All the Legend of Zelda enhancements for Switch 2

While no new Legend of Zelda has been announced for Switch 2, five Zelda titles are getting one enhancement or another to make Switch 2 the best place for them.

The big updates

Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are getting enhanced with HDR, higher resolutions, better frame rates and more. One of the key improvements is significantly faster load times to help players fast travel around the map without wasting time. This is shown in the video below, and it seems to shave around 10 seconds off the loading time.

While these will improve the game’s appearance and playability, the new second-screen app experience, called’ Zelda Notes, ‘ will make all the difference. This feature will be built into the Nintendo Switch app.

Once you open it and connect it to your game, you’ll be able to see a live interactive map that can help guide you to collectibles like Koroks. It can also help lead you to more places around the maps to learn more about the history of the space and its characters. This even includes voiced turn-by-turn navigation so you can focus on the game and listen to the navigation.

You can also get a daily power-up or use QR codes in the app to share Autobuild designs you’ve made in Tears of the Kingdom. You can also gift in-game items to other players using this same method.

Finally, the app keeps track of your records, such as time spent playing, enemies killed, chests opened, and more. You can then use this data to see how you stack up against other players online. All of these features will be exclusive content to the app and, by proxy, the Switch 2.

These upgrades are free for users who are subscribed to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass. Anyone else must buy the ‘Upgrade Packs’ to play the games on the new system. As of the time of writing, it’s unclear how much the Upgrade Packs will cost.

Minor upgrades

The other two Zelda games on Switch, Link’s Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom, aren’t getting new features, but they will get a free update that will allow them to utilize the performance of the Switch 2 to help them play with better frame rates.

Echoes Of Wisdom took some flak at launch for not holding a consistent frame rate, so it’s expected to run a little smoother on Switch 2. That said, it seems like running Switch 1 games on the new model isn’t exactly as cut and dry as it seems. You can read more about it in our earlier coverage, but basically the Nintendo dev team is using a translation layer to make it possible instead of an emulator.

Surprise additions

After months of speculation, Nintendo is bringing The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker to the Switch system, but only as a GameCube game tied to the Nintendo Switch Online membership.

In the Switch 2 presentation, Nintendo said that the resolutions have improved since the original, but they’re still far from the beauty of Wind Waker HD, which came out for the Wii U.

However, since this version of the game is running through an emulator, you’ll be able to drop/load save states and remap the control to your preference. If you want, Nintendo is also selling a wireless GameCube controller which will be perfect for playing these games like they were meant to be.