Here's What “Zelda: Breath of the Wild” Looks like in 4K

Megalith

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About 100 years from now, Nintendo will make a console that can actually run a Zelda game in 4K, but until then, fans will have to resort to emulation to get a sense of what their franchises could actually look like in the current year. As expected, the framerate is terrible in a lot of spots, but it’s interesting to see Hyrule in a higher resolution, especially if you are like me and haven’t really watched much of the other gameplay footage.

…considering that the game only came out last week, that's a stunning turnaround time for a jump to a PC emulator. And considering that the team behind Cemu managed to get Xenoblade Chronicles X working fine on PCs even with 4K resolution, it may only be a matter of months before PC players can (admittedly illegitimately) enjoy the latest Zelda game in its full glory. "The goal is to get every game running 100% eventually," Exzap said our interview earlier in the week. "How we get there and how long it will take is difficult to answer. But in regards to [Breath of the Wild], I think we will see small incremental improvements in almost every future Cemu release. It's been this way for most other games so far."
 
This is Based on the WII-U version... which has had a emulator for a bit now.

This is not a new SWITCH emulator.
That would be cool although, if it WAS a switch emulator that also ran on my Nvidia Shield TV.... Hint... HINT... HINT...
 
Hmm. Either buy it on wii u and play at 20fps, buy the switch and play at 720p and 30fps or wait a bit and play it at proper resolutions and framerates... Hmmm...
 
Why is Link constantly sinking into the ground? Is that how it is in the normal game?
 
The CEMU team is spitting out new builds quickly. The latest one runs locked 30fps in areas even the Switch has issues with.

Why is Link constantly sinking into the ground? Is that how it is in the normal game?

The physics engine is still being worked on emulating; same with the grass.
 
Why is Link constantly sinking into the ground? Is that how it is in the normal game?
CEMU was just recently patched to allow this game to run, so there's going to be some bugs. If fact you can't even download 1.7.3 without donating, or waiting until the 18th. That's how recently they got the game working on CEMU.
 
why hasn't nintendo sued someone yet?

They obviously don't care.

If they cared enough they'd have had their entire
catalog of pre Wii U games playable on current systems.

However this... might tick them off a little. They're messing
with their new baby.
 
why hasn't nintendo sued someone yet?
Believe it or not, emulators aren't illegal. I know, crazy right? Both Sony and Nintendo have taken people to court and lost. Remember Bleed! and Connectix VGS? Both times Sony had lost against those emulators.

The only thing illegal are how you get the roms, and for the Wii U it's perfectly legal to extract the rom from the game discs to your PC. Plenty of tutorials on how to hack your Wii U and then backup games to your PC.
 
They obviously don't care.

If they cared enough they'd have had their entire
catalog of pre Wii U games playable on current systems.

However this... might tick them off a little. They're messing
with their new baby.
Cause this is the first time a Zelda game was playable on PC through an emulator just as the game was released. Nope, never. happened before.

Except when UltraHLE was released which allowed PC gamers to play Zelda Ocarina of Time. Dolphin did this for Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword. Twilight Princess was also released on GC and the Wii, at the same time. So how's Breath of the Wild any different?
 
Hmm. Either buy it on wii u and play at 20fps, buy the switch and play at 720p and 30fps or wait a bit and play it at proper resolutions and framerates... Hmmm...
Wii U has the same frame rate issues as the switch. It is just lower res and a couple bells and whistles disabled.
 
They obviously don't care.
Oh they care. Afterall, they pressed legal action to have a fan-made Metroid 2 remake pulled down a while ago and like to claim ownership of any fair use showing of their games on Youtube, but the genie's out of the bottle already on emulators. It's almost as though they should get out of the hardware market and just focus on games.
 
They obviously don't care.

If they cared enough they'd have had their entire
catalog of pre Wii U games playable on current systems.

However this... might tick them off a little. They're messing
with their new baby.
Oh they care a great deal. Nintendo is very protective of their IPs. They just have no legal standing on emulators. The group doesn't offer any images of games to run on the emulator. Then again could Nintendo go after them for circumventing their copy protections to run games on unauthorized systems?
 
"Stay off the moors!!"

Found it kinda strange that Link keep sinking into the ground when he stopped.
Isn't this game out already?
 
They've emulated a game that's been out for a week, it's super buggy.
 
Believe it or not, emulators aren't illegal. I know, crazy right? Both Sony and Nintendo have taken people to court and lost. Remember Bleed! and Connectix VGS? Both times Sony had lost against those emulators...
Yes, I remember Bleed! You could not hold the disc by the edges or else a trip to the emergency room. Yes, VGS and Bleem! were great emulators written by very experienced and talented people. :)
 
Hmm. Either buy it on wii u and play at 20fps, buy the switch and play at 720p and 30fps or wait a bit and play it at proper resolutions and framerates... Hmmm...

Both system drop and max out the same.

Wii U has the same frame rate issues as the switch. It is just lower res and a couple bells and whistles disabled.

Which honestly, I watched a gameplay video in 1080p from the game on the Switch of the first 1.5 hours or so of the game. A week later I bought the game for the Wii U and borrowed the console from my nephews. Even though I have watched gameplay from the game on the Switch. I really don't notice much of a different or have any issue playing it on the Wii U. The Switch is a little sharper, but when playing the game I honestly haven't found myself thinking anything other than this looks like a Nintendo game. If I have to look closely to find a difference than isn't really that major in my opinion.
 
