Technology enthusiasts from Digital Foundry have decided to compile a list of what they consider to be the most technically impressive video games on the Nintendo Switch family of consoles. With the Switch’s successor on the horizon, it’s a great time to look back at some of the games that pushed the hybrid console to its limits. While there are still a few big titles coming to the Nintendo Switch, such as Metroid Prime 4 And Mario and Luigi: BrotherhoodHere are their picks for the most technically impressive:
Nominees:
- Fast RMX
- Metroid Prime Remastered
- Super Mario Bros. Marvel
- The tourist
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Super Mario RPG
- Paper Mario: The King of Origami
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Metroid Terror
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
Winner: Luigi’s Mansion 3
“It may come as a bit of a surprise, but in terms of visual ambition and execution, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is phenomenal, delivering something very special that seems to surpass the capabilities of the Switch hardware. The game’s real-time lighting is brilliant, with impressive flashlights casting shadows, ambient screen-space occlusion, and excellent approximation of bounce lighting. What the Switch does here is comparable to results seen on much more capable platforms. This extends to character rendering as well, with skin shading techniques that compare favorably to CGI movies, while full geometric reflections are rarely seen in a game, let alone a Switch release.
Long-time partner studio Next Level Games delivers a superb piece of work here, with excellent art design that extends to the environmental design as well, showcasing variety and attention to detail, while the physics system – particularly the vacuum cleaner mechanics – is equally impressive. We’d venture to suggest that the relatively static camera angles give the developer some leeway to carefully budget for each given scene, but even so, the fact is that we’re looking at visuals and effects rarely seen on Switch, which look stunning and run smoothly at a fairly consistent 30 frames per second. Maybe this one slipped your mind, but if you want to see Nintendo’s hardware deployed intelligently with stunning results, we highly recommend Luigi’s Mansion 3.”