12 Switch Games Are Getting Free Switch 2 Upgrades, Here's What You Can Expect

the ARMS resurgence is about to begin.

A little concerned that both the top-down Zeldas don't seem to have any frame rate updates. They better not be plotting to release Switch 2 Editions. Would be particularly egregious for the DAMN REMAKE.

Echoes of Wisdom and Link’s Awakening not getting frame rate boosts is a travesty. I would gladly take not having to deal with the stuttering instead of getting a resolution bump or HDR support for those two games.

Thats more resolution/framrate/hdr improvements than I expected, particularly with the Mario games, fantastic, a solid piece of good news among lots of negativity with the system.

@N00BiSH
Both of the 2D Zelda's already target 60FPS but have frequent frame drops, playing them on Switch 2 will presumably automatically smooth out any frame rate issues via brute force.

Frame rate not being mentioned in the patch noted mostly implies that the 2D Zeldas aren't getting a 120FPS mode, which isn't too shocking.

Can't believe there's no Pikmin 3 or 4 update.

It’s still disappointing that there is no VRR support for the external hdmi. Anyone know why (All I can think of is the SoC only supports the original proper gsync that used to require a fpga in the monitor but I am not certain by a long shot)

I hope that these updates are separate to those required for the Switch 1, so that if, for example, one owns a revised physical release of any of these, that one will not have to download the entirety of the updates to date plus the Switch 2 improvements.

My thought exactly. I assume that all of the above games will see performance enhancements by default, simply by virtue of being updated to run natively on the hardware.

@LegendOfStewart
I kinda think the specific mentions of improved framerate are for 30 to 60, the two Zelda’s should have improved performance to keep it out of the double buffered hell where it constantly goes from 60 to 30fps, they could also fix this on at least handheld if it can use VRR to avoid double buffering all together.

Wonder if arceus will get a patch

@Beetlebum91 : It wasn't announced, and Nintendo/Pokémon have never previously enhanced older games for newer hardware (that I can recall), including the New 3DS, which could have gone a long way in making the Gen VI games fully playable in 3D.

In any case, an Arceus update would be fantastic. I wouldn't mind seeing Sword/Shield get that sort of treatment as well, though it looks and plays fine as it is (especially when compared with the unoptimised monstrosity that is Scarlet/Violet).

Wasn't expecting this many additions to some of these games. HDR support for almost all games here is really cool to see along side sharper image quality! Does feel weird Grezzo's Zeldas on Switch don't have the frame rate mention, but I would assume they get something boost wise, but they aren't the most pressing frame rate improvements we need imo

That was disappointing!

@Aran Agreed. Mouse controls on Pikmin 3 & 4 would be awesome.

Nice list of free updates. Happy to see all of the HDR mentions. I won't replay any of them but it's like the best Switch 2 news I've seen in awhile. I'm sure others will come, the system hasn't even launched yet. 👍

@SillyG yeah I'm keen for the violet update. I played scarlet day 1, had none of the glitches or slow down people were experiencing, sold it. I recently wanted to play it and the dlc so I bought violet instead for a change and for whatever reason it runs like trash. If I try to catch pokemon while riding the bike pokemon (miraidon?), my character disappears and the pokeball just gets thrown from nowhere.

Awww, no mouse controls on clubhouse games? That's a real shame. Though I didn't realize that gameshare would work online, that's pretty cool.

I expected to see some mouse controls for captain toad but otherwise looks like about what I would expect. Itll be fun to boot up all these games and give them a try in switch 2

Im curious to see if they’ll roll out more free updates over time or if this is a one time push

I have all of these except Pokémon and Game Builder Garage so, cool for getting 9 free updates I guess! The gameshare updates are the most exciting ones honestly.

@LegendOfStewart I assume since those games are programmed to be able to run at 60fps (even if it barely hits that target on Switch) that the Switch 2 is simply powerful enough to run those games at a constant 60fps. Therefore no upgrade required

I'm so going back to ARMS!

I assume the framerate upgrade for Bowsers Fury means that the game finally runs at 60fps (or maybe even 120fps) in handheld mode. The fact that the game only ran at 30fps in handheld mode while running at 60fps docked was always a bit off putting

Also the fact that there is no confirmed update for any of the XC games (yet) is a tragedy

@westman98 echoes of wisdom targets 30fps

@mariomaster96
The phrasing of "including Bowser's Fury" implies that base 3D World is also seeing some improvements, which kind of has to mean 120fps. I think Bowser's Fury will stay at 60fps, at least in handheld, especially because it's the only part of the package that is HDR-enabled.

Xenoblade X also had an unfinished 60fps mode uncovered in its files on Switch, so I think it's safe to say it's going to be enhanced on Switch 2 at a later date.

