Zelda Switch 2 Upgrades Are Nintendo’s Latest Stab at Super Guide – Editorial
I want to hear Master Kohga ponder his mortality on my phone.
All things considered, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom getting $10 upgrades for Switch 2 beats the alternative I low-key expected: near-full price remasters. Sure, newcomers dropping into these years-old games will have to drop a combined $150 to get them both on Switch 2. Maybe that’s not great, but at least we know that there are hundreds of hours nestled into both of these games. And the Switch 2 versions have a whole lot of neat new bells and whistles.
Visually, Nintendo’s promising smoother visuals, enhanced resolution, better framerate, and more detail. HDR was bandied about. Load times will be quicker. The side-by-side comparisons shown aren’t seemingly game-changing but it’s all very nice. The Korok Forest, which has always been a framerate debacle in these games, in particular looks much improved. Now I can enjoy the nice music around the Deku Tree without noticing how much the engine craters. Playing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom often seemed like the game was at the upper limits of the Switch. I’m not fully sure if this will entice me to start up a new playthrough or something, but this all seems like the optimal way to play these games now. The Switch 2 versions also add a second save file, so you can transfer your save over to Switch 2 from Switch and even kick off a new adventure on the new platform.
Beyond the visuals, the biggest hook to these updates seems to be Zelda Notes. This is a part of the Nintendo Switch app (formerly the Nintendo Switch Online app by the time this comes out). That aspect of it is a bit of a bummer. Needing a smart device to make use of this is not the smoothest way, but at least Zelda Notes seems to be designed with that quirk in mind.
You can select Shrines, Koroks, enemies, and more for the app to navigate you towards. You can glance at the map on the phone, which updates your position in the game. You can also use Voice Guidance, which lets your phone shout at you what direction you need to go in, whether it’s going north or south or even up or down. This seems like a new version of Nintendo’s Super Guide, which was a concept Nintendo toyed with back in the Wii era. Those were boosts or guides built into the game that would do things like make Mario invincible if you died a lot or in the case of Zelda games like Skyward Sword or Ocarina of Time 3D, give you hints as to where to go next. Navigation and Voice Guidance is not identical to those implementations, but it feels like it’s in the same realm. I love when games have built-in guides to them, even if in this case it still requires your phone.
Voice Memories potentially add a lot of lore to both games. You can use the Navigation and Voice Guidance to find dozens of Voice Memories throughout both games. In Breath of the Wild, you can hear new voice-acted stories from Zelda. In Tears of the Kingdom, Rauru and Kohga also join in on the fun. The clip shared has Kohga pondering if the Depths are the afterlife. Looking forward to hearing more from Kohga and also whatever character-building nuggets arise from these.
Other boosts and boons are present in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2, all via Zelda Notes on the Nintendo Switch app. Once again, none of this is game-changing, but it’s all nice. Completion percentage is available at a glance. You can share items and autobuild schemes using QR codes. Achievements and stat tracking are also built into this experience. You can even get an amiibo bonus if you scan the same amiibo in five times.
Overall, I don’t know if the Switch 2 updates for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will get me to sink hours upon hours into these games again, but I’m definitely going to boot them up and check them out when I get my hands on a Switch 2. It helps that, for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, the upgrades are included with your subscription. Otherwise, they’re $10 a piece if you already own the games. If you don’t own either game, the Switch 2 upgrade adds $10 to the retail cost, so you’re looking at a $70 Breath of the Wild and an $80 Tears of the Kingdom. A steep price if you want the red box art and game card. It will be interesting to see how the prices for these Nintendo Switch 2 Editions change in the future, but in the case of the two launch day Switch 2 Editions due out on June 5 alongside the system, they’re at least reasonably easy to check out if you’re curious.
