
Ongoing rumours about Nintendo releasing a new Switch with 4K capabilities have got some people wondering what the company's current generation of games might look like on enhanced systems.
While it seems unlikely that ray tracing will be showing up on Nintendo platforms any time soon, a YouTube channel known as Digital Dreams has gone to the extent of releasing footage of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild running at 8K with ray tracing enabled, improved lighting and more.
You can see Korok Forest in all its glory, which is known to be one of the most intensive areas on the Switch, in the entire game.

Even if you can't view this in its true state, it's easy to see just how phenomenal it looks. There are some environmental details that you may not have even noticed previously. It's also got us thinking about what future generations of Nintendo games could possibly look like in years to come. The catch with all of this is that the game is running on emulation software.
What do you think of the above clip yourself? Leave a comment down below.
[source nintendoenthusiast.com]
Comments 156
I'm not sure if I'm looking at a Zelda game anymore... Like seriously... The graphics are impressive. Too bad they didn't do something about the draw distance as well.
Pretty unnecessary. All the continuous graphics race does is drive up development costs. HD is fine.
I’m also not worried about the resolution but the lighting is amazing, and I’d guess you need a decent resolution to keep the shadows looking decent.
I love the extra depth it brings.
Who would even have a 4320p monitor let alone one large enough to appreciate the enormous bump in resolution? (SIXTEEN times higher resolution than 1920x1080!)
By show of hands, who actually has an 8k monitor?
I’m going to be honest, I don’t see much of a difference between 4K and 8K, but that just may be my eyes. However, this seems pretty impressive.
Ok, that looks amazing!
NINJA APPROVED
This does NOT look better.
The assumption that elements of more realism = better is so awful.
Just plays into GPU manufacturers hands 🤷♀️
Honestly I don’t care about 8k or even 4k. HDR alone does far more for a games visuals than a res bump after 1080p. I compared RE7 @ 1080p HDR, and 4k no HDR on my PS4 Pro just to see what was making the bigger difference in visuals. HDR by a mile. I assume Ray Tracing is similar since they’re both about lightning.
@RainbowGazelle full agreement. No need for more cost for the sake of something as hollow as cooing over high power chips.
Yeah my 8K phone screen makes this look amazing lol
@Dm9982 I honestly think GPU chip manufacturers are starting to panic... It's now no longer about simple power. It's resolution (so just more real estate to render) and branded lighting effects (woopee) ... There's little more they can give us. Their profit loop is coming to an end.
It looks worse.
@RainbowGazelle That’s a fallacy. The more games are produced in 4K and more adopters, the lower the price of production. HD is ‘fine’ in the same way that 8-bit was ‘fine’. Moore’s Law clearly shows that the number of transistors has been doubling at a steady rate which wouldn’t stack up if there were set development costs as specs get more advanced rather than a constant motion of progress. An 8-bit game does not cost the same now to make as it did in 1980. An HD game does not cost the same now to make as it did in 2007. Star Wars The Old Republic cost $200 million dollars to make in 2011 and didn’t exactly look better than any other game made for a lot cheaper. More goes into production costs than if it’s HD or 4K.
@Real_Obsi 4K literally contains 4 times the amount of information on screen as HD. It’s objectively better looking. There is no argument to be made. If you’re comparing the same source both natively rendered at different resolutions, 4K will always look better.
I wonder what a good game would look like in 8K with ray tracing
It's got some extra effects but nothing too special. Still the same game.
@Real_Obsi yeah Nintendo stated this long ago, well Miyamoto in specific, said that games would reach a saturation point where it was hard to distinguish resolutions and graphics would plateau. We’ve more or less hit that point. The difference between last gen and next gen is negligible. Is there a difference? Sure, and you can see it, but the gap isn’t nearly as wide as from 360 to Ps4 generations. I mean in all honesty the only reason to upgrade to a Ps5 or Series X is to make 4k games run at 60fps.
Absolutely stunning. Just watched a bit of it on my 4K monitor and... just wow. What a beautiful game. Really hypes me up for the future of Zelda and Nintendo as a whole as time goes on.
Depends on what you're after. Sharper image are somewhat easier on the eyes and more realistic looking, but I prefer botw in the more diffuse 720-900p resolution, it fits the art design better. Super resolutions does nothing to benefit the undetailed simplified textures in botw, it actually makes them look worse.
@RainbowGazelle graphics isn’t just about the resolution though. Unlike resolution there’s a lot of room for improvement for things like particle affects, shadows and reflections.
Thanks, but I can't view 8K. My screen won't display it. I'm not even sure if my eyes will register it.
The art design looks great here and what it does at the moment on the standard Switch. It's gameplay is great, most importantly
Honestly, I really like how this looks. I'd love for a future console that could support ray tracing.
