Today, I’m adding more games to the list of games that have seen improvements when played on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!
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It Takes Two (Nintendo Switch 2)
Genre: 3D Platformer
Players: 2 Co-Op (Local Split-Screen, Local Wireless, Online), GameShare Support
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Review:
With Hazelight Studio’s spiritual successor to It Takes Two, Split Fiction, being a Nintendo Switch 2 launch title, I admit I wasn’t expecting to see a Nintendo Switch version of It Takes Two, yet in 2026 that’s exactly what we’ve gotten. This is a separate release, but players who own the digital Nintendo Switch version of the game get a 100% discount for the Nintendo Switch 2 version, not only giving players a free upgrade, but ensuring that players who own both a Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 already have two copies of the game.
That’s not to say that players will have a difficult time connecting with a friend. Not only does the Nintendo Switch 2 version have cross-platform multiplayer compatibility with all other versions of the game, not only has it received its own free “friend pass” release so two friends with Nintendo Switch 2 can play together with one copy of the game, and not only does it still work with a regular Nintendo Switch friend pass for cross-platform play… this release also adds GamePass support… for local wireless play. Yeah, it falls just short of giving players every option to connect via multiplayer, but honestly I think we can cut them a little slack for not having GamePass support for online play – if you’re that eager to play online, you can just download the free friend version.
Really, it’s the other upgrades that are the star here, the improvements to graphics and performance. The upgrade to framerates is instantly noticeable, being much smoother this time around. The improved resolution is really nice too. And there are also improved textures and higher-quality shadows.
The loading times are improved too, though not by much. On Nintendo Switch, it took me 38 seconds to load to the title screen and 8 seconds to load a save file. On Nintendo Switch 2, it those same times took 23 seconds and 7 seconds, respectively.
Overall, this is a good improvement for a free upgrade, and it’s especially a no-brainer if you got a Nintendo Switch 2 since first getting the game and want to share the experience with someone else. And the game itself is as great as ever too – in fact, if you finished Split Fiction and want to play another game like that, this is an obvious choice. Either way, this is a great version of a superb game.
tl;dr – It Takes Two is a 3D Platformer with a co-op focus that requires two players to play. This game’s asymmetrical co-op gameplay is phenomenal, with great level design, puzzle design, and boss design. The story is pretty delightful too, with fun characters and great voice acting, along with some wonderful sound design. If you have a friend to play with, this is an absolute must-have co-op game.
Grade: A
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Once Upon a Katamari (Nintendo Switch 2)
Genre: Arcade
Players: 1-4 Competitive (Online)
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Review:
When it came to releasing a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Once Upon a Katamari, Bandai Namco went about it in a somewhat odd way. The game has a separate release on Nintendo Switch 2, albeit one that can use the save data from a Nintendo Switch version of the game. But, if you already own the Nintendo Switch version, that has a patch that updates the game on Nintendo Switch 2 to include the enhancements to performance and new features of the Nintendo Switch 2 version. Why they did it this way instead of just releasing a free Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade, I don’t know.
But in any case, you do have a free upgrade path here, so I suggest getting the original Nintendo Switch version and getting the upgrade, in case you ever want to play the game on a regular Nintendo Switch, something you can’t do with the Nintendo Switch 2 version. For those wondering, the version I used for this review is the regular Nintendo Switch game with the patch.
And… wow. Look, I’ll say I do not look at the Katamari series as any sort of graphical showpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to admit the improvements on Nintendo Switch 2 are kinda’ incredible. Both the resolution and the framerates are greatly-improved in ways that are immediately-noticeable upon going into the game, and honestly it’s even a bit weird seeing the game this clearly and with such silky-smooth framerates.
Possibly just as impressive as that is the improvement to the loading times. On Nintendo Switch, it took me 1 minute 20 seconds to load the game to the save select screen, another 14 seconds to load a file, and 28 seconds to load into a level. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times were reduced to 17 seconds, 6 seconds, and 17 seconds.
Finally, there is one other improvement here – dual Mouse Mode, activated by pressing the “-” button while in a level. And it’s… fine. Personally I think traditional gamepad controls using dual analog sticks are preferable, but using the dual Joy-Con 2 as mice in much the same way as Drag X Drive works about as well as you would expect it, with each mouse being used in place of an analog stick and dragging it repeatedly in a direction to move that side, using the two sides together like treads on a tank. It may sound complicated, but it’s fairly intuitive, and like I said, it works fine. Not great, but fine.
But overall, I think the big upgrades here are to the framerates, resolution, and loading time, all of which are much-improved on Nintendo Switch 2. If you haven’t gotten this game yet, know that the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game (or preferably Nintendo Switch version playing on Nintendo Switch 2) is the best-performing game to ever release on a Nintendo platform. And if you already have the Nintendo Switch version, you’re in for a treat playing it again on Nintendo Switch 2. Either way, this is a great version of a solid game.
tl;dr – Once Upon a Katamari brings to the arcade-style ball-rolling series a new time-traveling theme and new gameplay mechanics, but a lot of these new mechanics are poorly-conceived or a mixed bag. This is still an enjoyable game in a consistently enjoyable series, but it’s far from the greatness of the first two Katamari games. That said, the improved graphics and performance on Nintendo Switch 2 are phenomenal making this worthwhile for fans of the series purely for that reason alone – definitely give this a try!
Grade: B+
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Spark the Electric Jester 3
Genre: 3D Platformer
Players: 1
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Review:
Spark the Electric Jester is such a prime candidate for a Nintendo Switch 2 Difference article that I’m kinda’ surprised I haven’t gotten to it until now, but better late than never. And when it comes to games that really needed the power of the Nintendo Switch 2, a game I would describe as “a mostly solid 3D Sonic-alike that suffers from massive slowdown issues on Nintendo Switch” definitely seems high on the list. Now, as of this writing, the game doesn’t have any sort of patch or upgrade on Nintendo Switch 2, but it was my hope that even the vanilla Nintendo Switch game would see a bump on better hardware.
And… yeah. That’s pretty much exactly what happened here. Now, let me keep expectations in check here – this game seems to have a 30FPS framerate cap, and without a patch or upgrade the Nintendo Switch 2 can’t do anything about that. However, on Nintendo Switch 2 this game runs at a stable 30FPS, and for a game that sometimes seemed to drop to under half that amount on the original Nintendo Switch, that’s a massive improvement.
Other than that, there’s one other improvement here, and that’s the loading times, though those were already pretty speedy on Nintendo Switch – on that platform, it took me 13 seconds to load to the main menu, 5 seconds to load a game save, and 9 seconds to load up a level. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times are reduced to 7 seconds, 5 seconds, and 5 seconds.
But let’s be real, the big story here is the framerates, and stabilizing those framerates at 30FPS makes this game immensely more playable on Nintendo Switch 2, enough to bump this up in my estimation. And hey, if anyone from Feperd Games or FreakZone games sees this and decides to put out a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition or patch that brings the game up to 60FPS and improves the resolution, I may very well bump it up yet again in my estimation – a game like this could absolutely use it! However, even with just what’s here, this is a huge improvement over the way the game plays on Nintendo Switch.
tl;dr – Spark the Electric Jester 3 is a 3D Platformer that’s blatantly copying the formula of 3D games in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, but it largely does a good job of it, even if the game absolutely feels like an unoriginal knockoff and a few of its original ideas fall flat. thankfully, the poor performance the game has on Nintendo Switch is alleviated on Nintendo Switch 2, and overall the core of this game is a very good 3D Platformer. And even if it doesn’t beat Sonic at his own game, Sonic fans are still going to thoroughly enjoy this.
Grade: B+
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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!
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