Mortal Kombat 1’s widely-panned Nintendo Switch version has just received its first (of hopefully many) major update, bringing with it a number of gameplay and performance benefits along with the inclusion of the Invasions mode, which was missing at launch on Nintendo’s console.
When it launched last month, the Switch version of Mortal Kombat quickly became an internet punching bag thanks to laughably-bad character models devoid of facial animation, missing features, poor performance and egregiously-lengthy load times. It begged the question of why NetherRealm bothered with this version of the game, other than the potential for a bit of added Koin.
The actual patch notes provided by WB Games for the new update on Switch aren’t terribly detailed when it comes to what changes have been made under the hood, but does promise very vague “visual improvements” and “performance improvements,” as listed below:
- Season 1 of Invasions
- Gameplay balance changes
- Leaderboards fixes
- Visual improvements and general bug fixes
- Performance improvements
- Stability fixes
- Localization fixes
Thankfully some players have already spent time with the update and have begun looking at where improvements have been made. The general vibe seems to be that, while it’s still subject to all of the same criticisms as before, the experience has been smoothed out somewhat. Load times into matches look to be slightly better though still awkwardly long, and performance does seem to have been tightened up with less stuttering and fewer crashes.
You can see some of the game in action with the new update on the Nintendo Switch in Madlittlepixel’s video below:
As far as the other versions of Mortal Kombat 1 go, we gave the game a huge 9.5/10 in our review, saying “Mortal Kombat 1 is a joyful reinvention of a series that is continually hitting its stride. A strong and varied roster is bolstered by an ingenious Kameo system that offers up a great degree of player flexibility unlike anything else. While it’s a bit off an odd choice to not have crossplay at launch and the approach to gear is bound to be divisive, Mortal Kombat 1 feels like the most complete Mortal Kombat experience so far. And perhaps even one of the best fighting games I’ve ever played.”
