The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom Deliver Flawless Performance on Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo is poised to redefine portable gaming performance with the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, launching worldwide on June 5, 2025.

As two of the company’s most acclaimed titles, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are receiving dedicated Upgrade Packs, promising enhanced frame rates and improved resolution on the new hardware.

These highly anticipated releases are positioned to demonstrate the technical leaps Nintendo’s next-generation platform offers while honoring the legendary franchise’s legacy.

In an exclusive recent interview, Nate Bihldorff, a long-standing senior member of Nintendo of America’s Product Development team, provided firsthand impressions of the Switch 2’s capabilities when running these flagship titles.

Bihldorff shared that he experienced no performance dips during his initial playthroughs, even in notoriously demanding areas. "When I started Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch 2, the first area I entered was the Korok Forest—a spot well-known for challenging the original Switch’s hardware.

This time, all of the environment’s dense foliage was rendered smoothly, and I did not encounter any frame rate drops," Bihldorff noted.

He praised the original Switch for handling such a complex area but confirmed that on Switch 2, the experience was markedly improved, with a seamless and consistent frame rate. Addressing Tears of the Kingdom’s advanced physics and intricate building mechanics, Bihldorff remarked that while the game allows players to create complex contraptions that could theoretically push the system’s limits, he personally had not observed any performance issues even during these intense scenarios.

"No system is perfect, especially with a game as expansive and unpredictable as Tears of the Kingdom.

Players are constantly finding new ways to test the system, particularly with the creative freedom the building tools provide.

But in my experience so far, there have been no drops in performance," he clarified. Both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were originally developed by Nintendo’s celebrated development teams, with the former launching for Nintendo Switch and Wii U in March 2017, going on to achieve landmark sales milestones and multiple Game of the Year awards.

Tears of the Kingdom built upon that foundation, debuting exclusively for Nintendo Switch in May 2023 and continuing the series’ tradition of innovation and critical acclaim. In addition to game enhancements, the Switch 2 will debut the newly designed Joy-Con 2 controllers.

However, Bihldorff confirmed during the interview that the controllers will not incorporate Hall Effect sticks—a technology heralded for its drift resistance.

While this may come as a disappointment to fans wishing for a long-term solution to stick drift, Nintendo has emphasized that the new controllers have been redesigned completely to ensure greater durability and improved performance. With both Zelda titles optimized for Nintendo Switch 2, players can look forward to revisiting Hyrule with improved visuals and stable frame rates.

As the June 5 release date approaches, anticipation continues to build for what is poised to be a new high watermark in portable gaming performance.

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