Nintendo Switch 2 shows more than just graphics upgrades in Digital Foundry boost mode analysis

The Nintendo Switch 2 ($449 on Amazon) received a major update to firmware version 22.0 last week. This update, above all, introduced a new feature called "Handheld Mode Boost". If this function is activated in the system settings, the console always displays games that were originally developed for the first-generation Nintendo Switch in TV mode - even when the console is being used as a handheld.

A first comparison quickly showed that this feature can lead to a drastic graphics upgrade for some games. Now the graphics experts from Digital Foundry have been able to test how much different games benefit from this new feature. The video reveals some interesting findings. Unsurprisingly, many titles simply run in a higher resolution - while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Fast Fusion, for example, were previously only displayed in 720p resolution, these titles now run in the native 1,080p resolution of the Nintendo Switch 2 display and therefore look much sharper.

More demanding titles benefit even more from this mode - the resolution of Persona 5 Royal increases from just 504p to 810p, while titles such as Doom Eternal not only receive a higher resolution, but also upgrades to lighting, shadows and textures, as TV mode uses better graphics settings. Resident Evil 5 uses an unlocked frame rate in TV mode that could drop to around 27 fps on the first-generation Nintendo Switch in demanding sequences, while the Switch 2 achieves 51 fps in the same scenes - so even in handheld mode, the newer console is about twice as powerful as the Nintendo Switch 1 in docked mode.