The Art of the Downgrade | In Defense of Ambitious Switch Ports 

Witcher 3, all the Xenoblade games, Persona 5 and SMT5 the critics go: "It's amazing what can be done with the Switch hardware, bla bla bla!" SMT5 gets a remake and the critics go: "The best part of this remake is that we no longer have to play it on the Switch!"

I have a Switch V2 where I have been playing DOOM 2016 & DOOM: Eternal regularly. And it never ceases to amaze me how well these "impossible ports" can run on 2015 hardware. It all comes down to the porting developers to optimize the game for the target hardware. In the case of DOOM 2016 & DOOM Eternal, the wizards at Panic Button have done an amazing job with the Switch port. Despite the cuts made in visual fidelity ( when compared to the XBOX and PS5 versions ), what was always consistent is the rock solid 30FPS. Given the gameplay loop of both games are fast & frenetic, I experienced very minimal slowdowns when playing the Doom series on my Switch, Jon Linneman from Digital Foundry said this well, "Even with the reduction in visual quality, the game should maintain its visual identity, while offering performance characteristics that avoid spoiling the fun..." I guess that is the allure which appeals to me; experiencing these 'impossible ports" on less powerful hardware while being able to take the game on the go.

I'll be real, I am someone who enjoys realistic looking games, and since purchasing a deck my switch has only gathered dust, BUT "I like how weird AAA switch ports look" is actually an interesting take, you voiced this well. Cool idea for a video essay, tbh!!

The Dying Light switch port is pretty charming ngl

This video is the exact reason why I bought a switch lite in 2024, the kinds of games that can run on that small device despite it’s shortcomings is a testament to the term “gameplay not graphics” and even so the aesthetic that switch ports have is one of my favorites, I play mainly racing games on the switch which is very unconventional but I love it

It really made sense to me when you compared these games that barely run to low budget or old movies. There's a certain charm in knowing what you're seeing and how they did it

Reminds me why i think doom 2016 on switch is cool despite its flaws

I love this ports, but maybe not for the same reasons that you like them. I just love he concept of having this big game on handheld, I think because, we always had portable consoles, but it feels portable was never taken seriously, they always had a specific less cool version of the game, but now, with the switch, now they made so "real games" are present in the portable, there is something so magical about seeing these big games on portable, and when you see the limitations that the game have, it feels like you understand what the developers had to do to make run, like you are part of the development, I don't know if I could explain exactly how I feel, but yeah, I love seeing these impossible ports for the switch.

I've had a similar feeling to this. Running PC games on a system that's lower than the lowest specs it recommends. Trying to squeeze out EVERY last bit of performance, while sacrificing visuals was always such a fun thing to do to me. Sadly, i've been on a gaming PC for the last 4 years that is able to run anything on high graphics or ultra. Takes my fun out of it.

Nice video btw! I watched it to the very end. Imo, i don't really see this videogame ports topic in my feed. It's really interesting to see this kinds of vids! You are underrated man! I thought i was watching from a big channel, your editing is top tier great! I hope more people see this vid! Cheers! 🎉 :D

I'm sure someone has said this, but the Nintendo 64 definitely had ambitious ports. Resident Evil 2 comes to mind.

PSP was the closest a handheld has ever been to a contemporary console, the difference between its games and those on PS2 were so negligible it mainly came down to resolution which is still mind-blowing to me even after all these years. Vice City Stories in particular even had upgraded models and visuals compared to the original GTA VC on PC and consoles, PSP set the only precedent in gaming history where games were ported from a handheld to a console and _still_ looked on par with that console's natively developed games.

I'm happy to know that I'm not the only weirdo who digs these types of ports. I grew up with a GBA and a PSP, and I also had a Vita. Lots of impressive ports there. I even consider some of them superior to their console/PC counterparts. I own a Switch Lite now. It's amazing how I'm able to take the experiences of big AAA titles on the go.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance on the Switch was an amazing experience for me. I don't think I missed much with better graphics, even if sometimes I wanted the game to perform better. I think most of it comes to optimization and the kind of software/hardware wizardry that is hard to find in modern systems. What I love the most is seeing devs expertly taking advantage of all of a system's capabilities. Arguably, this still hasn't happened for the PS5 or the Xbox Series, but it already happened multiple times on the Switch.

I will say, the wii and wii u had some pretty ambitious downgrade ports too. They weren't handheld but they were weaker that the rest of the generations. For example, i played darksiders 2 on wii u. It even had touchscreen and gyro aim added in!

