The Nintendo Switch 2 and its potentially imminent announcement have dominated gaming discourse for well over a year. While certain folks are naturally excited about Nintendo’s next system, I wasn’t one of them. Don’t get me wrong, the NES and SNES rank among my favorite gaming consoles, and I respect what the company has done for gaming as a whole. However, I’m not the biggest fan of Nintendo's first-party games or the hardware those titles run on.
I bought the original Nintendo Switch at launch and barely touched it. I played almost exclusively in docked mode since I found the actual handheld uncomfortable to hold. And while games I loved like Super Mario Odyssey and Metroid Dread looked decent enough on my old 1080p TV, every game looked atrocious when I upgraded to the LG CX OLED 4K. The Marseille MClassic graphics enhancer peripheral helped make the games look better, but the experience wasn’t great.
Given that, I had no true interest in the Nintendo Switch 2. However, after the console’s motherboard allegedly leaked on Reddit, I’m having a change of heart. Though the Switch’s reported specs won’t allow it to play games with the same graphical fidelity and performance as they would on a PS5, it could have a game-changer feature that might make me consider buying Nintendo’s system.
That DLSS magic
Based on images of the alleged Nintendo Switch 2 motherboard, the Switch 2 will utilize an Nvidia SoC (system on a chip). The chip in question is built on Samsung Foundry’s 8nm process — which is the same as Nvidia Ampere. This chip focuses on improved ray tracing cores, faster memory and AI performance. With an Ampere chip and a reported 12GB of RAM, the Switch 2 could employ Nintendo’s take on DLSS or Nvidia’s upscaling technology.
Recently, Nintendo filed a patent detailing a trained neural network that can upscale a 540p image to 1080p or a 720p image to 4K. This would be the equivalent of DLSS 2.0 Performance mode and Ultra Performance mode, respectively. Based on the patent, it appears that upscaling features are off by default when the handheld is running on battery and activated when connected to power. The patent suggests you can enable this tech when the Switch 2 is undocked, though that’ll certainly drain battery life.
We can’t say this will happen right away. After all, companies file patents all the time to make sure competitors don’t beat them to the punch. However, putting the pieces together, it’s not unreasonable to believe the Switch 2 could feature upscaling tech that would help its games look sharp on 4K TV when the system is docked. This would certainly get skeptical folks like me to at least consider getting the Switch 2. Sure, graphics aren’t everything, but they’re still important.
Nintendo confirmed Switch 2 will be backward compatible. If the system employs some form of AI-powered upscaling and frame-boosting, it makes me wonder if older Switch games will automatically get a graphical boost. Yes, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel have a unique art style, but it’s hard to appreciate that due to the low resolution and spotty performance. If original Switch games get a graphical and performance boost on Switch 2, it’d be hard for me to dismiss the console.
Outlook
The Nintendo Switch 2 hasn’t been officially released, so we have to take everything we’ve heard about it with a healthy dose of skepticism. However, if Nintendo’s upcoming system does indeed feature a form of DLSS technology, it should be more appealing to folks who aren’t die-hard Nintendo fans.
Hopefully, Nintendo can deliver a machine that looks good on modern TVs and monitors. If so, sign me up!