Believe it or not, emulators aren't illegal. I know, crazy right? Both Sony and Nintendo have taken people to court and lost. Remember Bleed! and Connectix VGS? Both times Sony had lost against those emulators.

The only thing illegal are how you get the roms, and for the Wii U it's perfectly legal to extract the rom from the game discs to your PC. Plenty of tutorials on how to hack your Wii U and then backup games to your PC.

But lets be perfectly honest here, a fair majority of the people using emulators aren't doing to play legally acquired copies of games.

That's 4k. It looks like 720p. It's gross and flat.

I kind of had the same thought, the issue is the graphics of the game were not made to scale very well. So since it was made to look "cartoony" to a degree it will only ever improve to a certain point. you might get some smoother lines but you can't make things look better since everything was designed with that flat look. Its like watching the Simpson in 4K and expecting it to look different.
 
Great games are rare. Spend the god damned money to support companies that make them.
Your post history speaks volumes. If this emulator wasn't making such progress, I would not be interested in purchasing Wii U games at all.

That's 4k. It looks like 720p. It's gross and flat.
It is a work in progress and the game is barely running. I doubt the visuals are complete or accurate. Once this emulator reaches maturity, the frame rate benefits alone will make it worthwhile.
 
I just started getting into CEMU right before Zelda came out. It's pretty impressive what they have done with these games. I wouldn't say any of them run "perfectly" but they are pretty darn close, and definitely playable in a lot of cases.

No doubt BOTW will also run well in time.

Plus, as was pointed out by the OP, the graphics can look WAY, WAY better on PC. You can also use stuff like Reshade to make them look even better.
 
Most of the vegetation and lighting is missing in that video. Kills the immersion.
Again they've just started on emulating it. Go watch some Switch videos to see what
it actually looks like.
 
Better than the original Xbox. That's been out over 15 years and that still can't be emulated.
I think nobody tries cause there's no real interest in the original Xbox. On the other hand there's a working 360 emulator. Probably cause the 360 has games that aren't on PC.

I do remember hearing someone working on a Xbox emulator.
 
Both system drop and max out the same.



Which honestly, I watched a gameplay video in 1080p from the game on the Switch of the first 1.5 hours or so of the game. A week later I bought the game for the Wii U and borrowed the console from my nephews. Even though I have watched gameplay from the game on the Switch. I really don't notice much of a different or have any issue playing it on the Wii U. The Switch is a little sharper, but when playing the game I honestly haven't found myself thinking anything other than this looks like a Nintendo game. If I have to look closely to find a difference than isn't really that major in my opinion.
You do have to look real close to see the difference. I wouldn't tell much difference with out the digital foundation comparisons.
 
I think nobody tries cause there's no real interest in the original Xbox. On the other hand there's a working 360 emulator. Probably cause the 360 has games that aren't on PC.

I do remember hearing someone working on a Xbox emulator.
I think "working" is pretty generous for both the Xbox 360 and PS3. "Proof of concept" would be far closer. The point is, having a game this close to functionality one week after release is basically unheard of in the world of emulation and other modern systems can take over a decade to get working right. The developers are lucky in that the Switch shares enough code with the Wii.
 
Great games are rare. Spend the god damned money to support companies that make them.

can't you just buy the game and forego the crappy hardware?

due to Nintendo's short shortsightedness or their patented artificial scarcity i can't just go to the store and buy a switch but i can buy software.
 
Believe it or not, emulators aren't illegal. I know, crazy right? Both Sony and Nintendo have taken people to court and lost. Remember Bleed! and Connectix VGS? Both times Sony had lost against those emulators.

The only thing illegal are how you get the roms, and for the Wii U it's perfectly legal to extract the rom from the game discs to your PC. Plenty of tutorials on how to hack your Wii U and then backup games to your PC.

So, you need the console to extract the game to pc? I googled... and looked on cemu faq.. nothing i could find. Rededit was no go either. I dont mind buying the game, then extracting from the disk... but not worth my time if i need the console to extract the rom/iso
 
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It is a work in progress and the game is barely running. I doubt the visuals are complete or accurate. Once this emulator reaches maturity, the frame rate benefits alone will make it worthwhile.

Then don't come out and say it's 4k as if that's special, then. Saying a game is running as 4k, and enough for a headline, usually prefaces a video or images of amazing quality and some awe inspiring.

If your video looks like washed out garbage, I don't care WHAT resolution you are running. At this point it's a hype train with no stops.
 
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It's a hell of a lot sharper using CEMU than it is on the Wii U (720p) or Switch (1080p).

Clearly, there are still issues with lighting / shadows / grass / etc, but that's to be expected given that the game's only been out for a week.
 
Then don't come out and say it's 4k as if that's special, then. Saying a game is running as 4k, and enough for a headline, usually prefaces a video or images of amazing quality and some awe inspiring.

If your video looks like washed out garbage, I don't care WHAT resolution you are running. At this point it's a hype train with no stops.

This describes any news story Megalith has ever posted.
 
I absolutely cannot stand the yellow haze this game has. It's present on the switch also and nothing is really clear. Looks as if someone took a piss on this game. Nintendo has really messed up trying to have a console and portability in one system.
 
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It's a hell of a lot sharper using CEMU than it is on the Wii U (720p) or Switch (1080p).

Clearly, there are still issues with lighting / shadows / grass / etc, but that's to be expected given that the game's only been out for a week.

No, it looks pretty much the same. The console versions have some form of grass. CEMU merely has a different stone texture what what looks like green algae smeared on the ground for grass. All thee are equally bad.
 
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