Finally someone who gets it. It's easy to make games on an powerful machine but it takes real talent to work with limitations! I always will love Switch ports, as I have loved GBA, DS and Wii ports in the past (and still do). Thank you for the positivity. As a Nintendo fan on the cruel and mean Internet, I needed that.

I had only a game boy, then GBA growing up. Those 3D games were so amazing for someone who couldn’t get a more high end game console. Maybe that’s also why I love the switch so much. Finally able to buy what I want and the switch has such a variety of old and new that I just love it. Plus with a 1 TB memory card I have a massive portable game library I can take anywhere.

I’m in the same boat as you rocking the Switch, PS5 and Steam Deck combo. Best configuration in my opinion to play all games on all Platforms, enjoyed the video and agree playing. Playing DOOM 2016 on the tiny Switch after playing on the Xbox One felt like a miracle.

Hey. I've got good news for you. AI upscaling with DLSS would do something very different than what you thought here in this video. The next-gen Switch successor is likely using a custom version of the Tegra T239, so it will have limited capabilities out-of-the-gate with DLSS for cost efficiency and battery life. The use case for DLSS in the Switch 2's case would be to provide 1) better framerate (mostly), 2) the possibility of 'playable' games that are making use of ray-tracing (occasionally), 3) higher-resolution upsampling to a maximum of 4K from a game that is running at a lower resolution (mostly for back-compat enhancements), and 4) resolve issues where the resolution dips to incomprehensible levels of quality in demanding games that make use of dynamic resolution or otherwise to get games running (sometimes). Therefore, you'd still have a similar "muddy" aesthetic in games that are visually complex like Cyberpunk 2077, GTA6, Doom: The Dark Ages, the new Fable, the new Perfect Dark, and so on, as this generation continues onward. You'd just have them in 1080p or sub-4K resolutions (depending on if being used in portable or docked) if these types of games were ported over to the Switch 2. Aberrations are also a thing with DLSS and AI-upscaling in general; you can view this phenomena occurring in Cyberpunk 2077 in Digital Foundry's videos showcasing DLSS 3.5. TL;DR: With the requirements on PS4/XBO support on games now, this current generation has only just started getting into high-gear this year for both the PS5/XSX. So, the Switch 2 will have a very long life ahead of it, and I'm sure it will continue to receive ambitious ports that send those nostalgic vibes of yours tingling. :)

I'm the type of guy who grew up with a horrible pc and outdated consoles, but even then, i like pretty graphics and would even sacrifice framerate if i think the downgrade is too big. With that in mind, the switch shouldn't be a console for me, but i still want one just for the exclusives, because even though i could play them of my pc through emulation, it just doesn't feel right or good.

11:40 art styles almost never go extinct because whenever a specific style isn't "normal" anymore it gains a special type of appeal that future artists will continue to use because it's now accepted as a style rather than the norm evidence: pixel art, VHS filter, N64/PS1 graphics, DS graphics, monochrome film, etc...

Resident Evil 2 N64 wowed me back in the day. So much crammed into that cart

I've sunken hundreds of hours into Dragon Quest XI S and Persona 5 Royal DQXI is on a bit of a gray area, since it was made for the switch from the ground up but it's still a compromised version of the original, but truly the 3DS version fits the bill even more but is essentially a different game with the same story and similar mechanics I loved play these games on a consistent 30fps with pop in and muddy textures they feel so good to play on switch, even if I can say the animations do look smoother on other consoles it kinda breaks away from what felt to me like the actual look and feel of JRPGs

I'm with you on the ambitious ports. Cool to see you included the vanishing of ethan carter in the end there. Switch has many ports of walking sims, many of them run and look great. But Ethan Carter is a cut above and it's a good game too.

Even though I literally don't agree with you at all I love that you made this video. It's such an interesting perspective that I've never thought about before, and it was fascinating to see why you felt this way. Super interesting, weird and personal videos like these are why I love RU-vid.

The ports of Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal are perhaps the most impressive to me. Sure, there are some visual downgrades, but both games run well, and I had a lot of fun playing them on Switch.

Scarlet and violet were probably made with the switch 2 in mind (knowing it'll probably get a re-release, with improved performance), I'm almost sure they will run fine on that. Its just a shame we had to beta them first on the original switch

FNAF Security Breach (SB) is an example of a Switch port that achieves the impossible. So when SB originally launched, it was horribly optimized, even with higher end hardware. Years later, in an Indie Direct, there it was, Security Breach on Switch. When I got my hands on it, I was really surprised by how well it ran for the hardware (30 mostly stable frames and actually looked quite decent, but obviously notably worse). I beat the game all the way through and had almost no issues (apart from a soft lock but a simple reload of the save fixed it) and had a good time with it. With the most recent update however, it made the game completely unplayable for me because when I loaded in, the frame rate was notably worse and was dizzying to look at. My save was in one of the biggest locations in the game, but in previous updates, it ran decently. Hopefully they fix this, I know they can because they magically made this performance inducing game playable on this silly console

Resident Evil 2 on n64 very much falls into this category. They crammed a 2 disc ps2 game with lots of fmvs (nearly 700mb per cd) onto s 64mb n64 cart (largest n64 had and only other game to ever use that size was Conkeys bad Fur day) with all its content and fmvs useing some extremely clever coding and bonus content too.

