Optimizing a 2D Godot Game for the Nintendo Switch. My first-hand experience

📰 New article from Wololo.net

Optimizing a 2D Godot Game for the Nintendo Switch. My first-hand experience

https://wololo.net/2026/01/21/optimizing-a-2d-godot-game-for-the-nintendo-switch-my-first-hand-experience/

Your 2D Godot Game Runs at 10 FPS on Switch? Here’s How I Fixed It (Without a Time Machine)

So you built a slick 2D card game in Godot, proudly tested it on your beefy PC… only to watch it crawl at 10 FPS on the Nintendo Switch? Welcome to the club. Spoiler: It’s not the Switch’s fault—it’s you (and your overzealous Node tree).

The fix? Start dumb-simple. Lower resolution to 720p. Yes, really. Your gorgeous 1080p art? Cute. But the Switch doesn’t care—just like your roommate doesn’t care if you “have to” use 12 napkins. Dropping resolution gave me +7–10 FPS instantly.

Then: Stop making things over and over. Caching card data? Done. Reusing card nodes instead of spawning new ones every time? Genius. I now treat Nodes like expensive takeout—you don’t order a new one if you’ve got leftovers in the fridge.

And _process()? It’s not your best friend. If it’s not moving, animating, or reacting to input—get it out. Cache results. Use signals. Or just… wait 2 frames to check if anything changed. (Shhh, nobody’s watching.)

Also: Delete unused Nodes from the scene tree. Seriously. If a card’s face-down in your deck, do you need 20 child nodes calculating its aura? No. Just hide it. Or delete it. Cache the blueprint, not the full ensemble.

Final pro tip? Lazy load. If startup feels like a slow-loading menu screen, pre-load assets in the background. Make it feel fast—even if it’s not.

Result? 20–25 FPS. Not perfect. But playable. And hey—if your game’s fun, nobody’s gonna notice the lag… until you tell them.

(And if they do? Just say “it’s a feature.”)