@Dm9982 completely agree. HDR and RT are far more important than resolution. I prefer a 1080p HDR RT than a 4K without these techs. But there's a visible difference between 1080p and 4k (if you can put 4k with all the quality)
Watched this on my 8K Tamagotchi and can confirm the Korok Forest is green.
@nessisonett in fact 4k is 4 times FHD, not HD (it's 9 times HD). In the case (HD, FHD, 4K) I agree, but I can't see a real difference between 4k and 8k, maybe at a ridiculous big screen, but it's not practical for most people (even if we're not talking about money)
awsome, this will make me roaming more
I don't get why this is impressive.
@RainbowGazelle you know hd is 720p right? A resolution that was used/common 15 years back or maybe even more.
These are always so dumb.
Instead of 8k, how about a playable framerate?
@Dm9982 I agree that hdr is the big jump, but keep in mind your ps4 pro doesn't do real 4k.
I feel like the jump from 720 to 1080 and 1080 to 1440 are pretty noticeable, with 4k less so. That being said I do want 4k in VR headsets.
The only change I see is that it's more noticable that the plants are flat textures.
I guess that in 2 generations time, this is the Port of breath of the wild we will get.
I would probably double dip
@Trajan The easiest way to see the difference between 1440p and 4K is to just mirror a PC screen on a 4K TV and bump up the resolution to each. Just the difference in clarity in the GUI is visibly noticeable.
Dont think nintendo will get ray tracing or 4k for a good while
@Trajan This is true, and I’ve noticed a difference between Pro and Series X for sure. Even something like Fallen Order looks much clearer on the Series X version my Pro, and def runs smoother at higher FPS. But we’re def seeing a plateau, just look at the “launch titles” of next gen - majority is multi platform, and for the near future most stuff is multi platform. Granted part of this is just sound business decisions - bigger install bases on previous gens vs newer gen. But still, the fact that they’re possible, and don’t run different from each other besides res/frame boosts tells ya that we’ve hit that plateau. And I’ve been around long enough to know that devs need time to adjust to the new systems and such, but I’ll eat my hat if at the end of this gen the character models look VASTLY different from the end of previous gen. I just highly doubt they will. Worlds will expand for sure, and on screen detail will expand, but how much can you truly take in visually before its overload anyways?
I think this says more about Nintendo’s cel shaded design- its absolutely timeless. Breath of the Wild, with just a little homebrew emulation, can easily be updated visually for many generations to come.
@Dm9982 I think you are right on point about graphics! Especially what you said about the plateau. But animation? Oh boy, we have a long way to go before we start seeing extremely realistic animations in games. I was looking in amazement at the level of detail in PS5’s Demon’s Souls, but dear lord it looks like it was animated by a novice at some points.
But man, seeing this kinda makes me want to actually try breath of the wild. It’s one thing running through vast, empty landscapes in low res, but wandering in lush areas, even if they are empty, is always pleasing to the eye.
NINJA APPROVED
It's hilarious that people think that putting a game in higher resolution makes it look worse. This is miles better than the blurry mess botw is on the switch in several areas.
When one sees this, it’s also stunning how far behind Nintendo games look. I’m actually kind of excited to try this out, and I’ve never played botw! Heh!
NINJA APPROVED
@BloodNinja Lol so true. We have come a long way in animations, but still have room to grow there. Especially facial animations. Oddly enough, to this day LA Noire, and Heavy Rain have some of the smoothest and best facial animations I’ve seen in gaming.
@Dm9982 That’s very true!
For me, higher resolution is the wrong way to go. I would rather see reflections in the water, and Link moving plants when he actually hits them, and not see objects popping in on screen. Honestly, this video only highlights the shortcomings of the game.
Imo HDR is where its at.
Seeing how Nintendo are way behind the other consoles when it comes to resolutions, power and tech I'd say we are 30 years away from Nintendo using Ray tracing and having 8k
I really am too old for this ****. Everything that looks impressive here looks equally impressive on Switch and looked equally impressive in what Wii U footage I've seen - the style, the designs, the layout and the environmental animations. The rest is just there - noticeable for 20-30 seconds before your brain gets used to it. We will likely get there in a couple generations regardless, and by that time emulation mod geeks will likewise attempt to wow us with 16K renditions. Yawn.
@nessisonett pointing out fallacies is advisable to do without entrenching oneself in others. 8 bit once felt limited due to related technology constraints (including limited palettes), but the artstyles that mastered it never became any less "fine" with the advent of more advanced tech and thrive to this day. Likewise, SD always looked fine in HD age until the industry's push for bigger screens started literally blurring the text. And video game visuals are an artistic component of an interactive fiction medium, they're first and foremost about WHAT information is on the screen rather than "how much" of it the GPU can cram into the screen at a time. I've beaten GTA 4 at 800x600, and its Liberty City still delivered everything it visually needed to.
