In terms of power, the Switch 2 is a massive, much-needed upgrade over Nintendo’s previous console. But technically, the portable hardware is still less powerful than Xbox Series X or the PS5 — which means that, despite being a much newer piece of tech, the Switch 2 is lagging behind the theoretical competition. Most owners may not care about this; the Switch 2 should be strong enough to run most modern third-party games. But based on recent statements made by the people working on Switch 2’s exclusive Donkey Kong Bananza, it seems that even Nintendo is impacted by the Switch 2’s specs.
During an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Bananza director Kazuya Takahashi dished on all things Donkey Kong, like timeline shenanigans and other highlights for the apparent spiritual successor to Super Mario Odyssey. At one point during the interview, a reporter mentioned that they noticed frame drops during certain portions of the gameplay. In response, Takahashi acknowledged the technical hiccups — but cautioned that one had to consider “various factors” at play.
“First, we’ve intentionally used effects like hit stop and slow motion to emphasize the impact,” Takahashi says, presumably in reference to how the game depicts Donkey Kong’s ability to destroy the environment. “On the other hand, by using voxel technology, there are moments where the scenery undergoes big changes and destruction. We’re aware that in these moments, the performance might be impacted a bit. Regardless, as you say, in general the gameplay is fluid. Whenever the game produces changes at a great scale, we’ve prioritized fun and playability.”
As Polygon described in its hands-on previews, Bananza looks great running on the Switch 2, and the destruction gameplay is a technically impressive showcase that makes it obvious why Nintendo might have waited for the release of the new console over finishing development on Switch. Though we didn’t note any technical issues in the two previews we’ve conducted thus far, both of them mention that destruction gameplay could get “chaotic” in a way that requires fiddling with camera controls.
All of which to say, players who buy the game later this week may not immediately perceive any type of issue with it. These are the sorts of things that are most obvious to the trained eye, and more likely to be referenced by enthusiasts who know what the term “frame rate” even means. It’s obviously not a big enough issue for anyone to be concerned about Donkey Kong Bananza, which, by all accounts, is a fun game.
But if even a party game has to contend with small performance issues, then it should be no surprise that some third-party games on the platform are coming out with tech issues or otherwise fall short of what’s possible on other platforms. It’s noticeable in places beyond Donkey Kong Bananza, like the way Switch 2’s game chat feature has a low frame rate as well.
Ultimately, though, we’re only a couple of months into the lifecycle of the Switch 2. With time, developers will figure out how to maximize the possibilities on the available hardware, which is capable of rendering up to 120 frames per second. It could be that things like the occasional frame rate drop might seem like a distant memory by the time we get the next big Mario game.
