There’s no arguing the Nintendo Switch has some of the best first party games Nintendo’s ever made. With the Nintendo Switch 2, the Japanese giant elected to make an incremental its hybrid system rather than a complete revamp – and that’s for good reason. Allowing backwards compatibility with the older system ensures the Switch 2’s library can shine from day one, with select games also being given a well-deserved boost through free updates. The results of this endeavour, in almost every case, are very good.
I’ve been playing through most of the games that received a free update for Switch 2 at launch, and my experience with each has been very positive. While the updates and changes vary, most games have received a boost to resolution and framerate, making 30fps slugfests turn into silky-smooth 60fps experiences – all with an improved boost to visual clarity. As well as this, almost all of them have also seen improvements to load times thanks to the Switch 2’s faster storage solution.
Games that received performance updates include Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, ARMS, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, 51 Worldwide Games, Game Builder Garage and Big Brain Academy: Brain vs Brain.
It’ll likely come as no surprise to hear the biggest winner here is Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The latest generation of Pokémon games have been significantly hampered on the Switch, with poor visual fidelity and a framerate that was lucky to ever reach 30fps in any consistent way. On Switch 2, these issues are almost entirely gone – the game now renders at a higher resolution and rocks a very steady 60fps anywhere you go. As a bonus, more Pokémon seem to spawn into areas than ever before, making shiny hunting a little less time consuming.
Playing a Pokémon game at 60fps has been a wonderful experience on Switch 2, and while the game still looks like an original Switch game (or even worse, at times) it’s so much better to play and experience on the new console.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Link’s Awakening have also received an injection of new life thanks to a consistent 60fps across most areas. During my time with the games I barely saw any frame drops whatsoever, and the boost in resolution is fantastic for the art direction both have. An added bonus for the former is the ability to now favourite echoes after collecting 30, which for those who’ve played the game will feel like a very nice quality of life addition.
As for the litany of Mario games that have received updates, I spent the majority of my time playing Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – a game I’ve never played before. The game absolutely popped thanks to the fantastic art direction, and I really liked the HDR implementation in Bowser’s Fury (though I’m a bit confused as to why this didn’t make it into the base game).
Super Mario Odyssey, one of my favourite games of all time, looked absolutely incredible and ran as smooth as butter (though if memory serves correctly it ran very well on the original Switch, too), while Super Mario Bros U Deluxe and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker also ran nicely and looked great with the additional resolution bump.
One of my favourite sleeper hits of the original Switch’s first party line up, ARMS, also received an update and looks and runs spectacular thanks to its sleek art style and smaller, focused environments. While it’s a bit barebones on content, I had an excellent time jumping back into it and experiencing the wonderful visual flourishes the game constantly throws your way.
Some titles have also received updates to enable GameShare, which allows the owner of a game to share that copy with other players who may not necessarily have it and play together online or locally on their own Switch. I tested this out with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and found the process to be extremely simple to set up, with my buddy able to navigate tight platforming sections of the game with relative ease (even with a bit of a shoddy online connection). I’m really keen to see the way this is implemented in games in the future.
The Nintendo Switch 2’s made some great strides in preserving and improving the original Switch’s library of games, and with this week’s announcement that Splatoon 3 is also getting updated, I’m hopeful we’ll get more free updates down the line. Either way, I’ve no doubt I’ll be kept entertained for some time to come thanks to this initial batch.