@Dm9982 Generations are largely over. As consoles are just cheap pre-builts with a limited OS, I think you'll eventually see them become like PC. Instead of there being minimum specs, there will be minimum models.
@nessisonett the gui gets smaller unless you use scailing. Not really practical for how you use a pc unless you're also running it on a TV. It is clearer, but the comparative difference is less the higher you go. Obviously screen size comes into effect. I wouldn't want to go less than 4k on anything 55 or bigger for example. We're seeing the biggest push for 8k with tvs that are 75"+.
Lol at how offended people get over an experiment in what a game would look like with some bumped up graphics.
HDR and 60fps with a higher draw distance would make a big difference to this game but it looks amazing as it is and visually more pleasing then the likes of Assassin's Creed Valhalla despite its high resolution and increased detail. I don't feel super high resolutions benefit this game that much at all
It would look fine if it was 2k graphics it doesnt need to go further than that but hd is just as enjoyable for me
If only the Switch screen was 8k and have 19.5billion pixels per micrometer and cost £100 less and consume less power.
The hilariously poor and short shadow render quality is a constant reminder this isn't supposed to run at 8k
Even Nintendo Switch 3 at 2040 wont be able to run this. Knowing Nintendo it will run in 2035 hardware so for a mobile chip it will be near as strong as PS5
I don't really think it looks that much better to be honest. Perhaps even a bit worse at times. Some things look better, some worse. Though I'm sure if Nintendo were to make it for this kind of powerful hardware it would look good. But not by so much that it would get me to not play it on portable mode to be able to spot the difference. I'm perfectly happy with how it looks right now. The biggest improvement would be the constant frame rate.
I don't know... it looks impressive, but I honestly think that the ray-tracing ruins the game's graphical charm....
Thanks but no thanks
Mmm this is an interesting one. Korok forest looks pretty amazing it has to be said, but then some of the meadow and forest shots look kind of awful. Too bright ( all those rays of light are super distracting and wash stuff out in my opinion). But then the shots of the coast look great. Proof nothing is perfect?
With that said, I love the game just how it is, it’s like playing in a gorgeous fairytale novel. I need to take a moment after watching too to say that it can’t be ignored that the musical score for the game is simply beautiful! I haven’t played in ages but the music makes me want to set it all up right now and play it all day ❤️
@nessisonett It's not a fallacy, Nintendo themselves have spoken out in the Wii U era about the fact that games are becoming more and more expensive and time consuming to develop. I'm with @RainbowGazelle would rather have less technically advanced graphics and more games.
@Clyde_Radcliffe Nintendo are talking out their arse. This is the same Nintendo who are only just adapting their online code from 20 years ago. Genuinely, Splatoon 2 performs checks to clarify whether it’s running on Windows 98. If they took the time to actually utilise modern design methodologies and libraries, they wouldn’t have such an issue with moving to the HD era. If 4K games are so incredibly expensive to make, why are PS5 upgrades being given away for free? Why have thousands of other developers across other platforms found the move to HD and beyond so much easier? Especially the Playstation 3 with its horribly complicated Cell architecture. Nintendo are the problem here, not the 99.9% of developers, including indie developers, who created 1080p games without such a leap in costs and complexity.
@Real_Obsi agreed. The artstyle is a bit messed up in this 8k video.
I prefer the original without frame rate drops.
@Dethmunk I’m pretty sure PS5 4K upgrades were used ‘as an example’. Those same upgrades are available on ALL other platforms except Nintendo’s. Xbox, PC, Stadia... all have them.
NGL that looks bad.
I prefer how it looks now honestly xD Not joking either.
this is a big no. 8k doesn't really change the art style and ray tracing after effect doesn't look particularly good with the art style.
the art style works as is and making it sharper and in higher resolution doesn't always equal better.
This just highlights how empty and sparse Hyrule is.
One of the reasons i got bored of the game was there was just vast expanses of nothing bit flat grass and the odd tree.
That's not enough for me. I want Shigeru Miyamoto to create a real Hyrule in the town where I live, hire a bunch of actors to play all the characters of Breath of the Wild, and then let me actually be Link and really fight the enemies. I don't understand all the backward people who are happy with 8K. Why don't you guys go home and play your Atari 2600 and leave us modern gamers alone?
Friendly reminder that you're all watching it on a 1080p screen, so you won't see even the difference.
Some seem obsessed with resolutions and tech specs, when in reality very few people even care, the masses will buy the latest 4K T.V and still watch DVD's on it, as they did not buy it for the same reasons as more tech savvy people did, they just wanted the latest telly that fitted into a certain space, and the newer sets have very little else beside the screen, also the fact it's very tough to buy a T.V that's not 4K these days.
