Technology Enthusiasts Digital Foundry We decided to compile a list of what we consider to be the most technically impressive video games on the Nintendo Switch family of systems. With the Switch’s successor on the horizon, now is the perfect time to look back at some of the games that pushed the hybrid console to its limits. The Nintendo Switch still has some big titles, such as: Metroid Prime 4 and Mario & Luigi Brotherhoodhere are the ones they chose as the most technically impressive:
Nominees:
- High Speed RMX
- Metroid Prime Remaster
- Super Mario Bros Wonder
- Tourist
- 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 may be a bit surprising, but in terms of visual ambition and achievement, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is astounding, offering something special that goes far beyond the capabilities of the Switch hardware. The game’s real-time lighting is fantastic, with flashing lights that cast impressive shadows, screen-space ambient occlusion, and an excellent approximation of reflected light. What the Switch is doing here rivals results we’ve seen on much more powerful platforms. That extends to character rendering as well, with skin shading techniques that rival CGI movies and perfect geometric reflections that’s rarely seen in any game, let alone a Switch release.
Long-time partner studio Next Level Games has done a fantastic job here. The excellent art design extends to the environment design, which shows variety and attention to detail, and the physics system is equally impressive (particularly the vacuum mechanics). We suspect that the relatively static camera angles allow the developers to carefully budget for certain scenes, but it’s still true that the visuals and effects, rarely seen on the Switch, look great and run smoothly at a near-constant 30 frames per second. Perhaps you missed out on this one, but if you want to see Nintendo’s hardware deployed intelligently with great results, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is highly recommended.
