Nintendo’s latest release, Endless Ocean Luminous, does not seem to have gone over well with critics. While it remains to be seen if the fans will concur with critics or embrace this title on their terms, some interesting new information has come up about the game.
As shared on Twitter by OatmealDome, Endless Ocean Luminous data shows that Nintendo has made huge improvements to Bezel Engine, the same game engine this title runs on. But we’ll led OatmealDome explain it in his words:“[NintendoWare Bezel Engine]The latest version of the engine appears to support higher frame rates like 240fps? (The Switch can only output 60 fps.)This only applies to games that enable the variable frame rate mode.Not sure if the older engine versions also support this.Endless Ocean Luminous uses a new version of the Bezel Engine (thanks Watertoon), where this mode was found.Past Bezel Engine games include both WarioWare titles on the Switch, both Mario Party titles, Tetris 99, and some assorted third parties. These use the older version.I should really note that just because the engine “supports” it, doesn’t mean that it will be used by actual games.”I should not even have to explain this, but of course, the reason this has gotten a bit of attention is the speculation around Nintendo’s next console. We reported yesterday on the rumor that Nintendo is targeting the platform to run as much as 4 Teraflops on docked mode. Apparently, they’re doing this by running an overclock on the console.So, assuming this rumor is true at all, these may be theoretical benchmarks, that won’t reflect how much power developers will use on their games. You can think of it like how Sony and Microsoft promised PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X can run games at 4K and 60 FPS at the same time, but most developers chose to split two modes between them. But if developers can theoretically get games on the Switch 2 running at 240FPS on VRR, and/or run at 4 Teraflops, than they do have a lot of power to take advantage of. We already know Nintendo will know how to best take advantage of their technologies, but there’s a huge chance that this will bridge the gap for many third party companies as well.Ultimately, all this talk about power rotates back to the big thing people dislike about Nintendo platforms, which is the challenges of getting AAA third party titles on them. For a decade third parties brought pared down versions of those games to Nintendo platforms, then for another decade skipped on them for the most part.If that was the right choice for those businesses in the Wii U era, it was a big mistake in the Switch era. But now, thanks to the major changes in the technology in Nintendo’s console, they may be bridging that gap to finally get some parity. But to confirm all of this will happen, first we have to see the console.
