With Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition finally set to launch later this week, both hype and skepticism is at an all-time high for Rockstar's anticipated remasters of the classic PlayStation 2 Grand Theft Auto titles. The collection, which will include brand new remasters of Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas, boasts brand new visuals and is being released to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto 3. While fans are excited for the remasters given a very brief trailer revealing the visual enhancements, many are still skeptical given Rockstar's seeming reluctance to reveal them. Now, just days before release, some screenshots have given a brief glimpse at the Nintendo Switch version.
With Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, Rockstar Games is bringing Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas to Nintendo platforms for the very first time, with the games debuting on Nintendo Switch. With this in mind, Nintendo fans are likely very eager to see the games in action, given that some recent third-party releases on Nintendo Switch have seen mixed reception. Given that these are just remasters of PS2 games, there shouldn't be much cause for concern, but since no gameplay has been seen for any versions of the remaster, fans are understandably hesitant to drop money on the Switch version until reviews and gameplay videos drop.
Thankfully, just in time for the Nintendo Switch version's release this coming Thursday, Rockstar Games has finally uploaded select screenshots of the remaster collection's Nintendo Switch version to its website, revealing what seems to be a visually similar yet slightly stripped back version of the upcoming Definitive Edition release. It's important to remember that these screenshots do not provide any glimpse into how these titles will run nor what resolution or frame-rates they will achieve. Rockstar has yet to reveal these details, however it is expected that the Switch versions will run at 720p/30 frames-per-second, at least in handheld mode.
While there is still very little to grasp from these screenshots, what is worth noting is that they do reveal that the Nintendo Switch release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition will sport the brand new, remastered visuals Grove Street Games has reportedly spent over two years polishing, with new character models and lighting. This is important because some Nintendo Switch releases of remastered titles have dropped the "remastered" moniker and been positioned as more traditional ports, such as how Ni No Kuni's 2019 remaster was branded a "remaster" on PS4 and PC, but not on Nintendo Switch.
Despite this information, there is much fans still do not know about the remaster, such as how exactly its controls have changed to resemble Grand Theft Auto 5's, and importantly how much the games' radio stations have been effected, as each subsequent port of past GTA titles have been notorious for removing more and more of the music found in the original PS2 versions.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition releases on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S digitally on November 11th. The physical version will release on December 7th 2021.