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Comment by KronisLV | Hacker News Reader

Switch feels like such an interesting platform: not the most powerful out there, not by a long shot, but still has lots of great games on it, perhaps proving that graphics aren't quite everything. At the same time, with some clever optimization, there indeed are great looking games out there as well, in addition to lots of different ones being ported to it!

I wonder for how long Switch will remain as a popular platform and a part of me hopes for games that could run in a lower graphics mode for Switch in the future and a higher quality mode for Switch 2 or whatever might come after.

Personally, I just wonder why something like Genshin Impact isn't on Switch yet, because it seems like a great game for a platform like it!

Oh, and also why Nintendo treats the console IP like others do: where you can't just do export from game engines like Godot for it, like you can with desktop computers/phones, but instead have to go the proprietary route.

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> I wonder for how long Switch will remain as a popular platform

2023 will likely bring us the next Switch hardware revision. If backwards compatibility remains, the Switch line will remain relevant for years to come.

> Personally, I just wonder why something like Genshin Impact isn't on Switch yet

Leaks in August reported that Genshin Impact on Switch was delayed because of CPU limitations due to size and regularly updated content.

It seems like the age of quirky hardware platforms for consoles is over and they will probably switch from defined generations to just a rolling release of better hardware every 2 years where you can play backwards and forwards a fair bit like on PC but you just get the nicest experience on the new hardware.

Nintendo is the company that turned game consoles into a profritable business and it was seen as the way out of the 1983 game crash, caused by lots of copy cats and wannabe garbage games. Hence why game consoles are like this, those 50 bucks better cover some basic expectations.

As for the graphics quality, that has always been a Nintendo mark that there is more to a game than how many tiles/triagles per second a console is capable of, which ironically means they are the only console vendor that doesn't sell consoles at a loss.

I agree with most of what you said, but can't think of a single game that looks good on the Switch (by today's standards). Can you name some examples?

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey look amazing, because the whole art style of the game and everything in it is optimized for that specific console to not overtax its resources. You just don't get photorealism, but that's okay because the art style accommodates for that. There are a few other games I've played that have great ports or don't have high graphics requirements in the first place. Subnautica looked great, and Return of the Obra Dinn and Hades look great too, though those last two games don't have super high graphics requirements in the first place.

Agreed although it is a bit painful going back to 30fps on switch once you're used to 60fps on the other platforms

Are we talking Switch original releases only or including ports? Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2/3 look excellent, and Okami HD is a great port/remaster that arguably looks better than the original. I haven't bought Monster Hunter Rise yet but it looked stunning in the demo. And of course there's beautiful 2D games like Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, etc. I've found that a lot of Switch games look really good, even launch games from 5 years ago, with really the only flaw in most games being a lot of aliasing.

+1 to Hollow Knight. Beautiful visuals, beautiful soundtrack, beautiful everything.

Maybe my standards are a few years out of date, but personally I think that DOOM or DOOM Eternal looks good (provided that you don't mind dynamic resolution scaling, though it helps the game maintain a really good framerate).

In addition, the Metro games (2033 and Last Light) seem to carry over the atmospheric environments from the other platforms nicely. Curiously, even something like the Crysis games (all three) have been ported over, as has Bioshock (1, 2 and Infinite) and none of them are dumbed down experiences like for the earlier handheld consoles either!

Then again, personally I still think that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a good looking game: a bit more simplistic in comparison to others, sure, but the art direction is good, everything fits together nicely and it's consistent in whatever it tries to do.

> (by today's standards)

I think this is the crux of it: if "today's standards" means every leaf on a tree is an individual element that moves under its own logic in a forest of infinitely visible trees, or straight photorealistic graphics, the Switch won't be there.

But most games don't need to go these lengths, the latest Splatoon 3 has way simpler graphics than that, but visually there's nothing that feels odd or hurts the eye. It looks "good".

Off the top: Monster Hunter Rise, Xenoblade series, Doom 2016 and Eternal, New Pokemon Snap, Zelda BOTW, Luigi's Mansion 3, Super Mario Odyssey, Astral Chain, Crysis, and Alien Isolation.

Zelda Breath of the Wild is one example that definitely looks good, but isn't that graphically intensive, being so heavily stylised rather than realistic

Animal Crossing looks good imo. The switch doesn't do hyper realism but there is more to "looks good" than realism imo.

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