Switch Bayonetta 2 is a turbo-charged Wii U port
Last year we made the case that Wii U ports for Switch are a very good thing - a chance to bulk up the library of Nintendo's new hybrid console with an array of quality games that never quite got the exposure they deserved. We wrote that piece based on Platinum Games' teasing of Bayonetta ports and six months on those games are now in our hands.
It's Bayonetta 2 that's going to receive the lion's share of our attention in this preview phase, and we're pleased to say that first impressions are very positive indeed. Flash back to 2014, and our very own John Linneman lauded the brilliance of the Wii U original but noted the sub-par performance in many areas of the game. Platinum Games had pushed on the Bayonetta formula to even greater heights, but the leap from Xbox 360 to Wii U simply wasn't great enough to execute the more ambitious vision while maintaining the target 60 frames per second. Switch isn't perfect, but it's significantly improved.
We went into this one not really expecting to see much in the way of visual improvements - the game was beautiful enough already - but we did wonder whether the developer would push resolution higher in docked mode. However, it's quickly apparent that Bayonetta 2 on Switch presents in much the same way as the Wii U original. There's still a baseline 720p resolution, while anti-aliasing remains absent. Texture filtering does get a small bump though - texture detail in general offers a small upgrade over the Wii U game, but we don't think new assets are in play. Beyond that, aside from minor differences in shadow rendering, Switch provides a nigh-on identical rendition of the Wii U release.
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