@Moonlessky Echoes of Wisdom targets 60fps. It runs at 30fps a lot of the time in the overworld, which is something that the Switch 2 should be able to resolve natively through its approach to backwards compatibility (things like load times and adaptive resolution) should also be better by default, as shown with Yoshi's Crafted World in the Direct.

120 fps for NS1 games seems pretty unlikely to me. But I must admit, I‘m surprised that NS1 games get HDR!

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet with 60 FPS will be transformative. (All other games already aim for 60 fps on NS1.)

The one I'm most excited for is bowsers fury. The framerate on that one can be very rough.

dang it, I was hoping Captain Toad would get mouse controls, it would make playing in docked mode better because you wouldn't have to deal with gyro cursor drifting and having to reset it every 5 minutes
also it's weird that NSMBU is not getting GameShare support, I thought that's what this update was gonna add but it's just getting visual upgrade which it doesn't need nor does it help with how ugly NSMB artstyle is

Even more than FPS it's pretty rad that they're adding HDR. That's the biggest image quality game changer if you have an OLED TV that supports it IMHO. 1080P with HDR looks better than 4K without HDR.

@SillyG Yeah, anything without an update runs in emulation, right? I would expect those to have the same performance characteristics as on the original switch since it'll be emulating the hardware, but for these ones that are being recompiled to run natively on Switch 2 it seems like a pretty good performance boost is essentially guaranteed. Even if they're not actually changing the targeted frame rate, there should be way fewer dropped frames when running a game that was originally designed for the Switch 1 hardware.

since i have almost all of them, I can't wait to try them out

And Yet....We're all Collectively waiting for Wave 2

Astral Chain
Xenoblade Chronicles 1-X
Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity
Bayonetta 3
Luigi's Mansion 3
Metroid Prime Remastered
Mario and Luigi Brothership
Paper Mario RPG: The Thousand Year Door
......etc.

Thinking of replaying Mario Odyssey when I get the Switch 2 in celebration of Mario's 40th anniversary. The upgrade will be nice to have for an already great game

12 free game updates Nintendo didn't have to make,
They also didn't have to make them free.
So thank you Nintendo.

And for people asking for game x..y..z just wait and see. Some will just run better on Switch 2 without updates, and some might get an update later on.

Some really big omissions there and the list should have at least another 12 when switch 2 is released.

Dam I forgot they only had the chip set done since 2021 and 8 years to do this.
Never enough time.

Wish they would have given actual figures

I was expecting the switch 2 to increase resolution for all switch games and frame rate for uncapped games without need for special tweaks from Nintendo. Similar to how pc gaming is. I don’t know why people are ok with this drip feed of enhancements. Years and months ago we were all hoping for across the board improvements for just about any switch games you pop into the switch 2. Now we’re ok will 12.

@N00BiSH I'll be there for ARMS.

Love that they are giving older games new life.

The lack of mouse support for Club House Games makes no sense.

Anyway, apart from Nintendo titles, I'm negatively surprised that there are still no updates on the compatibility list for third-party games, less than 20 days before the release of the console.
Maybe I'm a little too pessimistic, but this doesn't seem like a good sign to me.

@westman98 My thoughts exactly about lack of FPS being mentioned that it will just smoothen out by itself rather than requiring changes through an update.

I would guess alot more titles not part of these 12 also have the same "fix" in which today's random FPS drops on Switch 1 will just be gone once played on Switch 2.

.....I hope atleast!

I wonder if they can fix the blur on the edges of the screen for Link’s Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom.

@PikaPhantom
The main issue is that it uses double buffering that means that any time the framerate dips below 60fps it falls back to 30fps or even to 20 or 15, this avoids stuttering and delivers proper frame pacing at the cost of how jarring this back and forth change in fluidity is. Like I’ve mentioned before VRR solves this and hopefully they can implemented on updated Switch 1 games or simply just have it work with all games by default.

@DwaynesGames that's a stylistic choice, not a bug.

@Bizzyb Astral Chain would be nice, but it isn’t developed by a Nintendo studio, so my hopes are quite low.

I‘m surprised not to see Animal Crossing and Luigi‘s Mansion 3 in wave 1. For Xenoblade Chronicles X, I think we will get a Switch 2 Edition in December.

Edit: And Paper Mario TTYD also not being in wave 1 is disappointing.

