Video: Digital Foundry Tests Out Switch 2's Free Switch Game Upgrades

love the nice summary of the content of the video!!!! i need to try odyssey and echoes upgrades, but splatoon 3’s visuals now are to die for!

It's honestly just nice to read takedowns that aren't specifically going out of their way to be ridiculously negative. The upgrades are sweet!

I played Super Mario 3D World docked and had some pretty noticeable frame drops in the first few levels (3 person split screen)… just my personal experience. Probably was running in 4k though bc my system is set to auto

I'm developing a similar opinion towards early HD games as a lot of people have towards games designed for CRTs. I think they just were not intended to be seen at higher resolutions and many of them end up looking worse for it. It's a lot easier for me to ignore the original blurriness than the flat textures and angular geometry that are made obvious by higher image clarity.

Don't praise them too much, they might start charging us for these.

I did a run of Odyssey the other day. It's definitely not the glowup that Scarlet and Violet is, didn't notice a gigantic difference, but it was certainly nice.

@PikminMarioKirby Pretty simples.

Digital Foundry is owned by Eurogamer whom is owned by IGN whom has an advertising partnership with Hookshot Media whom owns NintendoLife.

The real question is, why click on an article clearly labeled Digital Foundry if it doesn't interest you?

@PikminMarioKirby Why wouldn't it? This is a news site and NintendoLife has never been shy about referencing other media sites.

Echoes of wisdom is gorgeous in dock mode on switch 2.

Playing bowsers fury for the first real time (played for 20 mins one time) handheld as i knew it was only 60fps docked on S1... and I like playing handheld too much it seems.

Brilliant little game, running smoothly and looks gorgeous. Fun mechanics and just a great mini mario experience. I am going for 100 cat shines having about 75 currently.

Bowser is a badass in this. I know I'm like 7 years late or something.

I'm going to get the upgrade pack for Kirby and replay that handheld when it releases.

I hope we get some free 3rd party upgrades. I know switcher 3 runs better already but still.

Digital Foundry are hardly fans of the Switch. They sound positively miserable when talking about it (and the condescending chuckles at their design philosophy is unbearable.) Why report them like we should be listening? I mean, the Switch 2 is better than what they speculated and still they patronise it. Remember when they thought Tears of the Kingdom was running on Switch 2? Absolutely zero appreciation.

Its nice that we finally got the Switch Pro!
These upgrades sound awesome and hopefully continue being free

I've been playing Mario Odyssey and in New Donk City its a dramatic difference. I might go back to Echoes of Wisdom now its performance has been fixed and they finally patched in a way to filter just the echoes you want to use

Digital foundry say not nice things. Hurt Switch 2. Me not believe them anymore..

@GrailUK

Don't be that kind of fanboy... Their criticism has been valid and not over the top in any way. Also their 2 hour review of the Switch was 90 percent praise with some well deserved criticism for the lackluster screen.

@XenoShaun

This is not how it works. Advertising and news articles in gaming journalism is completely separated if not labeled otherwise. Those connections means nothing as all editorial staff act independently from each other. Content creators and influencers might act differently, however.

Yay, free money!
The Switch 2 not only prints money, but gives 'some' back.

@Dunkin exactly. I can never understand being such a fanboy that one has to vehemently defend the thing we like no matter what. It makes no sense, and leaves the consumer open to abuse by the company that makes the thing if we don't give constructive criticism and demand better.

And yeah everything DF has done that I've seen is fair and reasonable.

@Dunkin I am not referring to sponsored or paid for content. Merely pointing out the connection they have along with them working together and being friends with each other.

At the bottom of this site they even have Eurogamer linked as a 'friend' that they share content with, alongside other subsidiaries of Hookshot Media. Two completely different things.

DF has amazing and fair articles. Shame some fans are wild

This is exactly what I wanted from Switch 2. Much appreciation for Digital Foundry, too, since I'm a fan of the tech side as well!

