There's so much friction in its original release - it's almost as if everyone wants to talk to Link or share information with him, stopping him in his tracks and slowing down progress through the adventure. My biggest problem with the original release is the constant barrage of text boxes, tutorial text and helper information. The graphics upgrade is a given, but it's tweaks to the flow of the game that truly hit home. On top of that, the entire UI is given a higher resolution boost, while loading is also dramatically faster too. Nintendo's approach here is the best solution. While the emulation community has crafted texture packs for this game, I don't feel that simply increasing the visible detail in these textures makes sense given the art direction. It doesn't appear as if every texture has been updated, but surfaces look clean and fit the style of the visuals. Due to the painterly nature of these textures, it's not entirely clear if they used hand crafted new assets or relied on AI upscaling, but, there is more fine detail if you look closely. While it's clear that Nintendo wanted to maintain the original look of the assets, the actual resolution is higher. What's perhaps more transformative is the improvements in texture quality. Graphics are crisper, key assets appear to have received higher detail art and frame-rate has doubled. So, while the general look of the game is very similar, things like distant rendering and the blending of light bloom differ noticeably and, in my opinion, look better overall. It's a beautiful look and one influenced by the rendering resolution as the size of the shapes and way it interacts with distance objects varies between Switch and the original. In the distance, objects use small bokeh-like shapes eliminating the harsh pixel edges you would normally see in a game like this. Both textures and the way distant objects are handled play into this. One of the most interesting things about the visuals in this game is the painterly effect used to give it a watercolour-style appearance. Visual improvements move beyond resolution, however. This solution is not the same as that used in Super Mario Galaxy, it should be noted. Much of the game code runs natively on the Switch CPU and, obviously, the frame-rate has been doubled but this solution suggests that we could see future Wii games appear on Switch with similar improvements. Clearly the idea here is to accurately simulate the visual effects created for the original game - and I feel they've succeeded.Ä«etween this and other information that has been discovered, it seems this isn't entirely just an emulation solution but it does seem to utilise the Wii's original data formats for assets. Specifically, Nintendo seems to have developed a plug-in that translates the Wii's GX Graphics API calls, mapping them to the new NVN API on Switch. And here's where things get interesting: Switch tinkerer OatmealDome and others have been examining the game closely and it turns out, there are some neat techniques in play here. It's not a cutting-edge game but it looks visually pleasing. Anti-aliasing is not used, however, but due to the nature of the texture work, shimmering is kept to a minimum. The Wii's colour dithering is eliminated entirely and overall image quality is hugely improved. Watch on YouTube The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - this is the Digital Foundry tech review, produced by John Linneman. For Switch, we're running at a fixed 1080p resolution (720p while docked) with a virtually flawless 60fps performance level, marred only by heavy alpha effects - explosions and particles - that only present very rarely. On Wii, Skyward Sword is limited by its 480p output and reduced colour depth, leading to obvious dithering artefacts throughout. Some assets have been re-worked, the entire UI is new and image quality is hugely improved. In bringing Skyward Sword to the Switch, Nintendo has opted to maintain the look and feel of the original game while introducing visual tweaks and changes where it makes sense. The graphics are improved but really, it's the quality of life improvements that strip out the frustrations and frictions with the original game, letting the core design shine. 10 years on, Skyward Sword HD is an opportunity to re-evaluate the game - and for me at least, it has finally clicked. Many believed the game was stuck in the past, a derivative of the Ocarina of Time formula, and the new waggle controls failed to push the series forward. A controversial release - even at launch - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword first released on Wii, arriving at the tail-end of the firm's contentious motion control period.
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