Nintendo has released an updated patent for the handheld, suggesting that the Switch 2 will feature upscaling technology.
Many Switch 2 launch titles will appear on Nintendo’s new game-key cards, which look like real cartridges but contain no software – how consumers will respond to them remains to be seen.
I'm not surprised given how much cheaper it will be for devs to go this route. The only bonus to this type of game vs last gen is the card can be sold or re-used on different hardware. The codes in boxes from Switch 1 titles were even worse because they were restricted to a single account.
that being said, I wish devs wouldn't do this. Seeing games like Indiana Jones coming on a disc and being a partial game is also pretty dumb. Wish devs wouldn't be so lazy, we never used to see these sorts of things in the good old days.
Hasn’t this been a thing since last gen? I know like with PS4 games it was. Not sure if Switch games required downloads.
Nintendo Switch 2 upgrades portability with a bigger screen, 1080p handheld play, and Wi-Fi 6. Here's why it still matters in 2025.
As someone who travels for work I still care about portable systems.
I have found using remote play in a hotel room is an excellent experience in a major city as I've got my console hard wired to a gigabit connection at home however it's not perfect if power trips the console tends to go to the repair section and can't be booted remotely so it's a annoying call to family to power it on for me.
A hotel out of town or regionally though that can cause havok for remote play as I'm always on 5g using it hotel wifi is never good enough for a solid remote play session.
But leaving a stable location and getting onto a plane or train and there's little to no chance of a good experience with remote play thats where something like the switch 2 will really shine for me personally long haul flights are exhausting and one of my most hated things the switch has been invaluable for me and I'll absolutely be upgrading
Nintendo has always done it the best, handheld is in their genes. I do wish their dock could be like an egpu though and it make it much more powerful, it's a bit harder for me to play portable now for some odd reason, love just sitting on the couch with a big screen and controller. And ofc always great to have the portable option and for me it's best for smaller games.
IMO, 540P upscaled in portable mode to a 1080P screen using DLSS on the tensor cores will likely extend battery life using a lower TDP and provide much better anti-aliasing and similar clarity compared to native 1080P with med/low AA at a higher TDP. It’s just a better way to use a mobile chipset. That’s not a flaw or weakness, it’s a key benefit for the portable design of the platform.
As Nintendo gears up for the Switch 2, theories have emerged that Donkey Kong Bananza may be a tie-in to Super Mario Odyssey.
Quite good if it's able to take a internal 540p image to a 1080p image assuming this is handheld mode.
Also the article seems to have ran with upscaling of original games but there's no evidence of this after reading the patent it's just a generalised upscaling patent that doesn't call out generations
Rumours also seem to indicate a 21060p docked mode but who knows if that will be used by any games at this point it could very well be like the PS3 and it's 1080p mode we will see some leaks put it at PS4 pro performance so we will see
I'm curious how well that will play out. DLSS, while it has improved significantly with the new Transformer model, still introduces many artifacts and a certain "softness" to the image, especially when used with a low resolution like 720p.
That said, if the point of comparison is the original Switch, which displays a native 540p image in some games like Xenoblade, then any upscaling would likely be an improvement, even if it looks as broken or subpar as current DLSS does at low resolutions.
Just give me some Mario games metroid and zelda games that look good like the last switch and I'm gucci. Switch isn't my main system but I love it for what it does my Ps5 is my main as I'm sure Xbox users with a switch will feel the same way.
Hopefully they're not going to try and use AI upscaling technolog as a salve for poor tech specs.