The editor of GameKult has played both the Nintendo Switch and Wii U version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and has described the differences between the two platforms in the tutorial area. As you would expect performance is vastly improved on the Nintendo Switch console, but the Wii U version of the game is far from unplayable.
Strictly talking about the tutorial area :
- Strong aliasing
- Worse sharpness
- Serious framerate drops
- Visual issues with cutscenes and when getting out of the inventory
- Too many actions (using a power+rotating the camera = “framerate death”)
- 5 sec loading time when you get back to the Home menu
- He installed every patch available
- The plateau on Switch is bad framerate related and it gets better after, but in the plateau it’s nowhere near as bad as the Wii U version is
Soldiers are responsible for procuring the latest weapons in order to be effective on the battlefield… Or at least I think that’s what the Commander would say…
Why do I get the feeling the person who wrote that is just saying all this because he doesn’t want to leave his dead Wii U behind?
From what I’ve heard and seen the Wii U version has constant Frame Rate dips and visually it’s not as appealing as the Switch version.
Or maybe you’re damage controlling the new console you’re about to get. He’s played it and you haven’t.
Or maybe I talked to him on Twitter and he said that this is a mistranslation… Sorry Wii U Fanboy but Switch is yet again on top
https://twitter.com/boulapoire/status/836538253725556740
ok, cool.
I’m confused as to whether the bullet points in the article relate to the Wii U iteration or Switch.
I’ve read through it three times. Maybe it’s be being thick!
The bullet points except the last one are referring to Wii U version Directly .
Remember,this is one persons opinion and don’t take it to heart. But half of you won’t listen to this advice so go nuts I guess.
I just spoke with him on Twitter and a lot of this article is a mistranslation as he said the Switch’s issues a nowhere near as bad as the Wii U version.
Makes sense as the article was very confusing to understand at first.
Yeah, the translation was from NeoGAF. Thanks for double checking. I’ve updated the last part :)
I mean, framerate dips and load times sound like factual information to me, but to each his own
So as we should have all known from the beginning, the Switch version is absolutely superior even ignoring the portability.
And possibly, BOTW was delayed and ported because they weren’t getting the results they wanted as they developed for the Wii U alone. Maybe
Come on, I feel like this shouldn’t have been an issue. I’m going to pay off my preorder today, so I hope this doesn’t get to out of whack with time as people play more of it…
Well it was inevitable that the Wii U would have seen some choppiness and lesser quality, obviously the Switch is more powerful all in all, and the OS should be even more optimized for things like UI.
Also the nVidia SoC is well optimized and proven technology while the chipset inside the Wii U was technology provided by different companies patched together to make something suitable only for that Nintendo console.
Though I can understand people not buying the Switch now. It’s pretty big expense. Anyway I’m sorry for them. I would just sell the Wii U and think at the future if were low on money. It’s not nice for those that still love their games but I have always done this so: ‘Chi ha avuto ha avuto, chi ha dato ha dato” (trans. ‘better looking at the future and leave the past to the past’).
Yeah, I’m one of those who are going for the Wii U version getting a new console only to play one game is kind of an overkill. If the Switch lineup was more attractive to me, I would rethink about my position.
Also, I bought the Wii U day one, and learned the lesson: I just cannot undergo all that frustration again — I just can’t handle that. Also, I’m getting pretty convinced the Wii U version of BoTW was overlooked in favor of the Switch version. This kills my love towards Nintendo.
Nah, overlooked is not. That’s not the kind of stuff Nintendo does. Instead they hampered the Switch version to make it possible for the Wii U too, otherwise we could have had far better textures and the likes.
Simply they have not that power available on the Wii U, though if it’s bad it’s still to prove. Probably isn’t just as fluid. Let’s remember that it’s common on PC stuff to get choppiness. If the Nintendo Wii U version is choppy here and there it’s not the end of the world. No one said it’s ‘bad’. Just less good.
Not sure what to believe at this point, actually. Better calm down myself and hope for the best. Also, I believe Digital Foundry is about to release a comparison frame rate test, which will possibly clarify this issue.
We lost gamepad use on the U, which is likely due to the Switch. I think that’s pretty evident where they put their focus.
So much for “Nintendo doesn’t make shit games.” Nice to see they have stooped to Ubisoft Watchdogs levels. Releasing unfinished, rushed crap.
They could have tweaked it. If it were ANY other developer, the fanboys would be calling them lazy. Well, Nintendo has become just another developer. I’m sure it will be playable, and Given Nintendo can’t even port a wiiU game to the switch without the switch having framerate issues means the switch is fucked when it comes to 3rd party.
Remember when there was a rumor saying BoTW would be delayers again? Some days after that, another rumor stated that Nintendo wanted to have the best possible line up for the Switch. My two cents on that matter is that both versions of BoTW would need more time to be more polished.
Well… We’ll figure out how things turned out in some days.
But I really don’t like how Nintendo is handling all this situation.
*would be delayed again
Agreed.
I think we are exaggerating the problems. Let’s see how it is before throwing stones.
I didn’t use words like “Serious framerate drops” and “bad framerate” – so don’t look at me.
I’m just talking the trash 3rd parties get from people on this site when these kind of things are reported on. Yes, I’m definitely waiting to see exactly what Nintendo has done with the WiiU version before jumping ship completely. ;)
IMHO, the Switch is already better than the Wii U. It’s what the Wii U should have been. Although, can’t really say for sure what third party support is like yet. I expect it to get more support than the Wii U did, but not convince everyone to be on board yet. That would take a miracle, of course. It’ll probably occasionally get a big game every now and then. Similar to the GameCube I guess.
