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[Steve Youngblood]

It is. The post you quoted also doesn't do math apparently.

Switch is roughly 3x more powerful than Wii U. And with that being said, 720p to 1080p is a 2.25 times increase in pixels. "only" a resolution bump is in fact perfectly in line with the performance increase.

Math. It's not just a clever word.

Right. But I just mean that I think at one point people had dreams of this thing being close to PS4 power or at least around Xbox One power. However, all the news since the initial unveiling has made it clear that it's weaker than that. This isn't a major generational leap over the Wii U. And I say that not as a major shot at it. I've just sort of accepted the nature of the system.

 

[Enforced]

I forgot how Mario kart 7 graphics looked. Lol. Good to see the loading improved.

 

[Salvadora]

3DS' biggest knock, in my book, is the resolution.

I will be going 3DS > Switch so the leap is (multi) generational on that front.

Think it's a perfectly valid comparison for the millions, like me, who bought Mario Kart 7 but not 8.

 

[shiyrley]

It gets rather frustrating seeing a company get this much love when just about everything they do is terrible for their fans and consumers in general.

I can understand being disappointed in MK8D if you already have a Wii U but you seem pretty angry at people being happy with the Switch in general.

 

[Plum]

Right. But I just mean that I think at one point people had dreams of this thing being close to PS4 power or at least around Xbox One power. However, all the news since the initial unveiling has made it clear that it's weaker than that. This isn't a major generational leap over the Wii U. And I say that not as a major shot at it. I've just sort of accepted the nature of the system.

Yep, nobody's expecting amazing things out of the Switch as a home system. However it's still a massive leap over the 3DS in handheld mode and that's where the impressive tech comes in. I'm willing to bet that if the Switch weren't a hybrid we wouldn't be having much of the conversations we're having in this thread in both the "why are they showing a 3DS comparison?" and "they barely upgraded it!" fronts.

I forgot how Mario kart 7 graphics looked. Lol. Good to see the loading improved.

The removal of Vs races from singleplayer mode made me completely lost interest in that game so I too completely forgot what it looked like for the most part. I really can't understand racing games that don't have a single-race mode outside of multiplayer.

 

[mavericktopgun]

Every millisecond counts when you're targeting 16ms per frame.

Ocarina of time for 3DS had AA with 3D disabled.

 

[Neiteio]

I've played the hell out of my PS4 Pro, and prior to that I was also into high-end PC gaming. But I still maintain that the overall effect of Mario Kart 8 — its art, its animation, lighting and effects, etc — makes the game looks notably better than many games with access to 10x the hardware power.

 

[conpfreak]

There's been different interpretations along the way, but even as someone who preordered immediately after the January reveal event and followed through with a purchase on Day One, I've never really been under the impression that Switch represented a significant upgrade over the Wii U.

What does having a early pre-order have to do with the Switch's hardware capabilities? That's the problem with the way people are discussing the Switch's specifications and what visual fidelity it can achieve. Hardware wise, it does represent a significant upgrade over the Wii U and this has been heavily documented since confirmation of key specs came out. Whether the devs chose not to take advantage of that power or simply did not want to put the effort into making major graphical changes is a separate discussion.

It's a port, folks. There are pre-existing graphical assets and an engine that targeted Wii U level hardware. It's not a remake.

 

[Seik]

I don't even mind the cartoony graphics or relatively low polygon models.

I think most Nintendo games look great, but there is definitely a little room to do something, anything to make the visuals better.

Mario Kart 8 Switch doesn't need to be some graphical powerhouse, but sliding the resolution slider up a notch and calling it a day is shitty.

Please share what you think would be possible to add without compromising the performance?

The way you put 'sliding the resolution slider up' make it sounds like it's not having any impact on the hardware, while upping the resolution is actually quite a bigger workload than what you seem to think. 1080p is twice the amount of pixels on screen than 720p.

The resolution bump itself DOES make the visual better, a lot better than if they kept it at 720p, added AA, god's rays, global lighting and whatever 'extra visual button' you can think of.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

What does having a early pre-order have to do with the Switch's hardware capabilities?

It's just a little personal background information that seeks to establish that I have been paying attention to the overall conversation about what the system is and what it can do. It's also clear to me that significant is a far from clear qualifier.

 

[JershJopstin]

It gets rather frustrating seeing a company get this much love when just about everything they do is terrible for their fans and consumers in general.

Have you considered that what they do is just terrible for you and not their fans? Different consumers have different interests.

 

[93xfan]

Why the fuck do they compare the 3DS MK7?

This is an outrage!! I'm so glad there are people like you to remind us what's important.

