Following its analysis of Pikmin 1+2's Switch remasters, the technical experts over at Digital Foundry have now released their findings on the series' latest entry, Pikmin 4.
Remember, this game was almost 10 years in the making and while reviews were overwhelmingly positive on release, you would hope that in that time Nintendo would have been able to perfect the game's performance, right? That's where the good Digital Foundry folk come in.
For the most part, Pikmin 4 performs well on the technical front. The game is Nintendo's first in-house foray into Unreal Engine, and this change really shows, with the outlet describing the game's appearance as "some of the most striking visuals seen to date on Switch".
On the resolution side of things, Pikmin 4 pushes for 900p dynamic resolution in docked mode and 720p in handheld, though this is prone to occasionally drop in taxing overworld areas. On top of this, Nintendo makes use of anti-aliasing in the much-expanded environments — something that we did not see with the recent Pikmin 1+2 remasters.
Onto frame rate and the series' latest entry runs at a "locked" 30fps in both docked and handheld modes. Digital Foundry does note that the game occasionally drops a frame when panning busy areas or when a transparent object blocks the screen, but still describes the lock as "a rock-solid experience".
All said and done, DF considers Pikmin 4 to be "among the best-looking first-party games on Nintendo Switch" and, despite some minor bumps, it has the performance to match. For a reminder of what we thought of the game, be sure to check out our full review below.