The tech enthusiasts at Digital Foundry have conferred and have decided to list what they deem to be the most technically impressive video games on the Nintendo Switch family of systems. As the Switch successor is on the horizon, now is the perfect time to look back at some of the games which have pushed the hybrid console to its near limits. While there’s still some big titles yet to come on the Nintendo Switch, such as Metroid Prime 4 and Mario & Luigi: Brothership, here’s their choices for the most technically impressive:
Nominees:
- Fast RMX
- Metroid Prime Remastered
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- The Touryst
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Super Mario RPG
- Paper Mario: The Origami King
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Metroid Dread
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
Winner: Luigi’s Mansion 3
“This one might come as a bit of a surprise, but in terms of visual ambition and accomplishment, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is phenomenal, delivering something very special that seemingly outstrips the capabilities of the Switch hardware. The game’s real-time lighting is brilliant, with impressive shadow-casting flashlights, screen-space ambient occlusion and an excellent approximation of bounce lighting. What Switch is doing here is comparable with the results seen on far more capable platforms. That extends to character rendering too, with skin-shading techniques that compare favourably with CGI movies, while full geometric reflections are rarely seen on any game, let alone a Switch release.
Long term partner studio Next Level Games delivers superb work here, with excellent art design extending to environmental design too, showcasing variety and attention to detail, while the physics system – especially the vacuum cleaner mechanic – is similarly impressive. We’d venture to suggest that the relatively static camera angles give the developer leeway to carefully budget any given scene, but even so, the fact is we’re looking at visuals and effects that are rarely seen on Switch, looking great and running smoothly at a pretty consistent 30 frames per second. Maybe this one has passed you by, but if you want to see Nintendo’s hardware intelligently deployed with stunning results, we highly recommend Luigi’s Mansion 3.”