Dark Souls 3 Gameplay Funny Moments Nintendo Switch

Getting Dark Souls 3 Funny Moments on Switch

The Switch version of Dark Souls 3 runs at a lower resolution than the other consoles, which actually causes some weird visual glitches that can be pretty funny if you are recording your playthrough. I set out to capture some of these moments for my YouTube channel about six months ago and ran into more problems than I expected. To get the actual funny moments, you need to do a few things in a specific order. First, enable the 720p docked mode from the system settings. The portable mode runs at 540p and the compression from the switch's HDMI output eats too much detail for clean recordings. I spent a whole weekend trying to record in handheld mode before figuring that out. You will want the Switch's built-in capture button for quick clips. Hold the square button on the left Joy-Con for about three seconds to grab the last thirty seconds of gameplay. The issue is that DS3 does not always respond to that trigger cleanly during cutscenes or loading transitions. Sometimes it captures nothing. Sometimes it captures four seconds and calls it thirty. I started using a separate capture card instead of relying on the native button.

For anything beyond quick clips, a cheap HDMI capture card like the Elgato Cam Link or even a fifty dollar USB grabber from Amazon works fine. The footage quality is slightly worse than native switch captures, but you get the full resolution output without the compression artifacts that make enemy models look like they are melting. That melting effect is actually one of the funniest things that happens naturally on this hardware.

The Glitches Worth Capturing

There are specific spots in the game where the framerate drops hard and causes physics-related nonsense. The most reliable one is Anor Londo during boss fights when multiple enemies are alive at once. The game struggles there and you will see characters T-posing or sliding across the ground. It looks intentional in a way that makes it great content. The second spot is the Blood-Soaked Prision area near the large waterfall. If you trigger the enemy encounter while standing on the upper ledge, the game sometimes spawns additional hollows floating in midair before they drop down. I recorded about twelve of those moments in a single afternoon. They happen maybe once every two or three runs through that section, so you need patience rather than a strategy guide. Another thing that comes up a lot is the animation cancel bug. If you are rolling and attack at the exact same frame in certain encounters, your character will do a broken animation that looks like a dance move. It is not consistent enough to repeat on command, but it shows up regularly enough that if you are grinding boss attempts, you will hit it. I ended up losing so many fights because my character would start doing this spin thing right before a boss attack landed.

What Actually Works for Recording

The most practical workflow I found was setting up the switch in docked mode, plugging in a capture card connected to my laptop, and running OBS at 720p 30fps. The reason to stick to 30fps instead of 60 is that DS3 on switch is locked to 30fps anyway, so there is no point in capturing at double the rate. It just makes your files twice as large for no visual difference. I named my project folders by area instead of by date. That saved me hours later when I was trying to find a specific moment. I also started keeping a quick text log on my phone after each session, noting timestamps and what area I was in. When you have fifty hours of footage, trying to scrub through it all is not worth the time. Editing is where most people waste time. I use DaVinci Resolve because it is free and handles the capture card input without any additional drivers on Windows. Export at 720p. Do not export at 1080p just to look clean. Upscaling 720p footage does not improve quality and it just makes uploads take longer. The compression algorithms on YouTube will downgrade it anyway.

The Things That Go Wrong

The biggest problem with capturing DS3 on switch is the thermal throttling. After about forty-five minutes of continuous play, the framerate dips below 20 and stays there until you let the console cool down. This means you cannot rely on marathon recording sessions. I learned that the hard way after a six hour block where only the last hour was actually watchable. Another issue is that certain DLC areas cause more severe graphical issues than the base game. The Ashes of Ariandel has a framerate that drops noticeably in the frozen forest sections, and Ashfall is worse. The snow particle effects combined with the slowdown create weird visual artifacts that are entertaining but also make it harder to see what is happening. I stopped trying to record in those areas because the footage was almost unusable for anything other than comedy clips. There is also the problem of online notifications interrupting your captures. If someone sends you a friend request or a message while you are trying to record a boss fight, the notification overlay can appear right over your capture or corrupt the file. I turned off all notifications in the switch settings and that fixed the issue, but it means you will not see messages until you are done recording.

Is It Worth Doing

It depends on what you are trying to get out of it. The switch version is not the best way to play Dark Souls 3 if graphical fidelity matters to you. The port is serviceable and the mobile mode is convenient for travel, but it will never look as good as the PC or console versions. If you are making content around funny moments though, the lower framerate and resolution actually work in your favor because the glitches are more visible. The real downside is time. You need a lot of playback time to accumulate enough funny moments for a decent video. I averaged maybe two usable clips per hour of gameplay. That means a ten minute compilation video takes roughly five hours of actual play to record. It is manageable if you are patient, but it is not something you can rush. If you want better results faster, the PC version of the game has far more consistent framerates and fewer random glitches, which means you spend less time waiting for things to go wrong and more time actually playing. But then you lose the specific charm of the switch port being visibly struggling in ways that make the footage accidentally hilarious.

My recommendation is to just play the game normally on whatever system you have, keep the capture card running in the background, and let the funny moments happen on their own. You do not need a plan or a checklist. The game will give you the clips if you give it enough time.