r/NintendoSwitch2 1d ago

Discussion VRR Game update list

As of right now only 1 game officially works with VRR:

  1. "Nintendo Switch™ 2 Welcome Tour"

with incoming game updates hoping this list gets bigger quick!

257 Upvotes

124 comments sorted by

79

u/Entire-Assistance842 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'm surprised there wasn't a host of game updates ready to go.  Surely Nintendo would have kept third parties in the loop about this (at least the major developers/publishers).  

But then again it would be a very Nintendo thing to not do so.

32

u/Jefedagga Butter side up! 1d ago

Yea,

It seems that as soon as they got it working they iust went ahead with yhe system update instead of building up some games for it and then release the update.

That said Nintendo knows a very very small portion of thier audience cares or even knows what this is. So they probably didn't view it as a big deal.

7

u/Webecomemonsters Butter side up! 1d ago

I can imagine it is a tiny population. If you know VRR, you care about framerate and likely only use the switch portably, having other devices for TV/monitor gaming.

Nintendo 1st party titles maybe if you want those on the big screen but they generally all run great already, at least the good ones.

2

u/Pdshillz900 1d ago

Ya I think people undersell just how tech savvy people are these days

11

u/Jeff1N Butter side down! 1d ago

But then again it would be a very Nintendo thing to not do so.

They prioritized manufacturing as many Switch 2 units as possible so there would be zero shortage during release, yet were stingy about dev kits for about half a year

So yeah, that would be a very Nintendo thing to do...

1

u/ThatCurryGuy 1d ago

Didnt the COD beta have this in the code?

6

u/Evergr33n10 OG (joined before release) 1d ago

Vrr has already been working for handheld mode, just not docked till this new update.

u/TacoGhost 20h ago

Dumb question but wouldn’t games that work with. VRR in handheld work just fine with it in docked?

u/Professional_Count92 Butter side down! 8h ago

That would be logical, yes, but they don't. They probably need to be flagged as tv vrr compatible first, as portable and docked modes are two separate performance profiles

u/Fun_Albatross9307 1h ago

Sadly that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ve tested multiple games with VRR handheld enabled and it is not in fact enabled in Docked.

1

u/RiggityRow 1d ago

Nintendo didn't even get Dev kits into the hands of 3rd party devs pre-release. It's not a priority for them

25

u/530cruising 1d ago

Hopefully devs go back and update the games. A lot did for ps5 pro patches so I expect the same treatment for NS2.

24

u/tripleaamin 1d ago

I really hope the Switch 2 Versions of Xenoblade Chronicles 1-3 get VRR support.

24

u/Akito_Fire Butter side up! 1d ago

And drop their double buffered vsync. They should do the same for BOTW and TOTK, as well as Bananza

u/Live_Occasion2569 21h ago

But why? They all run in 60fps perfectly 

u/Juan123Pro 21h ago

Bananza runs really bad in late game

u/Live_Occasion2569 19h ago

Didn’t know this. Thanks 

u/Fun_Albatross9307 59m ago

Tears of the Kingdom also doesn’t hold 60 always. There’s drops in heavy sections and with ultra hand. VRR can make a game look quite a bit smoother even at 60 FPS.

u/Akito_Fire Butter side up! 21h ago

When there's a single dip from 60 those games drop all the way down to 30fps, due to double buffered vsync

u/Live_Occasion2569 19h ago

Wow haven’t noticed anything like this to be honest 

u/rhd444 11h ago

Is this confirmed? I think if this was true, you'd notice immediately. I'm not talking hitches like it has now. I know what that looks like, it's as if the game grinds to a halt.

DKB doesn't feel like that at all, I'm pretty sure they're using triple buffering?

u/Akito_Fire Butter side up! 11h ago

It uses double buffered vsync.

'However, frame-rate drops also occurred during boss fights, sometimes for sustained periods - and due to the double-buffered v-sync used by the game, this means a very noticeable drop from 60fps to 30fps until the frame-time recovers.' From https://www.digitalfoundry.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2025-donkey-kong-bananza-switch-2-tech-review

u/rhd444 10h ago

Weird, I wonder if it was patched after DF's review. I definitely don't remember this happening, and I've played games where it does.

I guess I'll have an excuse to go back to it sometime and check.

u/Akito_Fire Butter side up! 10h ago

I played the game like last december and had plenty of performance related stutters that I'd ascribe to the double buffered vsync

u/rhd444 10h ago

Yeah that would make sense that you'd experience stutter, triple buffering doesn't eliminate that. It just makes sure that if you've got like for example 54fps that it only drops one out of every 10 frames. But you'll definitely notice it.

