Digital Foundry - Snake Pass: Switch vs PS4 Comparison

Apologies if this has already been posted, had a look around and did not find it posted by anyone else.

So I'm sharing this video because I'm happy to see a Unreal Engine game ported quickly and easily to the Nintendo Switch! Obviously not something which would have been easy or probably possible on the Wii U (due to the well known, lack of UE support).

Any watering down of graphics seems to be very small and I'll be buying this game shortly. I'm looking forward to playing this nice and relaxing looking game on my work breaks :) Also I'm surprised the game loads quicker on Switch.

Hopefully we see plenty of third party devs in the future, easily porting their games over to Switch ^_^

Graphics are not watered down by a small amount, in some scenes the difference in lighting quality is massive.

I like this game for the simple reason that my wife turned me on to it and usually hates my video game hobby. She bought it yesterday and has been getting stuck into it. I'll get to it when i finish my backlog. One thing I doubt I will care about at all is it's resolution and frames per second. I just hope it has some good gameplay ideas and is fun. I'm stupid that way.

@mark1974: You want good gameplay and for it to be fun? Totally right, that does sound crazy ;) Personally not conerned about resolution either. unless you have a crazy big T.V - ur not going to notice the difference anyway

Yeah, I gotta pick this up. Considering the circumstances of the Switch port, and the power difference, I am rather surprised at how well it holds up.

Err.....good job comparing a game which looks a generation behind?

Looks fine on Switch to me. With all the game releases that interest me more though I won't be getting Snake Pass anytime soon if ever.

You know nothing, Jon Snow. This beast can't even run in 1080p on the PS4

So the switch keeps up with a graphically poor game... congrats, I guess?

Lol, of course the Switch version runs worse.

Honestly i don't care, game looks awesome on both systems, will most likely get this on PC.

You're a bad troll. It runs just fine with a barely noticeable graphic sacrifice, especially when it was ported quickly.

Hoping Switch is just gonna be a great place to play lots of games. Graphical downgrades I can deal with, just give me good framerates.

It may run just as good but you're being dishonest, it's pretty graphically handicapped and the resolution is extremely low.

Who's being dishonest? The people outside of these forums wouldn't tell the differences! Also, the resolution looks just fine since we are comparing between the OG PS4 and the Switch.

You're making excuses and broad rationalizations to justify your Switch obsession.

The game operates at 1200x675 in docked mode and 844x475 in handheld mode, and it's stripped of multiple graphical features, this isn't a point of contention and anyone would notice. Also, the resolution doesn't "look just fine", it being a comparison of the PS4 and Switch doesn't matter, one looks substantially better than the other.

It's 100% true the people who enjoy the Switch give no fcks what resolution it is displaying in.

The PS4 version does look perceptibly better, and anyone trying to say otherwise is kidding themselves. The question to ask here is- given the Switch's inherent advantages with portability and local co-op, are you willing to take the hit? In other words, given the Switch version's non graphical advantages, is it graphically good enough for you to put up with the hit?

It's because people around here lack objectivity, when it suits their interests it's great and they'll gloat, when it's demeaning or negative they 'don't care' because they take this personally or as if it's an attack.

They flip flop at the slightest bit of praise and also negativity.

Hi there! Good to have you around.

Anyway, you can take me aside because I have previously mentioned resolution as a definite factor in assessing graphical quality (and accordingly I have mentioned the resolution hit on the Switch version as a definite knock against it in this thread)- but what other Nintendo fan do you know who has ever made a big deal about resolution, exactly?

Sure there's a trade off but that's not a point of argument here, the guy is just plainly going rogue fanboy denying the reality of where each version respectively stands from a technological and functional standpoint.

It looks worse because of the system it's operating on, that doesn't negate it as worse, it's simply an explanation as to why it is.

Yes, that's inarguable. The Switch version looks worse. The PS4 version looks better. The Switch version looks worse owing to the Switch being a weaker platform, and because it was a port literally put together in the last six weeks.

Those are the facts. Given that, your takeaways can be (including, but not limited to):

• The PS4 version is better owing to its better graphical quality
• The Switch version is better owing to its portability and local play
• The PS4 version dropping sub native is rather sloppy for a game on such a powerful platform
• The Switch version managing to look the way it does in just six weeks on a notably weaker platform is encouraging in that it speaks to the ease of development

Personally I subscribe to all four.

