
If you're not a fan of the load times in some titles on the Switch, they might be worth revisiting on the Switch 2.
During its Treehouse event, Nintendo showcased the load time of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition alongside the original Switch version. The outcome? It's faster!
Here's a look at one particular scene, which also factors in Link's teleport animation - making the loading time on Switch 2 here about eight seconds quicker in total. This follows a quick look at these "faster" load times during the announcement trailer.
"More time slaying monsters and less time watching the loading screen which is great."
Nintendo hasn't shared any other comparisons just yet, but we're sure many other original Switch games will benefit, like Tears of the Kingdom.
Nintendo also mentioned during the same segment how menu navigation and other aspects in games like Breath of the Wild now feel a lot faster thanks to improved frame rates and performance:
"Opening the menus and switching between the different tabs in the menus is a lot smoother and quicker in the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition compared to the old version."
Of course, to access the enhanced versions of Zelda, you'll either need to fork out for the upgrade or have an active Switch Online + Expansion membership. As for what else you can expect from these enhanced editions, there'll be HDR support and smoother higher-definition graphics.
In some other news, Nintendo has made the Switch eShop faster and more responsive on the Switch 2 hardware.
Will you be returning to Hyrule on the Switch 2 to test out these faster load times? Tell us in the comments.
[source youtu.be, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 48
That's great and all, but is this really news? Isn't this just stating the obvious in the search why we should be happy with old games, we've been playing for years, coming out on a new system?
Will you be returning to Hyrule on the Switch 2 to test out these faster load times?
I’m preordering Switch 2 just to replay Zelda BoTW. Already spent over 1000 hours on it across my 3 Switch consoles and I have stopped playing it on purpose maybe year ago waiting for the improved version for a fresh start.
Load time improvements are welcome but graphic improvements are the major factor (especially FPS).
Cannot wait.
The (additional 8 second) loading times were never really an issue in themselves, it was jumping out to a loading screen rather than just fading to black that always threw me
Good stuff. That's really important for post-game, since you fast-travel constantly.
Is this Internal or Cartridge or Micro SD Express?! Saw that yesterday live, I was medium exausted by that show cause didn't expect first of 2 days be over 4 hours long. xD
As much as I love BOTW and TOTK, you do spend a significant amount in menus, so any speed-up helps.
I hope they also bring over the other menu/UX improvements from TOTK to BOTW.
In this era of gaming the Switch loading times are a pretty major bug bear and I'm glad we have a marked improvement.
My only gripe is that getting a decent size express sd card is going to be super expensive, at least at first with 1tb coming in at £200.
I wish Nintendo had found a way to fit two sd card ports side by side - one for an old card and one for the new one - that way at least my old library could sit on the slower card not taking up expensive storage space.
@SViper It's 100% internal, but with microsd express it should be very comparable with up to 900MB/s speeds.
@Medic_alert Yes and 1TB would be the minimum you'd want to get for AAA games that will be around 50GB or more.
My question for the 1st party Nintendo Switch games that got Switch 2 edition, will they have all contents & updates inside the Switch 2 cartridge, especially like ACNH which have separated DLC Happy Home Paradise for $25 ?
@KociolekDoSyta yeah and I have about 800gb of games on my Switch so I already have to decide what to install.
I’m sure some people will play this down but it’s a big deal to me. One of the best things about moving from XB1X and PS4 Pro to Series X and PS5 is the SSD use. If you find your Gaming time limited by inconvenient real world stuff every second counts.
@Anti-Matter ACNH doesn't have a Switch 2 edition. For other games, I don't know if they come with dlc included but I doubt that.
@KociolekDoSyta thank you for answer.
Now I'm interested how much faster it will be Internally without NS2 Upgrade Pack aka just regular NS1 version on NS2?! And how much faster will be load NS1 Cartridge without NS2 Upgrade Pack and with it on NS2?!
Load times are one of those things where so long as they're not like a minute on end I don't mind them, so not really much of a meaningful upgrade there. Cool they got it reduced, definitely not complaining, but not really like a mindblowing feature.
@Medic_alert Exactly, I do have 2TB now but I had the same problem before with a 1TB. With Switch 2 even 1TB or 2TB will be a problem at some point. That is if you want to have all of your games installed there as well.
Unfortunately as an old school Zelda fan neither of the latest big entries have done anything for me. Instant load times couldnt get me to love these games.
@KociolekDoSyta at least if games still run off cart that can be a way of offsetting the need for storage but I'm not sure that is confirmed yet.
Given the push for digital though it is going to be expensive or everything will need juggling.
@KociolekDoSyta Is it really even necessary to have every single game installed at all times though? I never bothered upgrading from a 400GB card on my Switch and instead just got into the habit of archiving games if I'm not going to be playing them any time in the near future.
@Medic_alert Yes, but then there's a new problem with the game-key cards that I predict will be a large % of the "physical" releases, so I wouldn't count on that. Exactly this about digital as well, one + the other.