I'm so glad you made this video, because I totally agree!! I really love the compact, squished-down versions of big games. I play Witcher 3 on Switch, Doom Eternal, Dragon Quest XI... and it's been a bit hard to articulate why, other than taste, preference, "I like it." And maybe that's enough, but I love what you said "I like when video games look like video games." It's hard to make someone understand, if they regard graphics & framerate above all. But popularity of demakes, and purposefully-retro style fan art for games makes me believe that people *do* get it. Realism isn't the pinnacle of gaming. There is a lot of coziness to have a huge game in your handheld.

1:52 some games did push those consoles to their limits like Xenoblade for Wii

There are many third party games I preferred playing on Switch, because the portability felt too good with many of them. And most of them look decent and are completely playable. Yes, Lego Star Wars looks fantastic on PS5, but on Switch it felt like back when I was a kid playing the first Lego SW on GBA. I ended up buying both versions 😅

glad to see Tony Hawk 1+2 included in there. I was thinkin' that game, Nier automata, and Alien Isolation. Yes that was a late cross gen ps3/360 game, but the switch version is comparable to the ps4/xbone version. Digital foundry did a vid on it

I would like a video of your favorite ambitious ports and maybe even games that push the switch to it's limit. I'm like you, I see the passion on the switch. Where devs can't just rely on the player having strong hardware, they have to really work to get the game out there and it's inspiring. It reminds me of the old days when devs really put effort into making something special and I felt special getting to enjoy that hard work. So many modern games just feel easy and simple, they lack that rough grime that sets the games apart like it used to.

I'd actually say Half Life on PS2 and Doom 3 on Xbox are two examples of games that were ambitious ports.

I'm doing the opposite stopped playing my series x and have just been playing switch im collecting every 1st party title for it

Philosophical gaming. 😊 I love your perspective.

Love the idea of this video. And the video is great too. Instant subscribe. *Edit* love the vintage godzilla movie analogy. Makes perfect sense.

As someone who grew up with Pokemon and saw what it became with the Switch (though really the seed was laid in the first 3D gen 6 and then already started sprouting on the 3DS), I just wish they wouldn't even try to do "good" 3D graphics and just used higher fidelity sprites and animations. Your hardware isn't enough, your ambition isn't enough, your spirit is no longer there. Stop it, Gamefreak. I don't own a Switch, when it released I feared it was underpowered and too closed of an ecosystem and I was right. Hope the alternative handheld gaming market of today teaches Nintendo and all it's subsidies to start trying again.

Just in case I wanted to share the ports I enjoy the most Diablo 3 Dying Light The Witcher 3 Skyrim Quake 1 & 2 Doom Dark Souls Dragons Dogma Metro Redux Red Dead

Good video, but I have some disagreements with it. My problem is just that of your thoughts about pokémon SV, I do not believe it was made for more powerful hardware. It's just a case of a dev not knowing how to optimize their games properly, which is a shame, even though I don't have a lot of problems with the frame rate, just more on how slow the game feels sometimes.

This is basically why I'm so ticked that Squeenix couldn't be bothered to even attempt porting any of the Kingdom Hearts games to the Switch. Cloud games. Yuck.

Good video, should have way more views than it does! You earned a sub! Keep it up!

FF16 , Stellar Blade, Forspoken, returnal, Spiderman 2, Ratchet and Clank rift apart, Demons Souls, Astros Rescue Adventure, TLOU Remake, Nioh Remasters, Ronin... Theres a lot more PS5 console exclusives than you said.

I hope that this upgrade theory does not come true at a paid rate, whereas xbox has been adding "next gen" upgrades for previous gen games for free since...well since the 360 I suppose. Sure, there's actual remasters, but hopefully that's not the case for the switch if they have next-gen patches. Still, solid video for sure!

I’ve played most of these games on switch and you somehow seem to have downgraded them further for this video

Really awesome video man. Loved it! Keep up the good work :)

Great video!!

Its very frustrating when people dont appreciate the work that has to go towards porting down to weaker consoles.

