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Tag: Switch 2

  • The Switch 2 Is Good Enough But Has A Lot To Prove In 2026

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    It doesn’t feel like Nintendo just released a new console. Last year around this time we were inundated with weekly leaks about the Switch 2. They all pointed to the same thing: it would be a bigger, more powerful version of the console we already knew and loved. Nintendo kicked 2025 off by showing us a Switch 2 that was exactly that. It launched in June to significant fanfare and hype, and there has been surprisingly little to say about the Switch 2 ever since. 

    It looks lean, feels sleek, and runs older blockbusters and even some newer ones surprisingly well. But its boldest innovation is a video sharing feature that feels plucked out of 2006 and which I never hear anyone talk about. The quintessential smartphone upgrade of video game consoles, the Switch 2 set launch sales records but dominated the conversation less than anyone expected. 

    Nintendo’s latest flagship console doesn’t break the mold. It remains, first and foremost, a machine for playing Nintendo games, most of which are sequels to franchises that have been around since the last millennium. And it does that splendidly, even if the games themselves haven’t always cleared the lofty bar set by the Switch 1’s first year. Do I sound a little disappointed? I’m trying not to be. 

    2025 was a transition year for Nintendo’s hardware; one that feels less like a clear passing of the baton than an extended farewell where everyone spends an extra 15 minutes gossipping at the door while putting on their coats before actually saying goodbye. The Switch 1 was a must-buy in 2017. In 2025 the Switch 2 is more of a nice-to-have. 

    The Hardware

    You can tell when a certain line of hardware has matured by what people focus on. The raw specs? A refined form factor? New software features? With the Switch 2, it’s a satisfying but mostly inconsequential gimmick. One of the first things anyone will do with the new device is feel the tug of magnets as the new Joy-Con click into place on the sides of the console. A hundred times later, it still delights me and yields an unwarranted flash of joy. If only the thumb-stick nubs weren’t still garbage. 

    The other thing that stands out most about the Switch 2 is how much faster it charges. While the battery life overall isn’t very impressive, and is still sapped surprisingly quickly even in sleep mode, it’s now possible to get a mostly full charge in just one hour. This isn’t a reason to upgrade a console, but it’s one of the things I spend the most time doing with my Switch 2 besides playing it. 

    The screen, slightly larger than that of its predecessor, also feels surprisingly revelatory. It’s like you’ve been driving with the sun visor down and then you lift it up to reveal the rest of the horizon. The addition of those few inches of space feels like having a blast shield lifted from your face. It’s not OLED, but the resolution is sharp, the colors are vibrant, and the overall build quality feels nice. Setting HDR correctly, though, is a pain. 

    Kotaku

    Most importantly, the guts of the machine delivered the type of next-gen upgrade you’d want from a device that costs $150 more than its predecessor did at launch. It kept up well with modern third-party blockbusters like Cyberpunk 2077 and Star Wars Outlaws, and ran first-party Nintendo games with sprawling worlds, like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, with no major issues, at least in docked mode. 

    The old Switch, meanwhile, is harder than ever to go back to. The screen is small, the bezels feel that much larger, and the OS lags more than my two-year-old on a one-mile walk around the neighborhood. The hardware has held up well mechanically, but is hanging off the edge of a cliff when it comes to actual game performance. 

    Fans have been seeing the original Switch show its age with new releases for years now, but Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are likely to serve as the final nails in the coffin for anyone trying to stick it out on the less capable last-gen machines. Are the games busted on Switch 1? Not at all. Can you enjoy them? Definitely. Would I recommend just holding off until you eventually buy a Switch 2? Absolutely.

    It’s worth noting that, like the Switch 2, the original Switch also saw a price hike in 2025. It now costs $40 more than it did at launch. The used prices for the old hardware, thankfully, have remained surprisingly low. A secondhand Switch Lite for $100 was probably the best deal in games this year. 

    The Software

    The Switch 2 interface remains stubbornly barebones in an era when the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 continue to add new bells and whistles to their home screen experiences. Customization options are minimal. The row of icons constantly jiggles around based solely on what you played last. Tons of blank real estate above and below is still a wasteland, with no backgrounds to swap to besides night mode. 

    GameChat, the Switch 2’s actual big back-of-the-box feature, performs fine, but feels unmoored from the broader console experience. Meanwhile, the console itself can play Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Minecraft better than its predecessor, but compared to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, the Switch 2 remains just as fundamentally uninterested in being a social hub as the Switch was. 