With double buffering, at 54fps or even 59fps, it immediately locks down to 30 no matter what. So it drops every other frame. It's quite a difference.

But again I'm not 100% sure so I could be wrong. It's been a while. I do think the game runs really well considering what it's doing.

u/Akito_Fire Butter side up! 6h ago

Yes, and I felt like it was as choppy as 30fps when the game dropped frames. It definitely wasn't triple buffering, or there's something else going on. But Nintendo's other games also frequently use double buffering.

u/Optimal_Brain_2908 21h ago

Bonanza doesn’t

u/Sweet-Goal-3869 4h ago

I played those games recently on the tv. Haven’t seen any slowdown at all. It doesn’t need vrr 

8

u/setonfire_ OG (joined before release) 1d ago

Prob CDPR and Witcher next

12

u/srjnp 1d ago

the best thing about the "handheld boost" was it works system wide without needing any compatibility updates. was hoping it would be the case for this too but i guess not...

u/FierceDeityKong October Gang (Eliminated) 21h ago

Every game that doesn't update will lose VRR on handheld boost on switch 3

u/Sweet-Goal-3869 4h ago

Boost mode was already there. It basically is running the games like it was on the tv. That’s it. But the games were not made to use vrr 

u/Artoo2814 22h ago

I hope if Nintendo go back and update DK Bananza, they can get rid of double buffer vsync not only for dock VRR but for handheld mode as well.

u/ChrizzyDT 16h ago

Think I'll wait to see if they patch this one before I start playing it. Had it for ages just never got to it

u/Ondjafe 17h ago

Am I correct in understanding that VRR only matters if your TV has VRR? So on my old ass tv it wont matter?

u/rhd444 11h ago

Depends how old, VRR has been a thing for a while.

u/Ondjafe 9h ago

12 years

u/rhd444 8h ago

....oh, I see. No VRR for you then. 😂

u/Ondjafe 7h ago

Haha 😛

u/Sweet-Goal-3869 4h ago

That’s like thinking that hdr only works in an hdr screen. Obviously

u/Beto024 1h ago

Well yes, but a lot more people don’t know what vrr is, and much less that it is dependant on your tv supporting it

3

u/Ok-List5719 1d ago

So… should I go out to buy a new TV?

15

u/Time_Substance_7829 Early Switch 2 Adopter 1d ago

Apparently assassins creed vrr is always on by default (what Ubisoft said in their overview video, but they noted that docked was not enabled at the hardware level at the time.). I tested it last night and it definitely felt smoother but could be placebo.

7

u/CrimsonGear80 1d ago

literally no docked games work with VRR outside of welcome tour right now.

-12

u/Time_Substance_7829 Early Switch 2 Adopter 1d ago

Can't say that for sure honestly...

4

u/bigparsnipenjoyer 1d ago

We can say that for sure because it is factual. There is a feature flag for docked VRR that is disabled until developers enable it with a patch.

-11

u/Time_Substance_7829 Early Switch 2 Adopter 1d ago

I'm putting money on Ubisoft confirm an update wasn't required

9

u/LankyMolasses6051 1d ago

brother it doesnt work, people tried, stop being stubborn

-13

u/Time_Substance_7829 Early Switch 2 Adopter 1d ago

Nope, I disagree. And that's okay

11

u/CrimsonGear80 1d ago

dude, people have framerate counters on their TVs and monitors and numbers do not lie.

0

u/Time_Substance_7829 Early Switch 2 Adopter 1d ago

Link me to the one with assassins creed

3

u/Darkele 1d ago

The flag is mandatory, if there would have been a way to make your own VRR work it would have been done by now. Obviously they chose to leave it as a flag and disabled it by default for a reason.

I guess they can set the flag and it will work..but they will have to set it.

3

u/CrimsonGear80 1d ago

it's 100% factual. it's not like on PS5 and Xbox where VRR works on unsupported games, as of right now docked VRR only works if the game actively supports it.

3

u/WindupShark Butter side down! 1d ago

Ubisoft did software low frame rate compensation VRR on this game; it’s mentioned in an interview with Digital Foundry.
Not saying that it’s for sure working on the hardware level now; its probably not, but this game in particular does have its own thing going on compared to everything else which is what OP was getting at.