Back on topic, I'm glad Nintendo is putting such effort into a rock solid 60fps

 

[Stop It]

I haven't watched the video yet but the point to me seems pretty clear. Pretend that you had a 3DS but no Wii U. Pretend also that you are buying this primarily for its handheld capabilities. To this individual, this game is the successor to Mario Kart 7 in terms of being the new portable Mario Kart game. Today, if you want to play Mario Kart on the go you have to play 7 on the 3DS. A week from now you'll be able to play 8 Deluxe on the Switch.

Considering the amount of people who bought a 3DS vs a WiiU, there's millions who don't have to pretend this.

Still, some people can't see the obvious point. Switch is a portable system, like the 3DS, and comparing tracks that appear in both MK 7 and 8 is valid. It's amazing that we now have such a powerful Nintendo Handheld that can easily play Wii U quality games.

For those with a Wii U, comparing the Switch as a home console isn't nearly as impressive, alas and as a MK 8 owner this doesn't justify full price for me, nor a Switch purchase just yet.

 

[KHlover]

Ocarina of time for 3DS had AA with 3D disabled.

OOT 3D was 30fps though.

 

[Izuna]

Some anti-aliasing methods ruin the IQ for me personally.

Some SMAA would clean IQ up with no performance hit

at 1080p 2xMSAA is cheap and really good too. Neither ruin the picture.

 

[visiblemode]

I think comparing it with a 3DS game is silly from the first moment.

The comparison itself is based in logic, handheld to handheld. The reaction to the comparison is baffling since it's a port of a Wii U game we've all played/seen a million times.

 

[The Futurist]

I can understand being disappointed in MK8D if you already have a Wii U but you seem pretty angry at people being happy with the Switch in general.

Have you considered that what they do is just terrible for you and not their fans? Different consumers have different interests.

The way the NES classic situation was handled? Who exactly benefited from that? I won't lie, I managed to get one, but I would have loved another one for my other TV.

There are many people that were never able to get one and now it's impossible unless you go through a scalper.

I know about 4-5 people that will probably get MK8 on Switch. I'd love to play with them and talk to them while we play...

You still can't buy a switch like you would any other piece of consumer electronics. Other companies can manufacture millions upon millions of units of pretty much any device.

There's a limit somewhere there. A point when you stop and realize that all these things are happening because of the decisions made by Nintendo.

Please share what you think would be possible to add without compromising the performance?

The way you put 'sliding the resolution slider up' make it sounds like it's not having any impact on the hardware, while upping the resolution is actually quite a bigger workload than what you seem to think. 1080p is twice the amount of pixels on screen than 720p.

The resolution bump itself DOES make the visual better, a lot better than if they kept it at 720p, added AA, god's rays, global lighting and whatever 'extra visual button' you can think of.

Seriously? 1080P and AA should have been a given.

I don't know. Maybe I am out of touch, but even when I was younger, I wasn't like many young people today. Willing to accept everything given to them without question or even the hint of a critical thought.

If someone criticizes something you love and the first response you have it to automatically defend it without actually thinking about what they are saying, I think you're part of the problem.

This is why things never get better and Nintendo keeps getting away with the same shit they've being doing for more than a decade at this point.

 

[TheGamingBox]

I'm sure this group exists, but the defenders are equally guilty of taking anything Nintendo puts out and raising it to a pedestal.

I'm just tired of seeing every decision Nintendo makes being half assed and lazy.

I don't care that this is a port of a Wii U game. I don't care that a battle mode was added and it's being sold for $60.

What I do care about is Nintendo putting in the absolute bare minimum effort to release this game on the switch.

You're telling me that Switch is supposed to be significantly more powerful than the Wii U and all they could be bothered to do was increase the resolution?

Give me a fucking break.

It gets rather frustrating seeing a company get this much love when just about everything they do is terrible for their fans and consumers in general.

you are literal proof that the group borghe mentions exists, and yet it goes right over your heard

 

[Immaculate]

do we know how long the battery lasts with this game?

 

[The Futurist]

you are literal proof that the group borghe mentions exists, and yet it goes right over your heard

Yup, the guy that has had every Nintendo home console since the NES and most of the handhelds is clearly the one that wants to trash Nintendo.

Makes perfect sense.

 

[Silent_Ocarina]

Comparisons to Mario Kart 7 are inoffensive and valid in my opinion. We saw the same comparisons of the same tracks with the Wii U version of Mario Kart 8. It's no different from comparisons of remakes like Kingdom Hearts or Crash Bandicoot.

 

[jroc74]

Need? Do we really need hardware comparisons at all? We are in a pretty enthusiast niche here.

