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It's surprising, yet we're approaching the Nintendo Switch 2's half-year mark. When the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 debuts on December 4, we'll be able to give the system a comprehensive assessment thanks to its strong lineup of first-party early titles. Heavy hitters like the new Donkey Kong game will dominate that analysis, yet it's the company's latest releases, Pokémon Legends: Z-A and now the Hyrule Warriors sequel, that have allowed the successor conquer a crucial test in its opening six months: the performance test.

Tackling Hardware Concerns

Prior to Nintendo publicly unveiled the successor system, the biggest concern from gamers around the rumored system was about power. When it comes to hardware, the company fell behind Sony and Microsoft over the last few console generations. That fact began to show in the original Switch's later life. The hope was that a new model would introduce smoother performance, improved visuals, and standard options like 4K resolution. Those are the features included when the system was launched in June. Or that's what its specs indicated, for the most part. To really determine if the upgraded system is an upgrade, it was necessary to observe important releases performing on the hardware. We now have that evidence in recent days, and the outlook is positive.

The Pokémon Title as an Initial Examination

The first significant examination arrived with October's Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Pokémon games had well-known technical problems on the first Switch, with games like the Scarlet and Violet games releasing in downright disastrous states. The console itself wasn't solely responsible for that; the actual engine powering the developer's games was outdated and being pushed much further than it could go in the franchise's move to open-world. This installment would be more of a test for its studio than anything, but there remained much to analyze from the game's visual clarity and performance on Switch 2.

Although the title's limited detail has initiated conversations about Game Freak's technical capabilities, it's undeniable that the latest installment is far from the technical failure of its earlier title, Pokémon Legends: Arceus. It operates at a stable 60 frames per second on the new console, whereas the older hardware tops out at 30 frames per second. Pop-in is still present, and there are various fuzzy textures if you look closely, but you won't experience anything similar to the situation in Arceus where you begin airborne travel and observe the entire ground below transform into a jagged, polygonal surface. This is sufficient to give the system a satisfactory rating, however with limitations since Game Freak has separate challenges that worsen limited hardware.

The New Zelda Game serving as a More Demanding Hardware Challenge

We now have a more compelling tech test, yet, thanks to Age of Imprisonment, released November 6. The new Zelda spin-off tests the new console due to its hack-and-slash gameplay, which has users confronting a huge number of enemies constantly. The franchise's last installment, Age of Calamity, performed poorly on the first Switch as the hardware struggled with its quick combat and numerous on-screen elements. It frequently dropped below its target 30fps and gave the impression that you were breaking the game when being too aggressive.

The good news is that it too succeeds the tech test. After playing the game through its paces during the past month, completing all missions it has to offer. During that period, the results show that it achieves a smoother performance relative to its predecessor, actually hitting its 60 frames target with greater stability. It sometimes drops in the fiercest fights, but I haven't experienced any situation where the game turns into a slideshow as the frame rate suffers. A portion of this may result from the situation where its compact stages are designed to avoid too many enemies on screen at once.

Notable Trade-offs and General Evaluation

Present are compromises that you're probably expecting. Primarily, splitscreen co-op has a noticeable decrease near thirty frames. Additionally the first Switch 2 first-party game where it's apparent a major difference between older OLED technology and the new LCD display, with cutscenes especially looking faded.

Overall though, Age of Imprisonment is a dramatic improvement versus its previous installment, similar to the Pokémon game is to the earlier Pokémon title. For those seeking any sign that the Switch 2 is delivering on its hardware potential, although with certain reservations still in tow, the two releases provide a clear example of how the Switch 2 is substantially boosting titles that performed poorly on older technology.