Developer: Nintendo, Monolith Software
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Switch 2
Tested on: Switch 2
The Legend of Zelda: Switch 2 Edition upgrade packs – Review
There’s no denying that the Switch 2 launch lineup looks a little skinny, especially when it comes to first-party offerings. Having backwards compatibility does soften the blow in this regard, but in order to entice players to make the switch (*ba dum tss*) to the shinier, newer hardware, several games in the OG lineup have received upgrades. This is a concept that isn’t entirely new, as PlayStation owners have been able to upgrade PS4 games to PS5 versions for years. For Nintendo, however, this is new and uncharted territory. Many of the smaller upgrades are free, but others do require you to shell out some of your hard-earned cash. It’s yet another drop in Nintendo’s €500+ Switch 2 bucket, so you may be wondering if the upgrades are worth shelling out for. It is going to depend on what you’re getting in terms of content, of course, but if the paid upgrade packs for the Zelda games are any indication, then the answer is… probably. Read on for a more comprehensive and detailed explanation on that.
Full disclosure: we won’t be revisiting Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in full detail for the purposes of this review. We’ll refer you to our full review of Tears of the Kingdom from when the game launched for an in-depth look at that. While we didn’t review Breath of the Wild back in 2017, rest assured that it managed to remain one of the best games on the Switch throughout the last eight years. The real question is whether or not the upgrade packs for these games make a meaningful difference. The games haven’t changed in terms of gameplay after all. What the upgrade packs bring to the table are visual refinements, improved performance, and integration with the Nintendo Switch smartphone app. We directly compared the games on our OG Switch with them running on Switch 2, as we had access to both pieces of hardware.
If you’re primarily a handheld player, then the bump in resolution isn’t going to be very noticeable, primarily because 720p on a small screen doesn’t look all that different from 1080p on a slightly bigger screen. On a 4K TV, the increased resolution does make a difference, but again, this isn’t mind-blowing. This change simply brings the games up to the current-day standard instead of looking dated on a modern television. In some regards, the increase in resolution can even be considered a downgrade: the simplified textures of Breath of the Wild are the same as they were before, but the resolution bump makes their lack of detail more obvious. There are two other aspects where the visual improvements of the upgrade packs do make a huge difference, however. These are the improved frame rate and HDR support. The latter in particular stands out here. There is far more color depth here, making the world pop just that little bit more.
Out of the two games, Tears of the Kingdom benefits slightly more from the improved frame rate and the increase in processing power. On the original Switch, the games ran at a fairly steady 30 fps, but things tended to slow down when using Zonai powers to create contraptions. This is not an issue here, with the game keeping up a stable 60 fps frame rate while building. In fact, neither game really suffered from noticeable frame drops when the on-screen action became more demanding. Whether that’s a direct result of the upgrade packs or if the Switch 2 simply brute forces this wasn’t entirely clear. We’ve noticed a better performance in some other OG Switch games that didn’t get upgrade packs or updates, like Pokémon Legends and Xenoblade Chronicles X. It may just be a similar situation here, but like those examples, the non-upgraded Zelda games are still capped at 30 fps.
Another improvement across the board is the reduced load times. Again, we’re going to mention that pretty much every Switch 1 game runs snappier on the Switch 2. Even then, the difference between loading either of the Zelda games on our OG Switch was surprising. Booting up the game took roughly 15 seconds on the older hardware, whereas the Switch 2 needed less than 10 seconds. That may not seem like a massive difference, but once you start factoring in all the other load times, like fast traveling and entering shrines, things start to add up. Once you’re in the game, loading takes about half of the time on newer hardware.
Beyond the obvious visual and performance upgrades, the Switch 2 upgrade packs also add integration with the official Nintendo Switch smartphone app, through the Zelda Notes feature. This adds some very useful functionality, like inventory management and a Hyrule map, as well as the ability to share your Zonai creations through QR codes. Much of what Zelda notes seems to be repurposed from the oft-forgotten Wii U version of Breath of the Wild. Granted, there is some new content here in the form of collectible audio files spread around the map. These expand on the lore of the world in the form of observations made by Zelda herself, and can be played back on your phone. We wouldn’t say that Zelda Notes is a major draw in deciding whether or not the upgrade packs are worth it, but it’s a feature that can be useful if you feel like using it.
There are several paths for Switch 2 owners to get access to the upgraded versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. The most obvious one is to buy the Switch 2 releases of the games and call it a day. While this is the simplest way, it’s probably not the most interesting one, as it’s also going to be the most expensive. If you already own the games, then you can buy the upgrade packs digitally for a one-time fee of €9.99 per game, which seems worth it just because of the improved performance alone. If you happen to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, then upgrading your existing Switch 1 copies is included in the membership. The caveat is that ending your subscription means that you lose access to the upgrade packs. Given the immense popularity of the games, with Breath of the Wild actually outselling the hardware when it debuted in 2017, the best path is probably to track down a cheap second-hand copy and then upgrade that, if you don’t own the original releases yet. As a final thought, note that Breath of the Wild’s Expansion Pass DLC is not included in the Switch 2 version by default. While we wouldn’t expect this to be included in the upgrade pack, the case could be made that it should’ve been in the standalone Switch 2 version.
Conclusion
Given the limitations of the original hardware, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were about as impressive as Switch games could get, and now, they’ve gotten even better. Upgrading the games to their Switch 2 editions doesn’t make them feel like entirely new games, but the performance bump is still very noticeable. The games do show their age when it comes to textures, but other than this, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have never played more smoothly. The €9.99 asking price is far from egregious, especially considering the multitude of ways to get it. This is an upgrade that is worth picking up, regardless of how you choose to do so. Note that our final score reflects the worthiness of the upgrades in this case, and not the quality of the games themselves.
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