Nintendo Switch Won’t Run Zelda: Breath Of The Wild At 1080p For TV Mode

Nintendo confirmed this past week that the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would be the big N's final release for the Wii U, much to the chagrin of the fans who've stuck by the console since its release in 2012. Nonetheless, if Wii U owners are not planning to make an immediate jump to the Switch, it looks like the Zelda release isn't going to be all that lacking for holdouts. 

The folks over at IGN reached out to Nintendo which happily provided tidbits to help clear things up. First and foremost, both versions of the game will become available on March 3, which is a great thing as Twilight Princess came out for the GameCube a couple of weeks after its Wii version launched. Not everyone can upgrade to a Switch, but at least everyone will be able to enjoy the same Zelda game at its launch.

The Wii U version of Breath of the Wild will run at 720p, while the Switch version gets a modest bump to 900p. Despite the higher performance of the Switch, the framerate for both games is going to remain at 30 FPS, which is a bit disappointing, but not a surprise. It's the less-than 1080p resolution that's a bit of a bummer. 

However, Switch owners will at least see more of a benefit than just the slight resolution boost, as the audio is also said to be improved, with footsteps, water, and grass movement sounding better on the newer platform.

Finally, Wii U owners will have to put up with the standard version of the game, as both the "Special Edition" and "Master Edition" will remain exclusive to the Switch. Again, that's a little disappointing, but not surprising.

The one thing we can remain fairly positive about is that this will be a great Zelda release, or at least we hope, as this will be the first console-targeted Zelda in six years.