DF: Zelda BOTW & TOTK (Nintendo Switch 2) Review

Tears of the Kingdom has truly been a blast (though occasionally frustrating) on Switch 2. I am glad I waited. I was a little under half way thru on OG Switch, but it didn't quite grab me then so I put it down.

The upgrades make it feel like a brand new game. Everything is so snappy and the art style really shines. The game looks glorious 90% of the time. There are some odd parts here and there, I think have to do with the FSR they are using.

I loved Breath of the Wild on Switch and look forward to finishing the DLC I never go to on Switch 2.

The triple punch of Zelda Remasters, DK Bonanza and Mario Kart World is quite satisfying. At first I didn't think much of the launch line-up, but I don't even have time to play the 3rd party games I wanted (Cyberpunk & Yakuza 0).

Solid launch + upgrades for other Switch games I have in my backlog like Link's Awakening & Bowser's Fury. Still would like to replay Mario Odyssey as well.

I hope Nintendo keeps this fire burning and continues to offer more upgrades for the majority of it's library on Switch. Metroid Dread, Prime Remastered, Smash Ultimate, Hyrule Warriors, Xenoblade, Mario Wonder, Lugi's Mansion, DK Tropical Freeze and so many more are deserving of such treatment.

(be nice if 3rd parties followed thru too, looking at you Grasshopper, I would like No More Heroes 3 plz)
 
Akuji said:
holy shit those upgrades are abysmal, it can drop down to 810p?
Wtf ...
lol

What a shitshow.
Hope a switch 2 emu comes soon, this hardware is not worth buying.
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Ripping and/or downloading games, configuring emulators, and having game sessions interrupted to nail down issues and configure gamepads is only something I'm really motivated to do if game performance is insufficient enough that the experience is all janked up.

In other words, with the NS2 Editions of these games, it's not really worth wasting my brainwaves on the PC stuff. I can now be sitting on a couch, press a button on a whim and have them running on my lap instantly.

Nothing wrong with PC but if you are somehow aggressively triggered that I would choose that over a few additional even better settings just because I can, get help.
 
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BlackTron said:
Ripping and/or downloading games, configuring emulators, and having game sessions interrupted to nail down issues and configure gamepads is only something I'm really motivated to do if game performance is insufficient enough that the experience is all janked up.

In other words, with the NS2 Editions of these games, it's not really worth wasting my brainwaves on the PC stuff. I can now be sitting on a couch, press a button on a whim and have them running on my lap instantly.

Nothing wrong with PC but if you are somehow aggressively triggered that I would choose that over a few additional even better settings just because I can, get help.
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A guy in those YouTube comments was like "Don't pay $10 extra to play the game, just buy a PC and emulate it"... Like, sure, a PC costs less than $10 lol. Some people really REALLY can't stand others enjoying what they don't like, so much to the point of going full retard over it constantly lol
 
I would be curious to try the 60 fps compared to the chuggy 30 of the original, but the graphic still look meh but in high def, the games still manage to look much worse than 20 men made biomutant...

Maybe the next one is gonna manage to look at least like launch ps4 game.
 
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They seem like great upgrades for the most part, but I wish they'd do something about that awful AA. You have a 1440p image where the perceived image quality looks like 1080p or sometimes worse due to all the instability and pixel crawling everywhere. Having access to DLSS and not using it should be a crime.
 
DKPOWPOW said:
Tears of the Kingdom has truly been a blast (though occasionally frustrating) on Switch 2. I am glad I waited. I was a little under half way thru on OG Switch, but it didn't quite grab me then so I put it down.

The upgrades make it feel like a brand new game. Everything is so snappy and the art style really shines. The game looks glorious 90% of the time. There are some odd parts here and there, I think have to do with the FSR they are using.
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I am currently playing through TOTK too.

When it first released on Switch, I really couldn't get into it, but on Switch 2 with the performance increase and the companion app, I'm having a blast.
 
Kataploom said:
A guy in those YouTube comments was like "Don't pay $10 extra to play the game, just buy a PC and emulate it"... Like, sure, a PC costs less than $10 lol. Some people really REALLY can't stand others enjoying what they don't like, so much to the point of going full retard over it constantly lol
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Hey, I have a PC already. I have ten dollars. I also have choices. I don't think someone using a PC to play BOTW is somehow less of a person, why would I be for using a Switch 2? Very, very strange people.
 