I sure wish I had that sweet naivite in thinking objectivity or games "journalism" actually exists outside of that very brief period between the heydey of print magazines and the rise of big gaming sites. It's all Nintendo Power. Nothing wrong with that. The information is valid and some articles are fun, but it's all the same few big companies putting up the capital and protecting their investments to make money off people who play games, while doing their best to mimick those few days of the small independent gaming blog. Just ask zombie Destructoid over there.

@GrailUK Did you watch their video on Switch 2? They were gushing about its energy efficiency. They were practically giddy with excitement at its low power usage.

It’s cool that Nintendo is giving out these updates for free. All the press as of late has been negative, MKW and key cards, especially.

Oh they were definitely positive here, as well as in other videos. I did feel they were a bit too negative about the lcd screen but the rest has been fair.

Anyway, this is good news. Haven’t had time to try the two Zelda games mentioned here but really looking forward to it plus Bowsers Fury and even Toad. And it got me back playing Odyssey which I am probably only halfway through from Switch 1 days!

So I am fine with no big new games except MKW as there’s still a lot of upgraded old stuff to enjoy.

@eldersnake @Dunkin Not a fanboy to point out the fact that they've spread misinformation and lies about Switch 2 or that the poster finds patronising or miserable. I often do too, even though some of their content is still interesting.

And by that logic you're being a Digital Foundry fanboy by defending them against criticism and criticising those who dislike them.

The update for Splatoon 3 is not major, but definitely noticeable. Since I still play the game a lot the update has made the Switch 2 more value for money for me. So in that sense I think it's been a good move from Nintendo to do these updates - I don't think they did something similar with earlier generations?

It makes sense this the S2 is more of a transition than a revolution. And they seem to realise that. Not to sound like too much of a fanboy, but I really feel we'll look back on the S2 in a couple of years as a great choice for its time. The current criticism is legit, but I do think it will become more nuanced with time.

Super Mario Odyssey surprised me with how nice it looks and Splatoon 3 also looks great.

Echoes of Wisdom is also vastly improved. Kind of makes me wish I hadn't beaten it when it came out, tbh.

@XenoShaun Digital Foundry isn’t owned by Eurogamer. They have an association. IGN owns a minority stake, but they operate independently.

@Yosher Don't praise the machine.

It's pretty awesome the jump to the handhelds native 1080p screen, makes such a huge difference. They're right it is like playing a generationally new version of those games, the legend of Zelda ones in particular.

Did anyone notice the second Mario/ rabbids game jumped from 30 to 60 fps on switch 2 as well, apparently that had been unlocked frame rate with a double buffer in place that held it at 30 on switch one, switch 2 has the horsepower to lock it to 60 throughout.

Also Dave the diver getting a free switch 2 upgrade "soon"

Support the good ones!

@Dunkin It's not about being a certain type of fan lol. More a certain type of person. I am just disinterested in this sort of thing as much as they are about Nintendo.

@GrailUK yes they lost all credibility for me when they had that built-in advert into one of their videos a few months ago.. and they have had to backtrack on a few of their early claims as other YouTubers have pointed out some inconsistencies

@Suketoudara definitely not a DF fanboy, I couldn't care less, but everything I've seen seems reasonable from them.

What misinformation and lies about the Switch 2? Please list them.

@eldersnake They initially reported that the Switch 2 version of Street Fighter VI was running at a specific resolution and that DLSS, an advanced upscaling technology from Nvidia, was absent.

It was later confirmed that DLSS was in fact being utilized in this title and Digital Foundry did not see it and also was incorrect regarding the resolution. Digital Foundry also failed to notice DLSS being used in the excellent Cyberpunk 2077 Switch 2 version.

Digital Foundry creates a follow-up video clarifying their analysis failures. They re-measure the resolutions of multiple Nintendo Switch 2 titles and reports that Street Fighter VI is missing specific features in the prior generation (PS5/XSX) such as deformation of the musculatures.

