It's hard to believe, but we're already approaching the six-month anniversary of the Nintendo Switch 2. By then Metroid Prime 4: Beyond launches on December 4th, we'll be able to provide the console with a fairly detailed progress report based on the extensive lineup of games released during the launch window. Heavy hitters such as Donkey Kong Bananza will be the title of this review, but these are the two latest Nintendo games, Pokemon Legends: ZA and now Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonmentwhich helped the Switch 2 pass the crucial test in its first six months: the technical exam.
Before Nintendo Switch 2 officially unveiledThe biggest concern among players on the then theoretical console was about power. When it comes to hardware, Nintendo has lagged behind the PlayStation and Xbox over the past few console generations, and that reality has begun to surface in the Switch's final years. It was hoped that the Switch 2 would provide more stable frame rates, smoother textures, and standard features like 4K. That's exactly what we got when the console released in June. At least that's what it says in its specifications. To truly know if the Switch 2 is an upgrade, we'll need to see how some key games perform on it. Over the past two weeks we have finally realized this, and the forecast remains favorable.
The first serious testing of the console took place in October Pokemon Legends: ZA. The Pokémon series had some notorious technical issues on the original Switch, with games like Scarlet And Violet launch in completely catastrophic conditions. It's not Nintendo's hardware that's to blame; Game Freak's actual RPG engine is outdated and stretched far further than it would have gone in the series' gradual turn toward an open world. Legends: FOR this would be more of a test for its developer than anything else, but we could still glean a lot from the game's visual clarity and performance on Switch 2.
While the game limited detail opened up a debate about Game Freak's technical capabilities, there's no denying that Legends: FOR far from the technical disaster of its predecessor, Pokemon Legends: Arceus. On Switch 2 it runs at a solid 60fps, while the Switch version tops out at 30fps. The popup is still there, and if you zoom in you'll find a lot of blurry assets, but you won't see anything like the moment on Arceus where you take to the skies for the first time and watch as the entire earth below transforms into a jagged, polygonal surface. (Provided by, FORthe more limited movement makes it harder to find those seams.) It's enough to earn the Switch 2 some passing marks, but with caveats given that Game Freak has its own issues that are compounded by the limited hardware.
However, we now have a more convincing technical test, thanks to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonmentwill be released on November 6th. The new Zelda spin-off is pushing the Switch 2 with its Musou formula, which has players constantly battling a literal army of monsters. Previous game in the series, Era of Disasterstruggled on the original Switch as the console couldn't handle the fast-paced action and on-screen density. The frame rate dropped below the target 30fps, and it felt like you were breaking the game when you pushed the combat too hard (a feeling that some fans of the genre really dig). Regarding hardware potential, Age of imprisonment will be a real defining moment in the Switch 2's first six months.
The good news is that it also passes technical testing. I've been testing out the game for the past few weeks, playing through every mission it has to offer. During this time, I found that it was capable of delivering more stable frame rates than its predecessor, actually hitting the 60fps mark with greater consistency. It can still slip in the heaviest of battles, but I've yet to encounter a moment where I was suddenly watching a slideshow when the frame rate dropped. Part of this may be due to the fact that its smaller missions try to avoid putting too many enemies on screen at once. I rarely take down more than a few hundred enemies in a single mission, so we're not talking about thousands of moblins charging at the screen at once. (I still have a lot to say about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment coming soon, with a full review coming this Thursday, but the limited mission design is its weak point.)
There are still trade-offs you might expect. In split-screen co-op in particular, performance drops significantly closer to the 30fps range. This is also the first Switch 2 game where I actually noticed a significant difference between my old OLED display and the new LCD, with cutscenes having a particularly blurry quality.
But for the most part, Age of imprisonment the difference is night and day compared to its predecessor, just like FOR This Arceus. If you needed any indication that the Switch 2 is delivering on its technical promises, even with some caveats, both games provide a clear example of how the Switch 2 significantly improves on a series that struggled on older hardware.
