The more time passes, the more we will know everything about the Nintendo Switch 2 before its official reveal. After the numerous leaks concerning the design of the console, ranging from the operation of the joy-cons to the dimensions of the machine, it is now the technical characteristics which are in the crosshairs of analysts. Photos of a supposed Switch 2 motherboard have reignited bets regarding the power of the portable platform. The use of NVIDIA’s DLSS technology – which allows superior scaling of visuals, without loss of performance, thanks to artificial intelligence – already seemed to be obvious for the new console, but there is no almost no more doubt on that.
Laura Kate Dale, consultant specializing in accessibility for the video game industry, discovered a patent which reveals Nintendo’s approach to this technology. The Kyoto firm filed this document with the American authorities in July 2023, but it was not made public until December 31. This tells us that French engineers are at the origin of this method of applying upscaling by AI, which could be the key to power for the Switch 2. Here is what Alexandre Delattre, Théo Charvet and Raphaël Poncet, engineers at NERD (Nintendo European Research and Development) based in Paris.
Big resolutions, small storages
To summarize this long technical document in a few words, Parisian engineers have developed technical and practical approaches to the use of DLSS for a future Nintendo console. A portable console like the Switch 2 is incapable of carrying more powerful components without sacrificing portability. The primary interest of such technology is to implement a software solution to achieve visual quality significantly higher than the actual capabilities of the graphics card and processor. On such a machine, AI scaling has the potential to work wonders. But Nintendo doesn’t stop there.
NERD engineers have also successfully applied this technology to optimizing game storage for cartridges. It seems that the manufacturer is seeking to maintain the 32GB formatting of this physical media in order to limit costs. The patent therefore offers a very simple solution. The example provided mentions that a title with native 4K textures weighing 60GB could only take up 20GB of space by reducing the resolution to 1080p. DLSS would then be enough to reach 4K resolution without having to stuff the cartridges with unnecessary data.
The information contained in the patent supports rumors claiming that the Switch 2 will be able to reach 4K resolution on its dock. But once again, it is worth remembering that not all patents are intended to take shape. It is therefore impossible for us to establish truths simply on the basis of this document, but official details will soon appear. Nintendo has promised to unveil its console before next March and time flies. Are we going to spend another month without news of the machine? Verdict in the coming weeks.
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