The jump from standard 480p definition to 1080p HD was massive, now the jumps are just not that apparent, even more so at normal viewing distances, which to this day most people do not observe, and either sit too close or far away.
Super resolutions does nothing to benefit the undetailed simplified textures in botw, it actually makes them look worse.
@RasandeRose More detailed textures for rocky cliffs and other static environmental features would be welcome, certainly.
I am somewhat surprised at the pervasive negative sentiment here. Do we really think that more graphical prowess would not benefit an open-world game like this? Even for a (wisely) cel-shaded game like BOTW, more subtle detail and lighting can boost immersion greatly, and would certainly not be less beautiful. Especially in forest scenes!
A few non-gamers have observed some of my sessions with this game, and their responses were all the same: why are the hills and mountains so bare? (These are mountain-dwelling folk.) A more properly forested Hyrule is a worthy dream, one that could be enabled by subsequent generations.
BOTW graphics are fine and this 8k is pointless. Gameplay over graphics please.
I would rather see reflections in the water, and Link moving plants when he actually hits them, and not see objects popping in on screen.
@r0mer0 I like your perspective on this. Such details would suit the Zelda aesthetic well. I did find that the lighting in the video highlighted the open ocean off Eventide far better than the standard game, though.
Yet higher resolutions would help the game, too - remember, this title thrives on distant views, including gigantic moving objects in the distance.
So yes, it does look a lot nicer with the smoother edges, no frame drops and higher res textures and what not. As you would expect from such a basic upgrade to power and resolution.
But it has lost a bit of the atmosphere. It feels less like a water-colour, less like stepping into a Ghibli world. The lighting is impressive, but it's done the game a disservice here.
@nessisonett talking out of their arse while being one of the most successful companies in history?
Ok...
@Octane My monitor here is, er, slightly more capable than FHD. I do see a pretty striking difference. I do think that a Zelda game enabled like this would need an overhaul in terms of colours and fine textures, because it does look slightly more Ubisoft-like and slightly less Zelda-like here.
I have to laugh at some of the comments here. "Graphics don't matter!" is just as extreme a position as the 1990s-style silicon fetish that Sony and Microsoft have long paraded. There is a place for LTTP-style graphics, just as there is for open-world forests with rich lighting...
Yet more fan rusbbish!
Did they add the blurring for any particular reason!
This just highlights how empty and sparse Hyrule is.
One of the reasons i got bored of the game was there was just vast expanses of nothing bit flat grass and the odd tree.
@Mr-Fuggles777 I don't entirely agree, Mr. Fuggles, but I do think there's something to be said for the oldest games in the series - every screen had a fair amount of stuff to do! I'm sure the activity per unit area was much higher...
Weren't there supposed to be eight divine beasts in the game? That would explain some of the eerily open landscapes in a few places...
"8K doesn't even look better!!" - a bunch of people who are definitely not watching in 8k.
Seriously, you're not watching an 8k video unless you have a ~$4,000 monitor capable of outputting at that resolution. If it looks different than the BotW you're used to, it's probably because of the lighting.
@Real_Obsi
GPUs are selling like hot cakes, so much that you can't really even buy them, at least not for anything close to "normal" price. Yes, crypto mining contributes to that currently, but still.
On the tech front, I 100% disagree with you. Things like ray tracing and global illumination are not "effects", they are tried and true base technologies that have been used in non real time graphics (e.g. CGI and animated films) for a long long time. They are about mimicking actual real light better. Right now, GPU and video game technology is actually at a big turning point, and is just getting interesting again, at least for me, and for those who understand a bit more about graphics than just resolution. We are just starting to see actually realistic lights and reflections thank to RT and GI, etc. And you can buy a relatively affordable PS5 or XBOX Series X to witness it without going bankrupt, and also get a lot of quality of life improvements over the previous gen. On the PC front, you can max it out, as usual, but GPUs are just way too expensive there, so it's really just for the very rich.
I'm also not a huge graphics dev tech wizard but my impression is that before RT, to get decent lighting in video games, developers had to deal with many complex and messy inferior methods. RT will make it easier for developers (I think) to get realistic or good looking lighting, reflections, etc., so development will be more streamlined and take less resources, so games can get finished faster, etc.
The downside is that current gen consoles are not that extremely powerful, and the new tech needs very powerful hardware at the moment. In the new PS5 Spider-Man or in Control, what you get is great reflections on mostly flat surfaces. There's a lot of room for improvement, so the tch is really just starting as far as I'm concerned. But I'm sure we'll see the best dev teams max the hardware out in the next few years, and the next gen consoles (I mean PS6 and friends) will be a big leap as usual.