As I grew older I find it harder to sit down and enjoy a game on my tv. The Switch was a God sent because it allows me to enjoy games when ever and where ever I want. Rarely do I ever play the Nintendo exclusives games, I find them all very childish, instead I exclusively focus on the ports. Although I am upset about the lack of ps3/360 ports, there are still many classics missing, I do love what we got. They clearly look and play worst but like you said theres a certain charm to them, and lets be honest most of the old school games I love were worst than what we currently got on the Switch. Looking forward to more miracle ports and lets hope we get Fallout 3/New Vegas and Dark Souls 2.

excellent video. leaving a comment for the youtube algorithm

90% of my games on switch were ambitious ports I loved them Doom eternal And witcher 3 were the best ones

Totally agree with a lot of what you were saying!! And for me the switch is my favourite console ever!! 🎉❤ subbed to you now!! Can’t wait to hear your opinions on other things! 😊

What about Cyberpunk 2077 and Battlefield 2042 on the PS4

Breath of the Wild was made for the Wii U but also released for the Switch as a launch title because of the Wii U's poor sales. And so the Wii U really deserves the credit for what Breath of the Wild pulled off as an original title developed around its limitations. The Switch has a number of unambitious Wii U ports (I guess Nintendo put some effort into Bowser's Fury at least) that have sold extremely well on it. Instead of being downgraded like the ports mentioned in your video, they are upgraded since the Switch is more powerful. And now that I got to your concern near the end of the video, I gotta say that what you're worried about for Switch 2 has already happened with the Switch and Wii U. The only question is whether people were okay with it because they didn't mind paying full price again for an upgrade or if it was more largely a function of how few people owned a Wii U compared to the Switch. If the latter is a factor, then maybe Nintendo will get some pushback if they do the same thing with Switch 2. This time most buyers of a Switch 2 will have the original Switch game in their library and so any Tropical Freeze scenario where a past gen game with a small addition is being resold at full price SHOULD get pushback. Personally, I never buy upgraded or better performing versions of a game I already have unless they are considerably discounted and I really enjoyed the original game. For example, I have Monster Hunter World and Iceborne on PS4 and only got the PC version post-Iceborne when it was discounted.

What game was at 1:42? it looks cool

Thank you for this video.

I really enjoyed this video. You've earned yourself a subscriber.

idk if I'm silly but there's really something weirdly charming on how the switch ports of these look and when I play them, they're undoubtably the worst versions and it would deffo be better to play them on like a steamdeck or any of the pc handhelds, and my family has a ps5 for example that I could play games on, but it just feels like the switch is the closest thing to having like, these "big games on a true handheld akin to xenoblade on the 3ds" type feel, I play them in bed on my switch and there's just that being taken away to a different time type, like playing animal crossing or zelda and on the same device just booting up this shitty version of the witcher 3 that's literally just all there is just ah so weirdly comfy, absolutely nothing wrong with the superior versions though ik my feelings are weird

While i dissagree with your take, i understand where youre coming from. good vid

I love Ambitious Switch Port Core

Same same... but... different

no thank you 4:50 i think i would rather play pc, or emulated games on steam deck if i want both portable and power. or og hardware that is the best version of that game graphically and for performance too.

To me the general difference is that in the GBA era games they did what they could to push the limits of what they could do and innovate the tech creating a unique experience. For the Switch it feels like they ate just turning the settings down as much as possible, without any innovation as the game already exists. It’s not nearly as magical or impressive (personally speaking). It does not feel like I am playing a new version of something, just a “worse” one. I usually don’t play anything on handheld that relies on heavy 3d graphics because of this, sadly, but that is just me.

Personally, i would rather have similar versions on every platform rather than playing a modern game with early ps3 graphics.

10:10 no, Pokemon company's switch games are all looking way worse than what the Switch can do

How do you count only 7 PS5-only games ? - Stellar Blade - Rise of the Ronin - FF VII Rebirth - Spider-Man 2 - Helldrivers 2 - Demon's Souls - Ratchet & Clank - The Last Of Us Part I - Destruction All Stars - Astro's Playroom - Final Fantasy XVI - Forspoken

If only N didn't lock down the switch performance ffs their own flagship games look and run like crap. Crazy how you can emu a switch on a switch and get better performance, that right there should be grounds for a lawsuit. Almost like i buy a new car but the dealership locks it up so can never go above 55 MPH. So happy i left consoles back with PS2, feel bad for my wife dam Pokemon addict lol.

You make a great point and I'll offer the reverse version of it. I watched TV shows in standard definition most my life, when hd became popular and TV started growing to 50 and 60 in, all the sudden I felt like I was on the set of the show and not watching the TV show anymore.