@BenAV You know, it just depends on the person. I love having all my games with me without having to download them over and over again. Others will be happy with for example 256 or 512GB overall. Play game, finish, remove and download another.
@BenAV it is obviously not a necessity but people play in different ways and I have a habit of switching between games until I finish one.
I don't know what I might feel like playing at any given moment, so I like to have as much as possible installed.
Plus I'm getting an increasing number of forever installed games like Balatro and Hades which I don't want to remove from the system at all.
@KociolekDoSyta oh yeah, that sucks. Physical but not physical.
Strange times.
@Medic_alert Yeah and I hate this. I had enough of demo versions (download the rest of the game) on Switch carts and now this, that's why I'm out. I'm just tired of this.
Haven't watched that part of the Treehouse yet (funnily enough I stopped watching exactly before it) but anyway, pretty cool even though not particularly surprising - that's also the reason why micro SD Express is required on Switch 2 so there's that drawback but still, overall love to see it!
I feel like too many are too used to settling for too little.
@Anti-Matter I'm still waiting for that response, if you still intend to give it.
Why are treehouse commentators so cringy?
@electrolite77 agreee one of the big things when I got my Series X was discovering that a bunch of little hangs ups was 100% loading related. Like 76's crafting menus was slow and clunky on X1X I thought it was the games online nature but on series X the appeared instantly.
The only game I really want faster load times for is Sam Sho, and I doubt that's getting a Switch 2 update.
I cant wait to dive in in BOTW again… I planned to do that but now i will wait until i get my switch 2 on day1 for sure…
I would maybe imagine also like Sonys own studios. When Nintendo release switch 2 only new in house developed games they can make even better use of the switch 2 internal speeds and loading times.
meh... will wait for upgraded model like we had with switchv2 or oled no rush in getting it 1-2years of wait atleast for me. Most of the games i can still play on switch so no point.
Removed - flaming/arguing
@Medic_alert yes and I don’t see there being as many physical carts out there given the sheer size of some of these games. First party, Nintendo has been pretty good with that in the past but beyond that we were starting to see a lot of code in a box games on switch, it’s safe to say there’ll be a whole lot more on switch 2.
Just a PSA. If you registered interest with Amazon check your inbox. You may just have an invitation to pre-order.
Just wanted to point out that while indeed it is 8 sec improvement, there are other variables to take into consideration.
Firstly, it's already about 33% faster compared to S1.
Secondly, that grows larger, as the actual loading screen is significantly shorter on S2, as before and after animations are highly dependent on location, probably can't be shortened even if they are not being used to load 100% of the time, and I doubt Nintendo would change them due to impact on "user experience". So yeah, in general jump might be far more than 8 seconds.
We're at a stage in gaming where there's no longer that big jump.
3D era, HD era, Internet era, etc.
We just have to be more excited over performance now.
I'm loving the faster loading times.
@TYRANACLES Why would that be „stupid“? Playing this great game after years with 60fps and enhanced graphics is stupid? Ok.
Well on PS5 the PS4 load faster without ANY upgrades we have to purchase seperately. But I assume that is the case here as well, we just have to wait until the Switch 2 is out and everyone can look at this.
I am curious if any of this works out of the box or if it’s only with upgrade patches
I’ll keep an eye out for that kind of news as we get closer, but I could see myself replaying Sparks of Hope if load times were axed
Interesting. If Nintendo didn't change anything else about the game, then this might be the best version of the game for speedruns. I don't think speedruns really go into loading screens all that much, if at all, but the game does stop for a minute if you move too fast just to make sure everything is loaded before you proceed.
I was annoyed with Tears' load screen!
I wanted to read some of the hints and tips.
But they disappeared too fast!
Ninty should have had them all on a menu page to read separately!
Now just release a similar upgrade for New Horizons and Fire Emblem Three Houses pleeeease. I have 400 hours in Three Houses and half of it was spent on loading screens.
@Gatorclops I feel like Three Houses might have a Switch 2 version in the works just because they were showing off Engage in the backwards compatibility sections but there was no sign of it, even though it sold better and is generally a lot more remembered and talked about. Similarly noticed the total lack of Xenoblade.
Shoot, load times in TotK were already a huge improvement over the first game.
But I found this to be a double-edge sword: in BotW, I didn't care to sit through load times, so more often than not I would continue riding my horse (and also you couldn't summon your horse back to a stable any time you wanted).
So I found myself actually enjoying the environment and exploring a lot more.
TotK, I did a lot more fast travel, and that really destroyed a lot of the "magic" from the first game. Seemed like there was a lot less exploration and a lot more just zooming to the next destination.
@lovesushi who are you talking to? I never even said that? You need to lay off the sushi.
bad sushi it was
It would have been funny if they had used the bloated eshop as a demo test for the speed of the new system.
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