With all that said, I fully agree with those who say that computer graphics is not just about tech, and despite the comparative limitations of the Switch hardware, BOTW on Switch is one of the finest examples of video games graphics overall, by just, you know, looking beautiful. Of course, it would be amazing to see what the BOTW graphics devs (and art directors and artists, etc.) could do with many times more powerful hardware, but that is just not the Nintendo way. Modders may understand their tech, but art direction and aesthetics not that much.
@COVIDberry it's probably just me but I got fed up traipsing around empty landscapes. If it had been left to the elements forr 100 years like the Lore said then why wasn't there more vegetation? Who was going around mowing hundreds of acres of fields?
Compare with other open world RPG's like Witcher, Amalur and Fallout - you can't help but get sidetracked on your way somewhere with either an interesting looking locale or someone giving you a side quest.
In botw you have rain that drags out climbing to a mind numbing chore and the same 5 or 6 puzzles stretched out over 120 shrines.
im pretty certain if this didn't have the Zelda branding it wouldn't have done 1/2 as well.
More workforce for graphics means less workforce for game design. Videogames companies aren't chocolate factories and their workforce and budget are limited. Lot of games have higher budget graphics than BOTW but very few of them have even half of the interactive possibilities with the world BOTW has.
Can't wait to see the game running at 16K 120 FPS with path-traced lighting.
@nessisonett Maybe because working conditions are terrible in playstation studios and developers are treated like trash. But keep defending the giant greedy megacorps that is much bigger and make much more margin than nintendo.
@Real_Obsi Ray tracing offers the flexibility of realism and/or artistic flair. It looks better than Nintendo's lazy lighting attempts by by default.
Nintendo don't have a clue about lighting and texturing so raytracing would really help them. I'd say this guy has more power in his PC than Nintendo have across their entire company - if only Nintendo would invest in up skilling their employees and in house technology.
Watching this on a 1440p screen lol. The only thing I'm interested in is the colouring, because it looks really satisfying.
However, I cannot stress enough that just because something looks more realistic, it doesn't mean it looks any better.
@BrintaPap
actually 720 is HD-Ready or Standard HD, 1080 would be consider as Full HD and 2160 is the so what called popular Ultra-HD that only 10% of the people have on earth.
@Dm9982 Yes you are right HDR would provider a major difference than resolution. Resolution is only useful depending of the distance you are from screen. The problem with HDR is the compatibility with devices. For example HDR on my Television looks like ***** compared to SDR. But when working with HDR material (yes my job allows this) on Apple XDR Display it is insane how much Dynamic Range you get.
But putting tech talk aside. Just like in my field, 4K doesn't maker the story better then it would be in HD. Sometimes the high Resolution shows how bad the set-design is. 😬
@liveswired Interesting view, even it is misunderstood how things work and when you consider that Nintendo are like the Godfather in game design. Remembering Mario Galaxy on a SD platform in a HD world. So yes, I would say Nintendo has more power and creativity making something working with limitation then just turn on a Render engine.
@COVIDberry that is the view of Nintendo Switch fans... They'll all be running for the anti depressants soon to ease their pain lol.
They don't like better graphics, hate the Switch Pro, hated the idea of a Switch lite, hate improvement, hate change, hate better technology... Hate life? 😭😂😂😂😂😂😂
God help them when Nintendo release a new system altogether. End of the world.
@Mr-Fuggles777 Yes, I cannot disagree with you too much here. The side quests, especially, were a bit too simple for my tastes.
I guess I should really get on with this Witcher game, huh? And I'll take your mention of Amalur as an endorsement...
@RainbowGazelle sure development costs may go up but I don’t see why that should bother the end user. They pay the same amount of money. In the end on switch we are about to pay full price for a 3DS port of Miitopia. There’s something wrong with that.
Also how much work is really being put into these Zelda videos being shown at 4K or 8k? Is it more work or is it just easier to do when you have so much power.
@gergelyv Well said. The knowledge base - that is, the population of developers who understand how and when to utilize the various techniques coming on line - is hugely important here. Technological advancement has not reached an endpoint for graphics by any means!
@Scrubicius Yeah I know. Still HD(ready) is still low as heck and used 15 years ago.
Honestly, this looks kinda bad compared to the real game (though I cannot view it in 8k). Shows that just adding effects does not make a game look better.
@COVIDberry if graphics didn’t matter Nintendo would have stuck with the nes when sega brought out the mega drive. Instead sega started to pull away and Nintendo released the snes and caught up. Then again neo geo was the real leader but so expensive so few people could afford them.
@nhSnork “fine” is subjective. I deserted Nintendo during the HD era when they released the wii. (Previously I owned every single Nintendo console and some arcade cabinets) but the wii wasn’t fine to me. Similarly every year that passes sub 1080p games are less and less fine. I don’t want a Mclassic. I want a pro or a backward compatible switch 2.