    It’s the only major gaming platform not to be integrated with the biggest communication platform for gaming: Discord. Sharing game capture and images now requires a dedicated smartphone app from Nintendo’s ever-growing repository of console features outsourced to second screens. It’s not a terrible idea in principle, but it doesn’t feel sane or streamlined in practice. 

    Switch consoles sit on a shelf at Best Buy.
    Kotaku

    2025 was the year that Nintendo tried to divorce itself from the increasingly unstable broader internet. It set up a dedicated Nintendo Today! news app that is sometimes the only place to find out about things like the upcoming Zelda movie, but is more often than not just a glorified calendar for sharing existing character art. 

    There’s also a dedicated app for parental controls, music, and more. None of it is organically integrated into the actual device fans just spent a ton of money on. The whole setup is, frankly, insane. 

    There were some bright spots for Nintendo’s on-system user-experience in 2025, however. It established virtual card sharing to allow users to lend out digital games across different devices as long as they’re linked by a family group or share a user profile. It’s a process that looks more complicated on paper than it feels in practice. 

    It makes the experience of jumping back and forth between the original Switch and the Switch 2 a lot more seamless than it was with any previous generational leaps in Nintendo’s history. The only downside is that cloud save syncing can’t always keep up. It’s a step in the right direction, but still a far cry from Microsoft’s brave new “play anywhere” future. 

    Another bone Nintendo threw to older Switch owners was GameShare, a way to use multiplayer across multiple devices in the same room. While GameShare works online via GameChat for Switch 2 owners, it also works locally for those with the old handheld hybrid. It works surprisingly well for things like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment multiplayer, streaming the game to an old Switch for player two. It runs at lower resolution and framerates, but is a nice option that adds utility to the older hardware, even if it’s probably going to stay a niche feature over the long run. 

    The Services

    Switch Online expanded in a big way this year with the addition of GameCube games. Exclusive to Switch 2, the new classic console experience kicked off with F-Zero GX, Soulcalibur II, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker in June, followed by Super Mario Strikers in July, Chibi-Robo! in August, Luigi’s Mansion in October, and Wario World in December. 

    Games like Super Mario Sunshine and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance remain MIA for now, and it’ll be interesting to see how much the library expands into third-party releases. It added a lot of value to the existing $50-a-month Expansion Pack subscription, which also gained access to paid Switch 2 upgrades for Switch games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

    Zelda plays a song on a boat.
    Nintendo

    But one thing Nintendo didn’t do was bring back Virtual Console, or some other mechanism for buying old games a la carte. Entire months still go by without any new classics added to any of the console back catalogs. And glaring omissions like Super Smash Bros. 64 raise questions about whether some games will ever be added to the service. 

    Switch Online, which is still just $20 a year, will become mandatory for GameChat access starting after March 31, 2026. At the same time, users are getting other benefits like new music in Nintendo’s Spotify-like app for game soundtracks. Practically every week gets new tracks for games ranging from Metroid 2 to Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, though obvious albums like Mario Kart World are still missing. 

    Meanwhile, other benefits have been dropped from the service. Just in time for the new console’s release, Nintendo ditched its gold coins system that gave players cash back on eShop purchases, and is similarly sunsetting its Switch Game Vouchers program, a series of coupons that let fans get new games at a discount. Done right, it was one way to keep gaming on Switch more affordable. Instead, being a Nintendo fan is only getting more expensive amid tariffs, $80 games, and Switch 2 upgrade fees. 

    The Games

    It was an eclectic year for Switch and Switch 2 releases, if not one that will be remembered like 2017, when Nintendo launched a new console into one of the best lineups in its history. Mario Kart World initially dazzled but doesn’t feel as full-bodied as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe does after years of post-release updates and DLC. Despite issuing a number of balance updates, the company has been weird about actually letting fans play the game the way they want to online. 

    New add-ons for Mario Party Jamboree and Kirby and the Forgotten Land were nice upgrade incentives but hardly groundbreaking. Kirby Air Riders, for all of director Masahiro Sakurai’s pre-release hype, was nice, fun, fine. Donkey Kong Bananza, an unexpected highlight, provided a novel gimmick and a crowd-pleasing ending to bookend an otherwise B+ experience. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, despite the nearly decade-long wait, was also less than transformative. 

