return on investment.

Release it on physical and maybe I'll care otherwise I'll wait for a price drop.

@Grawlog I honestly couldn't give any valid verdict on that, since I haven't played it myself yet, but the discussion was only about the price difference, and it's drifting further and further away from that, now with you adding that (in hindsight) it ALSO wasn't worth $40 on the other platforms.

That may be the case, or rather the sort of "general" opinion, or maybe people were just expecting too much. I am expecting a 90's BK-style platformer like the kind that Rare used to make on the N64, and I couldn't care less if the camera or movement of the characters isn't "modern enough" or in line with what people expect from current platformers.

I say this because that's a couple of the complaints that I've seen coming back time and again after the game released. For me personally, it needs to play and feel like those old N64 games, and if it does, then I will be more than satisfied with it. The game was also supposed to be a tribute to those classics, so it's no wonder that they tried to match that as closely as possible, and just gave it a modern paint job.

But for the Switch version, they did go all out: all the updates/patches, DLC and mini-games are included, as are the latest optimizations.

And if all of that is worth $40? I honestly don't know, maybe not, but I would definitely prefer to form my own opinion on that and besides: for the discussion here, it doesn't even matter, since that was about the game supposedly being more expensive on the Switch, which it isn't.

@geox30 You forgot to tag me, twice. Just hit reply and I'll see your comment/question.

As for my answer: I'm not touchy towards any personal opinion, you can read that quite clearly in my previous comments in this thread.

But what I definitely AM against, is complete BS. The discussion at large here was that the game was too expensive, or more expensive than the other versions.

The first one is not objective, and the second one isn't even true, and I've already proven both points, more than once.

It's nothing personal, so no offense was meant, but I just don't like people twisting tales to benefit their point of view or pulling stuff out of their nether regions that can in no way be validated or proven.

Was thinking of buying this, but after hearing the nasty 'voices', not buying it as I was highly irritated after just 10 seconds!

Had this game come out in the summer, sales would have been high,. However, releasing now with a high price, I just can't see that happening now with so many amazing games to play on the Switch.

@ThumperUK In the description on the eshop it says that they added a voice patch.

So glad this is finally out. Downloading now thanks to my backer code. Will play later this week. Give me something fresh to do...

Downloading now as a kickbacker. Wish I would have checked my email earlier at 3pm instead of 11pm. Lol

Kickstarter 26 US dollar I think back then. Once switch was the option I wanted that route.

@StarDust4Ever

@StarDust4Ever Yeah. Saw my email like at 11pm Dec 11th. Downloading now in a work camp. Kickstarter backer as well. At least the work camp has decent WiFi. Not to many people at this site.

@Ervex_109 they had a physical copy in the shape of an N64 cartridge for kickstarters with enough mola sent. Not the physical copy version your talking about.

@KTT thinking of getting an Xbox One S no games on boxing day. Canadian black Friday had them for 229 Can. I want to play cuohead and that rare collection disc. Battle toads and to finally beat her force Gemini. For stuck missing some damn "ewoke" people to continue on in the game back in the day.

@KTT At least I only paid like 26 US as a kickstarter. Downloading now. Have to sleep. Pile inspections come early tomorrow.

The snake is called Trowzer, liking the humor in this already!

@Terralico That was an Everdrive v3 with custom label. There is no intent nor ever was, to port this to N64. Rare's legacy really shines in this title. I almost wish they had a low rez "blocky" polygon mode so I could pretend I'm playing a bitd 64 game. It really is a spiritual successor to Banjo. So far for the first 45 or so minutes I've played, thoroughly enjoying it. If it weren't for the old 8-to-5 plant job, I would totally be binge playing it right now.