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StarTopic "Impossible Ports": List of games and their respective developers that push the Switch beyond its limits...

Lukus99 said:
Yeah, I gave Apex a go last night on Switch again and it's night and day compared to where it started. Still not perfect but looks fairly sharp in handheld now.
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I'm gonna keep learning things each time I come to this thread ๐Ÿ˜…
Didn't know they improved the graphics.
 
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Lukus99 said:
Yeah, I gave Apex a go last night on Switch again and it's night and day compared to where it started. Still not perfect but looks fairly sharp in handheld now.
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Will def try it out then. Playing with the idea of giving WarZ a chance. Recently started playing L4D2 again and now I'm itching for some more coop action
 
Why are Doom 1 and 2 and Doom 64 on there? Doom was 1993, Doom 2 was 1994, and Doom 64 was 1997. That's like calling Super Mario World and Banjo Kazooie "impossible ports that pushed the Switch Hardware"
 
Quoted by: SiG
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FluffyPower said:
Why are Doom 1 and 2 and Doom 64 on there? Doom was 1993, Doom 2 was 1994, and Doom 64 was 1997. That's like calling Super Mario World and Banjo Kazooie "impossible ports that pushed the Switch Hardware"
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I removed Doom 1 & 2 and Doom 64 from the "Impossible Ports" list, and instead listed them under "Perfect for Switch", which is reserved for quality ports that might be pushing the hardware in ways other than graphics (i.e. HD Rumble implementation, gyro aiming).

I will make both list headers clearer to make it more apparent that the latter are not "impossible ports".
 
Speaking of gyro aiming, does RE4 have it? I've heard conflicting reports that the cartridge version does but the digital doesn't, would be a waste considering how fun RE4 Wii's motion controls were.
 
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Lukus99 said:
I finished Dying Light this weekend and it was Virtuous that helped with Techland with the port, it said it in the credits.
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I was wondering about this, Techland were curiously omitting mentioning who their partner was on it, despite saying they had another studio do the heavy lifting on it.
Thanks for the info.
 
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seconding on Civ VI, lead platform for consoles, cross save (which the PS4 didn't even get), and fully featured up to all the expansions which hadn't all launched when it first released. continous patching for like 2+ years.
 
Lukus99 said:
Yeah, I gave Apex a go last night on Switch again and it's night and day compared to where it started. Still not perfect but looks fairly sharp in handheld now.
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Damn, I should try it again.
 
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Claybook is another very impressive Switch conversion, one that's not well known.

It's a game built around deformable clay and fluid simulation, the latter of which took a quarter of the Xbox One's entire GPU time in that version, plus is used raytraced shadows and ambient occlusion. So getting it to function on Switch was not an easy task.

The lead dev did a really interesting thread on Twitter on the process of bringing it to Switch:

 
Dekuman said:
seconding on Civ VI, lead platform for consoles, cross save (which the PS4 didn't even get), and fully featured up to all the expansions which hadn't all launched when it first released. continous patching for like 2+ years.
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And it runs MUCH better than my Surface Pro. It takes more than 4 minutes per turn @ huge map, all expansions, 7 civs (some at war) on my Surface while it's only 20 - 30 seconds on Switch.
 
9-Volt said:
And it runs MUCH better than my Surface Pro. It takes more than 4 minutes per turn @ huge map, all expansions, 7 civs (some at war) on my Surface while it's only 20 - 30 seconds on Switch.
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holy hell did not know that. i know there were also a few surface superfans throwing shade at the Switch version on reddit. i assume surface pro is running the unoptimized (for surface) PC version?
But yeah, i only ever play on the largest map setting and the Switch version holds up.
 
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curl-6 said:
Claybook is another very impressive Switch conversion, one that's not well known.

It's a game built around deformable clay and fluid simulation, the latter of which took a quarter of the Xbox One's entire GPU time in that version, plus is used raytraced shadows and ambient occlusion. So getting it to function on Switch was not an easy task.

The lead dev did a really interesting thread on Twitter on the process of bringing it to Switch:

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Do you know who the devs behind the Claybook port on Switch are?
 
Here's another:
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
by The Astronauts

UE4 game that isn't a blurry mess (i believe its 900p docked dynamic) and runs at a locked 30fps with enough headroom for them to leave an uncapped fps option as well.
Devs seem really proud of their work, here's their blog post on the conversion
www.theastronauts.com

The Astronauts

First, there was the PC version. Then, a year later โ€“ it took us this long to switch from UE3 to UE4, weโ€™ve basically redone the game from scratch โ€“ we published the game on PS4, and re-rel...
www.theastronauts.com www.theastronauts.com

 
I just have to talk about SAINT'S ROW IV.
I didn't even know this game got a Switch version, only got to know a couple of days agora due to the thread about it going on sale. I bought it. At first I wasn't surprised, maybe due to its art style. But particles effects did get me wow'd.