    Donkey Kong blows crystals up.
    Nintendo

    Pokémon Legends: Z-A delivered for Pokémon fans, bolstering what would have been an otherwise disappointing inaugural holiday season for the Switch 2, but it did not quite transform the franchise the way Switch 1 iterations of some long-standing series did. There was certainly no shortage of new Nintendo releases in 2025, from Mario Galaxy remasters to Tears of the Kingdom upgrades, but nothing that quite lived up to the sky-high expectations attached to the new hardware around this time last year. 

    But Nintendo has done a good job of building up the Switch 2’s initial base of third-party support. Ubisoft showed up with ports that underpromised and over-delivered, even as others like Borderlands 4 were indefinitely delayed. Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman: World of Assassination, and Street Fighter 6 all showed the breadth of what fans might expect heading into this new Nintendo console generation, which is access to many of the biggest modern games around, available with fewer compromises than expected, at least early on. 

    If you look at the 10 highest-rated releases of the year according to Metacritic, seven of them are available on Switch and four of them, including Hades 2, are console exclusives. It’s not hard to see the rest, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Blue Prince, eventually coming to the platform in 2026. At least for now, Switch 2 is shaping up to have a broader powerhouse library of games than its predecessor. The only real question is whether Nintendo can raise the bar again, or has hit its current ceiling. 

    The Future

    There were four things that made the first year of the original Switch so special: portability, indie games, a great Mario game, and a groundbreaking Zelda. The Switch 2 benefited from none of those things in quite the same way. It still feels like we’re in the warm-up phase. Nintendo isn’t one to rest on its laurels, but it’s also looking beyond just games these days. 

    Nintendo’s biggest release of 2026 probably won’t be on Switch 2. If it performs as well as the first one, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will, in terms of cultural reach and box office prowess, outshine anything that the company can stick on a cartridge. It opened a new Super Nintendo World theme park location in Orlando this year, and continues branching out into real-world experiences, new stores, more toys, and other transmedia products. 

    The Switch 2 feels like the Switch 1 all grown up, and it is both more useful and more boring as a result. It wears a half-zip, pays its bills on time, and always shows up on time at the bar. It has its shit together. Give it your money. It’s the gaming equivalent of investing your 401k in an index fund. 

    But can Nintendo still flood it with imaginative possibilities that surprise and delight the way it did with releases like Labo and Ring Fit on the Switch in its early years? Will it give us fresh gameplay ideas and new franchises, or reinvent the old ones to the point where they feel almost unrecognizable? That will be the test for the Switch 2 in 2026 and beyond. Especially if Nintendo is going to start charging more for it, as some analysts are currently speculating aloud.

    The Switch 2 is good enough, but it still has a lot to prove.

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    Ethan Gach

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  • Pokémon Legends: Z-A Switch 2 Upgrade Gets You 60FPS And Little Else

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    Pokémon Legends: Z-A is coming to both new and old hardware, leaving fans with an important decision to make. Is it worth upgrading to play it on Switch 2, or will the old version handle well enough? According to one of the first comparison videos of the game running on both consoles, the differences are hardly noticeable outside of it running at 60fps on the newer hardware. That’s good for Switch 1 owners, but a bit underwhelming for those who’ve already bought a Switch 2.

    A new 15-minute video published on the YouTube channel ElAnalistaDeBits shows a deep-dive comparison between both versions of the game. On Switch 1, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is capped at a resolution of 1080p and goes down as far as 800p in handheld mode. On Switch 2, it displays up to 2160p, and down to 1080p in handheld. By far the most meaningful difference is the 60fps perk for Switch 2 owners. Every other side-by-side comparison, however, looks pretty similar.

    The Switch 2 version appears to sport better shadows, textures, object draw distance, and density of vegetation and other details, but at least when viewed through captured footage uploaded to YouTube, the differences are pretty minor. On the one hand, that’s good news for everyone who will be playing Pokémon Legends: Z-A on the old hardware. On the other hand, it makes it that much harder to stomach the $10 upgrade for the game on Switch 2. The Pokémon Company is essentially charging for a 60fps mode within the new console’s first six months.

    “Before vs before,” joked one YouTube commenter. “From Water to H²O,” quipped another.

