Capcom says porting Monster Hunter Wilds to Switch 2 was a “painstaking and at times seemingly endless process.” The company’s producer, Genki Sunano, told Kotaku that rebuilding the game from scratch for Nintendo’s handheld was far harder than simply scaling it down.
The Switch 2 version of Monster Hunter Wilds is not a scaled-down port. Capcom rebuilt it from the ground up, according to Sunano. That means reworking assets, shaders, and underlying processing one by one, rather than just shrinking the game to fit a smaller screen.
What Sunano Said About The Port
Sunano framed the project as a complete remake, not a downgrade. “The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Monster Hunter Wilds was developed around the concept of delivering a natural Monster Hunter Wilds experience on Nintendo Switch 2,” he said. “We didn’t want it to feel like a simple port, where the graphics or performance had merely been scaled down to make the game run on Nintendo Switch 2.”
His goal was to keep the Wilds experience whole. “Instead, our goal was to bring the Wilds experience to Nintendo Switch 2 without compromising the experience of Monster Hunter Wilds,” he added.
The performance target is a stable 30 frames per second in handheld mode, even during four-player multiplayer hunts.
The Assets Behind The Process
The work involved evaluating every asset and piece of underlying processing in the game. Sunano described the process as a series of individual decisions and optimizations, made one at a time.
“We had to carefully evaluate the assets and underlying processing behind each one, determining what needed to be preserved and what could be adjusted without changing the overall experience,” he said.
One example was rebuilding certain assets and shaders from scratch. The team is designing “more efficient implementations” while trying to keep the game’s original look intact. The aim is to give players on Switch 2 the same quality experience as those on other platforms.
When the team modified visual-effect assets, they made sure the new versions still lined up with existing hitboxes and collision detection.
Where The Team Spent Its Resources
Sunano said the team focused its resources on areas that directly affect the gameplay experience. At the same time, they looked again at parts they had already considered sufficiently optimized for home-console hardware.
“To make the game run on handheld hardware, we reassessed every aspect of these areas and replaced certain visual techniques and internal processing with more efficient solutions,” he said.
The knowledge gained from this project will not sit idle. Capcom plans to apply it to performance improvements for existing platforms in the lead-up to the release of Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance.
What This Means For Players
The takeaway is that Capcom treated this port as a new build, not a second-class version. The game is packed with elements, and each one had to be weighed for what could stay and what could go.
The result, if Capcom delivers on its claims, is a Switch 2 version that feels like the full Wilds. No compromises on the hunt itself, just a different set of tools under the hood.
The proof will come when the game launches on December 4. Until then, Sunano’s words describe a process that sounds exhausting — and impressive.
The Steps In The Port’s Development
- Evaluate every asset and piece of underlying processing in the game.
- Determine what needed to be preserved and what could be adjusted.
- Rebuild certain assets and shaders from scratch.
- Modify visual-effect assets while keeping hitboxes and collision detection in line.
- Replace visual techniques and internal processing with more efficient solutions.
- Apply the knowledge to future performance improvements for existing platforms.
Sunano said the performance target for Monster Hunter Wilds on Switch 2 is for it to run at a stable 30 FPS in handheld mode, even during four-player multiplayer hunts. He also noted that the game features a big open world, tons of bespoke action animations, and seamless online multiplayer for big boss fights.
Capcom’s admission of the difficulty is notable on its own terms. The company is setting a high bar for itself, and whether it clears it remains to be seen.
Source material: “Capcom Says Porting Monster Hunter Wilds To Switch 2 Was A ‘Painstaking And At Times Seemingly Endless Process’,” Kotaku.
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