Pokemon Legends: Z-A viral video reveals 'inexcusable' Switch 1 performance

A video has gone viral of what one social media user describes as an example of "inexcusable" original Nintendo Switch performance of Pokemon Legends: Z-A.

X / Twitter user @ThatMetroidGuy shared a video of their trainer running through Lumiose City with textures popping in frequently and the buildings themselves not rendering properly to show the level of detail they should.

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The trainer then completely fell through the map before the game was essentially reset and it seems the trainer then respawned.

At the time of writing, the video has more than seven million views and loads of comments.

To note, @ThatMetroidGuy showed they ran the game on the original Switch and not an emulator. The user also added: "It's the only considerable bug I've experienced. Genuinely apart from this I haven't had any issues."

Some users quoted the Tweet and said they had not encountered any issues running Pokemon Legends: Z-A on their original Switch consoles.

However a number of others took aim at it, saying it's not good that this kind of thing is happening at all, even though it only seems to be an isolated case.

A number of comparison videos shared by publications and content creators alike appear to show the original Switch version of the game running as it should at a stable 1080p at 30 fps (frames per second) when docked and around the 800p mark in handheld.

A video has gone viral of Pokemon Legends: Z-A not performing to expectations on the original Nintendo Switch console / Screenshot from Game Freak, The Pokemon Company & Nintendo

indy100 has been hands-on with the Switch 2 edition of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, not the original Switch version, and this is what we've had to say about its performance so far.

Some of the textures up close look pretty bad. They're blurry, lacking detail and appear to be a bit of an afterthought it feels.

In 2025, on new Nintendo Switch 2 hardware especially, that doesn't really cut it, especially with how much discourse there has previously been among gamers about Pokemon titles not keeping up with modern expectations in that regard.

Having said that, aside from some of the textures the game, on the whole it does look good at 2160p and 60fps when docked and at the same refresh rate at 1080p in handheld mode.

indy100 has contacted Nintendo for comment about the viral video.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Pokemon Legends: Z-A 'legendary NPC dialogue' trend is flooding the internet
• 'A horror game' - Pokemon Legends: Z-A viral moment is everyone's worst nightmare

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