The recent launch of one of 2023's most anticipated games, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has been a resounding critical and commercial success. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has garnered significant attention from fans and games media in the lead-up to its announcement, with many fearing that delays of the title would see it end up on the Nintendo Switch's successor and not launch on current-gen hardware. Nintendo's EAD team has not only developed one of the most technically impressive games on the system but also established there's still life yet in the Switch. However, not all are happy with the game's performance.

Although the critical reception to Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been overwhelmingly positive, the latest Zelda has still been subject to review-bombing. The few negative reviews of the game center around one of two issues, with performance and the adherence to Zelda: Breath of the Wild's alterations to the Zelda formula as chief complaints. Those that decry the game's performance on the Nintendo Switch and point out the occurrence of frame drops in the massive open world or during combat are doing so without taking into context just how incredible of a technical achievement Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom truly is.

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Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's Optimization Is Nothing Short of Technical Wizardry

Link climbs a mountain in Tears of the Kingdom and in the background is a Shrine near Kakariko Village

When considering the work that Nintendo put into Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, perhaps one of the more significant accomplishments it made was in getting the absolutely massive open-world game down to just 16GB for an installation size. In a year when high-profile games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor seemingly compete for the largest installation size, the fact that Nintendo somehow squeezed down not one, but three open-world maps and a dizzying array of systems down to less storage space than some AAA games' save files is just shy of miraculous.

Some are complaining about Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's semi-frequent frame rate drops that occur in areas where the draw distance gives way to seemingly endless horizons, or the appearance of several enemies on screen creates hectic encounters. These same detractors are missing the plot on why these frame skips are occurring in the first place. Nintendo obviously put significant work into making sure that early Switch adopters still playing on launch hardware purchased in 2017 could play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom without needing to resort to external storage of any kind.

Despite Its Age, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Showcases the Switch at Its Peak

Tears of the Kingdom Art Style

Contrary to other first-party Nintendo titles such as the somewhat disappointing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom makes the absolute most of Nintendo's aging hardware. Whereas many felt that the newest Pokemon games' open world was largely lifeless and didn't make use of its open-world setting, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is practically bursting with potential for adventure and creativity in its open world.

Nintendo's EAD team should be commended for its proficiency in bringing the game to the Switch in the state that it's in when one considers that a game this large runs on seven-year-old hardware at all. Truthfully, there will likely be an official announcement from Nintendo regarding the Switch's successor in the near future. That could very well include a twin reveal of a 'definitive' edition of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that runs flawlessly (and maybe even at 60FPS) on the new hardware.

In the meantime, the fact that a game as impressive as Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is running on the last of the previous-gen consoles is an astounding technical achievement on Nintendo's part. One could argue that the occasional frame rate drop is excusable when a game as extraordinary as Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom runs on the Switch at all.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Switch.

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