The Nintendo Switch wasn’t pushing the envelope in terms of performance when it launched with an modest Tegra X1 chip back in 2017, but its relatively modern graphics meant that the system could run recent titles without a massive development effort. On the flipside, its meagre levels of compute performance – a necessary compromise for a power-limited mobile device – often required big sacrifices to rendering resolution. With the Switch reportedly soon to be replaced by a successor, we thought we’d survey some of these efforts to see just how low-res the most demanding titles got – so just how low can the Nintendo Switch go?
First, some ground rules. We’ve evaluated these games by their lowest typical resolution, in portable mode, with full 3D graphics – but note that this is meant to be a sampling rather than a definitive list.
The first game I looked at is firmly in standard definition territory. Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled renders at 854×480 in portable play, with no anti-aliasing. When you’re at a resolution this low, AA sometimes hurts more than it helps, so you will notice that several of these titles drop the technique entirely. In practice, Crash Team Racing looks quite messy in motion on the Switch – the screen is flooded with jagged edges. On the plus side it does look fairly sharp, but it certainly does distract from what is otherwise a solid version of the kart racing remake.
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