Digital Foundry: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Switch Remake - Absolutely Unmissable

brainchild · Sep 19, 2019

Jaded Alyx said:
Is it UE4?

I'm going to delete this and redownload it on internal memory since that seems to help.

I haven't seen evidence of this. UE4 attribution is normally required and it's not in the credits.

There are some quirks similar to UE4, like SSAO rendering at half-res and causing flickering, but quirks like that aren't really exclusive to an engine even if they are common in one.

Hucast · Sep 19, 2019

Jaded Alyx said:
Is it UE4?

I'm going to delete this and redownload it on internal memory since that seems to help.

brainchild said:
I haven't seen evidence of this. UE4 attribution is normally required and it's not in the credits.

There are some quirks similar to UE4, like AO rendering at half-res and causing flickering, but quirks like that aren't really exclusive to an engine even if they are common in one.

Thanks for clarifying. I guess it aint clear then. Nice that it's a sharp looking game

srtrestre · Sep 19, 2019

Tis gonna be glorious.

MaitreWakou · Sep 19, 2019

Rhaknar said:
"a stunning remake"
"unmissable"

and yet you read the thread and it sounds like its a garbage... oh Era you so silly

When it's not about the performance, it's about how short the game supposedly is since it's "just an old Gameboy game".
I've been pointing some people that Howlongtobeat estimates the original at 15 hours (they just added the remake and estimate it at 13 hours), which is, you know, on par with recent Nintendo singleplayer outputs that isn't big AAA games such as Odyssey or BOTW, and definitely on par with most first party 3DS games. Of course those people just ignore those messages, and few posts later they keep complaining about this game being too short because it's a gameboy game lol

Serif · Sep 19, 2019

One of the most gorgeous games I've ever seen, my eyes are glued to the Digital Foundry vid just seeing Link walking around.

TheKeyPit · Sep 19, 2019

chandoog said:
Normal gameplay shows large drops from 60 to 30 FPS.

Waiting for a price-drop from 60€ to 30€...

;D

Game looks gorgeous.

K Samedi · Sep 19, 2019

I initially had my doubts about it but this video gave me a strong urge to buy this game. I will hold off on buying until later but its a must buy at this point. The graphics and the qol improvements just make it an unmissable addition to the Switch library. The original game is good but the ferch quests and the tedious item swapping is not something I like in my games. These things seemed to be solved by a good overworld map, markers and being able to use multiple items at once.

jett · Sep 19, 2019

The flowers don't animate in the remake.

Absolutely disgusting.

Naked Snake · Sep 19, 2019

I have absolutely zero intention of ever playing this game, yet I fully watched this video. That's how much I enjoy DF!

Decarb · Sep 19, 2019

Mbolibombo said:
- The game utilizes a double buffered V-Sync, so drops from 60 go down all the way to 30

So what does this mean, what is doubble buffered V-sync and what does it provide?

Double buffer is basically your GPU holding 2 frames at a time, one of them displayed on the screen while other is rendered in the background. It constantly swaps between two frames, and the ideal rate of swapping is 60 times per second for something like Switch screen. When you turn on V-sync however and if the game drop below 60fps, the GPU will show the same displayed frame twice because it is still rendering the back frame. This prevents tearing but straight up drops the FPS to half.

Phabh · Sep 19, 2019

Some here are not going to like that thread title lol

Wander_ · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
I haven't seen evidence of this. UE4 attribution is normally required and it's not in the credits.

There are some quirks similar to UE4, like SSAO rendering at half-res and causing flickering, but quirks like that aren't really exclusive to an engine even if they are common in one.

does yoshi's cw show the ue4 logo in the credits?

-shadow- · Sep 19, 2019

Watching right now, and Double Buffered V-Sync again? Why?! I get that input should remain unaffected by it, but lord are these drops rough.

Phabh · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
I haven't seen evidence of this. UE4 attribution is normally required and it's not in the credits.

There are some quirks similar to UE4, like SSAO rendering at half-res and causing flickering, but quirks like that aren't really exclusive to an engine even if they are common in one.

Was UE4 mentionned in Yoshi's Crafty World credits?

lunanto · Sep 19, 2019

Redownloading it to the internal storage too...
Come on Nintendo hurry up with that Switch Pro *sigh*

Phabh · Sep 19, 2019

jett said:
The flowers don't animate in the remake.

Absolutely disgusting.

This is the most valid complaint. I noticed it when the very first trailer was shown and they didn't fix it.
No buy Nintendo!
;)

brainchild · Sep 19, 2019

Wander_ said:
does yoshi's cw show the ue4 logo in the credits?

Phabh said:
Was UE4 mentionned in Yoshi's Crafty World credits?

I just checked and not that I can see, no. However, the evidence for that game using UE4 is the fact that the developers have said it uses it, and we don't even have that for Link's Awakening as far as I know.

