Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Nintendo Switch 2 - 60fps of Smoothness
04-06-2025 04:00 UTC by Joe Merrick (Serebii).
The Pokémon Company International was kind enough to invite us to their headquarters to give us an exclusive hands on for this update. We were given 75 minutes to explore the game however we saw fit, and then that ended with a Tera Raid Battle.
Going in, I had a list of areas to check out which are known to have issues on the Nintendo Switch; Artazon, Tagtree Thicket and Casseroya Lake, among others, that I made sure to be my first port of call to see if they have been fixed and honestly, I was very surprised. That's right, even the windmill in Artazon has been fixed to a standard frame rate!
Note: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet on Nintendo Switch 2 supports HDR (High Dynamic Range), but due to our capture device not being strong enough for it, we had to turn it off to make sure we could capture in the highest resolution and frame rate possible.
Visuals
The visuals themselves have a bit of improvement. The colours are more vibrant, even without HDR, the light bounces off the water better and the Pokémon models have never looked better. In battle with the animations, the particles are just great and this is further shown off when you terastallize a Pokémon either in standard battle or as part of a Tera Raid Battle.
That said, the texture work hasn't improved too much for the overworld of Paldea so you can see more repeating textures on cliffs in the distance, and with an increased visual fidelity, it does make them a bit clearer which may mean you notice issues more.
As mentioned, the Artazon windmill which rendered at a lower frame rate on the Nintendo Switch now runs at a stable fast frame rate, but that isn't all, most distant objects, people and Pokémon do now as well.
On the Nintendo Switch, there was another trick where the Pokémon models would be at lower polygon density if at a distance, but that doesn't seem to be the case here as well. Pokémon far away seem to have the standard size, and encountering small Pokémon such as Tandemaus with the camera zoomed far away also had it appear as normal. This is a great fix as sometimes those Pokémon in the lower polygonal models could seem somewhat jarring compared to the other high quality ones on the original Nintendo Switch.
That's not to say the visuals are perfect, however. There's still an element of pop in of some textures as you're going through the regions, especially if you are rushing through. This also unfortunately applies to the human characters that adorn the various towns where they won't spawn in until you're closer, much closer if you're rushing through. It's still a bit jarring to see here and there and is really one of the only blemishes on this patch.
Frame Rate
Now we're at the big area, the bit most people are very intrigued to see, the frame rate. On the Nintendo Switch, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet targeted 30 FPS but often sat between 20 and 25 depending on what was going on the screen in the overworld, sometimes dropping as low as 15fps. On Nintendo Switch 2, however, the frame rate has been pushed up to 60fps; the first time in a Pokémon game since Pokémon Emerald!
This includes all areas including Casseroya Lake, one of the most problematic areas on the Nintendo Switch. This time, I was able to jump off a cliff overlooking the lake, land in the water, and rush through past dozens of Pokémon, all in the rain, and the frame rate was steady at 60fps. It was a wild thing to see. Everything just runs so smooth, even in the transitions from overworld to battle. The battles also stay at 60fps so you can see all the Pokémon move animations in the new fidelity. Even during a full Tera Raid Battle with friends, it remained at a steady 60fps which is just fantastic to see.
It's not a locked frame rate, unfortunately, but the vast majority of the time for me it stayed at 60fps, with the occasional drop in more troublesome areas down to around 55fps. I noticed this primarily in Kitakami and the Blueberry Academy, but more in the Coastal Biome and Savannah Biome where there's a lot more happening with the foliage, and when gliding between various intense areas, but even then this is something I only found and noticed because I went specifically looking for the drops.
Technical rundown aside, the new frame rate made the game feel so smooth. Compared to how it was before, which I personally didn't have a problem with, it is on a whole different level. Just going through the region just feels so slick now, regardless of if you're walking, running, riding on Koraidon/Miraidon or gliding. The battles feel great and with the new particles and the vibrant colours, they look great too.