I kinda wanted a more traditional console where it’s up to par with the others and people could no longer use power as a reason not to develop for it. But even though the Switch isn’t what I asked for, I like the idea of it. If they plan on releasing an upgraded version later on, that could somewhat fix that issue of lack of power. Let’s just hope it sells well. We really don’t need another repeat of the Wii U.
I hope Nintendo hits the nail this time around as well. But this is getting a little frustrating as we should have more power inside the box. The “on the go” approach is really interesting, but I believe they took the wrong path. The Switch is not as portable as the 3DS, and not as powerful as the competitors. So we have something in between in both fronts. I cannot say it’s going to fail, but… Ah, well… I’m confused lately. Hope the Switch turns out to be a great machine.
The competitors = home console competitors.
Ok but look what the others have… I’ve seen multiple videos ‘best games for 2016’ of PS4 and they were really ugly. If that’s the first/third party support they can get lost!
GTA ok, Fallout, ok… then? It’s empty for consoles that are already there from years.
Even that Horizon… but I don’t really see the excitment. It’s a good game, ok… but I wouldn’t really put it near that Zelda or that Mario. Meh.
Anyway I’m happy to stay here with this Nintendo console, because those 3 years old consoles are for me a big letdown.
Until Nintendo push its gems I’m fine. I would buy third parties only if good quality software… not those mediocre games.
And yes, I wouldn’t buy a Witcher 3 game, altready bought the second chapter and… what a ‘meh’.
This was so obvious glad I pre ordered the Switch version.
I’ve heard exact opposite things about the wiiU version. So I hope this article makes Switch Test subjects feel better about burning a fuck ton of money on a tablet.
We’ll see how things fair when WiiU information isn’t being throttled and covered. Maybe what the article says is true, but I’ve seen half a dozen people playing and giving impressions on the wiiu version, and they didn’t seem to think it had issues, some even said they liked it better.
So yeah, we’ll see. And fuck Nintendo anyway for pimping out Zelda’s quality and gameplay to sell hardware. For every third party dev who couldn’t get games running on WiiU, and Nintendo sheep said all kinds of things to defend their precious faith in Nintendo, the hypocritical fanboys are flipping sides and agreeing with them. Ridiculous.
So , people buying the Switch now don’t have to worry about getting it later .
Well for whatever issues the Wii U had, there’s no denying it had some great games.. Just not a lot. That said I’ve poured more hours into my Wii U that my other console. Nintendo doesn’t always do what I hope when it comes to consoles but that is totally a different story when it comes to games. We’ve been living with dips in performance on games our entire life so it’s not the end of the world if Zelda stutters here and there, besides if the Switch really can handle it better there’s always the possibility of a patch to improve performance.
The patch is called ‘Switch’. It runs better because it’s far more powerful, that’s it. I think that some people just want to make terrorism and worry people, but they will get debunked in the end eventually.
I like that 😏. I’m looking forward to getting this “patch” on March 3rd if all goes well ;). Or Thursday at midnight if things go really well !
There are a few videos out on YouTube that can help you. https://youtu.be/EO3fIBAG5qE
There are some streams on YouTube of the Wii U version that went up yesterday. It doesn’t take much effort to find them. I tried not to watch too much so I wouldn’t get too spoiled.
I thought it ran surprisingly well. Much better than the E3 footage and way better than the Gamekult writer has suggested.
The dungeons are a rock solid 30fps from what I could tell. The Great Plateau is 30fps 99% of the time, including combat against multiple enemies. I only noticed the occasional drop when barrels exploded. There is footage of a city later on that does have very noticeable drops, but the city is very detailed and packed with content.
From what I’ve seen, the Wii U version hold up extremely well all things considered. Very playable and not at all concerned.
Could you send links to those videos? I’m buying the Wii U version and I want to know what to expect. I’ve always had faith in the fact that they’d optimize it since E3 2016 (which wasn’t a bad build at all). But this article got me a little scared.
No Spoilers:
Best quality
https://youtu.be/bsciL21R9bk
https://youtu.be/kuvtc8LzvLU
Major Spoilers:
Bad quality
https://youtu.be/Ku_L9tx0mQE
https://youtu.be/Q9IoqnUz19c
Don’t be scared, just wait a couple of days from launch. There will be ton of footage then on internet.
Do you really think that Nintendo can put out half-baked content?
Yes. Splatoon was a great example of that with missing content upon release.
The wii u leak has been out for a day now. Wii u version definitely has frame drops, sometimes during basic combat situations but for the most part, it plays smooth and the instant switch from tv to game pad is nice. I only played through the first dungeon but I enjoy it tremendously already. Nintendo has a winner here
I feel bad for those who are getting the Wii U version. I was never under the impression that we could expect the two versions to perform so differently, but I guess I mixed it up with all the news relating to how there won’t be additional features in the Switch version. I mean, the game was originally going to be exclusive for the Wii U, so they should’ve focused more on optimizing for that.
Maybe just to make it looks good. If they were removing objects to adjust the framerate people would have complained for that instead.
It seems it’s not a general issue, but on specific sections of the game with lot of things going on.
Yup, this is pretty accurate. I’ve been playing the Wii U leak, and the framerate dips a LOT. Like, it’s not unbearable but it’s mostly just in areas with a lot of plants. It’s not a dealbreaker, but what I’ve seen from the Switch version so far, it looks like the definitive version.
Thanks to the YouTube era and Twitch streaming, people have become so jaded with smooth, faultless performance, forgetting that most of those channels are using beastly computers which cost thousands of dollars. This is not a competitive online trigger finger FPS game. It’s meant to be played casually with moments of action. A hitch in the framerate from time to time means nothing to me. How many of you can remember the horrendous slowdown on the old NES and SNES?
when people say the power of a console is important, they’re telling the truth. I can promise you this game would run flawlessly on the xbox one and ps4.
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