Support NeoGAF

[MDSLKTR]

Nintendo Switch Games with Free Nintendo Switch 2 Updates - Nintendo CA

Free updates to improve playability on the Nintendo Switch 2 system will be released for selected Nintendo Switch games.

www.nintendo.com

Full list:
ARMS
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
Game Builder Garage
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
Super Mario Odyssey
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

 

[Kataploom]

Nintendo announced last month that there will be free updates for Switch 1 games.

They gave a list of the games that would receive the upgrade but didn't give us more details about each game, making some people fear it would only be GameShare support, now we have all the details.

I'm glad most of them have enhanced visuals and HDR, that's basically what I wanted the most out of Switch 2, I personally will get ARMS and Zelda games from this list, what are yours guys?

Spoiler: Arms

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• Frame rate: Optimized for Nintendo Switch 2 for smoother movement (even when playing with 3 or more players**).
• HDR support***.

Spoiler: Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain

Update available: June 5, 2025

GameShare support:

• Up to four people** can play in Party Mode.
• Share locally or share online via GameChat****.

Spoiler: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• HDR support***.

GameShare support:

• Two people can play all of the courses.
• Share locally or share online via GameChat****.

Spoiler: Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics

Update available: June 5, 2025

GameShare support:

• Up to four people** can play 34 games.
• Share locally or share online via GameChat****.

Spoiler: Game Builder Garage

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• Supports Joy-Con™ 2 mouse controls.

Spoiler: New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.

Spoiler: Pokémon Scarlet / Violet

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• Frame rate: Improved for smoother movement on Nintendo Switch 2.

Spoiler: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• Frame rate: Optimized for smoother movement on Nintendo Switch 2 (including Bowser's Fury).
• HDR support*** (Bowser's Fury only).

GameShare support:

• Up to four people** can play Super Mario 3D World.
• In Bowser's Fury, two people can play together, with one player controlling Mario and the other controlling Bowser Jr.
• Share locally or share online via GameChat****.

Spoiler: Super Mario Odyssey

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• HDR support***.

GameShare support:

• Two people can play together, with one player controlling Mario and the other controlling Cappy.
• Share locally or share online via GameChat****.

Spoiler: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• HDR support***.

Spoiler: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Update available: June 5, 2025

Updates included:

• Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• HDR support***.

Nintendo Switch Games with Free Nintendo Switch 2 Updates - Nintendo US

Free updates to improve playability on the Nintendo Switch 2 system will be released for selected Nintendo Switch games.

www.nintendo.com

 

[LakeOf9]

Super Mario Odyssey, fuck yeah

Hopefully they update the Metroid games and Pokemon Legends at some point too

 

[Bojanglez]

Glad to see Link's Awakening listing, no mention of fixing frame rate and stuttering issues explicitly, but let's hope. Some other games have that explicitly mentioned.

 

[Radical_3d]

Nice. The advantage of going with nVidia is that you get technologies like their auto HDR. I'm sure this will look and run gorgeous.

 

[jshackles]

Sweet! I own all these games besides game builder garage and Arms

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

Pokémon Arceus and Metroid Dread would really benefit from HDR imo

 

[Kataploom]

Super Mario Odyssey, fuck yeah

Hopefully they update the Metroid games and Pokemon Legends at some point too

I need Xenoblade, Bayo 3 and if possible, Pokemon Sword and Shield upgraded, and I'll basically have my future shopping cart ready

 

[Danjin44]

I want to see Xenoblade and Astral Chain.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Gimme my xenoblade 3 patch please!

 

[Wunray]

Astral chain let's get it.

 

[iHaunter]

"Updates." As barebone as possible and people are still cheering. How do they get away with this shit?

 

[kevboard]

it's kinda weird that they are so vague.
what does better image quality mean? what does improved framerate mean?

4k? 1440p? 1080p? 120fps? 60fps? just less frame drops at the same target?

 

[jshackles]

"Updates." As barebone as possible and people are still cheering. How do they get away with this shit?

Because it's free and better than nothing

 

[blacktout]

Interesting that they explicitly mention improved frame rate for Pokemon Scarlet/Violet but not the 2D Zelda games, when a choppy frame rate was one of the major complaints about those titles as well.