Digital Foundry was wrong AGAIN for essentially the entire video. Deformation of the musculatures was noted to be present in the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Street Fighter VI. Digital Foundry does not believe other developers' reports on performance for their titles and instead believes in their incorrect measurements.

They also pushed a lot of nonsense before the console was revealed that Switch 2 was only as powerful as PS4, less powerful than Steam Deck and at one point said it would only have a 720p screen. They used to be more facts based but sadly tend to be thrive on drama, gossip and hyperbole now like a lot of Youtubers. And for some reason people take everything they say as fact and the stuff above gets reported as gospel by other sites.

@Anachronism Good example. But I also feel with the rise of indie games theres much more tolerance for all sorts of visuals. Meaning there are games being made that have the clunky polygonal and flat texture graphics on purpose and people get used to it quite a bit.

That said, there's nothing like an old CRT perfectly hiding how ugly AF early PS1 games actually are!

@Suketoudara TBH as a retro games fan I don't get being all an*l about graphics, performance and resolution. If it plays fine I can deal with anything.

So yeah I think DF are overrated.

@Suketoudara interesting, thanks for going to that trouble, I was genuinely interested. I haven't been watching them for too long but the technical analysis stuff has seemed generally decent. But it sounds like like a lot of bigger channels they make some questionable decisions or leaps for views sometimes (like that built-in advert that was mentioned before in this comments section).

@Suketoudara why are several misreadings and subsequent corrections a big deal? Nobody had official information to have a perfect record on hardware analysis and estimates. Overall they’ve tilted the scales in the other direction with an abundance of useful insight and information.

Pathetic fanboys crying again. When DF brings out the positives about Switch 2, they still aren't satisfied. DF brings out positives and negatives in ALL platforms, including PC.
Wonder how these insecure fanboys, handle criticism in real life.

I normally wait a year or two into a new console before buying in to see what the failure rates and issues that arise as people play occurs.

However, I'm finding it difficult to hold off on the Switch 2 because of the backwards compatibility and improvements it makes to the performance of older games. While the price is a bit "oof", the only real thing holding it back for me is the battery life, so im going to watch carefully at what type of battery upgrades surface.

No idea where this concept that DF are Nintendo haters originated from. Go watch John’s review of Super Mario Wonder and come back and tell me with a straight face that this a man who despises Nintendo.

Super happy with these game updates. I hope to see a couple more. Pikmin 4 and Luigi’s Mansion 3 seem ideal candidates for the 60fps treatment. Maybe a resolution boost for Metroid Prime Remastered and Dread too.

Isn't the reason that link's awakening had bad preformance is because there was a memory leak. Kinda sad that they only fixed it for switch 2.

@Stormcloudlive Mario and Rabbids games are super fun. Loved those.

Fantastic, just one possible complaint: I wasn’t so happy to hear that they’ve reduced the depth-of-field / tilt-shift effect on the two Zelda games. Could spoil the games a bit like the bloom spoiled Wind Waker HD.

@Tangerine Bowser's Fury really is a great little add on isn't it?

Seems quite experimental but I really loved it. Nice to hear it is even better now.

Even with a graph showing me exactly when it's happening, I still can't tell the difference between 30 fps and 60 fps

"one of the most exciting things with the launch of the switch 2, for me personally, has been the update of original switch games... Nintendo has been surprisingly generous... and the results are honestly AWESOME!"

the anti-Nintendo bile and filth just never stops spewing from this monster's mouth.

@Lizuka Scarlet and Violet were bigger glowups on Switch 2 than Odyssey because Odyssey already ran and looked great on Switch 1.

The Digital Foundry outrage is pretty insecure. I love Switch 2 and don’t have any major complaints, but DF does this for a living and knows what they’re talking about. Their analysis doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the device. No piece of tech from a mega corporation should be above scrutiny.

@Cakefish Or any Nintendo review with John in it. The man loves and respects the love and care that goes into those games.