It was a big deal when the SNES was around, and when the Nintendo 64 was around, maybe not resolution because that wasn't a massive point of argument at the time but the graphical fidelity sure was. Oh and don't forget the GameCube, that was a big point of bragging for the Nintendo community, the system was in near parity with the Xbox and everyone knew about it because the Nintendo community made it known, especially when it came to games like Star Wars: Rouge Leader.

Just because Nintendo became complacent and changed their focus to gimmicky hardware emphasis with the Wii, Wii U and now Switch doesn't mean these people no longer care, they absolutely do care, especially in the face of things like CEMU showing off what these games could look like had Nintendo remained focused on processing power.

They simply state that they do not care because they've been forced into another direction where they have no choice but to take what they get. Outwardly the Nintendo community will say exactly as you are now, that "it's not a big deal" or whatever drivel can be derived from this line of discussion, but we all know if they could have it better they would.

There's no rationalization that can objectively quantify being okay with much less when it could clearly be substantially more.

'It was a big deal 25 years ago' is not a good argument.

'Just because Nintendo became complacent and changed their focus to gimmicky hardware emphasis with the Wii, Wii U and now Switch doesn't mean these people no longer care'

You are not allowed to ascribe intent to anyone- if you can demonstrably prove they care about resolution, and then call them out on their apparent hypocrisy, feel free to do so. Unless you can do that, however, you are literally telling people who are admitting to not care about resolution, 'no, you care about resolution, you are just saying you don't, and because you are saying you don't, you're a hypocrite!' That's absurd.

'There's no rationalization that can objectively quantify being okay with much less when it could clearly be substantially more.'

So the Xbox One should have no fans or defenders then?

Sometimes, good enough is good enough for a lot of people, as long as other benefits are thrown into the mix. But you know that, as an Xbox fan- get other benefits, for instance a better controller or online community or UI management, and you are willing to put up with a lower resolution, since resolution is not the be all, end all of gaming. Or is this argument only applicable to Xbox fans, but won't apply to Nintendo fans because you said so?

Thank you Chaz! I find the game looks good enough to run on the Switch, especially when it took the developers 6 months to do. The point being is that everyone can enjoy the same experience in all different platforms regardless how visuals look.

Just because something is "good enough" doesn't mean there is not a want or desire for more, people settle for things all the time. Women, the houses they can afford, the cars they drive etc, we have to settle for less than we want all the time and instead of taking that objectively you're taking it negatively and being defensive, it's so predictably Nintendo fanaticism.

The Nintendo community always cared about these things until Nintendo forced their hand and no longer made it a point of argument for the community. It's not as if the community suddenly stopped caring because of free will, it's because they had no choice in the matter and instead of being honest with not only themselves, they outwardly project to the gaming community at large that it doesn't as they're always in last place in this regard.

It's easy to say you don't care when you're at the bottom, you don't have a choice and you need to make yourself feel better about it, that's called brushing it off. It's hard for people to actually be honest with themselves and those around them and just say that they're okay, but they wish Nintendo would have created a more powerful console.

The space time continuum is not going to collapse by being honest.

Well the Switch has a cell phone CPU, os makes sense.

@botw: Unless you can demonstrably and empirically prove that the Nintendo community actually cares for resolution, you are just blowing hot air, sorry.

See that's the thing, you're using that to scapegoat the discussion as you know I cannot demonstratively prove that in any one direction, and neither can you against it, I know it, you know it, everyone who reads this will know it. It's an easy and safe way to get out of an argument and feel as if you're somehow right and the other person is wrong, but that's not really what it entails and like the aforementioned; we all know that.

What I'm saying could absolutely still be correct regardless of your escape method, and empirically it completely adds up as up until Nintendo forced the community to the bottom end of the hardware spectrum everyone cared, I have that at least, you have nothing more than people claiming to not care. Everyone cared in the Nintendo community just as people in the Xbox and PlayStation community still do now, and that's because they're still competitive in that regard, Nintendo is not, and it's sure not because the community asked for it.

I'm impressed by this quick port, but man, the game is kinda hard :P

@Epak_: it really is hahaha. Well my early impresisons thus far. Downloaded it it earlier today and played the first few levels. Runs and looks nice for such a quick port, but that snake takes some getting used to!!

@charizard1605: Runs very smoothly, was playing earlier today :) The download happened silently in the background, while I played Zelda.