I can scarcely think of a game as hampered by its performance as the original Nintendo Switch release of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. I can think of loads of games that perform worse, of course – broken, shattered releases – but I struggle to think of a great game so thoroughly compromised just from how it runs.

That was the log behind my 2022 review of the games, where I called the games a “super-effective new vision” for the series but bemoaned how it ran. The game became famous for stop-motion windmills and distant cliffsides that looked like they’d fallen out of a Nintendo 64 game. The truth is, Scarlet & Violet’s brilliant design and peppy attitude deserved better.

Now, three years on from release, Scarlet & Violet is about to get better with a Switch 2 update that I’m going to go ahead and call a total barnstomer. If Scarlet & Violet’s design was super-effective in 2022, on Switch 2 it’ll finally have the performance to match.

I was invited by The Pokemon Company to take an early look at the patched Switch 2 version of the game – which is always a sign of confidence, given I was quite a noisy detractor of the original game’s performance.

I’m honestly not sure what to say other than: wow, what a difference. It is absolute night and day stuff. To the sort of people who say that frame rate doesn’t really matter, I challenge them to play Scarlet & Violet on Switch 2 and then go back to the original. I dare you. As friend of the site Joe says in Serebii’s video preview embedded below, it ain’t doable.

With a crisp presentation at a higher resolution and with a frame rate that as far as I can tell sits at a rock solid 60fps for the vast majority of the time, this is a world apart from the stomach-turning rollercoaster highs and lows of the original release. Distant Pokemon and world elements are no longer slideshows – yes, those infamous windmills are fixed!

This isn’t just about technical bragging rights. The difference in how this game now runs is profound enough that it changes the flow and feel of the game. Scarlet & Violet were by design the most footloose and expansive Pokemon games of all time, channeling the open world chops of everything from Skyrim to Breath of the Wild into a Pokemon setting and setup. The performance was a drag on that – if the frame rate tanks every time you whip the camera around to see a nearby approaching threat or take in a distant vista, you’re ripped right out of the game. By stabilising everything, the performance is utterly transformed.

Aside from the nebulous concept of ‘game feel’ being improved by the technical advancements, there are also real boons in terms of gameplay. Wild Pokemon spawn in and swarm across the rolling fields and the like in greater numbers. The subtle delay that you’d perceive, that hitch when encountering a wild Pokemon, is eliminated. Menus that were sluggish are now snappier and more responsive. Pokemon Box sprite icons now spring to life instantly.

These are small quality of life changes that add up to something greater. Perhaps most importantly battles are now less plodding in their pace, which was frequently obliterated by certain move animations could send the frame rate crashing.

It has to be said, it’s not all perfect. The level of detail settings remain pretty aggressive – which means as you’re galloping along at a glorious 60 frames atop your trusty Poke-steed, flowers and other micro detail pop in around you. It’s not ideal. Also, to be honest, the game now being technically accomplished does help to expose the art style for what it is – which is in need of a bit of tightening, I feel. The addition of HDR does really help the colorful exuberance of Paldea to shine, though.

In all it’s a triumph, anyway. This is the game Scarlet & Violet should’ve been. Moreover, it feels like the most technically accomplished main-line Pokemon game… possibly ever? Certainly of the 3D era. As with 120fps mouselook Metroid, playing 3D Pokemon at 60fps feels like you’re doing something illegal, frankly. But this is now the way to play these excellent games – and with good-performing Pokemon games now on the table, my excitement for this year’s Pokemon Legends Z-A has skyrocketed.

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Mouse: P.I. For Hire was one of the highlights of April, and if you happen to be playing this noir-style cartoon detective FPS on the Switch 2, Fumi and PlaySide have today released the “very first patch” for this version of the game.

Alongside this, the team has also announced a second “larger patch” for Nintendo’s new hybrid system is on the way. This one will come with quality of life enhancements, more bug fixes, and “importantly”, performance and optimisation improvements. More information about this update will be shared in the coming weeks.

As for today’s patch on the Switch 2, it includes a “range of bug fixes, addressing crashes, blockers, sound distortion in menus, issues with certain side quests” and more. Here’s the official patch notes from the Mouse: P.I. For Hire website:

Mouse: P.I. For Hire Patch v1.0.6 (Switch 2) – 2nd April 2026

Nintendo Switch 2:

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Fixed a crash that players could experience if setting their game language to Traditional Chinese both on the initial game start and in the in-game settings.

• Refined a small number of Simplified Chinese translations for better accuracy.

• Resolved a graphical issue in ‘The Reel Deal’ that could prevent players from progressing due to a black screen when lens distortion was disabled.

• Fixed a collision issue in the ‘Mouseburg Opera’ mini-boss arena to prevent players from getting stuck on the environment.

• Corrected a logic error in the ‘Far Wetlands’ level, where the ‘No Entry Yet’ door could fail to open after all enemies were defeated.

• Improved enemy pathfinding in the ‘Quagmire’ level to stop enemies from snagging on doors and level geometry, potentially causing a progression blocker.

• Improved the final boss’s movement patterns during the ‘The Reel Deal’ encounter.

• Ensured the D-Namite throwing animation triggers consistently.

• Addressed a bug where shotgun-wielding enemies would occasionally fail to deal damage to the player.

• Fixed a blocker in ‘Curdsville’ that was preventing some players from progressing.

• Resolved an issue where players could find themselves in a loop when trying to accept Controller rebindings.

• Added the option for players to opt out of data and analytics tracking in the Settings Menu, not only during onboarding.

• Settings sliders, weapon wheel and other menu items no longer have corrupted or glitchy sound effects when interacting with them.

• Added the game over music track to be excluded when the ‘Toggle Licensed Music’ setting is set to ‘Off’.

• Players will now be able to correctly collect a clue when freeing the jailed Cop in the ‘Clergy Row’ level.

• Players will now no longer be able to get stuck on the 6 door sequence in the ‘Tinsel Ave.’ level.

• Players will now no longer be able to get stuck in certain geometry in the ‘Wallop Bay’ level.

• The NPC character from the Side Quest ‘Friends in Deep Places’ will now no longer go missing in the ‘Fart Harbor’ Level.

• The quest item from the ‘Slugs in the Shell’ will now be appearing correctly in the “Fart Harbor” Level.

• Improved background process cleanup when closing the game.

• Improved quest handling to reduce cases where players may not have an active quest and find themselves softlocked.

• Updated the Privacy Policy in-game.

• Resolved an issue where blueprints could not be collected, locking the player from completing the ‘Blueprint, please’ side quest.

• Fixed an issue where ‘Active Jobs’ would disappear after completing ‘Far Wetlands’, causing the player to be blocked from progressing.

• Resolved an issue where weapon scaling damage would persists across game sessions.

You can find out more about how Mouse: P.I. For Hire runs on the Switch 2 in our performance and resolution post here on Nintendo Life. The developer detailed the exact specifications in both handheld and docked, and also revealed how the game’s performance and quality mode runs.

For more information about this title, check our review. We gave it an “excellent” nine out of ten stars, calling it a bold, risk-taking FPS.

“This animated noir mystery is a great achievement. It takes risks, it’s challenging, it strives to be bold – and it works.”

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