When the Nintendo Switch 2 was revealed, it was revealed that Nintendo not only removed paid Nintendo Switch 2 updates for certain games, but it also revealed that over 10 OG Switch games will also get free updates.
Due to the nature of their announcement and the fact that they are free, it was assumed that they might not be major updates, but Digital Foundry has released tests, and in most cases it is claimed that they are all remastered (by everything except the name).
Also, while we’ve published quick and dirty impressions of each game here, the report from the defender is much deeper into specs and technical improvements.
The defender calls it The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom. Both games ran at incredibly unstable framerates on Switch 1, but now they run at 60 fps locked on Switch 2, and the resolution has also increased from 720p to 1620p in dock mode and from 600p to 1080p in handheld mode.
It was Super Mario Odyssey that I spent a lot of my time, and the defender calls it something worth revisiting. The game holds 60 fps of gameplay, but with 4x more resolutions, where 1800p docking looks great on a 4K display, the game runs natively in handheld mode as well.
Credit: Digital Foundry
The update released after Switch 2 was released is the Splatoon 3, which in addition to bumping from 1080p to 4K to 60 fps, plus a big jump in the handheld.
Credit: Digital Foundry
Other games like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and New Super Mario Bros U are called improved, but they are not as prominent as other games for improved art style and minor resolution and frame rates.
Without a doubt, these upgrades are just a taste of what you can expect from upcoming games like Donkey Kong Bananza and Metroid Prime 4.