Not anymore judging by this thread, lol.

it is the typical "but why Nintendo?" sentiment you see so often.. You saw it frequently with BotW from the "Nintendo hopped on the open world band wagon and gets a pass", you see it with Splatoon 2 "Nintendo releases a port and everyone calls it a new game", and you see it now with MK8, on two fronts no less, the first "they aren't giving us anything over MK8" AND "Why are we comparing a handheld MK to MK8?"

tl;dr there is a large group of people out there who actually become vocal and a bit frustrated when Nintendo has success and will jump on any means of tearing it down.

It mostly started with the Gamecube.. not sure I remember why. Obviously there were strong complaints with N64 and cartridges but those mostly faded over time. But with Gamecube on, essentially any non-handheld success Nintendo had was met with a large number of critics jumping on reasons why the success was diminished or didn't matter.

In this case we have two complaints happening simultaneously. One that the difference isn't big enough (MK8->MK8DX) and the other that the difference is too ridiculously great (MK7->MK8DX)

It's basically Schrödinger's Nintendo.

I dont think its only that tho. The first impression I got from reading responses was this:

Considering the amount of people who bought a 3DS vs a WiiU there's millions who don't have to pretend this.

Still, some people can't see the obvious point. Switch is a portable system, like the 3DS, and comparing tracks that appear in both MK 7 and 8 is valid. It's amazing that we now have such a powerful Nintendo Handheld that can easily play Wii U quality games.

For those with a Wii U, comparing the Switch as a home console isn't nearly as impressive, alas and as a MK 8 owner this doesn't justify full price for me, nor a Switch purchase just yet.

I also think its ppl who have a 3DS and for whatever reason dont have a Switch. (either dont want one or cant get one yet) And feel their console is being dissed.

 

[shiyrley]

You still can't buy a switch like you would any other piece of consumer electronics.

In the US*
Also this is anecdotal but there's still a NES mini for sale in a store near my home at retail price. I'm tempted to buy it actually lol

I agree with your complains, but you are literally angry at people being happy with the Switch.

It's ok to complain about a company. It's not ok to say "please be angry at this".

 

[Irminsul]

Yup, the guy that has had every Nintendo home console since the NES and most of the handhelds is clearly the one that wants to trash Nintendo.

Makes perfect sense.

You're making it sound like this is some totally outlandish idea. The worst people to talk about Wii were alleged long-term Nintendo fans who felt personally betrayed or something.

 

[cw_sasuke]

To be fair MK7 still looks rather good on the 3DS screen... Especially in 3D. But MK8 is generational jump and one of the best looking titles period, not something you are used on a portable device.

 

[Seik]

Seriously? 1080P and AA should have been a given.

I don't know. Maybe I am out of touch, but even when I was younger, I wasn't like many young people today. Willing to accept everything given to them without question or even the hint of a critical thought.

If someone criticizes something you love and the first response you have it to automatically defend it without actually thinking about what they are saying, I think you're part of the problem.

This is why things never get better and Nintendo keeps getting away with the same shit they've being doing for more than a decade at this point.

Are you telling me that I'm defending Nintendo for absolutely nothing? I gave you an answer on why 1080p is a decent upgrade and then you go and ramble about people defending Nintendo.

I'll let you in a little something:

If someone criticizes a game without having a clue how graphic settings works and what is heavy on hardware or not, I shall correct him, in this case, you.

You're talking as if they did absolutely nothing on the game, as if it was still 720p and as if they added nothing to entice people to buy it and that people just gobble up that shit and defend it with their lives, which is hyperbole at it's finest.

 

[FX-GMC]

You still can't buy a switch like you would any other piece of consumer electronics. Other companies can manufacture millions upon millions of units of pretty much any device.

Are we still peddling the idea that the Switch has artificial scarcity? Really?

 

[TS-08]

Yup, the guy that has had every Nintendo home console since the NES and most of the handhelds is clearly the one that wants to trash Nintendo.

Makes perfect sense.

It does, actually. Some of the most vocal Nintendo critics on this board are former diehards who no longer like the decisions Nintendo is making and basically voice their opinion as such every chance they get.

 

[ZeoVGM]

No anti-aliasing again...

I don't know what it is with Nintendo's desire to ruin their great art with shit image quality.

The lack of AA is a valid argument but you ruined it with the extreme hyperbole.

There is absolutely nothing about the art in this game that is "ruined" and the image quality is certainly not "shit."

 

[Brunire]

The way the NES classic situation was handled? Who exactly benefited from that? I won't lie, I managed to get one, but I would have loved another one for my other TV.

