Devolver Digital Confirms The Plucky Squire Won't Run At 60 FPS On Switch

Stable 30 with good resolution is all I want anyway. Hopefully it deliver that.

Expected, but disappointing nonetheless.

This isn't too surprising tbh. I usually go into Switch games expecting 30, and either I'm right or I'm pleasantly surprised. Maybe whenever Switch 2 rolls around they could give it a performance boost, but as long as it's stable, that's enough for me.

It really doesn’t need to run at 60 fps…

I hope it's a rock solid 30 then.

I wonder how they are going to handle the switch 2 situation. I imagine the most dedicated devs out there will update your game to a better version more akin to the ps version.

That's assuming eshop 2 is completely retrocompatible with eshop 1 of course.
Which it is. Right.?

I expected that, I just hope that it's rock solid 30 and isn't too blurry

Or give it a year for the "new and improved" Switch 2 version.

At this point, I'm feeling put off from buying any third party games as many of them will inevitably be re-released with better resolution/performance etc. (and with the most up-to-date version on the cart)

Eh, I'll still take this game as long as it runs at a stable 30 fps. I was still able to have a blast with DOOM 2016 and Kirby Star Allies on Switch, so hopefully this will be the same case.

It’ll run well on Switch I’m sure. I’ll be getting it on Series X but that’s just cause I’m fortunate enough to have multiple platforms. I’d be more than happy to play it on Switch if that’s all I had or needed portability. Really excited for the game to release!

@mlt
yeah im curious regarding how "switch 2" will handle things in that regard.

i imagine that games with frame drops will hit their target rate more through virtue of the more powerful hardware but a game targeting 30 wouldn't hit 60 without needing a patch, iirc similar to how some 360 games got performance patches when running on xbox one onwards.

with "switch 2" im hoping that visual/performance toggles become more common but when it comes to the original switch with newer games i just hope they are a stable framerate, if it can manage 60 then that's a nice bonus. (unless its a remaster of a game which was originally 60 in which i would hope the remaster can match the original)

60 fps is only marginally less of a first world commodity to me than the graphic fluff - neat when present but nothing to sacrifice things like portability for (Digital Foundry won't tell you this, but a game you have no opportunities to launch will naturally gravitate towards a statistical 0 fps experience regardless of hardware power). My old GTA SA savefile from the student years was at 98% or so, all of that achieved at maybe 25 fps at highest. So having 60 in games like Burnout Paradise is at least more useful than the bloated VFX and/or pixel counts that tend to gather cults around them these days, but the indispensability thereof is another long busted gaming myth in my book.

At this point it's to be expected, doesn't make it any less disappointing though.

As with most games, I'm sure a stable 30 will be completely fine. If framerate is that big of a deal for you, there's other options. I'll gladly play this on Switch though.

at this point if people expect more and/or are disappointed it's mostly on them. We know what the switch is capable of and what it struggles with, we've known it for 7 years! I wouldn't even consider it "news" to be frank.

Dont really mind this, as long as the entire game is on the physical cartridge

As long as it's stable at 30 fps, I don't mind. But damn, with that response now I'm worried it won't run smoothly even at 30...
Just in case, I'm going to wait for the reviews before buying this. If it's not running well, I'll wait for a patch. I want to play it on Switch.

I guess if it's 30fps, the 3D sections will give off a stop-motionesque feel to it. That would give it a sense of playful wonder in theme with the game.

That said, I would LOVE it if there was a game where you fought a giant creature but it moves in a Ray Harryhausen like manner as a homage to that animation style. I've always wanted to see, say, Ridley like that

super excited for this one.

Well, The Plucky Squire will be for my PS5 machine. 😉
Of course, for smooth 60 fps gameplay. 😁

I guess I'll get in on PS5 then

I reallly want to play this on Switch as well. I'll just chill and wait for reviews.

The Deck opened my eyes to 40fps. It's a huge step up from 30fps, but not much of a step down from 60fps. For some games, like Dying Light, I actually prefer it over 60fps, because the lower framerate makes it feel more cinematic.