On one side we can be sure now switch2 cpu is at least 3x stronger from og switch cpu(20 to 60 in cpu heavy scenario jump), which is huge jump, similar to ps4 to ps5 cpu jump(aka weak 8 jaguar cores to 8 zen2 cores with hyperthreating), on the other we know switch2 gpu cant handle big zelda games from switch1 in native 1440p60 all the time but needs to use dynamic res, so its only around 5x stronger, not 10x like nvidia claimed in their official pr statement.
 
PeteBull said:
On one side we can be sure now switch2 cpu is at least 3x stronger from og switch cpu(20 to 60 in cpu heavy scenario jump), which is huge jump, similar to ps4 to ps5 cpu jump(aka weak 8 jaguar cores to 8 zen2 cores with hyperthreating), on the other we know switch2 gpu cant handle big zelda games from switch1 in native 1440p60 all the time but needs to use dynamic res, so its only around 5x stronger, not 10x like nvidia claimed in their official pr statement.
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Before I say anything, Nvidia PR is full of bunk.

That said. You can't really confirm/deny power levels with simple 1:1 multiplying settings. Like NS2 is 3x stronger because 20 to 60fps. Depending on your measuring stick that could mean it is 2x, or 4x as strong. In as plain English as possible, maybe the Switch 1 is using 75% of its power to do everything else and 25% is left on getting the framerate to 20-60. Whereas on NS2, 50% of its power its spent on everything else and the remaining half is spent maintaining solid 60.

Huge oversimplification and I'm not saying the above is happening on Zelda exactly, just getting a point across. Considering that NS2 is doing more to these games than NS1 before you get to resolution/framerate. An analysis of power based only on these stats becomes even more complicated and inaccurate.

When you consider all of the various improvements to the games in addition to the settings, I don't think 10x performance increase is far from truth in docked mode. You'd likely have the same opinion if you simply played the NS1 and 2 versions of any high test game side by side. It's like upgrading two gens of video card or something. NS1 is a complete toaster in comparison.
 
PeteBull said:
On one side we can be sure now switch2 cpu is at least 3x stronger from og switch cpu(20 to 60 in cpu heavy scenario jump), which is huge jump, similar to ps4 to ps5 cpu jump(aka weak 8 jaguar cores to 8 zen2 cores with hyperthreating), on the other we know switch2 gpu cant handle big zelda games from switch1 in native 1440p60 all the time but needs to use dynamic res, so its only around 5x stronger, not 10x like nvidia claimed in their official pr statement.
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I believe it's the other way round, the GPU (which NVidia is focusing when talking about x10 power) is much more capable than the original Switch, while the CPU is lacking.

I still can't believe the console can run open world games running at 60fps (something the PS4 nor the Pro couldn't do, even for PS3 games), that was the big selling point for this gen's consoles (I remember Assassin's Creed Valhalla being marketed towards being 60fps open world AAA game on console)
 
BlackTron said:
Before I say anything, Nvidia PR is full of bunk.

That said. You can't really confirm/deny power levels with simple 1:1 multiplying settings. Like NS2 is 3x stronger because 20 to 60fps. Depending on your measuring stick that could mean it is 2x, or 4x as strong. In as plain English as possible, maybe the Switch 1 is using 75% of its power to do everything else and 25% is left on getting the framerate to 20-60. Whereas on NS2, 50% of its power its spent on everything else and the remaining half is spent maintaining solid 60.
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Agree on nvidia's pr, obviously, even tho my last 2 cards were from them and i almost bought 5090 this gen, and likely gonna get 6080/6090 in 2027 or whenever it launches despite its nasty price(u dont need to read starts to know that already 2 years prior to launch :P ).

To me personally actual results are what matters, and here we got exactly that, aka cpu heavy(bottlenecked) scenario on switch1 when game drops to 20 despite its super low dsr and fsr, on switch 2 solid 60(and yes, even if in that scenario drs hits hard that just means its lighter on the gpu, cpu load stays the same no matter if its 810p or 1440p).

And about gpu load its simple too, switch upper bound to switch 2 upper bound res is about 5x more pixels(considering u gotta double them with 30 to 60 fps too), i thought at first switch2 gpu is 8x stronger from switch1 coz didnt know about drs in switch2 port, reason behind drs means switch2 gpu is too weak to handle the game in 60fps w/o the res drops, hence gotta downgrade it to 5x, coz then it matches upper bound of both switch 1 and switch2 pixel counts.

