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It's hard to believe, yet we're approaching the Nintendo Switch 2's half-year mark. By the time Metroid Prime 4: Beyond debuts on Dec. 4, it will be possible to deliver the system a comprehensive assessment due to its impressive roster of first-party early titles. Heavy hitters like Donkey Kong Bananza will headline that check-in, but it's two newest Nintendo titles, Pokémon Legends: Z-A and recently the Hyrule Warriors sequel, that have allowed the Switch 2 pass a crucial test in its initial half-year: the performance test.

Confronting Power Worries

Before Nintendo formally revealed the Switch 2, the primary worry from players regarding the hypothetical device was regarding performance. In terms of technology, Nintendo trailed PlayStation and Xbox for several generations. That reality began to show in the Switch's final years. The hope was that a successor would introduce smoother performance, smoother textures, and industry-standard features like 4K. That's precisely what arrived when the system was debuted this summer. At least that's what its technical details suggested, anyway. To really determine if the new console is an upgrade, it was necessary to observe some key games performing on the hardware. We now have that evidence in recent days, and the prognosis remains healthy.

Legends: Z-A serving as Early Test

The system's initial big challenge was the October release of the new Pokémon game. The franchise had well-known technical problems on the first Switch, with titles such as the Scarlet and Violet games debuting in very poor shape. The system wasn't solely responsible for those problems; the underlying technology running the Pokémon titles was outdated and strained past its limits in the series' gradual open-world pivot. The new game would be more of a test for its developer than any other factor, but we could still learn we'd be able to glean from the game's visual clarity and how it runs on the new system.

While the game's restricted visual fidelity has opened debates about Game Freak's technical capabilities, there's no denying that the latest installment is far from the performance mess of its earlier title, the previous Legends game. It runs at a consistent 60 fps on Switch 2, whereas the original console reaches only 30 fps. Some pop-in occurs, and there are plenty of blurry assets if you look closely, but you won't hit anything resembling the moment in Arceus where you begin airborne travel and watch the complete landscape become a rough, low-poly terrain. That qualifies to earn the Switch 2 some passing marks, but with caveats considering that the developer has its own problems that exacerbate basic technology.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment as a Tougher Hardware Challenge

There is now a tougher hardware challenge, though, thanks to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, launched earlier this month. The new Zelda spin-off tests the new console because of its action-oriented style, which has users confronting a huge number of enemies constantly. The earlier title, Age of Calamity, had issues on the first Switch as the console couldn't keep up with its fast-paced action and density of things happening. It regularly decreased below its target 30fps and gave the impression that you were overwhelming the system when going too hard in battle.

Thankfully is that it too succeeds the tech test. I've been putting the release thoroughly over the last few weeks, experiencing every level it has to offer. During that period, it's clear that it achieves a smoother performance relative to its previous game, maintaining its 60 fps mark with greater stability. Performance can dip in the most heated of battles, but I haven't experienced any moment where the game turns into a stuttering mess as the performance struggles. Part of that could be because of the situation where its compact stages are designed to avoid too many enemies on the display simultaneously.

Notable Trade-offs and General Verdict

There are still expected limitations. Especially, cooperative multiplayer experiences a significant drop near thirty frames. Moreover the first Switch 2 first-party game where I've really noticed a major difference between previous OLED screens and the new LCD display, with cutscenes especially looking faded.

Overall though, this release is a complete change versus its predecessor, like Z-A is to Arceus. For those seeking confirmation that the Switch 2 is delivering on its performance claims, even with some caveats present, these titles provide a clear example of how the Switch 2 is substantially boosting series that struggled on older technology.