    New Pokémon games always get dragged through the ringer for their lack of graphical prowess as some fans pine for a major visual upgrade on par with the ones some franchises got with the previous Switch hardware. As a cross-gen game, it’s clear Pokémon Legends: Z-A isn’t going to provide that “next-gen-feeling” leap. At the very least, it seems like the Switch 1 version of the game is in better shape than Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were at launch back in 2022. The video doesn’t show off any major glitches or framerate dips. Hopefully, that reflects the experience most players have when the game comes out on October 16.

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    Ethan Gach

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  • Battlefield 6 Devs Struggled To Get It Running On Xbox Series S

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    Last month, Battlefield 6’s open beta on PC and consoles quickly became one of the most-played games of 2025. But like any modern game hitting Xbox in 2025, BF6 is launching on both the Series X and the weaker Series S. And according to the devs behind the game, getting BF6 to run on the less powerful console was a “challenge.”

    Earlier this week, Kotaku sat down with two Battlefield 6 devs to discuss the game’s console ports, and I asked if the team struggled while trying to get such a big and complicated game to run well on Xbox Series S. We’ve heard stories that the Series S can cause devs headaches. And despite Frostbite, BF6‘s engine, being very “scalable,” the Series S was still proven a tricky beast to conquer.

    “I will say that the biggest thing we did that was a challenge for us was [dealing with the console’s limited] memory,” explained Christian Buhl, technical director on Battlefield 6. “Xbox Series S does have less memory than even our mid-spec PC. And so there was a point…Oh, I want to say, like, 6 to 12 months ago where we kind of realized that a lot of our levels were crashing on Xbox Series S.”

    As a result, the team focused on “optimizing” memory usage in Battlefield 6. And these improvements weren’t just felt on Series S. According to Buhl, this process made the “whole game better and more stable.” However, the devs also worked on “specific optimizations” for Xbox Series S, too.

    “We were doing so much testing…we were collecting all this data,” explained Buhl. “Once we kind of started running all our levels through it, and were able to see where the problems were, after a month or two, we had kind of resolved all of our memory issues on Series S.”

    Buhl says Battlefield 6 is now “super solid” and “performant” on Xbox Series S and will run at a “smooth 60 frames per second.” And footage of the game’s open beta running on Series S seems to back that up. 

    EA Won’t Talk About Battlefield 6 On Switch 2

    Of course, with Frostbite being so scalable and the studio working hard to make BF6 super optimized, I wanted to ask if, theoretically, the game could run on a Switch 2. The studio is even implementing gyro controls on PS5 and PS5 Pro to let players flick around quickly or reload with the simple waggle of the gamepad.

    However, when I asked if it would be possible for Battlefield 6 and Frostbite to run on a Switch 2 based on the specs, an EA rep stepped in and cut off Buhl right as he began to say something.

    “Sorry, I have to step in here,” said the EA rep. “We can’t talk anything beyond, sort of, like, the consoles that Battlefield’s coming to, which is Xbox Series X/S and PS5, and PS5 Pro.” 

    Later on, when the team was talking about gyro controls, I brought up how the Switch 2 has excellent gyro sensors in its Joy-Con.

    “Exactly, yeah,” was the response. So, at least I can confirm the devs working on Battlefield 6 think the Switch 2 has great gyro controls. Beyond that, nothing.

    I’m very excited to play Battlefield 6 once it launches on October 10 on my PS5 Pro and high-end gaming PC. But not everyone has access to those devices, and some players are gaming on the aging and weaker Xbox Series S. So I’m happy to hear that the devs behind the game worked so hard on optimizing it and making sure all platforms get a great version of Battlefield 6. And hey, maybe Switch 2 owners will get their own solid version of BF6 in the future?

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • What Switch 2 Leaks Tell Us About The Upcoming Longest Nintendo Direct Ever

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    The Nintendo Direct that fans have been waiting for is finally here and it’s a big one. September is usually when the company has its annual blowout showcase, and after a messy first half of 2025 ahead of the Switch 2 launch, it seems like we might be getting back into a familiar flow. After a quiet couple of years, the drought may finally be over. The Switch 2 is out and Nintendo can finally wheel out the big guns.

