Yoshi and the Mysterious Book could be Nintendo Switch 2’s first real Unreal Engine 5 test

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is shaping up to be an important release for Nintendo Switch 2, not only because it is a new first party Nintendo game, but because it appears to be built on Unreal Engine 5. That makes it a rare test of how well Nintendo’s new hardware can handle one of today’s most demanding game engines.

The Unreal Engine logo was spotted on the game’s Japanese box art, which suggests Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is powered by Epic’s newer engine. Nintendo has used Unreal Engine before, including for games such as Yoshi’s Crafted World, Princess Peach: Showtime!, and Pikmin 4, but those were tied to Unreal Engine 4. Moving to Unreal Engine 5 is a much bigger step.

Unreal Engine 5 is known for features such as Lumen and Nanite, but those systems can be heavy even on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. That is why there has been doubt around how well Nintendo Switch 2 can handle UE5 games, especially with concerns about CPU limits and overall performance.

Early Switch 2 releases have already shown some of those limits. Games such as Fortnite, Cronos: The New Dawn, and Split Fiction can run on the system, but they do not appear to use the full set of Unreal Engine 5’s most demanding features. That has left many players wondering whether Switch 2 can handle UE5 well enough for future games.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book could help answer that question.

Nintendo first party games are usually built with strong performance targets. If Yoshi and the Mysterious Book runs smoothly on Switch 2, it could show that Unreal Engine 5 can work well on the system when it is carefully optimized.

That does not mean every UE5 game will suddenly run perfectly on Switch 2. Large open world games, realistic lighting, and heavy effects will still depend on how each studio uses the engine. But Nintendo’s work on Yoshi could give other developers useful lessons for bringing UE5 projects to the platform.

Epic is also continuing to improve Unreal Engine 5. Newer systems such as Lumen Irradiance Cache may help lower the performance cost of advanced lighting over time. That could make Switch 2 support stronger as both the hardware tools and engine features mature.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book may look like a colorful platform adventure on the surface, but it could become an important technical moment for Nintendo’s new console. If the game delivers the smooth performance expected from Nintendo while using Unreal Engine 5, it may reduce some doubts about Switch 2’s future with third party and first party UE5 games.