But I guess you can say that Nintendo hate from DF comes from Alex… The man seem to very dislike everything not Master Race PC 🤣

@Anachronism “ think they just were not intended to be seen at higher resolutions and many of them end up looking worse for it.”

I think that depends on the game and whether or not the developers had the foresight for what games would look like running on better hardware.

There are a of HD games, mainly ones that was designed to end up on PC, that truly shine with higher resolution.

I don’t think when Nintendo was developing Super Mario 3D World or Super Mario deluxe they was planning on have it run at 4k. They probably were never planning on porting it from the WiiU. They would have stayed locked to it 720p resolution for all of time.

@Exerion76
Thank you.

@GrailUK “ Remember when they thought Tears of the Kingdom was running on Switch 2?”

That was a fair assumptions… We were in the peak of Switch Pro/Switch 2 rumors. Given everything we’ve had learned so far… The Switch 2 was definitely in development and the game was probably a test bed for the system.

I mean… The only reason we gotten the Switch 2 when we did was cause Nintendo was purposefully delaying it.

@AverageGamer Fair assumptions based on rumour...

...have...have you heard yourself...?

They lost all credibility when saying Switch 2 only power scale of PS4 when in-fact alot of Youtube video pointed out their mistakes but they never fixed this. And same breath say Steam is a powerful as XBoxS-what are they smoking here. XBoxS blows steam out of the house there is no comparisons to be had here. So they are only opinion pieces and this is why their so called reviews or journalism are already biased to started with. DF is sending their own the the slaughter and NL is part of their cheerleading squad not questioning what narrative are they spouting about as it's already know they are a Sony fanbase opinion piece to start with.

@Dunkin @GrailUK is an enthusiastic fan, enjoying their gaming, not a fanboy. I will confess I do not click or watch any of DFs videos, but I have a dislike of them, and it comes directly from @NintendoLife articles and particularly the headlines they use, I have a negative perception of them from that. Obviously this article is an exception, it’s a positive article with a positive headline and tagline. Not everything has to be perfect and nobody is pretending all is well and rosy. But my negative feelings towards DF, justified or not, come from here, and maybe that’s the same for @GrailUK, I don’t know

@AmplifyMJ Yep. When I'm loving a game then a DF article pops up moaning about how many pixels and frames, it's all a bit of a downer for me

@GrailUK Do you know what assumptions means?

I have no opinion either way but simply wish that DF wasn’t the only “source of truth”. Other outlets don’t do their own research (even if they come to the same conclusion, I don’t care) and just repeat what DF says nor does DF interview Nintendo/original sources to get dev or engineer viewpoint. It is impossible to remove bias with anything reported by a human so better to have multiple independent analysis sources. And if they want to be taken seriously, peer review.

@AverageGamer Stuff accepted as true withour proof. Yep. Those things that make asses out of people or something. Not cool if folk are going to cite them as "experts".

@GrailUK

Dude it was John and Oliver who did this little thing. Those two dudes are Nintendo heads. Oliver’s room is literally designed to look like a GameCube.

You’re thinking about Alex. Who is a downer on Nintendo because he’s a downer on anything that isn’t a 3000 dollar gaming rig.

Rich is… well he’s a grumpy old man. But he’s also a veteran of Sega (he was an editor for Sega Saturn magazine back in the 90s) but he doesn’t really hate anything.

@OrtadragoonX Fair enough. Look, they aren't my cup of tea is all. And it's a shame folk take what they say as ammo for putting others down. Which doesn't help me like them lol.

@GrailUK

Trust me I get it. They’ve gotten plenty of stuff wrong over the years and I personally think, despite being a huge fan of DF and their mission, their Switch 2 coverage had some flaws and they jumped the gun too much on several occasions. Biggest thing being I really think they underestimated its performance.

