It is no secret that Pokémon is one of the world’s most enduring franchises. One would argue that its by far the most successful of the lot when it comes to being a cashable release with both new consumers flooding to buy it as well as plenty of people buying their collectibles and game titles as nostalgia kicks in.
It’s also Gamefreak’s most ambitious title to date with a larger-than-life map with more things to do than any Pokémon title at launch except perhaps Pokémon Crystal. It also has a minor graphics overhaul while hosting over 400 Pokémon you can directly interact with. It is therefore not a surprise that it is somewhat limited by the hardware of the Nintendo Switch in terms of performance with users consistently complaining about performance issues.
The performance issues are also something that Nintendo takes seriously as it not only acknowledged these but rolled out a dedicated patch (V1.1) to deal with the issue that is already being served to devices across the world.
A software update for #PokemonScarletViolet (Ver. 1.1.0) will be released on 12/1. Please visit our website for more information: https://t.co/4kh6Dtui4c
We take the feedback from players seriously, and will continue to work on improvements to the games.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 1, 2022
The issues however were already something that had been pointed out by various publications that were given review copies, with many praising the game’s stellar story and open world implementation but complaining about glitches and performance issues. This has also resulted in not only backlash in terms of reviews as evident on metacritic where it has been called out for the same not only by publications but also by end users complaining about low FPS counts.
It is therefore quite ironic that the most functional copy of both titles exists on PC, a platform that should never have been an option to begin with but an increasing number of Pokémon fanboys are considering jumping ship simply to have a better experience.
While playing an emulated copy of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on PC does have its drawbacks (lack of support from Nintendo, emulation-related bugs amongst others), it does also seem to be the more stable version of the game with mods offering stable 30 FPS (Frames per second) gameplay on most PCs as compared to the Switch’s native title that struggles to get close (at least pre-patch) and more ambitious mods hosted on other sites offer to up the ante to as much as 60 FPS with ease.
Nintendo meanwhile, despite assuring gamers that it takes the performance issues seriously has yet to offer a more stable solution to gamers and it might be multiple patches across weeks that make its titles more playable. There is obviously a moral dilemma when it comes to playing the title on PC which nearly always requires downloading a dumped version of the same game which, unless you own it, amounts to piracy or at the very least, breaking Nintendo’s terms of service if you do.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new patches will be released from Gamefreak/Nintendo.
