Today, I’m adding more games to the list of games that have gotten a boost with new versions releasing on the Nintendo Switch. Let’s have a look!
- Pokemon Scarlet
- Pokemon Violet
- Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet Double Pack
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Pokemon Scarlet
Genre: Open-World Turn-Based Monster Collecting JRPG
Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local Wireless, Online)
.
Review:
Out of all the games receiving updates on Nintendo Switch 2 at launch, I think it’s pretty widely agreed that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the games that needed it the most. This pair of games have become infamous for their terrible performance on Nintendo Switch, which I detailed in my earlier review, but I’ll just simply say, it was embarrassing for a major franchise game to look so bad.
So when it was announced that Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet would be receiving free updates on Nintendo Switch 2 on launch day, many fans wondered just how extensive these updates would be.
It turns out, the difference is quite profound. While there’s one other game that received a free update even more extensive at the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet nevertheless feature a profound difference in performance on Nintendo Switch 2 well beyond most other free upgrades.
It’s not a long list of features – the resolution and framerate are improved, and more Pokemon can be seen on-screen at a given time. Yet, that’s all it took to make a huge difference. It’s the framerate that is the biggest change, with the game now running smoothly in a way that’s instantly noticeable. But really, this update makes the entire game seem far, far more polished.
It’s not perfect, though. There’s still plenty of pop-in. And all of the complaints I had about this game’s gameplay still remain. However, with this fix to the performance, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet suddenly became immensely more playable.
If you want to play the first truly Open-World Pokemon games, this is the way you need to play them. They’re still flawed games, but this feels like the way these games were meant to be played.
tl;dr – Pokemon Scarlet (as well as its counterpart, Pokemon Violet) is the first true Open-World game in the Pokemon series, and in addition to this, it also introduces multiple new elements to streamline the gameplay, as well as the wealth of strategic opportunities added by the new “tera type” feature. The Nintendo Switch 2’s free game update fixes many (though not all) of the game’s graphical and performance issues, though a few gameplay frustrations remain. Despite that, this is one of the best games in the Pokemon franchise, and this feels like the way this game was always meant to be played.
Grade: A
.
Pokemon Violet
Genre: Open-World Turn-Based Monster Collecting JRPG
Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local Wireless, Online)
.
Review:
Out of all the games receiving updates on Nintendo Switch 2 at launch, I think it’s pretty widely agreed that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the games that needed it the most. This pair of games have become infamous for their terrible performance on Nintendo Switch, which I detailed in my earlier review, but I’ll just simply say, it was embarrassing for a major franchise game to look so bad.
So when it was announced that Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet would be receiving free updates on Nintendo Switch 2 on launch day, many fans wondered just how extensive these updates would be.
It turns out, the difference is quite profound. While there’s one other game that received a free update even more extensive at the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet nevertheless feature a profound difference in performance on Nintendo Switch 2 well beyond most other free upgrades.
It’s not a long list of features – the resolution and framerate are improved, and more Pokemon can be seen on-screen at a given time. Yet, that’s all it took to make a huge difference. It’s the framerate that is the biggest change, with the game now running smoothly in a way that’s instantly noticeable. But really, this update makes the entire game seem far, far more polished.
It’s not perfect, though. There’s still plenty of pop-in. And all of the complaints I had about this game’s gameplay still remain. However, with this fix to the performance, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet suddenly became immensely more playable.
If you want to play the first truly Open-World Pokemon games, this is the way you need to play them. They’re still flawed games, but this feels like the way these games were meant to be played.
tl;dr – Pokemon Violet (as well as its counterpart, Pokemon Scarlet) is the first true Open-World game in the Pokemon series, and in addition to this, it also introduces multiple new elements to streamline the gameplay, as well as the wealth of strategic opportunities added by the new “tera type” feature. The Nintendo Switch 2’s free game update fixes many (though not all) of the game’s graphical and performance issues, though a few gameplay frustrations remain. Despite that, this is one of the best games in the Pokemon franchise, and this feels like the way this game was always meant to be played.
Grade: A
.
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet Double Pack
Genre: Compilation / Open-World Turn-Based Monster Collecting JRPG
Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local Wireless, Online)
.
Review:
Out of all the games receiving updates on Nintendo Switch 2 at launch, I think it’s pretty widely agreed that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the games that needed it the most. This pair of games have become infamous for their terrible performance on Nintendo Switch, which I detailed in my earlier reviews, but I’ll just simply say, it was embarrassing for a major franchise game to look so bad.
So when it was announced that Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet would be receiving free updates on Nintendo Switch 2 on launch day, many fans wondered just how extensive these updates would be.
It turns out, the difference is quite profound. While there’s one other game that received a free update even more extensive at the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet nevertheless feature a profound difference in performance on Nintendo Switch 2 well beyond most other free upgrades.
