My Switch Swan Song

The Nintendo Switch 2 launched last month, but I have never been a day-one-adopter, at least when it comes to new hardware generations. The Nintendo 3DS came close, but there I didn't even fall into the ambassadors and still regretted it... In any case, I usually wait until there is one game where I simply cannot wait any longer.

But this never has been so hard before. There may only be two interesting exclusives right now, with Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza (the latter to be released in five days), but it's quite tempting to upgrade to a Nintendo Switch 2 nevertheless, because all your Nintendo Switch games will run and look better on it. And this concerns most games, not just the ones with a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition or a free update, because they might already profit from faster loading times and more staple frame rates, right out of the box.

Past Nintendo systems with backward compatibility didn't really offer the same incentive. Well, maybe the Game Boy Color with its coloring for Game Boy games did, where I bought that one very early as well (but technically this doesn't even count as its own generation, as indicated by the shared library on Nintendo Switch Online). And the backwards compatibility usually didn't stem from a similar hardware architecture, but from integrating the old hardware somehow. So, the Nintendo DS had essentially a Game Boy Advance built-in and so on, where you didn't really get any major advantage. That's different for the Nintendo Switch 2.

And this makes still playing on a Nintendo Switch quite unattractive, because most of it is best saved for the new hardware. I have yet to play Super Mario Odyssey, for example, but that would be better now with its free 4K update on the Switch 2. Exact same thing with Bowser's Fury. Or, I want to replay Echoes of Wisdom in Hero Mode, but that would be so much better with staple 60FPS. And I eventually want to play through Breath of the Wild a fourth time with its Master Mode on the Switch, but that's best reserved for the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition...

This doesn't really leave much at the end, maybe only stuff like Tetris 99 or Nintendo World Championships, but I eventually found the game that will keep my current Nintendo Switch running until I finally upgrade: Hyrule Warriors - Definitive Edition. It already runs smoothly in 60FPS, at least in docked mode, and it has never been the prettiest game, where I don't expect it to get a meaningful visual update.

However, handheld mode is a completely different story... For some reason it also runs in 1080p there (downscaled to 720), which causes the frame rate to suffer significantly, but on Nintendo Switch 2 you can enjoy it in its full resolution with smooth 60FPS, without the need for any update. That's actually a big incentive for upgrading as well, but I don't play in handheld mode that often, so it's still okay for me. And if I were to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 now, I would probably play something else.

But it's a good attunement for the game that will likely get me to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 – Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. It's only fitting, since I had waited with the Nintendo Switch until Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity came out. But in doing so I completely skipped over the Definitive Edition of the first game. Well, it barely offered anything new, so it never felt like I will be missing out if I didn't immediately play it. After completing Hyrule Warriors Legends on the Nintendo 3DS, I was also burnt out on the game, understandably so, but enough time has passed by now for it to be fun again.

Though, I had started playing the Definitive Edition in early 2022, where I've already went through Legend Mode and most of the first Adventure Map. The plan was to play it regularly, maybe even a little bit every day, but that didn't work out... And I probably won't complete all of it in the next months, where I eventually will continue with it on Nintendo Switch 2. It's a long game.

PS: I will share some "Definitive Impressions" later on.