Could be that it falls under "visuals" and they just felt that they had to draw specific attention to it vis-a-vis S&V because those games were such a technical mess. Guess we'll see.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Astral chain let's get it.

and Bayonetta 3. That game runs and looks like slop on the Switch 1.

 

[blacktout]

"Updates." As barebone as possible and people are still cheering. How do they get away with this shit?

...? Why in the world would anyone complain about a free patch that improves the quality of a game, however marginally?

Like, I could understand being annoyed if these were $10 upgrades, but these cost zero American dollars and zero cents and add visual fidelity and functionality that will make them better experiences on the new system. There's literally nothing to bitch about.

 

[kevboard]

and Bayonetta 3. That game runs and looks like slop on the Switch 1.

well it will automatically run better, but it could do with a patch to increase the resolution, as it used a weird form of dynamic resolution that isn't based on GPU load but is hard coded to drop when certain things are on screen.

 

[kunonabi]

They're seriously not addressing Peach's Showtime? Really not selling me on this thing.

 

[Kataploom]

"Updates." As barebone as possible and people are still cheering. How do they get away with this shit?

Because I wanted them, and that's enough... If they try adding "graphical upgrades" that changes the whole aesthetic, I'd actually get mad. These are not realistic games that any newer shader or lighting will inherently improve them because they are not looking like reality (the intention) yet, they are finely tuned and polished for the specific art style they have and that's how they're perfect, they look amazing already, the only thing missing was better IQ for some games and/or stable frame rate for others.

 

[Kataploom]

it's kinda weird that they are so vague.
what does better image quality mean? what does improved framerate mean?

4k? 1440p? 1080p? 120fps? 60fps? just less frame drops at the same target?

I'm guessing it's gonna be 1440p for those that originally had 30 fps and PROBABLY 4K for those that were already targeting 60 fps.

DLSS would be absent unless they already had TAA (which almost no first party Switch game had) because it would mean implementing motion vectors, so they're probably are just being natively upscaled using raw GPU power.

 

[MSduderino]

Some key games missing frame rate enhancement

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Ehhhh it's a start but missing so, so many games. Pikmin 4, TTYD, Xenoblade X, Bayonetta 3, Yoshis Crafted World, etc… TTYD needs that 60 fps update for real.

 

[LordOcidax]

Some key games missing frame rate enhancement

Some of them are 60 fps already.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Why don't they all support HDR? lol WTF.

 

[Elginer]

I want to see Xenoblade and Astral Chain.

Yeah, where the hell is any of the Xenoblade games???

 

[kevboard]

Yeah, where the hell is any of the Xenoblade games???

there is that 60fps mode buried in Xenoblade X's code... so maybe they'll do one down the line

 

[Robb]

That's nice and all, but why are there no mentions of improved framerate for any of the Zelda titles? That's the only aspect I care about changing for those.

 

[Gambit2483]

And Yet....We're all Collectively waiting for Wave 2

Astral Chain
Xenoblade Chronicles 1-X
Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity
Bayonetta 3
Luigi's Mansion 3
Metroid Prime Remastered
Mario and Luigi Brothership
Paper Mario RPG: The Thousand Year Door
......etc.

 

[Power Pro]

Improved frame pacing in the Zelda games is a big missed opportunity, uneless they'll just run smoother with the advanced hardware.

I think I'm most excited to see the Pokemon games run at higher resolutions and framerate. I liked the games, but they were abysmal visual experiences.

 

[Robb]

Improved frame pacing in the Zelda games is a big missed opportunity, uneless they'll just run smoother with the advanced hardware.

That's what I've been assuming, but it's strange that they specify it for Super Mario 3D World, which already runs pretty much locked 60fps..

 

[Glass Joe]

Nice to see. Weird the descriptions are so vague. Aren't some of these 1080p already? So does that mean 1440p? 4k? Depends on the game? Lol if I was some intern busting my butt to patch Super Mario Bros. U's resolution, I'd at least like final results to be communicated.

I'm most interested in Link's Awakening. I own that one and the framerate drops bothered me to the point I decided to wait for a patch that never happened. I hope that's resolved here -- it's the reason I avoided Echoes of Wisdom entirely.

