NINTENDO Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Mac port hits 90 fps, beating Switch 2 and PC rivals AMD Lenovo Legion 27Q-20 monitor launches in China for around $171 with 320Hz refresh rate GAMES CarX Rally Teaser Reveals Advanced PC Damage Physics and Two-Wheel Driving GAMES Starward Industries reveals Into the Fire gameplay trailer, targets 2026 early access GAMES Escape from Tarkov celebrates 12th anniversary with free consumable gift pack STEAM Unplayable Five Nights at Freddy’s clone Wane’s removed from Steam, given away for free GAMES Zenless Zone Zero 3.3 update adds Phoenix, an S-rank character with a resurrection passive STEAM Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy Teaser Reveals Psyker and Astra Militarum Origins STEAM American Truck Simulator expansion adds British Columbia, seven cities and RCMP stations GAMES AI agents turn single-player games into co-op multiplayer with new tool Co-op Anything GAMES Hacker voices38 cracks Denuvo DRM in SEGA’s Demon Slayer games STEAM Vasya Run demo released on Steam with parkour visuals reportedly better than Assassin’s Creed Mirage GAME PERFORMANCE AI modder boosts The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered FPS by 40% using Claude STEAM Outlast playtesters ran out of the studio to cry and quit after four days

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Mac port hits 90 fps, beating Switch 2 and PC rivals

NicoGG 0 comments 3 min read

A native Mac port of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hits 90 fps on M4 Macs, outperforming Switch 2 and PC rivals. See how the MacNativeGames project delivers smoother gameplay.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Mac port hits 90 fps, beating Switch 2 and PC rivals
GAME PERFORMANCE

A native mac port of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is now seeing higher frame rates than even the upcoming Switch 2 and current pc compilation attempts. This is important as it provides a high performance alternative for mac users that want to play the game without a console. The game achieves 90 fps during gameplay and 120 fps in menus on M4 macs with the MacNativeGames project. This gives MacBooks Air M4, Mac mini M4 buyers the ability to play the game with much smoother performance compared to earlier ports.

Native Mac build outperforms Switch 2 and PC compilation with 90 fps gameplay

The project takes advantage of Metal 4 API from apple and MetalFX upscaling to achieve these results. MacNativeGames is designed specifically for ARM64 processors which enables efficient native execution. This is not emulation, its taking advantage of the hardware. Stability and consistent frame rates across the M4 models has been a focus for the team behind the port.

  • Mac Performance: 90 fps gameplay, 120 fps menus on MacBook Air M4 and Mac mini M4
  • PC Performance: 32-59 fps on RTX 4060 Ti
  • Resolution: 1440p
  • Controller Support: PlayStation and Xbox controllers
  • API/Technology: Metal 4 API, MetalFX upscaling

1440p is the expected resolution output for users testing the port. PlayStation and Xbox controller support is available for input. The installation is complicated and involves using commands in Xcode. Users need to supply their own Switch ROMs in XCI or NSP format to play the game.

The PC compilation of NotRexed on Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti was only able to achieve 32-59 fps. The visuals were fluctuating on the PC build with continued optimization efforts. Right now, the mac port is the winner when it comes to frame rate stability over the PC competitor. ARM64 processor focus provides impressive frame rates for native gameplay.

An article author states, "There are more ways to play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom without a Switch or Switch 2 console than ever. If you're a follower, maybe you're thinking a PC will give you the best performance, but it's a mac port that's currently leading the charge." This confirms where we are with the performance of the Mac vs PC community builds.

The MacNativeGames is a native compilation of the game for Apple Silicon that achieves 90 fps gameplay, 120 fps in menus on M4 based macs. The game has Metal 4 API and MetalFX upscaling. Users need to provide their own ROMs and go through a complicated installation. This shows the potential for smoother graphics on ARM64 processors.

Source: Zelda, NotebookCheck

Nintendo NVIDIA

Related stories

Discussion

0 comments

Leave a comment