    With Nintendo promising an hour-long livestream, the September 12 Direct will be the longest in the company’s history outside of the April one earlier this year for revealing the Switch 2 hardware. It also comes just ahead of the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. on September 13, suggesting plenty of Mario-themed announcements may be in tow as well. And then there’s the flurry of recently leaks from self-proclaimed insiders, some with a good enough track record to take them seriously going into the event. Here’s what we’re likely to see at the latest Nintendo Direct this Friday, from rumors and best guesses to some wild longshots that are too cool not to think about.

    Resident Evil, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and more ports

    According to Resident Evil leaker Dusk Golem, we should expect a whole lot of Capcom’s horror series to be coming to Switch 2 in the year ahead. That includes Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village, as well as the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes. Notably, all of these were created on the current RE Engine, which Capcom has been using for all of its new games. Dusk Golem has suggested the newest sequel, Resident Evil: Requiem, will arrive on Switch 2 at some point as well.

    While only a port of RE7 has been claimed to be getting revealed at this week’s Direct, fans have already started speculating about what this will mean for Capcom’s other franchises on Switch 2. Both Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds were also developed in the RE Engine, as was Street Fighter 6 which was a launch game for the hardware back in June.

    Final Fantasy VII Remake isn’t out on Switch 2 yet, but there are already rumors that Rebirth isn’t far behind. Reliable Switch leaker NateTheHate recently claimed the sequel is headed to Nintendo’s new console sometime in 2026. He’s also previously reported that Red Dead Redemption 2 is being ported to Switch 2, which seems likely to arrive sooner than later. That doesn’t mean either will be at this week’s Direct but they are certainly in the mix. There are rumors that Starfield and Assassin’s Creed Shadows will end up on Nintendo’s handheld hybrid at some point, too.

    Then there’s a very messy riddle from leaker SwitchForce who was the first to reveal that a Nintendo Direct was happening on September 12. The tease is that there will be three games at the showcase with the number seven in the title. Outside of FF7, there’s been speculation about Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Ace Attorney 7 being the others, though SwitchForce said the long-running courtroom series definitely wouldn’t be in the livestream. A more obvious choice is 007 First Light, which was recently at the PlayStation State of Play as well.

    The year of Super Mario Bros. 

    SwitchForce has also been teasing big Mario news at the event. “They buy the new systems for the mustache,” read a tweet featuring a GIF of Mario from Super Mario Odyssey. One theory is that the Odyssey team split in two, with a younger offshoot working on Donkey Kong Bananza and another developing the next 3D Mario game. The timing makes the reveal of Super Mario Odyssey‘s successor feel all but assured, though it probably won’t be the only Mario announcement in the Direct.

    We’re also less than a year out from The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 with no real info about what the story will be or which celebrities will be joining the English-language cast. At least an initial teaser, if not a full-blown trailer, could be in the cards. Maybe we’ll even get a double feature with a tease for the upcoming Zelda movie in 2027 as well? It could be as simple as confirmation of whether it will be a brand-new story or not, or whether it will be another isekai tale (people from the real world magically appearing in Hyrule).

    But back to Mario. It’s his time to shine after all. The way Nintendo usually likes to handle these anniversaries means we could get a new anthology of remasters or remixes of older games in the series, or ports of more recent entries that have been languishing on old hardware like Super Mario Galaxy (I’m still holding out hope for Super Mario Galaxy 3 myself). Another Switch Online exclusive multiplayer spin-off like Super Mario Bros. 35 doesn’t sound out of the question either. Maybe this time it’ll go from 2D side-scrolling to a Fall Guys-style 3D battle royale mode.

    Finally, we know Nintendo loves its limited-edition accessories and merchandise. A Mario Bros. 40th anniversary Switch 2, new Amiibo, and new Switch 2 Joy-Con colors feel like an easy prediction. More exciting would be some new sort of dedicated device like the Nintendo Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros., only this time with more than just the first two games. And what’s going on with that detachable dual-screen add-on that Nintendo patented? Could the Switch 2 finally get DS games coming to its subscription service?

    Xenoblade Chronicles 2 deserves a Switch 2 upgrade

    If the original Switch taught us anything, it’s that Nintendo loves double-dipping. Half of the first-party library for that console was just Wii U games. And I fully expect the company to maintain that pattern with Switch 2 by continuing to roll out free and paid upgrades for older games. A recent Monolith Soft job posting on social media included fresh footage of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 that appeared to show it running at a much higher resolution. Those open-world RPGs have always struggled on the first Switch, leaving fans pining not only for Xenoblade Chronicles 4 on Switch 2 but also upgrades for the last two numbered entries. They’re also still waiting to see what’s up with Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s hidden 60fps mode.

