Nintendo Switch 2 Backward Compatibility Tested - It's Good!
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wrote on 6 Jun 2025, 15:52 last edited by
Summary:
Many games see noticeable improvements, but how much of an improvement will vary. Games that are bottlenecked by GPU or memory bandwidth benefit significantly, whereas CPU-bound titles only see small improvements.
Arkham Knight, famously one of the Switch's worst ports, is now a playable 30fps. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is... playable but still not great, building as much as possible to stress test the hardware can drop to single digit framerates on Switch 1, that's now around ~20-22fps here. These are the two most demanding titles tested, which means that most everything else came out pretty good.
The obvious caveat here is that games cannot exceed hardcoded targets. Games with uncapped framerates and dynamic resolution will be able to take advantage, but capped framerates and fixed resolutions must remain so.
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Summary:
Many games see noticeable improvements, but how much of an improvement will vary. Games that are bottlenecked by GPU or memory bandwidth benefit significantly, whereas CPU-bound titles only see small improvements.
Arkham Knight, famously one of the Switch's worst ports, is now a playable 30fps. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is... playable but still not great, building as much as possible to stress test the hardware can drop to single digit framerates on Switch 1, that's now around ~20-22fps here. These are the two most demanding titles tested, which means that most everything else came out pretty good.
The obvious caveat here is that games cannot exceed hardcoded targets. Games with uncapped framerates and dynamic resolution will be able to take advantage, but capped framerates and fixed resolutions must remain so.
wrote on 6 Jun 2025, 16:19 last edited byAlmost like they didn't remake the switch but instead copied it and added a bigger screen and faster memory/storage.
There's a clear reason why they went after yuzu..I bet the 'swotch2' ROMs will work with minor tweaks.
Regardless, hope people are enjoying their new toy. I won't be buying one at all but I hope people enjoy it.
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Almost like they didn't remake the switch but instead copied it and added a bigger screen and faster memory/storage.
There's a clear reason why they went after yuzu..I bet the 'swotch2' ROMs will work with minor tweaks.
Regardless, hope people are enjoying their new toy. I won't be buying one at all but I hope people enjoy it.
wrote on 6 Jun 2025, 16:42 last edited by ponyofwar@pawb.social 6 Jun 2025, 12:44That's objectively incorrect though. It's an entirely new chip based on a different architecture. Switch 1 games are actually run through a translation layer, which is why a small number of them still don't work on Switch 2 currently.
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Almost like they didn't remake the switch but instead copied it and added a bigger screen and faster memory/storage.
There's a clear reason why they went after yuzu..I bet the 'swotch2' ROMs will work with minor tweaks.
Regardless, hope people are enjoying their new toy. I won't be buying one at all but I hope people enjoy it.
wrote on 6 Jun 2025, 16:53 last edited byThe switch 2 is emulating the switch 1..
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Summary:
Many games see noticeable improvements, but how much of an improvement will vary. Games that are bottlenecked by GPU or memory bandwidth benefit significantly, whereas CPU-bound titles only see small improvements.
Arkham Knight, famously one of the Switch's worst ports, is now a playable 30fps. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is... playable but still not great, building as much as possible to stress test the hardware can drop to single digit framerates on Switch 1, that's now around ~20-22fps here. These are the two most demanding titles tested, which means that most everything else came out pretty good.
The obvious caveat here is that games cannot exceed hardcoded targets. Games with uncapped framerates and dynamic resolution will be able to take advantage, but capped framerates and fixed resolutions must remain so.
wrote on 6 Jun 2025, 16:54 last edited byI didn't expect it would enhance framerate at all without a game patch to be honest.
I was expecting something like new 3DS, where all games that were not specifically patched for it ran exactly the same. But I guess the difference is that new 3DS must have run in pure hardware old 3DS mode for those.
I felt DQB2 was already somewhat playable, but I probably never did very crazy builds. I remember people warning that destroying mountains on the main island for example was a very bad idea, because they were supposed to limit how much of the island the game had to render. Maybe I should check my old island on Switch 2.