@COVIDberry the witcjer is good but way overpriced on switch, Amalur is due our any time now (it was £30 new at release on ps4 so should be somewhere around that price) and that's the game I would recommend - its like fable crossed Skyrim with Todd Mcfarlane's artwork.
@Scrubicius Well said! And you’re exactly right. I’m lucky enough to have a 4k HDR Samsung KS8500 65” as my gaming tv - though I rarely use it because kiddos. However most stuff I play @ 1080/60 over 4k due to the frame rate drops. Unfortunately I tend to suffer motion sickness rather easy in games, and the higher the res the easier it can hit, but frames/camera shake effect me the worst. So when the option between performance or quality pops up, like on Infamous or Monster Hunter World, I go with performance. I honestly hadn’t stuck with a game in 4k until I got my Series X because of the unstable frame drops and stutters causing motion sick flares.
Looks just as I recall it looked, what am I missing?
It looks odd. The high res just takes away from the hand-drawn aesthetic which is much of what makes BOTW so beautiful.
Does anybody know where can I find the music of this video?
@sixrings the talk here is about "fine" in sufficiency for interactive worldcraft, not "fine" in personal tastes and whims. And you're getting your Switch 2 in a couple more years - ever thought of checking back with your backlogs on properly 4K platforms until then?
man this looks like a completely different game, absolutely stunning stuff. almost looks un-nintendo like lol
Woooooooow that looks insane!!!!
@EriXz Whatever your computer screen's resolution is, that's the resolution the video plays at. It's extremely unlikely you have an 8k-capable monitor. If your screen is full HD (1080p), which is the most common, then the video plays at the exact same resolution as the original game was in docked mode.
Games like Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Minecraft (with official raytracing) or Battlefield V look beautiful with Ray-Tracing.
Zelda BOTW was never made with this stuff in mind, so unless build from ground up it will always look poor with these mods, I prefer the game it's original look instead.
@liveswired "Nintendo don't have a clue about lighting and texturing so raytracing would really help them. I'd say this guy has more power in his PC than Nintendo have across their entire company - if only Nintendo would invest in up skilling their employees and in house technology."
Not sure that's completely true, and we don't need another games company getting the public to pay for progression of the tech world thanks.
In this comment section: people who cry over their Switch not being a PS4 get boners over some neckbeard hermit's fantasy video. More at 11. /s
@timp29 The only one who gets it.
@WiltonRoots I almost spit my coffee out.
"who cares about the graphics? its all about the gameplay!"
It's absolutely amazing to think Zelda will one day look like this.
Wow. The resolution part isn't too interesting to me — very few people have 4K TVs or monitors, much less 8K! — but that lighting is amazing. Could do without some of the outrageous god rays, though.
This just makes me wish the Switch was a bit more powerful...
All these people raving about how great it looks, but honestly, it doesn't look significantly different from the stock game.
@liveswired You've got to be way more subtle, that's almost Mgene15 levels of bait....3/10.
@nessisonett
That's also a fallacy. Yes, the price for consumers may go down, but the price of the materials isn't strictly driven down too - it's just that the buyers and sellers are pushing the externalities onto other parts of the supply and consumption chain.
More powerful tech uses more non-renewable resources, it requires more intensive mining, it creates more emissions, and as the price is driven down, the workers in the supply chains are paid less for the work that they're performing. There are absolute costs to the continuous push for bigger and better technology using smaller and smarter computer chips.
At the same time, as we move to miniaturize computer chips, there is a point at which we reach a chemical wall: at the small size we're working with now, there is much greater chance of electrons going where they're not supposed to go - jumping from one location to another because everything is too close together. There are size limits to where we can advance the tech in that direction, and that limits the ultimate power of a device because there's only so many tiny chips you can put together to make the device more powerful.
The price may be driven down for better tech over time, but this is reflective not of just supply & demand economics but of the exploitative nature of capitalism. If Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, etc were actually paying the health, environmental, and fair labour costs incurred in the chain of development of their devices, these devices would be thousands upon thousands of dollars to buy. We're only paying less because the corporations are able to get away with bloody murder and we have to pay the price instead.
To that end, Nintendo Switch is the most environmentally and economically sustainable device in the 8th/9th generation of console video games, not on account of any sustainability plan (Nintendo as a corporation has the worst plan of the 3 major console video game companies) but on virtue of having the "weakest" device. There is a VERY good reason to stick with "weaker" tech, not just from sustainability concerns but also from supply chain availability. This was the whole point of the Game Boy: take advantage of well-developed, aged tech rather than pushing on to the newer and "better" technology, and make a device that was easier & cheaper to create and thus also cheaper for consumers. Nintendo has played that card for decades, and there's no reason that they should stop now.