    There are also still lots of other old games Nintendo can pull onto the Switch 2 in one form or another. A Wii U HD remaster of Twilight Princess is still MIA on modern platforms, and the original Luigi’s Mansion could be remastered or added to the GameCube library on Switch Online. Nintendo’s also getting ready to release Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (a release date reveal at this Direct would be nice!) and yet two of the games in the original trilogy still aren’t available to play on Switch.

    Smash Bros., Animal Crossing, and Mother 3

    Beyond the next Mario, there are plenty of other Nintendo franchises that are ripe for their next entries. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is five years old now, and Smash Bros. Ultimate got its last DLC character in 2021. Despite multiple remakes in the series since, the last new Luigi’s Mansion was in 2019. It’s not quite time for a new Fire Emblem but we are getting close. And what about Nintendo’s back-bench franchises like Star Fox, Punch-Out, and Pilotwings? The company loves pulling from the past just as much as building new things.

    Speaking of new things, a new Splatoon spin-off called Raiders was teased earlier this year and will no doubt make an appearance at the Direct if it’s coming out any time in the next 12 months. It would also be nice to see more of FromSoftware’s upcoming Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods. There’s also no word on what Platinum Games is working on for the console. Could Switch 2 be getting Bayonetta 4 or Astral Blades 2 anytime soon? And I know Team Ninja has been very busy lately, but it would be neat to see Marvel Ultimate Alliance 4 confirmed.

    The deepest cut of all would be Mother 3, the GBA game never officially localized in the West but which is already available through Switch Online in Japan. There was a big exhibit for the series in Tokyo this summer, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of Earthbound coming out in the U.S. Meanwhile, 2026 will mark the 20th anniversary for Mother 3. Series creator Shigesato Itoi is already 76 and not getting any younger. It’s time. Seriously. Just give us Mother 3. Hell, give us Mother 4! Or even a 3D remake of Earthbound. How much money do I need to spend these Earthbound figures to make it happen?

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    Ethan Gach

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  • Final Fantasy 7 Switch 2 Hands-On: The Opening Still Hits So Hard

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    Final Fantasy VII has one of the best openings of a video game ever. The remake cranks that up even further thanks to the the mash-up of modern graphics and Nobuo Uematsu’s classic score. I’m pleased to report the magic is still there on Switch 2. Digital Foundry said it might be the best-looking port on the handheld hybrid yet. Nothing in my time with it led me to think otherwise. And man, does that first mission still hit. 

    For the uninitiated, the opening mission has a former corporate solider teaming up with an anarcho-terrorist cell to blow up a power plant that is helping to kill the planet. Combined with the slick hybrid turn-based combat, it’s a perfect tutorial that also sets the big-picture stakes for the rest of the adventure.

    I briefly tested Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade at PAX West this past weekend and was relieve to see it doesn’t seem to be suffering from some of the issues that appear to be hindering other Switch 2 ports. Square Enix recently promised the newest version of the RPG would run at a stable 30fps with “smooth performance and crisp visuals” and my roughly 20 minutes with the opening mission backs that up. Even in handheld mode it performed well with no obvious visual shortcomings. The game still controls great, and after dozens of hours with Rebirth last year, I’d forgotten just satisfying those early moments of the first game look and feel.

    Square Enix

    It’s worth noting that I didn’t have enough time to defeat the Scorpion Sentinel and make it out of the No. 1 reactor before it blows up, so I didn’t get to explore Remake Intergrade‘s more open and NPC-filled slums. It’s possible these portions of the game will strain it more on Switch 2. Based on that early section, though, it seems like there’s a decent chance the new hardware’s features will help it come out of the most demanding sections relatively unscathed. Remake Intergrade came out five years ago, but nothing about it looks “old” on Switch 2.

    Will I go back and replay it once it’s out? Not without some sort of cross-save feature, which the Switch 2 version doesn’t support. But it’s neat that another excellent game will get a second lease on life with Nintendo’s new hardware, and it doesn’t appear to be cutting any performance corners in the process. There’s no exact release date yet but Remake Intergrade is expected to arrive sometime over the winter.

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    Ethan Gach

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