@GrailUK ‘Video: Digital Foundry Tests Out Switch 2's Free Switch Game Upgrades’ and the tagline, ‘Here’s the verdict…’ If they’d crapped all over it, we’d definitely have known without ever having to click 😅 weird, I know how journalism works, I know the tricks and the tactics, but still… this is NintendoLife, sometimes it just doesn’t feel like it 🤷

@AmplifyMJ I’ve talked about this with you and seen what happens when I go into detail about this on this site…things have changed around here man!

@Suketoudara Nintendo wouldn’t give them a console and a game to look over so they were just making educated guesses based on the same videos we all got. And they made that clearly known. It’s on Nintendo for hiding their hardware and software to these media outlets.

@GrailUK that’s on you for having your emotions swayed because someone else points out a flaw. Everything isn’t rainbows.

@sixrings What's on me? I'm not losing sleep over thinking a Youtube channel is rubbish lol. My emotions aren't being swayed. I find them boring (even when they talk about something they love.)

I just hope other companies patch their games up and they don't all just move on.

@GrailUK "how dare you not like the things WE like!"

To be fair I find them incredibly dull myself...handy to stick on if you're trying to get some kip.

F-Zero 99 1440p 120hz, when?

So we like Digital Foundry again now? Three cheers for Digital Foundry. Hip hip, hurrah!!

I need to ask for a couple of days off to actually watch a DF video.

sarcasm on
Would love to know what Michael Pachter thinks. Been a few years since his name has been thrown around.

Are these upgrades free or do you need Nintendo Online?

Skyrim; that dlss stuff is obvious!

Resident Evil revelations (most hours Inhave played niw, since 3DS multiplayer sessions).

Switch 2 upgrades are so worthwhile.
Most do not seem to be explored or catalogued.

I attempted to look at Skyrim a 'bit' here.
https://youtu.be/pTM3wUTzy-M

Hope I am right that Ninty release a firmeare that allows handheld mode to run orig switch games like they are docked.. (resolution match up to the screen)
DF takedown on switch 2 screen is with awareness of strengths and weaknesses of IPS LCDs vs OLED etc.. they intentionally (and misleadingly) refer to earlier Switch consoles in ways that suggests a grim picture of the Switch 2 screen.

the same video above, with a few errors mentioning the Legion Go screen as 120hz (not 144hz), is with fair screen tech comparison.

I use mostly ONLY flagship /reference OLED (calibrated); if Inuse LCD, I opt for colour accurate IPS.

Switch 2 screen is awesome, and a firmeare update to how the console handles Switch 1 titles will improve render to screen timings.. (in time).
we all know Ninty give A LOT via firmware updates (eg bluetooth audio); the screen on the Switch 2 has been poorly reported on.

that being said; I have the so called superior 'warm colour profile' LCD is my take . (DF and hardware unbixed had cool colour gamut samples that are measuring, in present firmware, 'worse'

@GrailUK They are not disinterested in Nintendo. Ollie and John are very interested in bith the hardware and software. Thats two out of four in the team. There's only really obe person that's could be described as disinterested, and he's usually not in any of the Nintendo focused videos. I don't really notice the lack of responsiveness in the screen myself, but it's still interesting to understand the tech behind the machine. Like how they in a recent video pointed out that this is an issue that Nintendo might be able to make better without changing the screen used, because it seems like some of the problems is just a calibration issue.

@Dunkin Digital Foundry, I'm afraid, are not fair and reasonable. They are however, reputable. They are truly experts in what they do, but they come off of a bit biased from time to time, especially when they don't insure that their messaging is clear. For instance, they weren't referencing to the switch screen itself being an issue but rather how it's run, and suggested that it could use a firmware update, but many have interpreted their take to mean that the switch screen is sub par. They are yet to clarify themselves.

@CircuitWrangler3 They talked more about that solution in their latest DF Direct. So the possible solution is adressed.

Fun police here to tell you if your choice of fun is valid or not.
God I hate DF.
The review being positive or not is irrelevant.
Their focuses are dull and vacuous and the reason everything has descended into FPS and Resolution spotting.