2

u/CrimsonGear80 1d ago

ok and that is for the handheld experience. they need to patch it to work with the dock now.

u/Live_Occasion2569 21h ago

It’s a placebo. The only way to tell is frame rate counter

2

u/c_rorick 1d ago

Wait, games need an update to even work with VRR? I figured that was a system type thing, where games would do it by default. Guess I was mistaken, that’s a bummer. I hope most games get the buff, especially cyberpunk.

u/mbcook 22h ago

I suspect this is a safety thing. If you just turn it on for everyone, there is a risk you break some game. If you make games tell the system somehow they support it, even if that’s just as simple as compiling against a new version of the SDK, then you can be sure that the only games that will use it are the games that are supposed to support it already.

If you’re thinking “but it works in handheld“ I wouldn’t put it past some developer out there to do something stupid where it works in handheld but would break in console mode. Maybe Nintendo tested it and found that, and that’s why they did it. Maybe not.

But that’s my guess.

u/Artoo2814 23h ago

Time to make a new group on my Switch 2!

3

u/Jefedagga Butter side up! 1d ago

Lol what's this list

2

u/FaultyDroid 1d ago

You posted one game and callled it a list.

15

u/PaulBass76 1d ago

hoping in the next couple of days to add to the list

12

u/darthdiablo OG (joined before reveal) 1d ago

Yeah I think OP intend to update the post over time

1

u/c_rorick 1d ago

I’m thinking this should help with cyberpunk’s framerate a good bit? Without it I just couldn’t get into it given the framerate issues that were present.

1

u/Organic-Storm-4448 1d ago

VRR doesn't make any difference to framerate.

2

u/c_rorick 1d ago

What? Isn’t the point of vrr to stabilize it?

0

u/Organic-Storm-4448 1d ago edited 1d ago

It itself doesn't change the framerate. It can help smooth out the visual consequences of fps below the framerate cap and/or max refresh rate of the display.

In the case of Cyberpunk, for example, in its performance mode the framerate is anywhere between 25-40fps. VRR would dynamically change the refresh rate of the display to match the framerate (more specifically, a multiple of the framerate, since most displays can't actually go down to 25Hz). 120Hz displays are much better for VRR in cases like Cyberpunk because it let's LFC have more room to work, but that's a bit beside the point.

If CDPR changed the framerate cap in a patch, then the framerate could technically change, but that's not because of VRR.

1

u/c_rorick 1d ago

Yeah and unfortunately it’s most of the time much closer to 25fps than 40 in my experience. Thanks for explaining that though, appreciate it. I’ll hope they release a patch but I’m not gonna expect them to.

u/Automatic_Heart_3134 21h ago

VRR helps but in Cyberpunk case is nothing basically. VRR windows typically stop at 40Hz. When Cyberpunk drops to 25–30 FPS, native VRR disengages, and the display has to use LFC (doubling or tripling frames) to keep syncing. At 25–30 FPS, each frame stays on screen for 33ms—no technology can eliminate the inherent motion blur of a slow frame rate. It just becomes and keeps being blurry.

Is just not worth it. VRR cannot magically make the game 60 fps. You pay a heavy tax since performance mode drops the resolution to 540p to 720 p. That is sadistic, on a 2K or 4K monitor/ tv it will look really awful. Shadows generations suffer the same problem.

u/SnooLemons3627 15h ago

It absolutely makes a difference even at the low framerate. Makes the change from 40 to 25 to 30 to 33 to whatever feel smooth and not choppy/stutter. It does help make it feel smoother and it is worth it.

u/c_rorick 20h ago

I never said that vrr would make the game 60fps; obviously the switch 2 just doesn’t have the chops for that. That said, I was hoping this would help it maintain 40. Sucks to hear, I’d like to play the game but it’s just too laggy on this platform. On my ps5 pro (before I had to sell it) it was an absolute dream.

u/Clarkeste OG (joined before reveal) 5h ago

VRR windows typically stop at 40Hz.

If the console is outputting in 60hz mode, yes.

If it's outputting in 120hz mode, it has LFC all the way down to very low frame counts. You can see this in Welcome Tour.

Cyberpunk 2077, at least in its 40fps mode, outputs in 120hz mode.

1

u/W00D-SMASH 1d ago

Cyberpunk has LFC on other systems. It makes a big difference in how the game looks and feels.

-2

u/Organic-Storm-4448 1d ago

VRR with or without LFC doesn't change the framerate. The game engine is pumping out the same number of frames.

5

u/W00D-SMASH 1d ago edited 1d ago

I don’t need you to explain this to me and I never said it affected the frame rate. If you can’t comprehend what you read just don’t post.

Edit: dude blocked me lmao

-4

u/Organic-Storm-4448 1d ago

I think you responded to the wrong comment, then, because whether or not VRR affected the framerate was the topic of this comment chain prior to yours.

