We’ve seen Xenoblade Chronicles four times now that the Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack and update dropped. It’s a lot, especially since Monolith Soft added something with each additional release to maybe make someone think, “Okay, well, one more time.” While the Switch 2 release of Xenoblade Chronicles isn’t as exciting as the Switch Definitive Edition’s debut, it’s well worth grabbing if you missed one or two of the last releases. As a quick refresher, Xenoblade Chronicles is a tale of the fight between the organic Homs who live on a titan known as the Bionis and the mechanical Mechons from the Mechonis titan. The two beings/landmasses are frozen in an eternal battle. The Mechon have been attacking Homs settlements as of late, with Colony 9 where Shulk lives with Fiora, Dunban, and Reyn being one target. While tragedy strikes, Shulk turns out to be capable of wielding the Monado, a sword that can provide visions of the future and damage the Mechon, and he heads out on a journey to fight back. When the Switch Definitive Edition released, it added an additional epilogue story expansion called Future Connected that followed Melia on a journey with help from Shulk and additional Time Attack missions. I feel like it goes without saying at this point that yes, if you haven’t played Xenoblade Chronicles since the original Wii release, the Switch 2 version of the Definitive Edition is worth it of course for Future Connected alone. The first thing that makes Xenoblade Chronicles worth playing on Switch 2 for a feature unique to this is the performance element. It’s the best way to play it in Handheld mode, which I feel is the ideal way to play the game in general at this point. It is in HD and is at a stable 60fps. (It gets up to 4K when docked.) For reference, on the Switch it was locked at 30fps regardless of how you played and would be 540p in Handheld mode. On the New 3DS, I found it usually managed 30fps for the first half of the game, but could experience major dips later on. It’s a huge difference and immediately noticeable even in the earliest chapters, and I found I really appreciated it most when loading up some saves from around and after the Prison Island and Central Factory segments. Go Ad-Free With Siliconera+View the site with no ads, be able to provide direct feedback about what we cover, and be automatically entered into our monthly PC game giveaway.Join Siliconera+ Screenshots by Siliconera The big deal new addition in Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition on the Switch 2 is the Ether Jet Bike. It’s honestly more handy than I expected. Especially since it comes up early enough in the story to be useful. My earliest save was right at the start of Chapter 4 and the Bionis’ Leg portion, and a prompt actually came up after Shulk and Reyn went out on the quest with Sharla looking for Juju to alert me to the fact the Nopon Engineer was now at the Refugee Camp with the “World-Changing Whatchama jig” quest. Even fast traveling back to the camp and walking near the new character automatically started a conversation, unlike other side quests that require you to speak to an individual, making it basically a mount you can’t miss. And, given the size of the fields in the game, it’s a godsend to get early and have for traversal. As for the Nopon Grand Prix races, they’re fine. It’s a totally serviceable minigame. It’s honestly best for getting Noponstone, since it can really speed up Colony 9 development. I do feel like the Ether Jet usage for faster exploring is where it really shines. But this is a nice bonus for some extra equipment and items. The Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition Switch 2 version does feel like a valuable update. However, this is a situation where how much you get out of it does depend on when and if you played the game before. If you revisited the game recently on the Switch, you’d probably be okay passing on it. Especially if you already played it on another platform before that. If you never played the game before or haven’t since the Wii or New 3DS, then this is the one to catch up with. Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition is available for the Switch and Switch 2, and there’s also the original version on the Wii and 3D release on the New 3DS. We may earn a commission if you purchase from certain links. Learn more here.