By Sickr on March 29, 2025

The team at Digital Foundry have examined the recent Nintendo Switch port of Xenoblade Chronicles X and have come away impressed by what they have played. The original game pushed boundaries on the Wii U and so many were wondering whether or not there would be any significant changes to make use of the capabilities of the more powerful Switch console. Thankfully, the game both looks and runs better on Nintendo's newer hardware. The concluding thoughts from the team at Digital Foundry is that Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is "a genuine improvement across the board."

"With the leap to Switch, the game using dynamic resolution scaling and tops out at a native 1080p, making it noticeably sharper than the original game, while the portable mode seems to mostly match the resolution of the Switch's built-in display at up to 720p."

"Performance also hasn't changed much on the new platform. The game proceeds at a largely steady 30fps, but it's certainly not locked. A 60fps flag has been found in the game's code, so perhaps there's a possibility that we'll see a 60fps release on Switch 2?"

"I do have one nitpick: the pre-rendered video sequences all exhibit raised black levels and therefore look washed out on Switch, something that wasn't an issue on Wii U. It's not a huge deal due to the relative lack of video sequences, but it's perhaps something that could be fixed in a future patch."

"It's also worth noting that since the game ships on a cartridge or is downloaded to flash memory, there is no need for an additional installation pack. If you recall, the original game offered an optional download for disc users to improve streaming performance - but if you didn't download it when the Wii U shop was running, that pack is no longer available. It's nice not to have to worry about that detail now, as it loads faster than Wii U right out of the gate."

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