Every Nintendo Switch Game Getting A Switch 2 Upgrade

If you own a Nintendo Switch and a lot of games for it, most of those titles still work the same with Switch 2.

This is usually done in the form of a performance upgrade, bringing 30 FPS titles up to 60, and enhancing the reliably running resolution of 4K or more at 1080p. This is especially suitable for more unstable titles.

Some games add game sharing support to give you a little more special treatment, allowing you to share the game with friends online and play together as if you own the title.

However, some games are paid for upgrades, offering something entirely new in addition to performance upgrades. This is usually only $10 if it’s just an increase in performance, but it goes up to $20 if you add new content.

Once a third party has the ability to get features, the list of upgradeable Switch games may increase. These are titles that Nintendo confirmed, and so they confirmed they have a Switch 2 upgrade.

Upgrade all Switch Games

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

The whimsical starfall

Kirby and Forgotten Land were my favorite games of 2022 and it was a stacked year. This is a real homage to HAL’s hard work adapting Kirby to 3D, and they stopped landing on their first attempt.

The original switch ran at a locked 30 fps and moved at a low frame rate when enemies were far away. I found it to be pretty appealing, but it was a bit jarring and everything now runs at a smooth 60 fps.

The game was rather famous because it didn’t require patches. It was a great feat of the current gaming landscape, but I certainly don’t mind dropping new patches for a full DLC campaign.

It features a very short-lived extra campaign, but the Star Crossed World appears to be a true expansion of every level in the base game, with new gimmicks and level designs.

Super Mario Party Jamboree

Don’t let the party die

The Mario Party series has been a rather big slump for a long time, but after the Superstar regained the classic mechanic with a promising new package, Super Mario Party Jamboree was able to offer something great.

We abandoned the stupid car mechanic forever. Finally, we create boards that are not made with Photoshop line tools, and more characters than ever before, creating truly amazing packages.

I think the mini-games are pretty lacking, but they take everything into consideration, but if you want to pay $55 on a Switch 2 camera, the new Jamboree TV add-on looks a bit promising in that department.

It’s not entirely clear whether a camera is needed or not, but given how much it’s used in marketing for this expansion, I won’t get your hopes. Even if it’s a big gimmick for maybe 20 dollars, it still looks pretty.

The Legend of Zelda: The Kingdom’s Tears

Can I get antialias?

Now, for a slightly controversial salary upgrade, Kingdom Tears will ultimately be a $10 payment to get 60 fps, higher resolution, faster loading times, and… access to the app that seems awful.

Using this app you can get notes and have built-in GPS. You cannot use only maps already built into the game, so you need to give an annoying text to speech instructions to guide you anywhere.

Especially about Kingdom Tears, you can use the app to share AutoBuild Schematics with others. Still, one of my favorite parts of the game when it was released was building the Ford F-150 by manually building what I saw online.

For me, this app is an easy to create addition that is useless to try to tack a $10 price tag, even if most of the free upgrades receive a boost that is very similar to performance. Zelda is a game that needs it.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Smoothly

In a very similar way to the Kingdom Tears, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is another upgrade that brings back $10 to get a resolution bump and smooth 60 fps, as well as the same app.

However, unlike that game, you cannot share AutoBuild Schematics. Furthermore, there is no equivalent function. You can essentially get this experience by examining the guide.

Why did they make an entire app for this? I wish I knew. It also allows you to emulate Wild of the Breath of quite a bit with unlimited frame rates and resolutions.

That said, this game required this frame rate bump. Breath of the Wild tends to drop the ball to frame rates in areas with lots of grass, so instead of dropping to 10 fps, you can ultimately have a smooth 60 on the console.

The Legend of Pokemon: ZA

No need for gouging

For games that have not yet been released, you may wonder why Nintendo creates an upgrade pack instead of flattening the game $70 and offering the Switch 2 version for free. I wonder why they are doing that.

This complicated solution means you can grab the legend of Pokemon: ZA is a crisp $60 on the original switch. You can pay $10 to fix your allergy to optimization, as it runs badly due to the curse of being a modern Pokemon game.