@Koda1000 in a developer interview when they were talking about backwards compatibility with Switch 1 games they said that certain games ran better on Switch 2 and by "certain" I'm sure they're talking about games that had frame rate issues and/or used dynamic resolution so those will most likely just hit their caps consistently, and in the direct they showed Yoshi's Crafted World loading twice as fast on Switch 2 vs Switch 1 and that game isn't getting any sort of upgrade so that just confirms that all Switch 1 games will load faster on Switch 2
These updates just seem like they're boosting resolution and frame rate beyond the caps these games had, they're saying that ARMS will run smoother "even when playing with 3 or more players" so that to me says that it won't drop to 30 FPS anymore no matter the number of players in split-screen multiplayer

I never thought I'd see the day where Nintendo offers mild improvements to existing games like this

Yes, we've had low-effort remakes and ports, but not "here's a minor upgrade aligned with new hardware". It's very much what Microsoft and PlayStation do - trying to stay at that graphical cutting edge rather than focusing on new ideas

(Yes, I'm aware updated graphics and new games aren't mutually exclusive, but Nintendo always erred on the gameplay side)

Great news, looks like I will be doing Pokémon Violet playtrough first weekend of NS2 aka done with Scarlet already only some extra things are left to do there. They released 2 4k/2160p screenshots/images 1 for each Game as well, but I believe that those Patches will only make Handheld Full HD/1080p and max Quad HD/2k/1440p Docked cause I can't image they giving 4k/2160p for free. Plus looks like from those 2 screenshots/images that how many Mons will spawn at once will be increased for NS2 compared to any NS1 Game's version!

@Tayrailbridge I am fairly sure that Nintendo will re-release every game in the series to have mouse controls.

Whether that is as an update to the Switch 1 games or as a brand new Switch 2 release I cannot be sure.

Pikmin is ripe for mouse controls and I'm here for it when it lands.

@SwitchplayerJohn Probably because not a lot of people played Odyssey in co-op, so it's not such a big deal? The asymmetrical Cappy mode is not full-blown co-op, it seems to exist mostly so that a young child can join an older kid or their parent in the game. And those young kids are more likely to be in the same space as the older player anyway, so I can't imagine the majority of Odyssey players will ever use the online co-op option.

Now, if the game were to add a full symmetrical online co-op mode, with the other player being able to play Luigi or some other character with all the same capabilities as Mario, that would be a whole different thing.

I hope they keep rolling these out to their other titles.

I wonder how much work is involved for these kinds of updates?

@OldGamer999 Which were the big omissions? Any examples? Maybe they're being worked on and not ready to announce yet, could be a possibility. I would imagine all their biggest sellers will get a lil facelift and spruce along the way, the machine isn't even out yet lol.

@Nintoz going by some of the comments it should all happen immediately.

If they can offer free upgrades for those games, why not all of them?

@LegendOfStewart I’m hoping that while it isn’t increased it comfortably sits at 30 rather than dipping in busy areas.

@Vectrex because someone has to do the work. I’d be surprised if other games particularly third party don’t see a fair few updates. It depends on the developer though and how easy it is to update. Something like No Man’s Sky I’d expect to be updated as it has been well supported throughout its life cycle, hopefully Minecraft will get the new visual upgrade on Switch 2 as well

Echoes of Wisdom not getting fps improvement seems weird. I assume it will have a stable 60fps? Hopefully

Here’s hoping the rest of the first party stuff gets the framerate and hdr support added.

It’s odd they haven’t given a roadmap for that yet. Even odder that XC X isn’t on this list given what we know about the game (including a 60fps mode).

I guess they’re saving that information for a later Direxct?

I expect in a lot of cases, a simple recompile would do the job. Maybe a few tweaks, like how they'd've optimised the rendering to account for the speed of the system, and would hopefully have defined those settings somewhere easily accessible.

But.. I have a feeling that Nintendo's methodology would make that a tougher job than most people would realise. They really do squeeze every ounce of power out of a system, and that means a ton of tweaks and nips and tucks all over the place, and undoing some of those might unravel a whole myriad of bugs. Game events being locked to "the framerate the Switch can manage", and rendering looking fine when at the slightly lower end, but showing all manner of issues when upscaled.
Things like that.

Good luck to all involved, I say!

Wow, I did not see this level of HDR-support coming at all. Actually, I only dreamed of this and did not foresee any actual support. That is pretty darn cool. I love this new direction for Nintendo. Basically all their first-party games have been screaming for HDR support for a decade now.

I am now very hopeful and optimistic, that Nintendo will continue with this and also free other games from their SDR-prison. Hoping for Metroid Prime and Dread, Astral Chain, Fire Emblem games, Bayonetta 1-3, Xenoblade X (!!!), Splatoon obviously and also Luigi's Mansion.

All 1st-party games would benefit immensely from HDR-support though and given that HDR is performance agnostic, there is no good technically reason not to have it!

Sidenote: Nintendo apparently updated the wording already for 3D Worle to ...
"Frame rate: improved for smoother movement on Nintendo Switch 2 (including Bowser's Fury).
HDR support**"

Here is to hoping that this will mean the entire games will be output in HDR, as it would be weird - even by Nintendo standards - to limit this to the addon only.

I'm actually much more excited for the launch now that I was before, since I have not even played all these games listed here yet (certainly not to completion).