That is by no means bad jump, its similar to what we got in base ps4 to base ps5 actually, just at first when we got info of both zelda games running in stable native 1440p60 it would point out to solid 8x jump(before dlss even) so bigger than base ps4 vs ps5pr0, which we obviously now can tell isnt the case unfortunately.
 
Baemono said:
I believe it's the other way round, the GPU (which NVidia is focusing when talking about x10 power) is much more capable than the original Switch, while the CPU is lacking.

I still can't believe the console can run open world games running at 60fps (something the PS4 nor the Pro couldn't do, even for PS3 games), that was the big selling point for this gen's consoles (I remember Assassin's Creed Valhalla being marketed towards being 60fps open world AAA game on console)
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Cpu can lack compared to modern stationary console/desktop pc cpu, gpu too, but here specifically we were talking about jump compared to og switch, to me 3x cpu power increase is really nice and definitely generational jump worthy, just remember first switch cpu was even much weaker from extremly weak jaguar cores cpu's we had in last gen stationary consoles.

We all remember witcher3 and batman ak ports, we got this DF vid of switch vs switch2 auto-upgrade version:

And lets not forget doom 2016 port, that game runs in 60fps on last gen consoles and even old/weak af pc toasters, yet on switch its capped to 30fps:

Whats even worse on top of bad framepacing, it still dips to low 20s when there is many enemies on screen and only way to improve it is to play on easiest difficulty coz it reduces number of enemies significantly, as described in the vid :D

TLDR: OG switch cpu was at least 2x worse from last gen jaguar cores cpu, switch 2 cpu is at least 3x faster(so roughly 50% faster from last gen consoles cpu's, makes sense coz it has better fps in cp2077 and can run expack unlike last gen consoles), which means its around 50% as fast vs current gen zen2 cpu's.

It all makes sense tho, we had one of the devs state officially that if game runs 60fps on stationary consoles there wont be much problem to make switch 2 port in 30fps(meaning gpu is good enough with dlss and big res/other cuts, but cpu is only good enough for 30fps if stationary consoles run game in 60, aka its half as strong).

We even had thread about it here on gaf:
U

Thread 'Prolific port studio says any 60fps Xbox Series S game will ‘easily port’ to Nintendo Switch 2'

www.videogameschronicle.com

Prolific port studio says any 60fps Xbox Series S game will ‘easily port’ to Nintendo Switch 2 | VGC

Virtuos compares Switch 2 power to Xbox Series S…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com

Prolific port studio Virtuos has compared the overall technical capabilities of Nintendo Switch 2 to Xbox Series S.

Established in 2004, Virtuos is one of the largest game makers in the world. It focuses on supporting the development of major triple-A games or bringing existing titles to new platforms.

Having previously worked on franchises including Call of Duty, Dark Souls, Battlefield, Uncharted, and Horizon, it's...
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Topher said:
Just finished Botw a couple of weeks ago and absolutely loved it. 60fps makes such a huge difference. Clean graphics, smooth gameplay. Perfect combo to me.



We are on the same cadence. Botw -> DKB -> Totk

Loving Switch 2 so far
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I need to get on a BOTW/TOTK (which I never fully finished) re-play.
 
I wished they could have also added AF (blurs textures when seen at steep angles aotherwise despite the increase in resolution) and improved shadow rendering more than bruteforcing resolution increases… shadows flicker a lot still.

The games, aside from a higher quality texture pack (which they likely had for Switch and used to generate the lower quality assets Switch 1 could render), is mostly what we get through changing config (change min and max DRS window, change shadows maps resolution, HDR pass on post - likely some nVIDIA provided auto HDR screen pass), recompiling, and making sure it still hits the new target.

Still satisfying result, but this is not a lot more than that at play.
 
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Topher said:
I'm actually glad I bailed on Botw on Switch 1. Switch 2 is a much more enjoyable experience.
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i ll aways say that Nintendo kills most of their games for me cause of their week hardware, they have such amazing art direction that is butchered by low res, frames and assets, glad that ppl can now play these games at full glory on official Nintendo hardware.
 
