Originally released in 2014 on the Wii U, Nintendo’s musou game Hyrule Warriors has received another port this time on the Nintendo Switch. Promising major improvements over both the original Wii U version and the later 3DS version, the Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition on the Nintendo Switch is another Wii U port looking for renewed life on the far more successful Nintendo Switch and for the most part, it handles itself well compared to the previous versions.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is a 2018 port of the original game, it is developed by Omega Force & Team Ninja and published by Nintendo & Koei Techmo and is available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.

Link returns to the Hylian battlefield in Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition.

Nearly four years after it’s initial release on the Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo’s Zelda musou spinoff is back on the Nintendo Switch in Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. In this version of the game Koei Techmo has provided all previous DLC from the Wii U & 3DS versions and has given it a graphical and performance upgrade with proposed 1080p & 60fps. Though it still has some performance struggles, Hyrule Warriors on the Switch is still the best version currently available.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is a solid second attempt at Zelda musou on console.

THE GOOD: Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is the third version of Koei & Nintendo’s Zelda Warriors game. At this stage you’d think it’d be time for a sequel, but it seems the duo are hellbent on getting the first game running at peak performance. It actually does really well on the Switch when docked, running at a steady 1080p resolution. Admittedly it doesn’t hit 60fps consistently, but it does get an average of late 40-late 50fps which will become barely noticeable to anyone who isn’t keen eyed to frame rate in gaming. The full roster is present for you to chose over a dozen plus of characters from the Zelda universe throughout the years to do battle with across thousands of enemies at once.

While definitely better in parts performance wise compared to the original Wii U version and the 3DS version, the Switch version has it’s own share of problems.

THE BAD: Though Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition performs far better on the Switch than the Wii U & 3DS, as mentioned earlier it never really hits 60fps 100% of the time. To reference Digital Foundry’s look at the game you’ll hit somewhere at about 40-58fps on average when docked. During portable mode play it’s still pretty impressive, but graphics do take a bit of a tank with some supersampling taking over full 1080p and again, this is only really noticeable if you’re eyes are used to that sort of thing.

In what’s likely the final version of Hyrule Warriors before the inevitable sequel, ‘Definitive Edition’ is indeed the most superior of the three.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition while not quite the best it could be for a Nintendo exclusive on the Switch is the best version available across three different platforms. If you’ve already played the 3DS version, then the novelty of playing on the go with the Switch is definitely lost, but the technical improvements most certainly make jumping back in worth it especially if your experience with Zelda Musou was only limited to one of the previous versions.