Digital Foundry has presented its tech review for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on the Switch 2, with the latest generation receiving a pretty substantial performance update for Nintendo's newest console.
All things considered, it seems that this has proven to be a pretty positive outcome for the games (though one that, in this writer's opinion, arrived far too late), with visual quality and frame rates receiving significant boosts.
To start off, the games' visuals are much cleaner than before and, according to DF, "hold up well on a 4K television set". Shimmering has more or less been eliminated, with a solid 1080p internal resolution at play. Though not definitively confirmed, it's speculated that the game is likely making use of Nvidia's DLSS technology to boost the visuals slightly.
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Frame rate is also a huge improvement, running at a decent 60fps for the most part. There are some dips here and there – particularly during busy scenes – but it's a night and day difference when compared to the sub-30fps you would expect to see on the Switch 1.
Similarly, distant characters and objects now move in full animation sequences, rather than the weird, jittering animation seen on Switch 1. This can be applied to trainers walking in the open world and even the infamous windmill, which now runs smoothly at far distances. Loading times are also much better, with fast travel now taking on average between 3 and 4 seconds each time, whereas you could be looking at anything up to 15 seconds on the Switch 1.
A few areas haven't been touched, though. Draw distances are largely the same across both consoles, while pop in is also still a bit of an issue on the Switch 2. The Pokémon still aren't persistent either, so if you happen to leave a specific area, the same Pokémon you saw previously won't remain there upon return. Keep an eye out for those shinies.
Overall though, it's a much-needed improvement, and actually makes playing Scarlet and Violet quite a pleasurable experience when compared to the Switch 1. It still looks kinda rough, of course, with blocky textures and bland environments, but performance-wise, this is very welcome, indeed.