It’s not a long list of features – the resolution and framerate are improved, and more Pokemon can be seen on-screen at a given time. Yet, that’s all it took to make a huge difference. It’s the framerate that is the biggest change, with the game now running smoothly in a way that’s instantly noticeable. But really, this update makes the entire game seem far, far more polished.
It’s not perfect, though. There’s still plenty of pop-in. And all of the complaints I had about this game’s gameplay still remain. However, with this fix to the performance, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet suddenly became immensely more playable.
And of course, none of this changes the fact that this bundle is a pretty questionable value, since the two games contained within are nearly identical, and it costs the same (actually a tiny bit more) to get this bundle compared to the individual games. None of that has changed.
In any case, If you want to play the first truly Open-World Pokemon games, this is the way you need to play them. They’re still flawed games, but this feels like the way these games were meant to be played. It’s just that none of that makes this bundle of the pair any better as a value.
tl;dr – Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet Double Pack pairs up both versions of the first true Open-World game in the Pokemon series, which it also introduces multiple new elements to streamline the gameplay, as well as the wealth of strategic opportunities added by the new “tera type” feature. The Nintendo Switch 2 update for these games is a huge improvement to the game’s visuals and overall performance, though there are still flaws and gameplay frustrations. This is still one of the best games in the Pokemon franchise, though as a bundle this is basically just two copies of the same game, so there’s little reason to get it, and it actually costs a tiny bit more than buying the games separately.
Grade: B
.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG
Players: 1
.
Review:
One of the initial batch of games to receive free updates on Nintendo Switch 2 when it launched in 2025, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening isn’t the sort of game that felt like it should have needed an update. After all, this is a remake of a 1993 Game Boy game, and while it looks nice with a good visual style, it is in no way visually ambitious. Yet the game did release with occasional framerate issues, as baffling as that may be.
Oddly, the Nintendo Switch update purportedly wasn’t even about addressing those framerate issues, but improving the resolution and adding HDR support. I can’t really vouch for any difference these improvements made – the game looks nice, but it always looked nice. However, even if this update wasn’t meant to improve the framerate, I suppose just being on Nintendo Switch 2 was enough to fix this particular issue, because I didn’t notice any framerate problems.
So there it is – the biggest issue The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening had with its performance has been resolved on Nintendo Switch 2, even if it wasn’t the patch that fixed things. And while I wouldn’t say that this transforms the game, it certainly does make this the best way to play it.
tl;dr – The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is a remake of the classic Game Boy games that gives the game a new, memorable art style, but mostly leaves the gameplay of the original intact. Unfortunately, this release has numerous flaws, including control issues, and missed opportunities in what little new content there is, although the framerate issues the game had on Nintendo Switch are fixed on Nintendo Switch 2. However, in addition, the $60 price tag is ridiculous. It’s still a great game, but in many ways it’s also a disappointing one.
Grade: B+
.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG
Players: 1
.
Review:
One of the initial batch of games to receive free updates on Nintendo Switch 2 when it launched in 2025, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is much like its predecessor The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening in that it isn’t the sort of game that felt like it should have needed an update. Using the same visual style as the Nintendo Switch remake of Link’s Awakening, this is yet again not a technically-demanding game, and in the years since the previous game released, surely they would have tracked down the issues causing framerate problems in that game? Sadly, this appears not to be the case, since this game once again has noticeable framerate drops in places.
Oddly, the Nintendo Switch update purportedly wasn’t even about addressing those framerate issues, but improving the resolution and adding HDR support. I can’t really vouch for any difference these improvements made – the game looks nice, but it always looked nice. However, even if this update wasn’t meant to improve the framerate, I suppose just being on Nintendo Switch 2 was enough to fix this particular issue, because I didn’t notice any framerate problems.
So there it is – the biggest issue The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom had with its performance has been resolved on Nintendo Switch 2, even if it wasn’t the patch that fixed things. And while I wouldn’t say that this transforms the game, it certainly does make this the best way to play it.
tl;dr – The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a Top-Down Action-RPG that combines elements of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to make for something that’s truly unique and wonderful within the series, befitting Zelda’s first mainline adventure as the main protagonist. The new echo mechanic, while not quite as groundbreaking as Tears’ Ultrahand, is still inspired, and the puzzle design and boss design is phenomenal. This may not be quite at the same level as Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but it is still an absolute must-play game, and it plays even better on Nintendo Switch 2, without the framerate issues it was noted to have on Nintendo Switch. Definitely worth a look!
Grade: A
.
I hope you enjoyed this latest batch of Nintendo Switch 2 Difference Mini-Reviews, and found them to be helpful! Want to see all Nintendo Switch 2 Difference comparisons? Check out this page for links to every article where I’ve included these comparisons!
.
You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!
This month’s sponsors are Jamie and His Cats, Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!
eShopperReviews 
Leave a comment