Then I searched it on YouTube to see if there was a DF video about (there isn't), and found this:

It's an open world 2019 game that doesn't run at locked 60 FPS on PS4, yet it manages to stay between 45-50 FPS on the Switch, and on more demanding scenes where it goes down to high 30s on the PS4 it's also at high 30s on the Switch. By this comparison alone I couldn't even notice any missing graphical feature on the Switch. It's impressive, particles, rain, reflections all look really good. Shadows too. By this comparison it just looks identical to PS4, maybe darker.
 
The other game I gotta give a shout-out to is Rogue Company. Seriously, a locked 60 FPS game that's also higher than 720p(dynamic 900p), with most visual features of PS4 and Xbox One, with the cut ones being replaced with high fashion where on a side to side comparison you can't notice? It's a pretty darn great port.
 
Marce-chan said:
The other game I gotta give a shout-out to is Rogue Company. Seriously, a locked 60 FPS game that's also higher than 720p(dynamic 900p), with most visual features of PS4 and Xbox One, with the cut ones being replaced with high fashion where on a side to side comparison you can't notice? It's a pretty darn great port.
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Makes sense, it's made by a rogue company after all ;)
 
I believe it hasn't been mentioned yet, but I'd like to mention Divinity Original Sin 2 here, since it's one if not the best RPG of the generation and having it on the go with cross save functionality is just amazing.

Obviously sacrifices were made to get it running on Switch, but except for the slowdowns on some intense fights (turn based so not a big deal) where many things happen and the initial long loading time where it loads the whole map so warp travel can be instantaneous, it's totally enjoyable. It's a little blurry but apart from that it's the full PC experience on Switch.
 
Marce-chan said:
I just have to talk about SAINT'S ROW IV.
I didn't even know this game got a Switch version, only got to know a couple of days agora due to the thread about it going on sale. I bought it. At first I wasn't surprised, maybe due to its art style. But particles effects did get me wow'd.

Then I searched it on YouTube to see if there was a DF video about (there isn't), and found this:

It's an open world 2019 game that doesn't run at locked 60 FPS on PS4, yet it manages to stay between 45-50 FPS on the Switch, and on more demanding scenes where it goes down to high 30s on the PS4 it's also at high 30s on the Switch. By this comparison alone I couldn't even notice any missing graphical feature on the Switch. It's impressive, particles, rain, reflections all look really good. Shadows too. By this comparison it just looks identical to PS4, maybe darker.
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How's the game? I saw it's like $2 so figured the port was bad or something
 
9-Volt said:
I can't find who ported those:

Dragon Ball Z Kakarot
Jump Force
Captain Tsubasa
Dragon Ball FighterZ

None of them mentions any external studios in the credits, could be all in house games.
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DBZ Kakarot is so good! I waited for it to be ported to switch, I felt it in my bones, therefore next year around e3 we'll get Tales of Arise on switch announced, which will be another notorious port for the system.
 
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Marce-chan said:
The other game I gotta give a shout-out to is Rogue Company. Seriously, a locked 60 FPS game that's also higher than 720p(dynamic 900p), with most visual features of PS4 and Xbox One, with the cut ones being replaced with high fashion where on a side to side comparison you can't notice? It's a pretty darn great port.
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Yeah Rogue Company is not only an incredible port but one of the best looking 60fps games on Switch. Just seeing an 8th gen multiplatform title running so smooth and looking so clean on a mobile device from 2017 is really something.

It may not be Witcher 3 or Dying Light in terms of "impossibility" but its definitely a technically noteworthy title.
 
Marce-chan said:
The other game I gotta give a shout-out to is Rogue Company. Seriously, a locked 60 FPS game that's also higher than 720p(dynamic 900p), with most visual features of PS4 and Xbox One, with the cut ones being replaced with high fashion where on a side to side comparison you can't notice? It's a pretty darn great port.
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I'd have to add the caveat that depending on which patch you play the game performance and visuals can suffer significantly. Last time I played the game ran horribly. Animations were half or quarter FPS, latency was insane and visual feedback was severely compromised.

The Switch port unfortunately seems always a patch away from desaster
 
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Xcom 2 has been mentioned already on the first page.