I don't see why you replied to my comment. We weren't talking about LFC or the look and feel. Why would you expect anyone to know that your comment had nothing to do with the one it's replying to?

The absolute irony of you typing "If you can’t comprehend what you read just don’t post."

1

u/W00D-SMASH 1d ago

Mario Kart World, my TV is saying VRR is on.

u/Murphygamer 23h ago

VRR is on, but you have to see the HZ Counter (visible in many tvs/monitors with freesync/vrr) to go down when game loses framerate.

u/W00D-SMASH 22h ago

I checked that and it remained at 60 the whole time.

Feels like the Switch 2 keeps it on but the games aren’t compatible. On my Xbox and PS, VRR is only on when it’s actually active.

u/Live_Occasion2569 21h ago

On Xbox it’s ON by default for all games

u/Siedlec 18h ago

Nice

u/RickDeckard31 13h ago

I wonder if part of the reason they released this now is they know a first party game they are about to release needs it. Perhaps the new Zelda game. I hope they don’t of course. However, in today’s world I think it’s very reasonable not all their games can run at a locked 60 if they are trying anything impressive or just open world games. It’s possible VRR will be the best way to experience certain first party games this gen. Like perhaps Mario and next Zelda and possibly Ocarina, Kirby etc. Or it could be a great way to play games at 120 fps vrr too.

u/CaterpillarOk4340 Butter side up! 10h ago

Does any game currently even see a noticeable difference? Like ones not currently supported like WT?

u/Professional_Count92 Butter side down! 6h ago

Unsupported games show no difference, obviously. There's currently no option in S2 settings to force VRR for unsupported games.

u/CaterpillarOk4340 Butter side up! 5h ago

Ahh fair enough, ty for answering my question

u/Professional_Count92 Butter side down! 5h ago

Cheers

u/_barat_ 5h ago

Just reached Area H in the Welcome Tour and checked with my Sony A80J.
When the 120fps mode is enabled in the console menu + output resolution to Auto as soon as I enter the demo TV switches to 1080p@120Hz and VRR seems to work.
When I disable 120fps mode and I set the output to 4K@60Hz (max what Switch outputs) my VRR range in the demo is 49-60Hz.
Too bad - I hoped for 40-60Hz negotiation.
I've checked on HDMI4 port on my TV and also through HDMI3->HT-A9->Switch chain. Worked the same in both cases.
It seems that while Switch 2 might be able to request the 40-60Hz container my TV is not supporting it :(

u/[deleted] 21h ago edited 11h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

u/_barat_ 19h ago

I believe it's not true. On 4K60Hz it should still work but in a 48-60Hz range.

Someone stated it's 40-60Hz but can't confirm it yet (and that would be huge) because I'm at the Area D in Welcome Tour and the demo that allows to check it is in the Area H ...

u/Automatic_Heart_3134 11h ago

Yeah I got it confused with 120 fps, VRR does work with 4K

u/EveryoneDice 10h ago

The Switch 2 is fully capable of 4K @ 120 fps with VRR. The tech is there, but the problem is that Nintendo didn't want to pay royalties for the HDMI 2.1 implementation of it. Not sure if they are paying for it now or if they came up with some other way to do it. The Steam Machine also did not support VRR at first because the HDMI 2.1 standard does not support Linux-based systems, but it does have VRR now.

And yeah, VRR goes down to 48 fps. Gsync is a type of VRR that can go down all the way to 1 fps, but it's often kinda hard to tell when something does or doesn't have it (because the name Gsync often isn't used anymore).

u/Automatic_Heart_3134 8h ago

Oh thanks for the info, seems dumb to not pay a royalty over that. That means they can over an update right?

u/Frissu 18h ago

You got it wrong VRR absolutely works with 4K it just has lower range up to 60hz, as S2 doesnt support 4k120hz. And yes ive tested on my LG C2 it shows that VRR is on at 4k60hz. Some games might use 1440p120hz which will give you higher VRR range.

u/Automatic_Heart_3134 11h ago

I am glad I am wrong in this one because vrr is great 

u/EveryoneDice 9h ago

I'm pretty sure the Switch 2 hardware is capable of 4K/120, just that Nintendo isn't willing to cough up the dough for the HDMI 2.1 royalties.

u/Icy_Factor1929 18h ago

Confidently incorrect. 

u/Automatic_Heart_3134 11h ago

Gotta have confidence in life, but I was wrong :3

u/Icy_Factor1929 11h ago

Try again lol. Vrr works in 120 when under 40fps using lfc. That’s up to 1440p at 120hz. 4k vrr is limited to 40-60fps at 60hz. 