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Lokaum D+ said:
i ll aways say that Nintendo kills most of their games for me cause of their week hardware, they have such amazing art direction that is butchered by low res, frames and assets, glad that ppl can now play these games at full glory on a official Nintendo hardware.
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I mean isn't that true for a lot of games though ? Like Ghost of Tsushima is a way better experience in PS5 version (or remaster, I don't understand what it is) than the PS4 one, and this is one of the games I was like "I'm glad I waited to play this one"
 
Baemono said:
I mean isn't that true for a lot of games though ? Like Ghost of Tsushima is a way better experience in PS5 version (or remaster, I don't understand what it is) than the PS4 one, and this is one of the games I was like "I'm glad I waited to play this one"
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yes and no, GoT looks better on PS5 than it looks on PS4 ? YES, but the game looked amazing on PS4 for a 2020 game, now BotW is a 2017 game, for that period BotW imo looked worse than some PS3 games ( 2006 - 2013 ) and just now 8 years after it release it can be played at full glory.
 
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BlackTron said:
Hey, I have a PC already. I have ten dollars. I also have choices. I don't think someone using a PC to play BOTW is somehow less of a person, why would I be for using a Switch 2? Very, very strange people.
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I don't care about where people play, but the Switch 2 version is basically perfect, to the point of taking out many reasons to play on an emulator.

Hell I don't feel like playing anything now and just reading some of you guys makes me want to turn the console on and play it lol.
 
PeteBull said:
On one side we can be sure now switch2 cpu is at least 3x stronger from og switch cpu(20 to 60 in cpu heavy scenario jump), which is huge jump, similar to ps4 to ps5 cpu jump(aka weak 8 jaguar cores to 8 zen2 cores with hyperthreating), on the other we know switch2 gpu cant handle big zelda games from switch1 in native 1440p60 all the time but needs to use dynamic res, so its only around 5x stronger, not 10x like nvidia claimed in their official pr statement.
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People claim this all the time without considering that it has higher resolution textures and the overhead of translation layer which has an impact since it's working on real time. I don't think Switch 1 games are the way to measure the whole power of the system compared to Switch 1 but the minimum possible.
 
Kataploom said:
People claim this all the time without considering that it has higher resolution textures and the overhead of translation layer which has an impact since it's working on real time. I don't think Switch 1 games are the way to measure the whole power of the system compared to Switch 1 but the minimum possible.
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Honestly I didn't know NS2 edition used translation layer.
 
BlackTron said:
Honestly I didn't know NS2 edition used translation layer.
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It does, and the problem with accounting for it when putting it into the equation is that we don't actually know how much of an overhead it has, might be minimum and unnoticeable or might take like 10%, we don't know, that's why I said these versions only help us estimate the minimum and not the exact power advantage.
 
Kataploom said:
People claim this all the time without considering that it has higher resolution textures and the overhead of translation layer which has an impact since it's working on real time. I don't think Switch 1 games are the way to measure the whole power of the system compared to Switch 1 but the minimum possible.
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We estimate how strong ps5 is in comparision to ps4 when game gets next gen patch/next gen version, or in some rare cases when game gets downported to last gen consoles, like here:

Hell even better, we got crossgen sony exclusive which we can compare on ps4/pr0/ps5 no probs too, in terms of res/fps and even additional graphical fidelity too :)

And from quick math we know ps5 gpu is not 8x stronger from ps4 gpu coz 1080p30fps ps4 game cant run in 4k60 on ps5, it has few modes, like 4k30, 1800-4k drs 40, 1440-4k drs 60 or even uncapped up to 120fps 1080p mode(which can drop to low 70s but mostly stays in that 80 to 90 range).
 
Imagine if Nintendo never began pleasing grannies demand back in 06 with the Wii, and continued to deliver best possible visuals and frame rate instead. You wouldn't be needing to wait two whole generations of consoles to play botw at an acceptable performance. All of this for portability. Talk about creating your systems for people who don't play video games, the ones that don't even understand what frame rate is, instead of delivering the best possible products to those who made them what they're now. The worst part is that their direction is being defended, so i guess the next Zelda that comes out, will be playable at a decent performance on the Switch 4.
 
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Lokaum D+ said:
Already played both at 4k@60 with some mods, great gimmics and gameplay on a boring world with an awfull story

6/10 for BotW
7/10 for Totk
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Honestly couldn't have said it better myself. These games are awful and people only think they are "omg so epic!!!" because they play them while riding the bus to work sitting in their little corner miserable. The games themselves are overrated trash and yeah playing them in 4k 60 didn't make them any better when I emulated them, neither will a paltry 1440p with significant drops.
 
