At the outset of the Nintendo Switch 2 launch, our tests of backwards-compatible Switch 1 games turned in some rather interesting results - perhaps none more so than Batman: Arkham Knight. This 2023 port of the beleaguered 2015 original was an unmitigated disaster on Switch 1, and default Switch 2 performance confirmed a best-case scenario of unpatched software being able to tap into additional horsepower via Nintendo's translation layer.

The result was a far firmer lock to a 30fps frame-rate - albeit with a new issue of stuttering animations during open-world Batmobile sequences - but owners were still left with rampant aliasing, downgraded geometry and textures and other visual blemishes leftover from the Switch 1 codebase.

Our ears perked up, then, upon hearing this week's news that the Switch 1 version had received a patch with the following description:

  • Additional stability improvements for Batman: Arkham Knight on Nintendo Switch.
  • Additional stability improvements when playing Batman: Arkham Knight on Nintendo Switch 2 through backwards compatibility.
  • Additional performance and visual improvements when playing the game undocked on Nintendo Switch 2 through backwards compatibility.

Only one of those bullet points mentions performance, so we installed the Arkham Knight update to see exactly what had changed. WB Games has indeed implemented a patch that taps into Switch 2 backwards compatibility - but only for the console's portable mode.

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Arkham Knight's latest Switch 2 patch, with zoomed-in capture of the same scene in portable mode versus docked mode.

Our pixel-counting process has confirmed that the game's portable mode resolution is now upgraded from its Switch 1 540p count to 720p on Switch 2 while otherwise not updating its anti-aliasing methodology or any other visual settings. In docked mode, Arkham Knight still runs at 810p, and when we put Switch 2's portable and docked modes side-by-side, we can only faintly detect a difference, owing to how close those resolution counts now are - especially since 720p on a smaller screen can look convincing enough in motion.

If you already own Arkham Knight, the resulting boost to its presentation in Switch 2 portable mode is welcome. But additional, bespoke effort could make the port actually worth recommending as a fresh Switch 2 purchase.

It's unclear why WB Games elected to only update the maximum resolution on Switch 2's portable mode. The patching process arguably would have opened up access to Switch 2-specific docked mode resolution, as well, and perhaps the game's dated Unreal Engine 3 lineage exhibited some kind of performance-reducing or game-crashing behaviour. Arkham Knight is already famous for having progression-halting crashes and bugs, and this week's patch is actually Arkham Knight's second on Switch 2 in the past seven weeks to address those.

While we can't be sure, we hope that WB Games' refreshed attention to the Switch 2 version is a sign of life for a bigger Switch 2 optimisation pass to come - ignoring any impending corporate-merger-related doom, at any rate. Arkham Knight has enjoyed an increasingly warm reception by way of hindsight and arguably deserves redemption in the form of a Switch 2-specific update to anti-aliasing, geometry and other tweaks. Really and truly, there's no reason why the new Nintendo hybrid shouldn't be able to match the original PS4 release.

Even a mild DLSS touch-up could do wonders for the ten-year-old game's visual character - especially since we've seen recent Switch 2 ports successfully balance subtle DLSS implementations with ample frame-time budgets. We'll continue keeping an eye on Arkham Knight on Switch 2, as it alongside the likes of Witcher 3 remains one of our most compelling backwards-compatibility testing games on the 2025 console.