Nintendo’s got this new Switch 2, right? And the game developers — the folks behind Donkey Kong Bananza — are, uh, kind of bumping heads with the hardware. It’s like when you try to stuff too much into a backpack and the zipper barely closes. So, Kazuya Takahashi, who’s, by the way, directing this whole shebang, admitted they might hit some “performance dips.” Why? Because they went kinda crazy with the 3D voxel stuff for game environments. His exact words (well, not exactly, ’cause I’m paraphrasing) were that they ditched performance for fun. I mean, priorities, right?
Now, this game was on a weird journey to land on Switch 2. It was initially meant for the original Switch, but things got wild with the destructible environments. Like, DK punches through walls and digs tunnels — an actual riot, but that voxel engine sure works overtime. Honestly, the game needed the extra muscle of the new console ’cause of all its explosive antics.
Anyway — wait, so, a reporter grilled Takahashi on why frames seem to drop here and there. He’s like, “Yeah, we did use slow-mo effects to make stuff look cooler. But the voxel thing is tricky, you know? Big destruction scenes might stutter.” But overall, he assures, it’s smooth sailing with bits of fun-first chaos. Not sure if gamers will agree, but hey, at least he was upfront.
To me, seems like the Switch 2 might huff and puff a bit during its initial run. Hopefully, Nintendo throws us a performance patch bone. Or maybe they’ll just crank up some DLSS magic. For real tech deep-dives, you might wanna peek at our June Switch 2 review.
Oh! A neat factoid before I forget: voxel games were a thing on PCs as early as 1992, like Comanche: Maximum Overkill. Apparently, that one had its own spicy Voxel Space engine in assembly language. Hardcore, right?
Can’t wait for Donkey Kong Bananza to drop this Thursday. Mark the calendar or whatever. You can keep up with Tom’s Hardware’s hot takes and reviews on Google News if you wanna stay in the loop.
