The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 clearly intends to be one of the biggest games of 2022. Fans have been waiting for this game since Nintendo confirmed it at E3 2019, and now fans finally have an idea of when it'll release. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 certainly has big shoes to fill, considering how successful its predecessor was, but fans are optimistc anyway, and they should be. The many years of development that went into this game will hopefully result in a carefully crafted and polished experience for Nintendo Switch users everywhere.
It just so happens that Nintendo recently released a new way to experience this step forward in The Legend of Zelda. The Switch OLED may not be the Switch Pro that many fans expected, but it still comes with a lot of enhancements that sharpen many Switch games, especially in handheld mode. Breath of the Wild 2 will get a ton out of the new Switch model, which is designed to enhance the sensory aspects of every game its user plays. The Breath of the Wild family games put a heavy emphasis on appreciating the sights and sounds that surround Link, meaning the Switch OLED has a lot to offer to Link's next adventure.
The OLED Screen Captures Hyrule in Detail
Critics agree that the Switch OLED's screen is a major visual improvement over the original Switch's screen. The organic LEDs inside the Switch and the larger glass screen enhance the display in a lot of ways. The Switch OLED may not have a higher resolution display than previous models, but it does feature far more vivid colors than any Switch user is used to. In a time when the Switch is getting a lot of games featuring sweeping, breathtaking landscapes such as Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Hisui region, those enhanced colors mean a lot.
The same is true for Hyrule in Breath of the Wild 2. Fans were blown away when Nintendo revealed Breath of the Wild's Hyrule years ago, and it remains a truly enchanting environment. In the Breath of the Wild games, Hyrule is more than a fantasy kingdom. It's a sprawling, detailed wilderness filled with wild animals, intimidating monsters, and the ruins of past civilizations. There's so much to see in the Breath of the Wild world that the OLED screen in the new Switch model can enhance. Considering the trailers revealed so far, there's no doubt that Breath of the Wild 2's changing Hyrule will strongly benefit from the crisp colors offered by the Switch OLED.
Switch OLED's New Speakers Enhance the Environment
The Switch OLED doesn't set out to exclusively improve a game's visuals. It also has totally different speakers from previous Switches, resulting in far better sound quality. An internal Nintendo interview revealed that the Switch OLED's developers took a totally different approach to design the console's speakers compared to the previous models. A Switch OLED has closed-type speakers, which keep sound waves from colliding coming out of the speaker from colliding with each other, resulting in cleaner sound.
Sound clarity was an important design principle for the Nintendo Switch because Nintendo wanted better audio for multiplayer games when the Switch is in tabletop mode. The sound quality is also a huge improvement for single-player games like Breath of the Wild 2, though. As beautiful as Breath of the Wild 2's visuals are, Hyrule wouldn't be complete without high-quality music and atmospheric sound, two elements that the first Breath of the Wild successfully blended before. Triumphant music and gentle natural noises will surely come together again in Breath of the Wild 2, which the Switch OLED can present better than any other Switch.
More Time to Play Breath of the Wild 2
Aside from visual and auditory improvements, there's another Switch OLED change that Nintendo hasn't focused on as much. The new Switch model has a notably better battery life than its predecessors. On a full charge, a Switch OLED can last anywhere from 4 to 9 hours, depending on what the user is doing. That's a significant improvement over older Switches, which often cap out at about 6 or 7 hours of battery life in handheld mode. In other words, a Switch OLED user will generally get a lot more playtime out of handheld mode than someone with another model.
Battery life will go a long way to enhancing the Breath of the Wild 2 experience. The first Breath of the Wild has a way of making players fall into Hyrule; there's so much to do that it's hard not to lose track of time while playing this Zelda game. With the Switch OLED's extended battery life, Breath of the Wild 2 players can spend significantly more time exploring every nook and cranny of Hyrule in a single sitting. If Breath of the Wild 2 is of the same scale as the massive first Breath of the Wild, then the extra playtime will go a long way for fans who use handheld mode on the regular.
A Solid Breath of the Wild 2 Vehicle
Many critics feel that the Switch OLED isn't necessarily worth buying for anyone who already has a Switch, especially anyone who prefers playing Switch games using a TV. Still, its upgrades provide a lot of really clear benefits for important new Nintendo games like Breath of the Wild 2. Its improvements to sound and visuals, as well as the better battery life, make it a fantastic platform to play both the original Breath of the Wild and its upcoming sequel. It's a high-quality new lens through which fans can view Link's next adventure.
The Switch OLED continues to raise questions about the future of the theoretical Switch Pro. While it's inevitable that Nintendo will make a new console someday, the Switch OLED also suggests that it doesn't plan to produce a competitor for the PS5 or the Xbox Series X anytime soon. In other words, there probably won't be a better way to experience Breath of the Wild 2 than the OLED model for a couple more years. A future Nintendo console will certainly find ways to outperform this Switch mode, but for now, the OLED Switch will provide the definitive Breath of the Wild 2 experience.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 releases in 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