But I have to say that it looks and runs well when installed on the Swoleds internal storage.

There are still problems like slowdown when the group of lost are Present (moving out) but overall it feels snappy
 
Mr Swine said:
Xcom 2 has been mentioned already on the first page.

But I have to say that it looks and runs well when installed on the Swoleds internal storage.

There are still problems like slowdown when the group of lost are Present (moving out) but overall it feels snappy
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Yeah the patched version is very good. Slowdown is kind of expected, but given its TBS, not a huge issue. The other console ports suffer similarly.
 
Lukus99 said:
Yeah, I gave Apex a go last night on Switch again and it's night and day compared to where it started. Still not perfect but looks fairly sharp in handheld now.
Click to expand...
Good to know, I'll give it a re-download!

Stinks when ports like this come out half-baked and turn me off from the game, I don't always hear about the updates...
 
Now that I think about it was warframe mentioned. Probably the best looking game on switch. It was too difficult for me to get into. Speaking of the leveling up system; however, I think Iโ€™m going to re-download and give it another shot.
 
Tron1 said:
Now that I think about it was warframe mentioned. Probably the best looking game on switch. It was too difficult for me to get into. Speaking of the leveling up system; however, I think Iโ€™m going to re-download and give it another shot.
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It's great. They re introduced a bunch if effects left out in the original build (volumetric lighting, ambient occlusion, various reflective surfaces) in the 3 years since launch.

Resolution and performance also improved. Recently they cut the install by half from. 26 to 13 GB and sped up load times considerably
 
uncleoptimus said:
Had Life is Strange: True Colors been given props yet?

SwitchUp put out a great review of it:

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It is an admirable port, but calling it the best iteration of Unreal Engine on Switch is a bit hyperbolic to me when we have the likes of Dragon Quest 11, Outlast II, Hellblade, Yoshi's Crafted World, Rogue Company, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, etc.

Compared to these, True Colours is pretty graphically basic.
 
Quoted by: SiG
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curl-6 said:
Compared to these, True Colours is pretty graphically basic.
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How is performance on True Colours?

It might not get an "Impossible Port" award, but it might still be elligible for "Perfect on Switch" badge if it shows very little compromise.
 
SiG said:
How is performance on True Colours?

It might not get an "Impossible Port" award, but it might still be elligible for "Perfect on Switch" badge if it shows very little compromise.
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Played through the whole thing and didn't notice one stutter.
 
Quoted by: SiG
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We can add Nier Automata by Virtuos to the list, and put on the Virtuos list Dying Light
 
All Rebellion games should be on that list, and specially Zombie Army 4:

famiboards.com

Zombie Army 4 - Switch vs PS4 - A Next-Level 'Impossible Port' - DF Tech Review

Summary: Commented of good ports of the Sniper Elite games to Switch thus far Based on same tech as Sniper Elite 4 DF spoke with staff at Rebellion, full interview here https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2022-zombie-army-4-the-making-of-an-incredible-switch-port 6.4 GB install vs. 21 GB...
famiboards.com famiboards.com
 
Yeah, both Sniper Elite 4 and Zombie Army 4 are very worthy additions to list; PS4 ports to Switch that manage to hit native res or close to it the vast majority of the time, as well as maintaining a rock solid framerate, sharp detailed textures, and very similar overall look to the source material.

The amount of care Rebellion North put into cleverly nipping and tucking at their games to produce an experience eerily close to the full fat console version is truly remarkable, and they are easily among the best in the business at doing so.
 
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I didn't know Apex Legends is considered a good port. Maybe I'll download and give it a try then.
 
Seeing those games (I forgot about Rogue Company) makes one realize that the Switch was really an in-between of the PS3 and PS4 generation.
I'm unironically curious to see the rework of Ark on switch too.
 
Ojoloco said:
Is it known which studio made the port of wreckfest?
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Yeah, Wreckfest is amazing. I haven't found a PR by the studio or THQ commenting on it, but I guess it was done in-house by Bugbear Entertainment, the original developers.

My source is just this tweet, and the lack of mention of any additional help or support (here or on any other blurb on the internet) from an external dev:

 
olobolger said:
Yeah, Wreckfest is amazing. I haven't found a PR by the studio or THQ commenting on it, but I guess it was done in-house by Bugbear Entertainment, the original developers.

My source is just this tweet, and the lack of mention of any additional help or support (here or on any other blurb on the internet) from an external dev:

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sometimes they don't mention the port studios on social media, as happened with Dying Light.

When I have time I will look at the credits of Wreckfest on switch to see if they mention any additional studiis
 
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