Switch 2 Punches Above Its Weight Thanks to DLSS, but Kingdom Hearts 3's Legacy UE4 Build Strips That Crutch Away

Key Points:

• Kingdom Hearts 3 and the entire Kingdom Hearts Collection [I～III] are coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, allowing Nintendo users to play the series natively on the go ahead of Kingdom Hearts 4's potential 2027 release.
• A playable demo of Kingdom Hearts 3 for the Switch 2 shows that while image quality is comparable to PlayStation 4 via backward compatibility, performance is notably worse, with frame rates often dipping to around 30 FPS compared to a steady 60 FPS on PlayStation 5.
• The lack of NVIDIA DLSS support, due to the game's legacy Unreal Engine 4 build, means the Switch 2 cannot leverage hardware upscaling, impacting performance despite the console’s modern architecture and more RAM.
• Dynamic resolution scaling is used on the Switch 2, with 1080p in handheld mode and 1224p when docked, but this does not fully compensate for the performance gap compared to Sony’s consoles.
• There is optimism that final optimization work by Square Enix could improve performance by launch, as seen previously with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, potentially delivering a more stable experience on the Switch 2.