This Thursday, May 23, a legend of the GameCube era returns to Nintendo Switch. The excellent Paper Mario: The Millennium Door finally benefits from an updated version, enhancing the already almost perfect experience of the time. Isn’t there better than a great classic to bring the universe full circle? Mario on this generation of console? The Kyoto firm has just started the official teasing of its future machine – probably planned for next year – this remake will surely prove to be the final game in the franchise on Switch. But while players dream of learning more about the next Mario Kart or new 3D adventures of the mustachioed plumber, Paper Mario already seems indicative of the future of Nintendo.
Officially available to the public for a few hours, a few lucky people managed to get their hands on the title before its release. An Internet user took advantage of this head start to analyze the Source code of the game and made a discovery that was surprising to say the least. Some lines of code indicate that the remake of The Millennium Gate is capable of supporting 4K resolution. However, current Switch models are unable to display such image quality. Is this a preventive upscaling measure in the run-up to a much more powerful next console?
Doped backwards compatibility
In the absence of official information regarding the technical characteristics of Nintendo’s future machine, rumors have been circulating for several years now. The question of performance and backwards compatibility has been raised many times, without ever being supported by hard evidence. The last major speculations date back to the supposed presentation held behind closed doors during Gamescom 2023. Industry insiders then reported an overpowering console, approaching the PS5 and Xbox Series X thanks to controlled use of DLSS technology. The Kyoto firm would have used the technical demo Matrix Awakens as well as a 4K and 60 FPS version of Breath of the Wild to prove the strength of the beast.
Paper Mario: The Millennium Door being an end-of-life title for the current Switch, It is not impossible that this is the first game to discreetly integrate boosted backwards compatibility functions into its Source code. While older exclusives may receive updates, Nintendo has every interest in laying the groundwork with its current productions. Although the Nvidia hardware of the Switch – similar to that of the Nvidia Shield – is technically capable of displaying 4K natively, the manufacturer has never made this functionality accessible and has until now never slipped it into the code of its games.
Now, only time will tell if this clue is truly indicative of a feature to come on the famous Switch 2. After all, it is not impossible that this resolution was used during development, and that it is simply an oversight among the many lines of code, as one X user explains:
“You can see in the breakdown shown that when 4K is enabled in this code, it ignores the operating mode (docked/undocked). This leads me to believe that this is a debugging feature (since Switch games can be compiled for Windows) rather than something for a new platform.”
Everything is only a question of time: hope gives life! Which Switch game would you like to experience in a new light, with improved frame rate and graphics?
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