Not gonna lie, if they bring these kind of backported updates to most of their backcatalogue, then this alone is worth the price of admissions alone. Since until now we had to use PC-based means to get HDR (and increased FPS and internal Resolution).

@jfp Also I see Nintendo doing a another direct late June or early July for future games. They could slip some updates / Switch 2 editions in there as well

@jfp And to share an actual date for Metroid Prime 4. Which is basically the main reason I think we'll get one.

And I even see them do one crazy thing: shadowdrop Metroid Prime 2 & 3 and update Remaster with mouse support.

For Echoes of Wisdom and Link's Awakening it says
"Visuals: Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality. "

One would assume that would be 1440p or even 4K?

@h3s not everyone knows why xD

Odd that NSMBU is just a resolution update. Game Share makes sense for it.
@N00BiSH They don't need them. They already target 60FPS, just not often reaching it. Improved hardware will improve it automatically.

Very surprised to not see frame rate improvements for the two Legend of Zelda games. I hope others are correct, and that it will resolve itself by running natively on S2, but that’s a big IF… 🤞🏼

I bought a colour tv and it played the black and white tv show in colour for no extra charge. I bought a new car and it drove me to work with nicer seats and a new stereo for no extra charge. I bought a new phone and could send text messages on the new device for no extra charge. I bought a new fishing rod, was allowed to fish in the same lake at no extra charge. I bought a new bed and was allowed to sleep in it with no extra charge, could even use my old pillows.

These are decent upgrades for free. I'll check out ARMs and maybe do another play through of Odyssey since back when it came out, my oldest ended up getting most of the moons on my profile.

Seeing both Pokémon Scarlet and Violet getting confirmation to have improved framerates on Switch 2 is a plus, but as someone that hasn't played the DLCs just yet, this is perfect timing for me to get back on playing the game

I had just moved to a temporary location when Echoes of Wisdom came out, so while I bought it day one, I haven't actually played it yet. Looks like I'm waiting for Switch 2 before I play that.

Personally, I own half of the listed games but don't currently intend to revisit any particularly soon, save Captain Toad, which I planned to replay at some point even before any of this came to light (so this is a nice bonus, really). I hope the updates are able to entice people to give the games a shot (or a second shot, which I suspect will be the case for a good few Switch 1 owners).

I hope we continue to see this trend of updates with other Nintendo games. The dynamic resolution of the Xenoblade trilogy (I've yet to actually play X, so I can't comment on it) in handheld could do with some work. I do want to replay the trilogy either way, but may wait a few years to see whether such a dream update is on the horizon first …

I was hoping Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would be in the list, but upgrades to SM3W+BF are welcome too.

I've never been for Battle Passes... But if any game would've succeeded far more if it had it: ARMS is at the top of that list.

@ElkinFencer10 you’re in for a treat, still haven’t finished it yet but it’s got so much charm and the dungeons are superb.

@jfp maybe so,but we know the goalposts will get moved again shortly. “But but but etc…”

@jfp This all happened before the Switch came out too, seeds of doubt were sown left right and centre, the worst concern trolls were demanding a recall on the machine, it all got drowned out by the amount of people having a great time. The bedwetters will disperse when they realise nobody cares about what they say.

I just want a successor for ARMS by the name of ASMR. A boxing game but with subtle rustling sounds annoyingly close to your ears.

@sanderev The blur is only a stylistic choice due to a limitation of their tools and the hardware. More of a compromise than a purposeful decision.

I was hoping they could improve it for Echoes of Wisdom.

I have finished both games, but find it a little distracting.

@jfp Fair point, but I still don’t think it looks good. They should add the option to toggle off the blur (if it isn’t already an option).

Personally, Metroid dread is unplayable for me when docked on my OLED TV. This would be a game changer if it received a patch (higher res and AA) for docked play!

Apart from Echoes, I haven't touched many of these games in a few years. The updates will be a good excuse to revisit a few.

The launch window for me will be MKW, Sonic x Shadow, SF6 and GameCube. I'm looking to restart BOTW with the NSO update but will also do a restart of Mario Odyssey from this list.

Honestly I’m most excited for the Captain Toad upgrade. It’s no fun trying to play co-op in that game on one screen and battling over who controls the camera. My daughter and I will give it another shot now using Gameshare. I hope that feature works for owners of a physical copy of the game!

IIRC Link’s Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom both used variable frame rate, so wouldn’t they automatically attain solid performance when playing on the beefier S2 hardware? It won’t be long now till we find out!

"Share locally or share online via GameChat."

So it's like Steam Remote Play Together? You can share it to people online?

@jfp Thanks for helping me to understand the issue with the blur better. 🙂

And I agree, they probably won’t make it an option.

Is really more like 11 entries than 12 since Pokémon Scarlet & Violet are technically sort of the same games.