Sharper image
If you are like me playing the Switch after experiencing the super sharp image quality of Series X and PlayStation 5 can be difficult. The blurry images can really bring down the experience of some games. While I am not all about the visual aspect, it does enhance the experience when things are crisp. When I first heard about the mClassic online I was skeptical. Graphics enhancers are not uncommon, but they rarely work like ‘magic’ as advertised. After spending some time with Marseille’s device though I am a believer, and if you are like me and want to give your Switch some new life, I strongly recommend picking one of these up.
Getting started is straightforward. The mClassic is a dongle that goes between the console and the TV. By plugging the HDMI into it, it acts as a bridge. The unit does require a USB power supply, which thankfully the Nintendo Switch has, I was able to get it setup with little effort. There is a toggle switch on the side of the unit that allowed me to switch between no enhancement, upscaling, and a retro mode which is used for retro games that use 4:3. The toggle is nice because I was able to see the results in real time. Just load up a game and toggle back and forth between scaling and no scaling. The difference was immediately obvious.
I tested a gamut of titles to see the difference and each one felt new. Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, and even newer titles such as Bowser’s Fury just popped. Sure, it isn’t going to improve frame rates or scale these games to 4K sharpness, but the difference is immediately noticeable. Color correction is also done by the unit, so it popped new colors right off the screen. It sounds ridiculous, but it felt like a true enhancement to existing titles. I was really impressed at how much better my Switch games looked on my 4K set as opposed to a straight HDMI connection.
MSRP: $99.99
Price I’d Pay: $99.99
Video games are not the only benefactor though. I ran some tests with display on a few other things as well. 1080p signals from a PC also received a benefit. Text is much cleaner and legible. This is good for when you are casting your PC to the TV. Older media such as DVDs and lower resolution video also receive enhancements. I ended up setting up an HDMI switch to my TV that uses the mClassic as a bridge and hooked only older content up to it. The results were impressive across the board. Playing older PSOne or N64 games looked great. However, straight 2D titles don’t receive much of an improvement outside of more readable text.
There are a few downsides to the device. For one it is very bulky. It takes some space, especially considering there are multiple wires coming off it. It does come with an HDMI extender if you are only using it for the Switch, since plugging it directly into it would be a true pain. The fact that it requires external power can also pose issues if you don’t have one near the device. The switch for toggling the effects is also finicky. I often felt like I was going to break it when switching between modes. I also wish it had some sort of menu I could use to tweak some of the settings instead of just a toggle.
Even with these setbacks the device is more than worth the price of admission if you are like me and tired of seeing the blurry results of the Switch next to more powerful machines. It really does breathe new life into the consoles as well as older machines as well. The price tag might scare you, but the results are hard to ignore. This piece of tech gave my Switch new life and I am enjoying my games a lot more than I was just weeks ago. Definitely recommended if you have a larger 4K TV and want to inject some life into those games.
Review copy of hardware provided by publisher.
