Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom: 6 Best Improvements In The…

The Switch 2 is now out and about, offering the same fun and portability of the original console, but with beefier hardware. With it, players can now play Street Fighter 6, the Hitman reboot trilogy, Cyberpunk 2077, Sonic X Shadow Generations, and Mario Kart World, among others, all on the go or at home.

The Switch 2 compared to the Switch OLED

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By Tristan Jurkovich

It also offers upgraded editions of some classic Switch titles, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and its sequel, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The Switch 2 is backwards compatible, so players can just use their old Switch 1 cartridges to play the game. But if they get its upgrade, available for a humble $9.99 on the eShop, they’ll get these quality-of-life improvements alongside it.

6 Zelda Notes

Chase Down Those Collectibles With An App

Nintendo's reworked Switch App now offers a new function to make getting collectibles easier.
The Zelda Notes function will mark down Korok seeds and Shrine locations on its map, complete with text directions.
It's a nifty alternative to looking up FAQs online.

When it comes to tracking down collectibles, chances are some players have ended up checking out an FAQ somewhere to let them know where they were. Especially if there are numerous as TotK’s Korok seeds. Maybe they looked it up using their laptop, PC, or their smartphone. Either way, they were still putting one electronic device on hold to look up more stuff on another.

Nintendo decided to take advantage of this by adding the Zelda Notes option to the Nintendo Switch app (formerly Nintendo Switch Online app). With this function, players can track down Korok seed and Shrine locations in BotW and TotK in real time. It’ll mark them on the map and provide directions in text as well if they’re hidden well. So, if players want Hestu's gift that badly, this function will make it easier to get.

5 Item Exchange

Transcend Time and Space With a Smartphone App

The Zelda Notes function also lets people share items from weapons to gear.
Players just add their items to the Zelda Notes Item box in-game, then send it to their friends in the app.
People can send items between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom too, with some caveats.

Still, the app wouldn’t be exciting if all the app did was track collectibles. Otherwise, Nintendo could just set up their own version of GameFAQs. It’ll also let players help each other out across both titles by sharing items. Through the app, players can send them weapons, food, gear, and anything that can be stored in the Zelda Notes Item box in the game.

From that box, players can fire up the app, then send it along to their friends. They can even send items across games, sending some stuff from TotK to BotW and back, albeit with some caveats. Players can’t just send TotK’s new stuff to BotW, as they're not part of its programming. Instead, they’ll get turned into an equivalent item from BotW instead. So, sadly, players can’t send their Autobuilds back to the past to make getting around BotW’s Hyrule easier.

4 Autobuild Exchange

Get a New Ride at the Push of a Button

Players can use the Zelda Notes function to send their Autobuild's blueprints to other players via QR Code.
It's a handy way to get Autobuild machines and devices without needing to track down all the parts individually.
Other games have similar functions built into their games, but the smartphone option is a handy workaround.

But players can send their Autobuilds to other players, in the form of blueprints. If players add them to the in-game item box, they’ll get converted into a QR code, which can be shared online for others to download. It’s kind of like how Street Fighter 6 and the WWE games let people upload their avatars and custom characters online for download, but with machines instead of monstrosities. That, and it requires the smartphone app.

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It’s nice that people can download pre-made vehicles, weapons, etc., if they just want to get from A to B instead of finding all the parts themselves. Though it’s curious that the function was added to an app instead of being a separate function in the options or the like. Perhaps it was less time-consuming to set it up this way over, say, adding a new menu option, NPCs across Hyrule, or coming up with their own code system at short notice.

3 Voice Memories

Getting Audio Logs on the Side

The Zelda Notes feature also offers audio logs in the form of Voice Memories.
They're voice clips by Zelda and other characters in the game, telling people about certain locations in the game.
They could provide helpful hints to new players, or immerse diehard fans deeper into the game's lore.

Nintendo also used the app to add audio logs to the game. Kind of. Whenever Link enters certain locations in TotK, the app’s Voice Memories function will let Zelda herself and other characters in the game provide additional insight. For example, if Link checks out Zelda’s Study, she’ll pop up in the lab to let him know what she was researching, etc.

Even if people have visited these locations multiple times in the original Switch ports, these Voice Memories could give them additional tips and hints for progression, lead them to new items, collectibles, or simply get extra lore. It's a simple feature, but it can come in handy for newbies and diehard Zelda fans alike, either by immersing them further in the game or giving them any clues they were missing out on.

2 Better Load Times, Resolution, and Frame Rates

A Last-Gen Game Now Runs in Next-Gen

If players can't or don't want the app, they'll still get a faster, better-looking version of TotK.
When docked, the game will be displayed at 4K with 60+FPS performance.
When undocked, it'll still maintain a steady performance and load faster than on the Switch 1.

Still, while the Nintendo Switch App doesn’t require a Switch Online account to use, not every player wants to mess around with their smartphone while they’re gaming. With TotK, they just want to head into Hyrule and play the game. What can the Switch 2 port on its own provide over its Switch 1 incarnation?

Namely, better performance. When the Switch 2 is docked, and depending on the player’s TV/monitor setup, they can experience Hyrule in 4K with HDR support, and all at a steady 60FPS. Possibly more so depending on how tech-savvy the player is. Even when it’s undocked, players will see all the game’s sights in crisper detail, and quicker too, thanks to its improved load times. It’s a much smoother experience compared to the original game.

1 Save Data Transfer

Turning Old Runs into New Ones

Players should keep a hold of their old Switches as they can transfer their old saves to their new console.
If their Switch 1 is fully updated, they can use the Switch 2 to transfer data across their profiles.
Once their data is downloaded, they can continue where they left off in their last TotK run.

Still, if players got partway through the Switch 1 release, they might not fancy paying $9.99 for a better-looking, better-running reset of their progress. They can’t transfer their old Autobuilds, weapons, items, etc., through the Zelda Notes app as they can only trade items from one Switch 2 User to another. Luckily, they can transfer their old save data to their new console without too much fuss or muss.

So long as their Switch 1 has all the recent updates, players just need to turn their Switch 2 on, head to Data Management, select Transfer Your Save Data, select their Switch 1 Profile, then pick their TotK data. Once it’s downloaded, players will be able to continue where they left off in the new game, complete with access to all of its new features and more. No USB sticks, microSD cards or the like required.

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