Welcome back to Save State, where I’ve been revisiting Cyberpunk 2077 for the third or fourth time. Cyberpunk is an interesting game: It is basically the posterchild of “Don’t call it a comeback” after its disastrous original release on home consoles. Due to a pricing error on the Nintendo eShop, I had the opportunity to pick up Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for my Nintendo Switch 2 for under $18. Knowing the state of my backlog and the ludicrous amount of Switch and Steam games I still need to play, I knew better than to get this and play it for an additional time when there have been so many other things needing my attention.

So anyway, I bought Cyberpunk 2077 for my Switch 2, and the port is way better than I imagined it would be, even when compared to the PS4 version of it I reviewed way back when. It both looks smoother and runs better than when I tried to get the game running on my Steam Deck, and the added control options using gyro controls and even gestures with the joycons add a great layer of interactivity I wasn’t expecting. I’ve been a sucker for motion controls basically ever since the Wii, and Cyberpunk’s Switch 2 port allows me to aim better than I ever could with dual analog. As a mouse and keyboard kind of guy for first person games whose first dual analog shooter wasn’t until Halo 3 on the Xbox 360, it takes something like gyro controls for me to accurately shoot gonks in Night City.

The only real downside of the Switch 2 port of Cyberpunk is that the Phantom Liberty area has a fair bit of slowdown, but that’s something consistent across all versions of the title. Cyberpunk ran great on my PC as well until I got to Dogtown, and then I had to lower settings to achieve the same performance. So, it’s a lot like Street Fighter 6’s World Tour mode in this regard where it runs worse on basically every platform. NPC and traffic density on Switch 2 seems to be closer to the PS4 version than what I’ve experienced on PC, but I think that’s a small price to pay to be able to play Cyberpunk on a lunch break, leaving me overall very impressed with the Switch 2 version.

That being said, I heard good things about Cyberpunk’s performance on the Switch 2 console but never actually looked into it myself since I already owned it on two separate platforms; but having it go on deep discount gave me an excuse to check it out. This got me thinking about other Switch 2 ports and editions, and which ones that I found impressive but didn’t have enough to actually write a full, distinct review on, so I feel like this would be a good opportunity to do so.

I picked up Persona 3 Reload well after its release date, so while it was a launch title for the Switch 2, I didn’t buy a copy for myself until 6 months later. Apparently, this version was a bit scuffed on release but received a performance patch that reduced frame stuttering while also offering 60fps gameplay while in docked mode, which is primarily how I played. Persona 3 is my overall favorite entry in this series, and it was cool to see all of the moments that stuck with me from 19 years ago be brought back in fancier visuals. The lighting looks a little bit worse compared to other platforms, but overall I have no complaints about this version. Maybe this will be the subject of a future Save State column because it really hit close to home revisiting this title that’s all about death and acceptance after all the losses my family has been experiencing in the last few months.

When it comes to Switch 2 upgrades, Nintendo’s been doing a bang-up job on most of their Switch 2 editions for the most part, as Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is an okay experience on Switch 1 but runs spectacularly well on Switch 2. Crisper visuals, much higher frame rates, and HDR support make it look visually stunning in the right areas. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play too much of it before my friend who lent it to me requested their copy back so they could replay it, so I never got the opportunity to review this one yet. However, for what time I spent with it, I really thought the visuals looked superb.

Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s Switch 2 editions are brilliantly done, making them run so well that I felt like doing a whole new playthrough of each. The visuals are crisp and clear, and you can make giant, aerial targeted laser platforms in the rain without the frame rate being taken out back like Old Yeller. Kirby and the Forgotten Land looks and runs great on a Switch 1, but the new levels look gorgeous and are insanely fun to play. It’s maybe a little bit on the lean side content wise for a $20 expansion, but I had a ton of fun beating the new levels and clearing the arena.

One Nintendo Switch 2 edition I think Nintendo dropped the ball on was Mario Party Jamboree. For $20, you got a new Jamboree TV mode added to the main menu of the game while the original Mario Party Jamboree experience never received any updates. In a later patch, the resolution of base Jamboree was improved if you had the Switch 2 upgrade, but it seemed really crazy to buy this upgrade if it didn’t improve the main game mode at all. Jamboree TV has some fun minigames involving features of the Switch 2, such as the camera mini games, but outside of the title looking prettier, I felt it was hard to justify this being $20 when Kirby and the Forgotten Land was more straightforward and improved the whole package.

There are plenty of games with either extremely cheap or free Nintendo Switch 2 upgrades, which is always a joy to see. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles has a free one that provides a resolution bump, which is always nice. Square Enix has been kind of weird with their Switch 2 upgrades, as on one hand they’ll give them away for free like with Final Fantasy Tactics or Dragon Quest III-HD, but then will charge $10 for Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven (which is totally worth it, this brilliant game benefits a lot from a steady frame rate and reduced load times), and offer no upgrade paths at all for Dragon Quest I+II HD or Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. Of course, I guess that’s bound to be expected from Square Enix, where one can imagine their business decisions are made by sacrificing bats to effigies of Ozzy Osbourne.

Overrogue, which I mentioned previously in this column, and its sequel Novel Rogue each have one as well, though the improvements are much more subtle there due to its use of pixel art. If you want the game to be rendered at a higher resolution though, the upgrades are only a dollar and the whole packages go on sale very often. Trails in the Sky First Chapter has a $1 Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade as well that’s completely worth the asking price if you bought a Switch 1 copy but own a Switch 2, though you may experience some frame hitching here or there. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds for the price of $10 goes from a decent Mario Kart competitor to a beautiful looking adventure with a solid frame rate.

Still, the best things in life are free, which is why I heap loads of praise on the Switch 2 upgrades for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet as well as Legends Z-A. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean all of these upgrades have been a great time. The Switch 2 Edition for Xenoblade Chronicles X, one of my most wanted performance updates, seems to use some weird AI upscaler that does a worse job at upscaling world objects in handheld mode than FSR 1 did on my Steam Deck several years ago. Docked mode isn’t so bad and the improved frame rate is beneficial, but it’s pretty easy to say that handheld mode had its visuals degraded at the cost of $5, which puts this upgrade in a very weird spot. Which, that’s unfortunate given that this is from my favorite series in gaming.

There are still a lot of upgraded versions for titles I still haven’t experienced, of course, but maybe those will be a subject for another entry into Save State in the future. In summary, a great number of ports and Switch 2 editions have been absolutely wonderful to have on Nintendo’s new handheld hybrid, though there have been a few missteps where the Switch 2 edition makes the game run or look worse, which really sucks. As with all things, buyers beware unless the thing that you’re buying is bee wear because I’m sure that bee onesie you bought while drunk on Valentine’s Day will look great on you. Don’t even second guess yourself. See you in two weeks!