I'm not saying it doesn't use UE4, I'm saying that I haven't seen any actual evidence in support of it.

bionic77 · Sep 19, 2019

Rhaknar said:
"a stunning remake"
"unmissable"

and yet you read the thread and it sounds like its a garbage... oh Era you so silly

You expect people to admit that they were wrong about something?

How dare you!

No sir. Not on my internet. Not while there is still life in these fingers.

Oublieux · Sep 19, 2019

chandoog said:
Most of the video is a comparison between the new and old, and all the technical refinements from 2019. Highly recommend a watch.

Some salient point

Dynamic resolution:
- Docked: 1080p to 720p. Indoors mostly 972p, outdoors 720p.
- Portable: 720p indoors, 576p outdoors.

Performance:
- Final game has improved over E3 build, but still has drops. Runs similar to GamesCom build.
- Normal gameplay shows large drops from 60 to 30 FPS.
- The swamp area seems to drop the most. Other areas run much better.
- The game utilizes a double buffered V-Sync, so drops from 60 go down all the way to 30
- Transitioning areas also causes drops, which John theorizes maybe CPU related.
- Portable performance is the same as docked.

Oof, that bolded bit is a bit unfortunate.

Mantorok · Sep 19, 2019

I'm hoping by the time I pick this up there may have been some patches.

Am I dreaming?

Phabh · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
I just checked and not that I can see, no. However, the evidence for that game using UE4 is the fact that the developers have said it uses it, and we don't even have that for Link's Awakening as far as I know.

I'm not saying it doesn't use UE4, I'm saying that I haven't seen any actual evidence in support of it.

Thanks for checking. No evidence so far but it really has the UE4 look and it could also explain the little performance issues as it's not an in-house engine.
It wouldn't surprise me Nintendo allowed their secondary studios like Good Feel and Grezzo to share their UE4 experience.

Deleted member 40102 · Sep 19, 2019

Instro said:
Could really use a switch pro right about now lol.

Switch pro? What that would leave for next gen ? They can barely make big performance gap between gens let alone pro upgrades.

Thrill_house · Sep 19, 2019

Yeah definitely going to wait for a patch or two before picking this up. Looks good other than the frame rate issues. Very cool.

Nuclear Muffin · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
I just checked and not that I can see, no. However, the evidence for that game using UE4 is the fact that the developers have said it uses it, and we don't even have that for Link's Awakening as far as I know.

I'm not saying it doesn't use UE4, I'm saying that I haven't seen any actual evidence in support of it.

You can find out if LA is using UE4 by going to the game's icon in the Switch Home Menu, pressing + and then checking the Intellectual Property Notices option under the Software Information tab.

Yoshi's Crafted World mentions UE4 in its Intellectual Property Notices screen, so Link's Awakening should do as well.

brainchild · Sep 19, 2019

Phabh said:
Thanks for checking. No evidence so far but it really has the UE4 look and it could also explain the little performance issues as it's not an in-house engine.
It wouldn't surprise me Nintendo allowed their secondary studios like Good Feel and Grezzo to share their UE4 experience.

It's certainly possible, but I would caution people to be careful that speculation doesn't lead to foregone conclusions.

You have a lot of people assuming the game runs on UE4 and that assumption builds onto itself until everyone accepts it as fact without evidence, and that's not good.

Dictator · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
It's certainly possible, but I would caution people to be careful that speculation doesn't least to foregone conclusions.

You have a lot of people assuming the game runs on UE4 and that assumption builds onto itself until everyone accepts it as fact without evidence, and that's not good.

Yeah - definitely not good!

HardRojo · Sep 19, 2019

Mantorok said:
I'm hoping by the time I pick this up there may have been some patches.

Am I dreaming?

Hopefully not dreaming, that's my plan as well since I do want to play this too. If they don't patch it I will still play it because it's not a huge issue, but having better performance is always preferable 😄

brainchild · Sep 19, 2019

Nuclear Muffin said:
You can find out if LA is using UE4 by going to the game's icon in the Switch Home Menu, pressing + and then checking the Intellectual Property Notices option under the Software Information tab.

Yoshi's Crafted World mentions UE4 in its Intellectual Property Notices screen, so Link's Awakening should do as well.

Thank you. Will check.

MrH · Sep 19, 2019

Such a shame about the frame rate, I'm sure the core of Nintendo's fan base won't care but for someone like myself it's definitely going to hurt the experience.

VanWinkle · Sep 19, 2019

Man, the performance issues and resolution are a bit sad to see. DF seems to be more positive about it than me from the video, but I already don't love the art style used, so these issues objectively make it worse.

Blayde · Sep 19, 2019

do we know how fast switch can load data cartridge vs sd card vs internal memory?

