It seems the latest update for The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, which added a new VR mode, has also improved the game’s loading times.
Earlier this week the game received an update which added support for Labo VR. It seems this update has improved the game’s performance. As first spotted by Polygon, Alexis de Champris, a speedrunner, Tweeted evidence of the faster loading times on Friday.
As an example, de Champris shared video clips of loading into and out of shrines.
Before the update, exiting a shrine took about 17 seconds and now, after the update, it only takes about 12 seconds. The time to enter a shrine also decreased, going from 13 seconds to 10 seconds.
These tests were done using a cartridge copy of the game, not a digital copy. This update brings the Switch and WiiU load times closer. Before this update, the WiiU was faster, with loading and restarting on WiiU taking less time than on the Switch. This made it the preferred console for many Zelda speedrunners. This new update might make it more viable console to speedrun Breath Of The Wild on Switch.
According to some data miners and modders and as reported by Gearnuke, it seems a recent Switch update has added a “Boost Mode.” This isn’t in the official Switch firmware 8.0 patch notes and isn’t officially confirmed by Nintendo, but some users digging into the data on the Switch after the update believe this boost mode is how the game is loading faster.
According to a user on the GBAtemp forums, they believe Super Mario Odyssey, which was also recently updated, is now loading faster too.
It should be noted, this rumored boost mode and even the improved loading speeds aren’t confirmed officially by Nintendo. But it does seem like some Switch games are loading faster and possibly more games will see similar improvements.