There are many people that were never able to get one and now it's impossible unless you go through a scalper.

I know about 4-5 people that will probably get MK8 on Switch. I'd love to play with them and talk to them while we play...

You still can't buy a switch like you would any other piece of consumer electronics. Other companies can manufacture millions upon millions of units of pretty much any device.

There's a limit somewhere there. A point when you stop and realize that all these things are happening because of the decisions made by Nintendo.

This just seems to happen for some hardware launches, especially when demand is high. PlayStation 2 was much more difficult to get and was like that for many months.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Yup, the guy that has had every Nintendo home console since the NES and most of the handhelds is clearly the one that wants to trash Nintendo.

Makes perfect sense.

The "I have black friends" argumentation doesn't really help.

This thread is about graphical comparison between the last couple MK titles... Don't see how Switch shortages are relevant to that discussion.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Blurry FXAA, no question.

Any AA is better than no AA.

FXAA is the only AA that isn't better than no AA. I'd rather downsample and cut my framerate in half.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

There was no PS Vita when the 3DS came out.

3DS was a negligible bump up from the PSP.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Yup, the guy that has had every Nintendo home console since the NES and most of the handhelds is clearly the one that wants to trash Nintendo.

Makes perfect sense.

It might not make perfect sense in your case, as I haven't read too many of your posts, but it makes perfect sense for plenty of "Nintendo fans". Some of Nintendo's most vocal haters were once longtime supporters. Basically, they went from one end of the fanboy spectrum to the other.

 

[AlStrong]

Ocarina of time for 3DS had AA with 3D disabled.

It's a game of trade-offs. Disabling 3D clearly allowed them to turn on AA. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make when developers targeting 60fps need to really stick to 60fps with zero drops, and that is significantly more difficult than a game targeting 30 for obvious reasons.

 

[KingBroly]

I'd rather have 60fps locked than AA.

 

[bomblord1]

3DS was a negligible bump up from the PSP.

You are either severely overselling the PSP or severely underselling the 3DS.

 

[JershJopstin]

The way the NES classic situation was handled? Who exactly benefited from that? I won't lie, I managed to get one, but I would have loved another one for my other TV.

There are many people that were never able to get one and now it's impossible unless you go through a scalper.

Sure, this bothered me. If Switch VC ends up being decent I won't really care in the end though.

I know about 4-5 people that will probably get MK8 on Switch. I'd love to play with them and talk to them while we play...

I play with friends locally more than online. Would it hurt me to have voice chat? Not at all. But as someone who doesn't play with friends much online, I personally don't care and this doesn't impact my decision to buy the game. This is a bit of what I was getting at with 'different interests'.

You still can't buy a switch like you would any other piece of consumer electronics. Other companies can manufacture millions upon millions of units of pretty much any device.

It's their fastest selling system to date. Considering most of their fast selling systems were also supply constrained, it stands to reason that they manufactured more Switches for launch than they did any other system and it still just wasn't enough. It's hard to blame them for that.

There's a limit somewhere there. A point when you stop and realize that all these things are happening because of the decisions made by Nintendo.

Sure, if they all impact you negatively. Again, different interests.

Seriously? 1080P and AA should have been a given.

Are you a Switch dev? You're 100% certain they could've pulled off AA without losing locked 60fps (even in 2-player splitscreen)? What makes 1080p 60fps AA a 'given', exaclty?

I don't know. Maybe I am out of touch, but even when I was younger, I wasn't like many young people today. Willing to accept everything given to them without question or even the hint of a critical thought.

Just because we're willing to accept things that you aren't doesn't mean we're not putting thought into it. It means we value different things.

If someone criticizes something you love and the first response you have it to automatically defend it without actually thinking about what they are saying, I think you're part of the problem.

Sure. But that's not happening nearly as much as you think it is.

This is why things never get better and Nintendo keeps getting away with the same shit they've being doing for more than a decade at this point.

That period of time includes the biggest amount of profit they've ever had. Just because what they're doing isn't for you doesn't mean its anti-consumer.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

You are either severely overselling the PSP or severely underselling the 3DS.

I know I'm underselling the 3DS, it's definitely more powerful than the PSP, and more importantly, more modern, so they could do more with the power that was there.

With that said, 3D limited the thing's potential in practice, and so the lion's share of 3DS games weren't any prettier than some of the PSP's better looking games to me. I can think of maybe five games on 3DS that far outstrip anything I've seen on the PSP.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Willing to accept everything given to them without question or even the hint of a critical thought.

You're out of touch, bud, but it's not because you're getting old. What an ironic thing to slot into your response. Jesus.

