I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time with the Nintendo Switch 2. The hardware itself is a phenomenal upgrade over the original Switch in both design and performance, and Switch 2 games like Mario Kart World, Street Fighter 6, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition have already given me hours of enjoyment.
But there is an unsung hero amongst the Switch 2’s launch library. A game that I’ve been coming back to time and again in my spare time, and one that isn’t even a Switch 2 game. Heck, it’s one that began life on the Wii U and, later, the Nintendo 3DS.
If the image above didn’t give it away already, I’m talking about Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition; the Switch port of Koei Tecmo’s Zelda-flavored Dynasty Warriors spin-off. It’s a game I already consider to be among my all-time favorites. It remains the best of developer Omega Force’s musou game output, and a real love letter to Zelda fans spanning the entire franchise. And on Switch 2, the game looks and runs better than it ever has.
Link between worlds
In case you’re unfamiliar with the game, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition takes the musou-style, fast-paced hack n’ slash gameplay and applies it to The Legend of Zelda. It’s a real crossover treat, featuring characters from across the entire series. The main Legend Mode tells a story of worlds converging, throwing together fan favorite heroes from Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, The Wind Waker, and more.
It’s a game with an almost infamous amount of content, spanning unlockable characters, costumes, weapons, artwork, and more. Full completion is not for the faint-hearted, though. To give you an idea, game-length database website How Long To Beat has a completionist estimate of 362 hours, and even that may be a conservative estimate.
The bulk of that content is found in Hyrule Warriors’ sprawling Adventure Mode, which, for me, is easily the best part of the game. Adventure Mode features several maps, all with their own gimmicks inspired by various games in the series.
For example, the basic Hyrule Map is where most people will start, and it involves using various item cards (such as candles, bombs, and rafts) to uncover secrets on highlighted tiles. Once a secret is uncovered, you can then enter that tile’s mission and complete it to earn the reward. Meanwhile, the Majora’s Mask-themed Termina Map has you gathering the four giants to unlock the clock tower tile in the center.
Adventure Mode’s bite-sized mission structure and open-endedness (you’ll always have multiple missions to choose from at any given time on the map) make it perfect for shorter, pick-up-and-play sessions – yet another reason why Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition shines on Switch 2.
Try force
So what exactly makes Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition so good on Switch 2? Well, for starters, the game originally launched with an uncapped framerate. On the original Switch, this meant that performance could be quite rocky, but it tended to shoot for a 30fps (frames per second) target.
The Switch 2, meanwhile, is able to brute force through this lack of a cap and now runs at a steady 60fps in both docked and handheld play. Interestingly, the same is true for Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, which also now benefits from its uncapped framerate too.
Better still, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition targets 1080p in both docked and handheld modes. Of course, this was impossible on the original Switch during portable play, as that console had a 720p display. As a result, the game was downsampled to better fit its resolution.
I’m really not sure why the game had 1080p support for handheld mode originally. While it may have been some clever future-proofing on behalf of Koei Tecmo, I don’t think this is the case as neither Three Hopes nor Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity targets 1080p on the handheld display (and the latter is unfortunately locked to 30fps).
It’s more likely that this was nothing more than a developmental oversight – or perhaps even a bug. If so, it’s probably turned out to be the most beneficial bug in gaming history in hindsight, at least from an image quality perspective.
On Switch 2’s 1080p LCD display, then, there’s no need to downsample the image. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition outputs a clean high-definition image on the Switch 2’s screen. And paired with its rock-solid 60fps performance, it both looks and plays like a dream on the new hardware.
So, if you’re ever looking for a new Switch 2 game but have been disappointed by the slim launch lineup, you might just want to give Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition a try, especially if you hadn’t previously played it on Switch or indeed its original Wii U release. Nintendo games do hold their prices quite well, but you can reliably find a physical copy of the game for less than $50 / £50 these days.
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