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
Imagine if Nintendo never began pleasing grannies demand back in 06 with the Wii, and continued to deliver best possible visuals and frame rate instead.
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They were doing that with the GameCube and it sold like shit when compared to the PS2. Family-friendly stuff like the Wii and NDS is what gave them the boost they needed, plus the quirkness of those systems ended up giving us tons of original games to play instead of the usual derivative stuff.
 
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Tbh this still doesn't match what you can do with PC and emulation for these games. That said, I know that is usually a complicated endeavour for a lot of non-PC folks, so I am glad there is an official version of the games that allow better IQ and frame rate, even if I personally don't get as much out of that myself
 
TintoConCasera said:
They were doing that with the GameCube and it sold like shit when compared to the PS2. Family-friendly stuff like the Wii and NDS is what gave them the boost they needed, plus the quirkness of those systems ended up giving us tons of original games to play instead of the usual derivative stuff.
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Oh yeah, lets blame consumer support for GC "fail" and not Nintendo fuckery on their Mini DVD approach that hindered third party support and the lack of online support.

Console was a beast for its time, i sold my PS2 just to buy one
 
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Lokaum D+ said:
Oh yeah, lets blame consumer support for GC "fail" and not Nintendo fuckery on their Mini DVD approach that hindered third party support and the lack of online support.

Console was a beast for its time, i sold my PS2 just to buy one
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Hey I didn't put the blame on the consumer lol, just stating the fact that the console was a failure in sales when compared to the competition.

My brother had a GC and I grew up with it. Even bought my first physical games for that system, Metroid Prime and Tales of Symphonia. It was kinda like the N64, where there wasn't a lot of quantity but for sure a lot of quality.

Kilau said:
Opinion and this thread isn't about those games.
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Damn, the thread police is going strong those past few days.
 
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I know BOTW runs pretty decent(4k/120 with higher draw distance etc.) in Cemu. So I guess I would prefer the emulated version here.

For TOTK I don´t know how well(fps, stutter) this runs in emulators and if there is a lot of headache involved to get this running decently. Maybe here the Switch 2 version is the better option.
 
Super Lemon Drop said:
It wasn't broken so there was no need to fix it.
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Honestly, I felt the formula was getting incredibly stale. It was almost the exact same in each game, get a hookshot, use it in this dungeon, get the next item, use it in the next dungeon. While I could do without some of the stuff you mentioned, I'm still incredibly happy that they went in a new and fresh direction.
 
PeteBull said:
We estimate how strong ps5 is in comparision to ps4 when game gets next gen patch/next gen version, or in some rare cases when game gets downported to last gen consoles, like here:

Hell even better, we got crossgen sony exclusive which we can compare on ps4/pr0/ps5 no probs too, in terms of res/fps and even additional graphical fidelity too :)

And from quick math we know ps5 gpu is not 8x stronger from ps4 gpu coz 1080p30fps ps4 game cant run in 4k60 on ps5, it has few modes, like 4k30, 1800-4k drs 40, 1440-4k drs 60 or even uncapped up to 120fps 1080p mode(which can drop to low 70s but mostly stays in that 80 to 90 range).
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AFAIK PS5 versions of PS4 games don't use the translation layer but they're recompiled to run natively, it's the BC and BC Enhanced ones that use the translation layer. Maybe the closest example would be Metroid Prime 4? IDK, we can speculate (that's why we're here).

I'm not saying it's not a good way to measure the power of the console BTW, but I'd use it as a "minimum" indicator only.
 
TintoConCasera said:
Hey I didn't put the blame on the consumer lol, just stating the fact that the console was a failure in sales when compared to the competition.

My brother had a GC and I grew up with it. Even bought my first physical games for that system, Metroid Prime and Tales of Symphonia. It was kinda like the N64, where there wasn't a lot of quantity but for sure a lot of quality.


Damn, the thread police is going strong those past few days.
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Ok, sry, i love GC and that console only failed cause Nintendo fuckery, i ll never understand Nintendo, they are the ones that every single time tries to implement some short of "anti piracy" thing to stop piracy and end up been the most pirated anyway while Sony and MS are just doing fine, its ironic.
 
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