@RandomAfricanGamer to watch it at 8k you need 8k screen
Might be that
Call me crazy but I think the game as-is looks better than this. The lighting is off where shadow areas look too dark, the cell shaded like art style is lost, this looks more like Assassin's Creed Odyssey which to me looks like every other game.
It's a cool experiment, but I think Nintendo does have its priorities right in the tech and art department. A more consistent frame rate would be good, but for a Wii U game BotW is still a technical wonder in my eyes.
@Dm9982 Thats a premature assessment. Its way too early in this gen to say the gaps small as we're in a transitional period of cross gen titles and developers still learning to use the new hardware and adjust their engines accordingly.
At the start of last gen people were saying the same thing you are now, that there isnt a big gap between PS3 and PS4 but shortly afterwards it became quite apparent that just wasnt true when developers got to grips with the new hardware.
Similarly, the gap between current gen and last gen will begin to widen as the gen progresses. Its like at the start of each gen everyone consistently forgets the lessons learned and the precedence set in previous generations.
Patience
@nab1 Agreed. BOTWs art style was made to accommodate the technical capacity of the Wii U hardware. By simply increasing the resolution without doing any tinkering with the lighting model, special effects or textures it doesnt look as good as it could and if anything makes the game look nice but slightly off as the assets were never designed to be displayed at such a high resolution.
@foobarbaz I disagree. The artstyles are agreed and created to accommodate the technical makeup of the system theyre on. Was HD a waste when Nintendos hardware was the standard def Wii? Of course not. Nintendo work with what they have. When Nintendo moved to the Wii U they adapted their artstle and assets accordingly.
When Nintendo eventually move on to hardware that has 4K and raytracing capability then again their art style will adapt,
We shouldnt rubbish or demean the value of great technological developments just because theyre beyond the capabilities of our chosen systems. Lets be objective.
@COVIDberry
I was writing about the resolution, I don't think it's a good idea to take the sharpness to an excessive level when the assets are not made with that clarity in mind, it just spoils parts of the design made to be blurred or diffuse. Its a bit like when you play an old game made to be shown on a CRT on a flat TV instead. And I consider botw to have great reflections and lighting model, I don't see ray-tracing doing much for this game in particular.
I would like to see better draw distance in Botw, for sure.And higher framerate too. But I don't see any reason to go higher resolution-wise than 1080p.
Maybe in 2027 when Nintendo releases BotW 4K.
@COVIDberry
That "emptiness" of "activities" are what I consider some of the best parts of the game. When you just walk the landscape, scanning the horizon for clues of where to go next. Such a great design.
@RasandeRose No it doesn’t. The lack of antialiasing and jaggies is very noticeable compared to the other current gen and next gen consoles. It’s hard to play a game that visually looks rough.
Cool but not needed.
@-Juice-
No, I can't agree it's hard to play because of jaggies. I hardly ever think about it, its a great and beautiful game.
I play and enjoy botw for what it is, Im not so much into spending my time comparing the jaggies to PS4 games, I prefer to enjoy the game instead...
@RainbowGazelle I disagree they need to get with the times
Impressive.
Most impressive.
Very cool. I do love the idea of a switch pro but at the same time the price could potentially scare people away in addition to the fact that they still haven't fixed joy con drift
Fans: We want to see 8k raytraced BotW eventually like this emulated version.
Nintendo: Coming Holiday 2034 for the Nintendo GO, Nintendo GO Fun-Size, and the Nintendo GO-F U, is The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild Remastered. Enjoy the legendary adventure of the Breath of the Wild with all new Orb Controller input controls. It has been fully remastered to render in 1440p and now in a steady 30fps with HDR for even more realistic environments. Included is also the new Breath of the Wild: Linkle's Tingle Adventure DLC pack featuring an all new side quest where you can play as Linkle and journey with her friend Tingle into an all new Divine Beast, awarding you Tingle's Tunic which you can wear for the remainder of the game.
The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild Remastered launches November 19, 2034 for the Nintendo GO, Nintendo GO Fun-Size, and Nintendo GO-F U.
@Cr4shMyCar actually a lot of people have 4k TVs (I do agree about how niche 8k is)
Even budget TVs are 4k nowdays.
As for monitors it depends, 1440p is the norm nowdays, even while a lot will claim that 1080p is the norm, but I count everything while 1080p is more popular with PC gaming because it's super easy to run at.
This is pretty, and my computer is chugging more than me on mile day in 7th grade gym class.
Jesus some people just absolutely hate this lmao relax
I'm betting you it's a next generation switch, I highly doubt they're dumb enough to try to keep it going when the power is not going to be there to keep up with the series X and PS5, just be silly of Nintendo to not have that foresight which I believe after the Wii U they definitely do. Not to mention the X1 chip is being retired from manufacturing so that's a huge sign they're moving on to a new SOC beyond the mariko.
