Final Fantasy 7 Remake dev on challenges of developing for Nintendo Switch 2’s handheld mode

Naoki Hamaguchi, director of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, has spoken about what it’s been like working with Nintendo Switch 2 and the challenges of developing games for the system while accounting for handheld mode.

Just like Nintendo’s previous system, teams have a bit more power to work with when the system is docked. In portable mode, things need to be scaled back a bit – and there’s also the factory of battery life to account for. Hamaguchi said Square Enix (and other developers) need to think about “how you can get a version in handheld mode that doesn’t look inferior and stands up to the home console versions on other platforms.”

One especially notable tidbit from the interview is that Square Enix redid the entire rendering pipeline for Final Fantasy 7 Intergrade in bringing the game to Nintendo Switch 2. Doing so “has a massive effect on the final product and has gotten to the point where the Switch 2 version isn’t an inferior experience.”

Hamaguchi noted in a recent interview with Press-Start:

“As a creator and as a gamer, I really do like the Switch 2 as a platform. I think it’s got a lot of potential, but you’ve got to understand what kind of platform it is and the way Nintendo has made it – especially for the handheld mode. A lot of the difficulty comes from battery consumption and how much power you can actually use for various functions while you’re in handheld mode. While it’s docked, you can treat it like any other home console, but the specs are lowered for the handheld mode.

A lot of other companies have had to solve this puzzle as well. Trying to see how you can get a version in handheld mode that doesn’t look inferior and stands up to the home console versions on other platforms. One thing we put a lot of effort into was actually recreating the whole rendering pipeline for the game that was optimized for Switch 2 hardware. It was a lot of work, but I think it has a massive effect on the final product and has gotten to the point where the Switch 2 version isn’t an inferior experience.”

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade will be out for Nintendo Switch 2 on January 22, 2026. Hamaguchi recently said he believes Square Enix’s game will be one of the system’s best ports – read his full comments here.