After having completed Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Switch 2, booting the game up on the original Switch was an immediately familiar, if bizarre experience. The game was almost certainly made with Nintendo’s 2017 system in mind from the off given how long it’s been in development, and yet there’s something about playing it on the original Switch that just feels… odd.
Don’t leap to any mad conclusions. It plays very well at a very solid 60fps in both docked and handheld, but after getting used to seeing Viewros in stunning 4K (or an internal resolution approaching it), it’s surprising how much the art direction seems to have been built with this in mind. This also lacks the (excellent) HDR support of the NS2 Edition.
Playing this on Switch 1 when docked feels fine enough, but that crispness, that pop, that ludicrously intricate, high-contrast detail, it’s just a bit fuzzy and pixelly by comparison. I personally feel it’s almost the direct antithesis to Pokémon Legends Z-A, which actually felt as though the art style was more cohesive on the weaker platform. Textures have taken an understandable hit, and models that are further away can look quite smeary, but overall the game still looks good. I just can’t help but compare it unfavourably to Switch 2.
Handheld takes things further down, as you would hopefully have already guessed. Wide shots of Samus when she’s being loaded into the transport cannon thing just don’t look right, as though you’ve somehow mucked up some settings; you can taste the sub-720p-ness. It’s perfectly passable for such aged hardware, but I can’t help but feel that as time went on, the Switch 2 version became the focus. It’s safe to say things in the final build aren’t the crystal-clear examples we were shown in earlier trailers.
That’s another change you can expect: loading screens. They’re relatively brisk on Switch 2 to the point that Ollie rightfully didn’t feel the need to mention them in our primary review of the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, but on Switch 1 you really feel them. Some of them are easily double and even triple the length, which can be a pain if you’re doing a lot of jumping from one area to another in quick succession.
All that being said, the game runs just as smoothly as it does in the Switch 2’s quality mode. I wasn’t able to shake the 60fps target at all, bar perhaps one exception when out in the Sol Valley when I presume some enemy models were loading. It simultaneously feels like it’s pushing the old hardware to its absolute limit, and yet manages to run at 60fps without breaking a sweat.
If Switch 1 is your only means of playing Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, you’re not going to have quite the same experience, but if you’re not looking to upgrade anytime soon and you’re keen to jump into Samus’ latest adventure, it’s well worth picking up, as there’s a fantastic game to be had. Just keep your visual expectations in check after seeing all that delicious Switch 2 Edition footage.