This is the only Switch 2 upgrade I know that it only increases performance and resolution, but is spending money for God’s important reasons.

The game looks good with Xenoblade-style combat and catching mechanisms, but is it okay “does it cost $70 to run at a shaky 60 fps?” it’s up to you.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Retro rewinding

I’m a massive Metroid fan, so it’s great to see Metroid Prime 4, which is scheduled to be released this year in more than eight years on Development Hell. I’ve not been a huge fan of the $10 upgrade, but I feel this is worth it.

While this game looks incredible on the already jarring original Switch hardware, it looks better than most PS5 games on Switch 2 and can run at 4K and 60 fps, or 1080p and 120 fps. Both are incredible.

It feels like a retro studio can push Nintendo’s hardware to absolute limits. This is a prime example, in addition to adding a mouse control that looks straight from the Prime Hack.

I don’t know yet why they won’t release the game for $70 and make it a free upgrade, but either way, I feel that the $10 upgrade is worth the price to aim for a smooth, snappy aim alone and add visuals to make it even better.

Super Mario Odyssey

Jump the Super Squirrel

As for free titles, I think Super Mario Odyssey is one of the best games on this list. It was already running at a locked 1080p 60fps. This is the best thing the original switch can do. This is not particularly noticeable.

Gameshare has been added, but I think Odyssey is usually the exception for 3D Mario games. That said, this is still an excuse to return to one of the best games ever made.

Platformers tend to benefit from framerate boost to reduce input lag, and given the trend of improved performance, load times can be significantly reduced on top of that.

This is pretty interesting to me, and usually I use older versions of the game with more bind skips, but perhaps this performance could compete for the latest version.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Expanded details

Of the Wii U ports, I think I get a boost, I think Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker was the last on my list. It works perfectly and frame rates are usually slow and slow, not an issue in puzzle games.

Also, multiplayer is something I completely forgot about before writing this, despite playing the entire game before I played it. From what I know, it’s an unnecessary addition that makes the level much easier.

I think Treasure Tracker is a great game. I love the puzzles that come with it, but I don’t think performance and resolution bumps are very necessary unless you’re into these two.

That being said, it’s a free upgrade that objectively improves the game, so if you haven’t given this stupid little diorama cracking, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classic

Revolution Release

If you know me, you know I love Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics. This is just a collection of board games, but the board games are amazing. You probably started this game 100 times.

I absolutely love it. Renegade is just as great as Othello, as it is the same game. All games in this pack have benefits, unless your name is bowling.

I’m really pleased that this is the de facto game that I’m advertising for use with Gameshare. Because your online friends will no longer have to buy games to join you, and will convince you to play any game that is easy to watch.

There is already a Guest Pass application for Clubhouse Games, and anyone can play locally without having to own the game, but now you can experience it with anyone in the world.

Super Mario 3D World + Kupper’s Fury

A lively flag pole

I think Super Mario 3D World is amazing. This breaks all predecessor types with a truly fun multiplayer mode, and looks incredible 10 years after its release.

This is a game that benefits from performance bumps, especially when playing Bowser’s Fury, as you can feel like you’re a bit compromised with the grand visuals that both games sometimes play.

Plus, it’s great to jump into multiplayer with anyone, even if they don’t own the game. Online multiplayer in this game is suspicious at best, so we hope Gameshare will be a minor improvement.

Bowser’s Fury doesn’t have the best multiplayer modes ever created, but given his ambition, it’s a great side game that benefits from boost as it often dropped frames and looked a bit crude in the parts.

Big Brain Academy: Brain and Brain

Masquerade Mathematics

Big Brain Academy: I don’t think I’ve seen anything about Brain vs. Brain. I don’t even remember that Nintendo is promoting it, but I think I remembered it existed because it was getting a free upgrade.

I think the main point of this is to add game shares, as this is a very multiplayer-centric learning game and you can’t imagine a single soul on this planet worrying about playing this at a higher resolution and frame rate.

That being said, if you own this game, it’s likely that all your friends you have probably not own this game.