Resolution
The resolution has also been improved. We only played in TV Mode and it output in 4k (3840x2160) resolution, but like the game's contemporaries on Nintendo Switch 2, it's not rendering at 4k but at a resolution between 1080p and 2160p and has some anti-aliasing to help smooth things down. This has given the game an extra bit of clarity. In the past while you'd see some distant textures seem a bit jagged, they're now much more visible and smooth.
Unfortunately, I was unable to test how the game runs in handheld mode so I will have to wait until launch to see how well that runs.
Other Fixes
There's far more changes than just resolution and frame rate; the most notable of which is the amount of Pokémon that can spawn at any one time. Previously on the Nintendo Switch, it was typically locked at around 15 Pokémon spawning at any one time, 16 if there's a Shiny among them. However, with this update the spawn radius has been increased and we've counted over 30 at once in some areas. This increased spawn radius has made the world feel more alive. This is not just because you're going to see more varied spawns at any one time, but because due to the distance, you can see the ecology of the Pokémon more.
On the Nintendo Switch you could see these examples of Pokémon interacting the overworld from time to time, but due to how small the spawn radius was they'd react to you quicker so you wouldn't see it. On Nintendo Switch 2, with the increased spawn radius, you will see these small examples far more. While moving up through Kitakami, I saw Poochyena just casually sleeping in the grove and didn't get disturbed. This sort of stuff did exist on the Nintendo Switch but I saw far more of them in just this one hour of play time. On a personal level, this is going to give me more joy to see how the Pokémon are spawning in general.
That said, I do have a little concern of the spawn amounts for shiny hunts, as the increased radius means you'll get more Pokémon that aren't the one you're looking for spawn. I was shiny hunting for a Heracross in a Mass Outbreak during the playthrough but the spawns in the outbreak seemed smaller due to the larger spawn radius spawning other Pokémon. This is a minor concern in the grand scheme of things, and seeing the world filled with wild Pokémon more than before is just a great thing to see in general.
Next are the load times. As with all Pokémon games since Pokémon Red & Blue, you have the ability to Fly between various key areas in the region. On the Nintendo Switch 2 patch, this is sped up incredibly. When you fly between points in the same region, in our tests it would take 8 seconds on the original Nintendo Switch whereas here it takes less than 2 seconds. This gets even crazier when you fly between Paldea and Kitakami or the Blueberry Academy. On the original Nintendo Switch, this took up to and over 20 seconds, but in our test on the Nintendo Switch 2, this took just 3 seconds, which is a massive improvement. Mileage on this will of course vary based on SD card, whether it's on internal memory or cartridge, but our tests showed vast improvement.
Another of the improvements is the box system. Previously on the original Nintendo Switch, this took a while for all the icons to load when you first boot the boxes up after loading the game. This issue is gone on the Nintendo Switch 2 and the boxes are quick and instant in loading. A similar fix comes from changing your outfit. This had a bit of lag originally as soon as you pressed the button to open the menu, but has been sped up considerably on the Nintendo Switch 2.
Final Thoughts
Overall, from the time I spent with this patch, I am incredibly impressed. I personally didn't have many issues with the game on the base Switch version but now, going back, I am struggling. The 60fps framerate and the UHD visuals have really propelled the game up. It's such a smooth and pleasant experience that almost feels too good to be true. I just wanted to keep going from place to place throughout Paldea, Kitakami and the Blueberry Academy.
Although I've had only an hour and a half with the update, it really makes me think that this is how the game should have been the whole time. It has elevated the game and, while it's still not perfect, it is such a joy to play and go through now and I am really looking forward to jumping back in when the Nintendo Switch 2 releases. I can't overstate how much the game feels better with this.
It really gives me hope for the future with Pokémon Legends: Z-A and future Pokémon generations. If they can run like this, then we're going to be in for a good time for many years.
If you haven't played Pokémon Scarlet & Violet yet, then now is definitely the time to jump in. If you never finished the DLC for it, then now's the time to jump back in. It needs to be played to truly be believed.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Footage captured with: Elgato 4K X, 2160p60, HDR Off
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