I got Dead Island 2 for sale on Steam today and spent a few hours playing it on my Steam Deck. I get your point, but man, do I love my Steam Deck. Sometimes, I even prefer it over my nice desktop PC, even though I love my gaming PC. And before any console fanboys reply, no, I don’t like consoles more than my PC. I specifically love the convenience of a handheld, but I would NEVER swap my PC for a console. Besides, the Steam Deck is a handheld PC anyway.

The switch is such a special system, I dont care about ultra graphics and high framerates, i like to have fun when playing a game and thats what the switch does best. People can say whatever they want about how muddy, blurry or whatever the graphics are on the switch, for me they have this charm like you said in the video, it even reminds me of the PSP and its ambitious ports at the time like Midnight Club 3, The Warriors, Manhunt, Test Drive Unlimited etc. Also back in the Xbox 360's final days we had the excellent Titanfall port made by the gods at Bluepoint. Also i love how the switch forces the devs to optimize their games to the fullest (at least the majority lol) instead of just having an overpowered CPU and GPU bruteforce through it.

Yesterday I was sitting in traffic waiting for a train. So I pulled out my switch.

Gonna be honest, I completely disagree. In my opinion many of the games here look like shit. I hate games that aim for a photorealistic style but just do not pull it off. It looks wierd and wrong, they're usually really dark and muddy/blurry, and everything is super indistinct. In some cases I struggle to tell what stuff is or whats happening because the because the screen is just a bunch of vaguely shaped blobs of varying shades of brown and grey. Photorealism when done well can be incredible - see the ultra-massive huge-budget state-of-the-art AAA games like RDR2 and Cyberpunk 2077, and also AAA games that aren't exactly on the cutting edge when it comes to technical graphics like Elden Ring, or even double A games like snowrunner - but I personally think if it can't be properly pulled off then the developers should pursue a different art direction. To be clear I don't dislike the switch or lower fidelity games in general, I just really do not look the way this specific style looks. Games can look amazing on the switch if they go for a less demanding graphical style - look at first party Nintendo titles like BotW/TotK, SMO, or MK8DX (the base game tracks anyway), and indie titles like Outer Wilds. This was a really interesting video and not at all what I expected when I clicked on it, thanks for sharing your perspective!

Gameboy Advance also has even Quake, Resident Evil 2 and Yoshi's Story. Those were only alphas, but still very playable! During late nineties most people actually thinked like you. PlayStation was very popular mostly coz people were fascinated just how far it was pushed, despite having lower quality than N64 and PC.

Playing multiplat games on switch hardware is a fine reminder when i tried to run full games on my Pentium 4. I'll always love the switch because exactly the low power, i can basically emulate the library on a phone. It's quaint how some of these games got a release on the switch simply because it sold so much.

Well sad for you since it might be the end of an era.

I also prefer video games that look like videogames. My mind's eye can fix videogame graphics and fill in any gaps. It just needs a little material to work with. Photo realism leaves much less room for interpretation and can only be as interesting as it was designed to be.

If a game is a good enough port, and it’s a good game, after a while I don’t even notice the graphics.

It feels sad how Sonic Frontiers looks, given how insanely optimized Hedgehog Engine and the game itself is. A computer with a GTX 1060 can run that game at maximum settings with zero stuttering at all at 60 frames per second (and probably with a lot of headroom, too) so the Switch running it better than that doesn't feel impossible

A problem with Switch ports is because of what a "sacrifice" they end up being. Of course gameplay matters in the end, but now there are two sides choosing between processing or portability. I've already enjoyed the visual beauty of Witcher 3, Doom and Hogwarts in the consoles they were made for, but why do I have to choose the one that doesn't look or run as well? Just to play it somewhere else? You play these games at home anyway. What's furthermore worse is that the Switch library is comparably EMPTY because of all the ports, and the fact that it takes YEARS to get them at all. What new games did we get this year? Peach Showtime? Ok, what else? A GBA game? A gamecube game? and now a 3DS game? After all those, Switch ports are really just a big problem in general

So, playing new games at 720p very low 20fps in my old-ass pc is now considered aesthetic?

you're a sigma

Buy a pc and play the games on low settings.. same thing

11:12 If you're a fan of the downgrade aestetic, you could always play on PC/Steam Deck and crank all the settings, resolution, and framerate cap to the minimum. I know it's not quite the same: even the lowest PC settings don't always look quite like those Switch ports and the charm of not having any performance left over is gone. But I bet it would look similar, at least. Plus: more battery life!