I think this is best for parents who want their kids to play educational games with friends, but I can’t see any other audience about this other than those with very specific hyper-fixed people.

arm

Please lift yourself up

For games that have not been confirmed with Gameshare, it may simply be upgraded for Switch 2. Certainly there are arms.

This is completely focused on multiplayer battles with other players, and I was really shocked that it wasn’t a game-sharing game as a confirmed addition, as it allows others to fly around on a whim.

That said, it wasn’t the most performant game ever, as I remember from having this rather shallow experience eight years ago. Frame rates often hiccups, and often the dynamic resolution looked ugly.

It should all be improved completely with performance improvements and it is a fighting game, so boosting the FPS is very useful in reducing input delay and giving the Switch 2 players a slight competitive edge.

New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe

It’s dauntingly fun

I think it’s really baffling that the new Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is on this list, but it’s still not one of Gameshare’s games. Hell, why isn’t Super Mario Bros?

Both of these games have four player multiplayer at the core, and if you think it’s particularly strange, you can’t actually use the local multiplayer experience online. It feels like the game is really badly shafted.

That rambling aside, the new Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has one of the worst titles in video game history, but it’s a pretty fun time. It’s definitely a junk food game that doesn’t have much artistic value, but it’s just fun.

This fully 2D platformer was not particularly needed, using pre-rendered 3D models to run on 4K and 120 FPS, but it’s a completely harmless performance improvement.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

I’ll put them together

For games that really require performance bumps, Link’s Awakening is a great example. For Game Boy Game remakes, I think this game works well.

Constant frame dip, incredibly inconsistent frame times, and general lack of optimization only makes this game feel a bit glossy, even if you don’t have the eye to see frame rates become eccentric.

This will result in a FPS of at least a constant 60fps, if not a constant 120. The game also has a very good resolution bump as this game is incorrectly detailed.

If you haven’t given a remake of Link’s Awakening to your shot, I would definitely recommend this boost if you get it. It’s a great Zelda game that’s been turned off quite a bit before. It’s one of the best in the series as it’s likely to make you feel better.

Game Builder Garage

So, make it yourself

I will be like that with you. I have no idea why Game Builder Garage is one of the list of games that have been boosted by performance. It’s essentially a very beginner-oriented game engine, but it didn’t run that badly.

In my experience, the most complicated game made with this could potentially immerse the frame rate a bit. I think it was enough to try and handle things, even if Nintendo was a really minor hit with the game.

I think it’s a totally amazing change and the increase in resolution might be pretty good for a game where the massive amount of visual effects are always gone. What’s more, 120 FPS is always great just for reducing input delay.

If I had to guess a bit, I think this could add a Switch 2 mode that allows you to pass the original’s incredibly restrictive node limits, leading to a much more detailed and advanced game than before.

Pokemon scar and purple

Finally, some quality

The most exciting and worthy of these performances has become easier, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet being released at a rather awful reception as they were constantly behind frame rates and were generally a bit ugly.

If you can get through it along with all the bugs at launch, you’ll find a Pokemon game and find it a rather fun adaptation to the legendary Arceus-style mainline Pokemon.

I think it’s underrated, but given that most games reviews take place before or on the release date, no one can blame them for a terrible reception. Hopefully, if you can run really well, I hope more people will give it a genuine, honest attempt.

The reason why Legend ZA Price seems pretty ridiculous as this game gets the exact same treatment for free is that it’s probably a free upgrade because he sometimes pans to play at 12 fps.

The Legend of Zelda: Echo of Wisdom

Reduce brain pain

Like Link’s Awakening, The Legend of Zelda: Echo of Wisdom really works badly. It’s a brand new Zelda game with an incredible look with even more detail, but the frame rate is really awful.

It always fluctuates between 30 and 60 and frame pacing is never consistent. I’ve seen people play it and get headaches from contradictory.

I’m very happy that this boost just made the game a consistent 1080p 60fps, but it’s even better to play at even higher resolutions and frame rates, making it a simple pickup for Switch 2 players.

If they were able to optimize hell and improve performance on both systems, I wonder why they released this game on the original Switch, but I think the hindsight is 20/20.