Firemind · Sep 19, 2019

Yeesh that's rough. Well, the original is perfectly playable at least.

Sagadego17 · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
Thank you. Will check.

let us know what engine it is.

Mars People · Sep 19, 2019

I wonder how much overclocking can help the framerate problems.
Probably not that much. But worth a test.

Why on earth would they not use Triple Buffering?

brainchild · Sep 19, 2019

Entities/IP credited in the intellectual property notices:

Nintendo

Grezzo

immersion

FONTWORKS

YOONDESIGN GROUP INC.

Stagefright

The Android Open Source Project

Apache

The Fraunhofer FDK AAC Codec library for Android

H.264

VP8 and VP9

lilvorbis

lilwebm

_____________

No mention of Epic or UE4

Alvis · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
Entities/IP credited in the intellectual property notices:

Nintendo

Grezzo

immersion

FONTWORKS

YOONDESIGN GROUP INC.

Stagefright

The Android Open Source Project

Apache

The Fraunhofer FDK AAC Codec library for Android

H.264

VP8 and VP9

lilvorbis

lilwebm

_____________

No mention of Epic or UE4

Is it common for other games to credit the Android open source project?

b00_thegh0st · Sep 19, 2019

jett said:
The flowers don't animate in the remake.

Absolutely disgusting.

Wait what now? Noooooooo!
That's one of my favourite touches in LA and LttP.

Nuclear Muffin · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
Entities/IP credited in the intellectual property notices:

Nintendo

Grezzo

immersion

FONTWORKS

YOONDESIGN GROUP INC.

Stagefright

The Android Open Source Project

Apache

The Fraunhofer FDK AAC Codec library for Android

H.264

VP8 and VP9

lilvorbis

lilwebm

_____________

No mention of Epic or UE4

Well that's that then. It's either a bespoke internal engine from Greezo, or it's EPD's own NintendoWare engine.

Cheers!

.exe · Sep 19, 2019

Hope they can get it fixed or patch in a 30 fps mode, but I'm not holding my breath. It being distracting and a definite problem, like DF says, is what I feared.

brainchild · Sep 19, 2019

Nuclear Muffin said:
Well that's that then. It's either a bespoke internal engine from Greezo, or it's EPD's own NintendoWare engine.

Cheers!

I didn't even think about checking that screen so thank you for mentioning it. It will be useful to reference for other games in the future.

Chitown B · Sep 19, 2019

very excited for tomorrow. probably my favorite Zelda.

-Le Monde- · Sep 19, 2019

So excited. Hurry up and ship it amazon. ;_;

Really hope Nintendo decides to remake Oracle/Seasons and Minish Cap.

Vampirolol · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
Entities/IP credited in the intellectual property notices:

Nintendo

Grezzo

immersion

FONTWORKS

YOONDESIGN GROUP INC.

Stagefright

The Android Open Source Project

Apache

The Fraunhofer FDK AAC Codec library for Android

H.264

VP8 and VP9

lilvorbis

lilwebm

_____________

No mention of Epic or UE4

Thanks, this should end the UE4 speculation. Because it's probably a heavily modified UE2 (remember that?)

brainchild · Sep 19, 2019

Xharos said:
Is it common for other games to credit the Android open source project?

Honestly I have no idea.

Vampirolol said:
Because it's probably a heavily modified UE2 (remember that?)

Lol

kc44135 · Sep 19, 2019

Is it true what I'm hearing that digital version runs better than physical version?

brainchild · Sep 19, 2019

kc44135 said:
Is it true what I'm hearing that digital version runs better than physical version?

We tested three different switches and on average they all had better performance on internal than SD.

aerobinson · Sep 19, 2019

Is there a way to force downloads to internal memory instead of your micro SD card? Is going internal really that much of a difference?

kc44135 · Sep 19, 2019

brainchild said:
We tested three different switches and on average they all had better performance on internal than SD.

Damn, too late to cancel my order too. Never would've imagined a digital version would run better. That's terrible. :(

.exe · Sep 19, 2019

kc44135 said:
Damn, too late to cancel my order too. Never would've imagined a digital version would run better. That's terrible. :(

I don't think it's the first game. I recall reading load times generally being better off of internal. Though I guess this is the first big one where in-game asset streaming is so affected.

kc44135 · Sep 19, 2019

Yeah, but framerate matters way more to me. Load times never bothered me. This though. :(

Digital Foundry: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Switch Remake - Absolutely Unmissable

Independent Developer

alt account

One Winged Slayer

One Winged Slayer

Community Resettler

One Winged Slayer

Independent Developer

User requested account closure

Independent Developer

Digital Foundry

One Winged Slayer

Independent Developer

Comics Council 2020

Independent Developer

Saw the truth behind the copied door

Independent Developer

Independent Developer

Independent Developer

Alt Account