Now if the Switch 2 display would support arbitrary refresh rates, it would give devs more performance headroom. Of course, docked output would be a problem, since the external display would then have to support 120Hz (a multiple of 40) or VRR.

@Qwiff I was going to mention 40fps as well. Like you, I find it looks much smoother than 30fps and doesn’t feel like a huge drop from 60fps like 30fps does. For some reason anything below 40 tends to look choppy to me, but 40fps+ always looks decent.

Genuinely curious to see if and how Nintendo are going to handle game performance updates if the Switch Successor is (hopefully) backwards compatible with games like this that are being released around now.

No 60 fps on Switch, you don't say...wow.

A question for the handheld folk - is 30 vs 60 really that noticeable on a 7" screen running at 720p? I was always planning on getting this, as well as any other 3rd party game, on PS5 rather than Switch b/c of the difference on my 4k tv, but I'm not sure I'd care if I was playing on my Switch screen all the time.

I can tell the difference between 30 vs 60 if I'm watching them side by side in a video but I don't think there's ever been a game running at a stable frame rate where I could guess what that frame rate was just by looking at it. If things slow down at all I can tell, but not what it is.

For a game like Plucky Squire I wasn't worried about frame rate since I can't tell but I was concerned about resolution, which I haven't seen mentioned. And rarely do.

I’d have gotten it on the Switch anyway if it wasn’t free with the PSN plan I’m on

@rjejr
Oh, yeah.
30 FPS vs 60 FPS are really noticeable.
I can see the difference between 30 FPS and 60 FPS, even by watching video from YouTube on Nintendo Switch.
30 FPS movement was like recorded video quality while 60 FPS was like watching live action shot, very smooth movement.
I can see the difference between 30 FPS and 60 FPS without comparing side by side.
I tried by playing the video on 30 FPS first then I changed into 720p 60 from YouTube setting and after several seconds later, you will notice the change of the movement from a little bit rough to a smooth movement.

No surprise there, PS5 as usual.

Hey don’t worry just as long as it’s stable then we’re good.

I'm getting it as part of my Playstation sub so i'M good

@rjejr It's noticeable even on a Nintendo DS (which is what, 3" and 192p?), so I'd personally say yes. Though it is arguably less of an issue than on larger screens, especially with that LCD blur.

I'll probably wait for the switch 2. It will hopefully run at 60fps on the new system.

You play third-party games on Switch because you like the hybrid freedom and/or have no other options. If 60fps is important to you, you're probably not playing multiplats on a current gen platform that's significantly weaker than the competition's last gen platforms.

I could care less. I have a switch ps4 ps5 and decent pc rig. I'll take a cart over all of em

It's UE5 so a 60fps mode is rather likely to happen. Of course, for that you need an enchanted Switch.

Unfortunate but I always thought 30 is more cinematic anyway so that’s fine with me. 60 looks great with some games but honestly I don’t prefer it in most. I think it sometimes gives games a cheap feel or is too video-gamey.

I bet they’re annoyed that this is being almost overshadowed by Zelda. I’m buying it day one but just may not get to it until after Mario and Luigi

I honestly think a game in this art style would look better at 30fps anyway, there are some games I simply can’t imagine running at 60

I always prefer 60fps because I'm sensitive to motion and it looks and feels smoother to me, but I will happily take a stable 30 fps cap over a wibbly-wobbly 30-60fps unlocked framerate.

For example, I LOVED the Bakeru demo, but the constantly fluctuating unlocked framerate made me a bit queasy. Compare this to the rock-solid, locked 30fps (except for distant enemies, which didn't impact the player character) of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which was excellent.

Personally I will grab this on PS5, but I'm glad they have made a good call to work within the Switch's limitations and provide a good experience!

I never paid to much attention to FPS. As long as the game doesn't stutter at 30 FPS, I am fine.

It's a Day 1 free release on PS+, so I guess I'll just get it on my PS5. Kind of a shame since it's the kind of game that's perfect for a portable system.