Image: NetherRealm Studios
Players are reporting poor performance and atrocious visuals on Mortal Kombat 1’s Switch port.
Mortal Kombat 1 is officially out in the world today, but early access players who forked up for the game’s Premium Edition have had it in their hands for five days now. While the game seems to be running great on most platforms however, Nintendo Switch owners have taken to social media to voice their dissatisfaction at the game’s Switch port, citing poor performance, hilariously bad visuals and more technical issues.
Here’s an example of the game’s graphical differences on Switch and PlayStation 5:
Mortal Kombat 1 features a big leap in graphical fidelity from its last installment, but apparently that just isn’t the case on the Nintendo Switch. Anyone who’s played a Switch port will likely be used to graphical downgrades compared to other platforms, but this is far below what people were likely expecting from a pricey $70 game. To say that it looks atrocious would be an understatement.
In still images, it looks like character models haven’t fully loaded in during cutscenes and fatalities, with faces appearing wooden and expressionless. Actual gameplay is so much worse, with long loading times, low-resolution textures and choppy framerates impacting matches. Good performance and connectivity are especially important for fighting games where moves have to be countered and executed with just the right timing and while most players would flock to other platforms for that, it doesn’t seem fair for Switch players to be this far behind everyone else.
Some players have reported more serious bugs, like being stuck in the background of a map unable to fight:
The muted, expressionless faces are also pretty distracting:
It’s worth noting that the Switch port is no less expensive than other platforms. Early access players would have paid a hefty $110 for this game's Premium Edition on the Switch like anyone else, only to receive a far inferior version of it. To add insult to injury, Switch players won’t get to play Mortal Kombat 1’s full Invasions mode for, “a matter of weeks,” according to the game’s support website. Technically, that means they don’t even have the full game yet.
Mortal Kombat 1 skipped last-gen platforms like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One upon release, but puzzlingly opted to launch on the Nintendo Switch anyway, despite it having weaker hardware than both consoles. Obviously, Warner Bros. Games was looking to take advantage of the Nintendo console’s loyal playerbase, but might have bitten off more than it could chew as a result. While most of the game’s content runs fine on the Switch with glaring visual downgrades, performance takes a hit when visual clutter and Kameo characters appear during matches.
NetherRealm partnered with Shiver Entertainment for this port, with the two having previously worked on Mortal Kombat 11 for the Switch. Hopefully, both studios can improve things for Switch players through future updates, but launch week is going to be tough for them either way. Avoid the Switch port for now, and punch those fatalities in somewhere else.