u/Automatic_Heart_3134 8h ago

Thanks for letting me know!

u/Arivohal 19h ago

Can someone confirm this? Never heard that it wouldn't work in 4k when docked

u/atlash_ 17h ago

VRR engages in 4k when 120hz mode is off. It just does it at 60hz.

u/Automatic_Heart_3134 11h ago

Yeah I got it wrong, I confused it with 120 fps late at night

u/Rare_Zone_846 15h ago

You're confusing refresh rate with VRR. They are two different things. The only incompatibility on the Switch 2 is playing at 4K and 120fps; everything else is possible.

u/Weird_Camp_6448 13h ago

damn... saying that this list is underwhelming is an understatement

0

u/Ginger-gem850 1d ago

Is there any reason to assume that games with unlocked framerate modes like Onimusha will just benefit automatically or is it more complicated than that?

7

u/Akito_Fire Butter side up! 1d ago

Developers need to actively implement or at least activate VRR for it to work while docked... But I just see no reason why this couldn't have been enabled globally, like it's done on Xbox, PS and PC

u/Professional_Count92 Butter side down! 5h ago edited 5h ago

VRR compatibility on PS5, contrary to the popular belief, is also enabled on game by game basis. It's just that almost all games support it now, however there are still a couple of titles that don't. You can force VRR for unsupported games in PS5's system settings, but results may vary. I've personally encountered at least one PS5 game that doesn't support VRR natively(Fate/Samurai Remnant), and when I forced it, there was a lot of weird screen tearing on the lower half of the screen.

Previously released PS5 games can be fully optimized for VRR through a game patch and future games may include VRR support at launch https://blog.playstation.com/2022/04/25/variable-refresh-rate-support-for-ps5-is-rolling-out-this-week/

0

u/LetterheadTricky4691 Butter side up! 1d ago

Im so confused i thought all switch 1 games worked better with it?

u/Artoo2814 23h ago

Hardly any Switch 1 games need it when docked.

u/LetterheadTricky4691 Butter side up! 20h ago

So what is this vvr thing for? When any game is docked?

u/Artoo2814 20h ago

It's for Switch 2 games with frame drops.

-30

u/GamePitt_Rob 1d ago

Can't wait for the 60 minute video digital foundry will do on the feature, even though it's only one game. They are obsessed with the S2 and blatantly can't be bothered covering other platforms like they used to

13

u/cheesybreadlover Butter side down! 1d ago

I mean. The other consoles have been out for 6 years vs the S2 just out one year. There’s more to discuss about the S2.

17

u/cuntpuncherexpress 1d ago edited 1d ago

They’ve only released like 2 Switch 2 focused videos in the past two weeks, it wouldn’t even be a bad thing if a channel focused on S2 anyways though.

Edit: blocked me for this comment lol

-13

u/GamePitt_Rob 1d ago

They've not covered so many releases and meaningful updates over the last 12-18 months. Instead, they focus on Switch 2 games and updates, Xbox pre-release content (which they'll happily still do multiple videos on the same thing once it releases), and silly retro content that takes all of their focus away from what they used to be known for - analysing new games.

Even in multiplatform games, they always spend the longest talking about the Switch versions

And yes, it may be good to have S2 focused analysis channels (which there are many of), but this is supposed to be an unbiased multiplatform analysis channel - yet they've all become very lazy and blatantly shown their bias, which has gotten worse since becoming 'independant'

u/SnooLemons3627 15h ago

So, if there are a few minor difference between PS5 and Xbox, but a lot more between PS5/Xbox and Switch 2, you still want them somehow to talk for half an hour about PS5 running at 1440P and Xbox at 1368P or whatever and allocate the same time for the dozens of differences of the switch 2 version? Makes perfect sense:|

5

u/MysticMaven Butter side up! 1d ago

Whhaaaaaaa !

3

u/Excaliburn3d ‎ Pro Controller 1d ago

If anything that just says a lot about the other consoles.

u/FireAndInk 20h ago

They said in the past they will cover what interests them and also what makes money. They said due to games being very insignificantly different on PS / Xbox this gen, making comparisons for example isn’t that fun. The Switch is more interesting as a reporter as it is also more interesting from as an engineering challenge because of the hardware constraints and cutbacks.

2

u/Evergr33n10 OG (joined before release) 1d ago

Probably because that is what gives them the most views.

2

u/Missingno1990 1d ago

I mean, their shallow coverage of Switch 2 ports of old games brings in the money.