Is there no official name for these kind of updates? "Switch 2 Enhanced" or something? I'm hoping to see a lot more of these, but in a scenario where there are Switch 2 Editions, Switch 2 free update patches, vanilla Switch 1 games that happen to run better, and probably some Switch 1 games that crash or don't run as intended on Switch 2... things aren't very clear from a marketing perspective.

 

[Emedan]

That's nice and all, but why are there no mentions of improved framerate for any of the Zelda titles? That's the only aspect I care about changing for those.

So weird, it's what instantly comes to mind to me when thinking about next gen improvements. But to be fair they probably just can hold their original targets now without those weird dips so it's not really a FPS increase ergo they can't put it on there.

 

[Kataploom]

Why don't they all support HDR? lol WTF.

Different teams and some of them just didn't give a shit about it probably

 

[Kataploom]

That's what I've been assuming, but it's strange that they specify it for Super Mario 3D World, which already runs pretty much locked 60fps..

Bowser's Fury runs at 30 in portable mode and even in docked mode it falls into 50s a lot

 

[GigaBowser]

Pokémon Arceus and Metroid Dread would really benefit from HDR imo

thirs is genius

DREAD ME NINTENDOS

 

[Robb]

Bowser's Fury runs at 30 in portable mode

Ah, okay. Didn't know that. Maybe that's what it means then, i.e. that the update will remove the 30fps cap in handheld mode.

 

[Dodo123]

I believe that both Astral Chain and Bayo 3 will be re-released (ie like they did with Bayo before).
They will give these free updates only to titles that can benefit with low effort from them + the ones that sold well already

 

[Zeusexy]

Nice. The advantage of going with nVidia is that you get technologies like their auto HDR. I'm sure this will look and run gorgeous.

Problem about this and EOW is that they run like shit. I expect huge framerate stability improvements.

 

[Baemono]

Problem about this and EOW is that they run like shit. I expect huge framerate stability improvements.

 

[Hookshot]

Wonder how smoother gameplay and quicker loads will effect the speed runs of some of these games.

 

[Griffon]

The absence of Smash Bros is very concerning.

 

[Power Pro]

The absence of Smash Bros is very concerning.

There's a lot of omissions that could use updates. Super Mario Bros U, but not Super Mario Bros Wonder is kinda weird. Even if just for a resolution bump. Let the drip feed begin.

 

[Cornbread78]

Yeah, where the hell is any of the Xenoblade games???

Yup.... C'mon Uncle Ninty ya bastard, let's go!

 

[alienator]

I love links awakening, especially how the gpu cant deceide to run it at 30 or 60 frames every 5 seconds. totally friggin unplayable for me and it never even got patched. i even own a collectors edition of it, the only reason i didnt refund it or burned it in a bonfire

 

[VGA-Games]

Awesome

 

[BlackTron]

I mean if the dust settles without Links Awakening's frame rate being fixed then well that's just ridiculous. But they're so obtuse you never really know anything totally for sure. You end up having to assume they just didn't mention it that time, which is an uncomfortable feeling.

It's hard to imagine a patch for LA running the exact same way on Switch 2, that's just insane. It's almost confirmation alone that we can't trust these patch notes to even be consistent with each other, but indeed, better play it first to find out.

 

[Buggy Loop]

I want to see Xenoblade and Astral Chain.

First things I was looking for too

 

[daclynk]

Thats great. but where is Astral Chain patch and Bayonneta 3 NSW2 edition.

 

[LordOcidax]

I mean if the dust settles without Links Awakening's frame rate being fixed then well that's just ridiculous. But they're so obtuse you never really know anything totally for sure. You end up having to assume they just didn't mention it that time, which is an uncomfortable feeling.

It's hard to imagine a patch for LA running the exact same way on Switch 2, that's just insane. It's almost confirmation alone that we can't trust these patch notes to even be consistent with each other, but indeed, better play it first to find out.

Looks like that when the game runs at 60 on Switch 1 the frame rate improvements is not mentioned, is only when the game go from 30 on Switch 1 to 60 on Switch 2. So is 100% that Links Awakening is going to be 60 locked.