 

[DongBeetle]

Some SMAA would clean IQ up with no performance hit

at 1080p 2xMSAA is cheap and really good too. Neither ruin the picture.

MSAA is not cheap on a deferred renderer

 

[bomblord1]

I know I'm underselling the 3DS, it's definitely more powerful than the PSP, and more importantly, more modern, so they could do more with the power that was there.

With that said, 3D limited the thing's potential in practice, and so the lion's share of 3DS games weren't any prettier than some of the PSP's better looking games to me. I can think of maybe five games on 3DS that far outstrip anything I've seen on the PSP.

That's fair I can agree with it.

 

[nynt9]

I haven't watched the video yet but the point to me seems pretty clear. Pretend that you had a 3DS but no Wii U. Pretend also that you are buying this primarily for its handheld capabilities. To this individual, this game is the successor to Mario Kart 7 in terms of being the new portable Mario Kart game. Today, if you want to play Mario Kart on the go you have to play 7 on the 3DS. A week from now you'll be able to play 8 Deluxe on the Switch.

This is not standard practice for DF comparisons though. To my recollection, they've never done this (comparing a sequel to its predecessor) before, or if they have, it's incredibly rare.

 

[kitchenmotors]

You lot sure are snarky

Exactly. Any fucking reason to bitch, I swear.

It's a valid comparison from the last portable Mario Kart version to the next. This is the type of thing that Digital Foundry does, if you don't like it, why are you here?

 

[TS-08]

This is not standard practice for DF comparisons though. To my recollection, they've never done this (comparing a sequel to its predecessor) before, or if they have, it's incredibly rare.

So what? And how many sequels have allowed for such direct comparisons as Mario Kart, where we can compare the exact same tracks across the games?

 

[bryehn]

Digital Foundry: Red Dead Redemption vs Red Dead Redemption 2.

That might actually be interesting, especially since Xbox usually gets the compromised ports this time around, where PlayStation did last gen.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

This is not standard practice for DF comparisons though. To my recollection, they've never done this (comparing a sequel to its predecessor) before, or if they have, it's incredibly rare.

You may very well be right. I don't follow Digital Foundry religiously. I still don't understand what makes the comparison egregious.

 

[Irminsul]

This is not standard practice for DF comparisons though. To my recollection, they've never done this (comparing a sequel to its predecessor) before, or if they have, it's incredibly rare.

Well, they compare the same race tracks, so you could argue it's similar to comparing remasters to their originals. They certainly have done that.

 

[Rodin]

People are still offended that the Switch is an extremely massive leap over the 3DS?

Wonder why i didn't see certain posts with the KH 3DS vs PS4 comparison.

Right. But I just mean that I think at one point people had dreams of this thing being close to PS4 power or at least around Xbox One power. However, all the news since the initial unveiling has made it clear that it's weaker than that. This isn't a major generational leap over the Wii U. And I say that not as a major shot at it. I've just sort of accepted the nature of the system.

It's just a little personal background information that seeks to establish that I have been paying attention to the overall conversation about what the system is and what it can do. It's also clear to me that significant is a far from clear qualifier.

What's generally accepted as a full generational leap isn't just "significant", it's a giant leap in capabilities that goes way beyond that. At the same time, many people would consider going from a GTX 970 to a GTX 1080 a pretty significant upgrade and that's just a 2x bump in GPU power and VRAM. The jump from Wii U to Switch is around or over 3x in every area, and calling that a minor upgrade just because it isn't a typical full generational leap is pretty misleading if you ask me.

These look like pretty significant upgrades to me (much higher internal resolution, much better lighting, much better materials, etc), especially considering they're launch ports. There wasn't a single multiplatform game on the Wii U at launch that showed this gap compared to last gen consoles, not even Trine 2 or NFS. So what's gonna happen when developers start making games from the ground up for the Switch after they learned how to fully exploit the system capabilities?

The reality is that the Switch is a new hybrid form factor that manages to beat Wii U in both modes, and it didn't happen very often that a new handheld device was more capable than the last home system, especially with Nintendo hardware. This gap can only become bigger as developers learn how to fully exploit the hardware. That doesn't mean that the console is around Xbox One in power, but it's also not that close to Wii U. There are many "slots" in between where the Switch can (and does) sit.

Some SMAA would clean IQ up with no performance hit

at 1080p 2xMSAA is cheap and really good too. Neither ruin the picture.

Was it really necessary to put that kind of burden on the hardware when trying to target 60fps?

And no, MSAA 2x isn't cheap on a deferred renderer by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[LordOfChaos]

- The 59 FPS bug from the Wii U version is completely fixed

This isn't fixed on the Wii U yet?!