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I didn't expect it would enhance framerate at all without a game patch to be honest.
I was expecting something like new 3DS, where all games that were not specifically patched for it ran exactly the same. But I guess the difference is that new 3DS must have run in pure hardware old 3DS mode for those.
I felt DQB2 was already somewhat playable, but I probably never did very crazy builds. I remember people warning that destroying mountains on the main island for example was a very bad idea, because they were supposed to limit how much of the island the game had to render. Maybe I should check my old island on Switch 2.
wrote on 6 Jun 2025, 17:14 last edited byN3DS downclocks to O3DS speeds on any game not specifically tagged as N3DS-enhanced. Softmodding can enable full clock speeds though.
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N3DS downclocks to O3DS speeds on any game not specifically tagged as N3DS-enhanced. Softmodding can enable full clock speeds though.
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 10:27 last edited byIt's kind of the point I was trying to make though. They could have unlocked CPU speed for O3DS games by default, and they chose not to. I assume they didn't because of all the games, there will always be the odd ones that behave unpredictably when they're running on unintended specs. So they went for 100% compatibility unless the game was specifically patched for N3DS.
Even though this time it's software emulation, they could have played a bit safer by emulating exactly a Switch 1, including clock speed. Turns out Switch 2 seems to have very good compatibility, with only a couple problematic games they are working on, so in the end, good that they did it that way.
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Almost like they didn't remake the switch but instead copied it and added a bigger screen and faster memory/storage.
There's a clear reason why they went after yuzu..I bet the 'swotch2' ROMs will work with minor tweaks.
Regardless, hope people are enjoying their new toy. I won't be buying one at all but I hope people enjoy it.
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 10:44 last edited byAlmost like you didn’t watch the video.
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Almost like you didn’t watch the video.
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 12:19 last edited byNo I don't watch videos on consoles or advertising
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No I don't watch videos on consoles or advertising
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 13:35 last edited byProtip: If you really don't want to watch the video, you can avoid embarassing yourself by not commenting.
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Protip: If you really don't want to watch the video, you can avoid embarassing yourself by not commenting.
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 14:13 last edited byLol you can't be embarrassed if you don't care. Silly human.
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Lol you can't be embarrassed if you don't care. Silly human.
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 14:19 last edited byYou cared enough to comment and try to spread misinformation.
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It's kind of the point I was trying to make though. They could have unlocked CPU speed for O3DS games by default, and they chose not to. I assume they didn't because of all the games, there will always be the odd ones that behave unpredictably when they're running on unintended specs. So they went for 100% compatibility unless the game was specifically patched for N3DS.
Even though this time it's software emulation, they could have played a bit safer by emulating exactly a Switch 1, including clock speed. Turns out Switch 2 seems to have very good compatibility, with only a couple problematic games they are working on, so in the end, good that they did it that way.
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 15:00 last edited byI think it’s because the market changed around them. When the 3DS launched they were one of the only companies providing decent BC. Now, everyone does it and people expect games to actually play better on the new devices.
Still a surprise that Nintendo got the message, but with the dozen first party games that got free patches it was clear this was a new era for them. I’m playing Pokemon Violet right now after beating Scarlet a few years ago and it’s like a whole new game on Switch 2, all the performance issues are just gone.
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You cared enough to comment and try to spread misinformation.
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 16:36 last edited byThen let tendo sue me
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Then let tendo sue me
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 16:42 last edited byIs it truly too much to ask you to just... not post misinformation? Is that so hard? Do you really have to act like this?
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Is it truly too much to ask you to just... not post misinformation? Is that so hard? Do you really have to act like this?
wrote on 7 Jun 2025, 17:02 last edited byOn weekends it's too much to ask, yes. Monday to Friday is perfectly ok. If we could reschedule this until Monday at the earliest, that would be greatly appreciated.