The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of my all-time favorite games and a true titan of Nintendo's first-party releases. And since I started Link's genre-defining adventure on the Wii U and eventually carried my progress over to the Switch, I've spent hundreds of hours climbing around Hyrule, cooking questionable food, and reflecting on more Guardian Lasers than I care to count.
As much as I love The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild I'd be lying if I said it was perfect. Because Korok seeds are a pain, shrines are monotonous, and the overall story is pretty forgettable. These are all complaints I'm sure you've heard and may not agree with, but one thing most agree on is that BOTW was held back by the Switch's technical capabilities.
Hyrule is huge and detailed in Breath of the Wild and, while the game is still impressive thanks to its excellent art direction, the low resolution and choppy framerate hold it back. I've always wondered what Breath of the Wild (and to a lesser extent, the great-but-not-for-me Tears of the Kingdom) would look like if Nintendo moved to a powerful console.
This strange wish of mine has finally come true thanks to the Nintendo Switch 2 and its enhanced port of Breath of the Wild: a true demonstration of what the Switch 2 can do with older games. After playing it in a recent preview, I'm ready to go back to Hyrule for another console generation.
Breath of the Wild At Best Graphics and Smooth Performance
Tears of the Kingdom too, but BOTW really surprised me
My very brief preview was divided into two parts, and was intended to show improvements in a few different scenarios. The first, which I played in handheld mode, took me back to where it all began when Link wakes up in the Shrine of Resurrection. This meant I watched a lot of cutscenes I've already seen a dozen times, but I didn't mind because the colors were never seen before.
The Shrine of Resurrection intro and the iconic moment when Link steps onto the Great Plateau has always been a great introduction to Breath of the Wild's spirit of adventure, but it's even more impressive now because the world looks so great. Even in handheld mode, with the resolution lowered, it's an impressive transformation.
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As soon as I started controlling Link the shortcomings of the original Switch version really came to the fore, and I knew I could never go back. Breath of the Wild's framerate has always been unstable and this has been one of its most noticeable technical flaws for me, so watching it at 60fps almost felt like. I was seeing it for first time. So At least it was enough for me to know that I'd be replaying it over and over again to see it at its best.
After the opening lengthy cutscene, I only had a few minutes to play before the handheld demo ended and I moved on to the second half of the preview in docked mode. Here the bumped-up resolution and framerate shined even more, but I was also given access to some save files so I could explore the world a bit more and see the improvements even further.
Zelda's Nintendo Switch 2 port is the best way to play provided you don't pay full price
$80 is steep, but the small upgrade fee is worth it
Another problem with the original Switch releases of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are long load times, which is especially bad if you like to fast-travel a lot. But even though they're barely present anymore, teleporting cutscenes take longer than fast-traveling. It's another minor upgrade, but it's still appreciated for someone who's already spent so much time in Hyrule.
Aside from marveling at how different Breath of the Wild feels with something as simple as a steady framerate, I spent the rest of my short demo just running around, dreading the moment when the clock ran out. So when that happened, I knew my fate was sealed and I had to dive back in and add to my already stacked playtime for the third consecutive console generation.
Breath of the Wild benefits a lot from the changes made on the Switch 2 and seems worth the upgrade fee, even if the full retail price is a step I'm not willing to take. So my overall positive impressions are based on the more obvious changes, as I didn't get a chance to tinker with some of the other features like Zelda Notes.
Unfortunately I haven't had time to check out the enhanced Switch 2 release of Tears of the Kingdom yet, but given how much that game pushed the original Switch, I'm willing to bet this one benefits even more from a smoother framerate and faster load times. It also seems more akin to Zelda Notes thanks to the creation-sharing tool, which might be enough to encourage me to play again.
Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are both great indications of what Nintendo can do with these enhanced versions. So I hope more games get the same treatment, even if none of them do they will make as much of a splash as this iconic duo.
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