I'm not a graphics whore so this doesn't really impress me. Give me great art direction over high end graphics any day of the week.
i don't even have an 8K TV so this update is useless to me. however, the updated graphics are nice. its too bad 8K video takes up way to much disk space. isn't the game currently around 2GB or 3GB in size. if it gets updated to 8K graphics than the game will be at least 12GB in size.
Looks great but srsly we just got into 4k lets not start pushing 8k
I would argue that the art style of this game is so good, that this makes barely any difference.
@RainbowGazelle 16-bit was fine too at the time. It's a myth that anything above 4k is pointless. Advancements are not pointless until your eyes and more specifically the ocular processing of our brains won't be able to tell the difference between seeing what's on a screen and looking through a window in reality. The DPI has to be very high for that and we're quite far from that level of immersion especially for large displays. For that we'd need something like 16k and 120fps with perfect coloration/lighting. We have a ways to go. I'll take good gameplay and steady high FPS over photorealistic graphics with boring gameplay and huge fps drops any day, but that doesn't mean I won't appreciate these advancements. The only reason the switch has these issues with FPS is it's crammed into a tiny mobile format that requires low power draw and low heat. It was a bit of an stretch by Nintendo but understandable considering how successful of a competitive differentiator it ended up being. Hopefully they'll give us flexibility to down res in docked mode this time around or use DLSS aggressively.
@ALinkttPresent I found the bait yall! There's enough to go fishing the whole weekend!
@Real_Obsi
It doesn't have to be realistic, more processing power can just as much benefit very stylized games.
Anyway 8k doesn't do much for a game that doesn't have an awful lot of detail like breath of the wild.
Ray tracing can be nice but on a game that isn't built around it you can also end up with a lot of scenes that look out of place.
@Dm9982
Indeed
Rather more Details, Effects and Colours than Resolution alone.
@parkerthon And I just find that anything above HD really is just a waste of time, money, and resources. How is any studio supposed to feasibly build large 8K or higher worlds without putting prices through the roof or taking decades to finish the games?! It seems like such a drain that could go towards other more important parts of the game experience, in my opinion.
I think one thing people are missing here is that frame rate and resolution are completely different from art direction. Having 4k or 9k and 60fps or whatever doesn't necessarily make something 'better' - just sharper and smoother. Zelda in particular is a series that has quite unique art direction and has rarely been 'improved' by having aspects of photorealism. I'm not saying this video looks bad - it is impressive. But I think our metric for what successful visuals for a game are needs to move away from technical specifications. It mattered in previous generations where the leap from Playstation to PS2 or whatever - but is far less relevant now.
I mean... it's fine? I guess?
I don't get the drooling some folks seem to have over it (or 4K in general). BotW is an amazing game, and this doesn't feel like it adds so much to the experience that it would make me long for it.
But hey, if resolution and stuff is what floats your boat, float on! Doesn't do anything for me.
@Dm9982 I thought Resident Evil 2 remake had some great facial animations as well.
Rock solid 60fps at 1080p is all that’s required in this current market. 8k is just absurd.
It worries me that nobody can tell that they completely missed the mark with the art direction of this game. It looks terrible compared to the orignal.
How can people be so blinded by numbers that they can't see this?
Goodbye all the personality the original had for more "realistic" graphics. Thanks but I'll stick to what we got. Most shots were far too dark too.
So does a big part of the gaming community have the immediate reaction to a game they like, "Cool, but what would it look like on a different system?"
@khululy Unfortunately I haven’t gotten around to playing RE2/3, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Capcom has long been great with animation and graphical quality.
To me, this looks no different. This may just be me, but it looks no different. This is still cool, though!
It looks the same. I will never understand graphics junkies.
It'd probably look better if they could bump up the draw distance instead of ratcheting it up to 8K which is imperceptible over 4k to the human eye unless you're looking at a movie-theater size screen anyway, not to mention that nobody owns 8k screens.
Having it be artificially high res but still having elements popping in constantly doesn't really make it seem better IMHO.
Rtx lighting is impressive, but RTX itself needs some work.
Nvidia needs to work on getting it to work better with Layered shading, Water, Fog, smoke, & Grit.
I keep seeing Devs remove grit from a game's graphics, to better show the shininess of RTX.
Are we going to keep seeing every reflective surface with less detail & more basic shading.
Are we goldfish? Should we get over-impressed by RTX making things shiny, when there are other aspects of it being neglected.
Don't misunderstand me.
I think RTX is a great concept. One that needs some fine tuning.
Breath of the Wild 2 will be delayed till 2022. Though not a "Switch Pro" exclusive, it will display a higher color fidelity on Nintendo's upcoming revised console. Similar to the differences of how Hyrule Warriors Legends appears between the 3DS & 'New' 3DS, but better.
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