Topic: Nintendo Switch 2 Predictions

It's interesting to consider the Steam Deck in comparison.
WhenI got mine I suddenly had access to games I couldn't play on Switch (through performance or developer/producer choice) like Cyberpunk, Forza, Yakuza, Baldur's Gate 3 etc.
Now however, the latest batch of games like Starfield, Dragon's Dogma 2, Senua 2 etc are unsupported.
Even the Steam Deck has reached a performance ceiling.

So I guess we'll see where Nintendo think a viable jumping on place is performance wise - Cyberpunk? Starfield?

@Mii_duck Same here. I use my steam deck as a desktop computer, but I would really want windows instead. My parents won't allow me to have a pc tho.

@Mii_duck Yeah I fully agree, and am incredibly interested to see how Switch2 lands in terms of SteamDeck capability.

I'd hope/expect that S2 is at the very least 'on par' with the technical capabilities of the SD-Oled.... but am cautiously optimistic is may have slightly more "oomph".

I currently own Switch-OLED and Deck-LCD, love both machines and feel like I get a great variety by owning the pair. I agree though in that current/new titles like DD2 & Starfield have clearly demonstrated a 'performance ceiling' in Deck capability. (Although it is still a miracle machine, the fact it runs Elden Ring + DLC as well as it does is great)

@FishyS they should.

Yeah, probably a stupid question for me to ask, but what do you guys think the Switch successor will look like? Do you expect the design and appearance to deviate or bear some similarities to the Switch? Or do you expect it to be a big console like say the Xbox Series consoles or PlayStation 5? Curious, since a lot of people online I believe have been trying to make mock-ups or “leaks” that make the appearance of the successor look absolutely hideous, sort of like those early Switch patents where the console was in an oval shape and the joysticks were right on the screen and people made mock-ups to show what it could’ve looked like in real life lol.

@Pastellioli Nintendo basically admitted it would still be a hybrid and the rumours/leaks are there will still be joycons but slightly different. Sooo... I assume it will look very similar but slightly bigger screen, maybe different type of joycon connectors. Colored buttons if we're lucky.

@FishyS Guess I might have missed some of that! Mostly the part of it likely being a hybrid. I did hear about the joycons being magnetic since I have come across a few comments on threads like these. Colored buttons would be nice to see.

For me, I do think they would have the next console be similar to the Switch since that was sort of a winning formula with how successful it was with the hybrid gimmick and being portable and a home console, but i am thinking it could be a bit bigger. I don’t expect it to look like some of the other current home consoles like what some leaks are trying to suggest with the fake UI “leaks.”

@Magician
Huh, looking at those specs
10 GB of RAM. - Shipping leaks say 12 GB
512 GB storage drive (360 GB of usable space) or 1 TB storage drive, depending on the model. - 256 GB, but that won't affect performance.
224 GB/s of memory bandwidth. - Switch 2 will have LPDDR5 RAM with 7500MTPS at a bus width of 64, which should be 88 GB/s handheld and 100GB/s docked. Notably, unlike the XBSS though, the RAM is all the same speed. XBSS has a mix of fast and slow RAM that developers have to juggle. Additionally, since this is a Tegra SOC, it may have significantly better cache performance due to sharing cache between CPU / GPU (maybe)
4 TFLOPS. Depending on how underclocked it is, it's looking at likely being between 3.5 - 4.5 TFLOPS... in docked, but 1.7 - 2 TFLOPS in handheld (assuming similar clocking ratios to the Switch)

And of course, the elephant in the room, Switch 2 will have Tegra cores for DLSS... Which who knows how that will perform? But also dedicated cores for Ray Tracing and NVIDIA Reflex (to reduce latency).

Looking over all of that, it's just barely possible that handheld performance will be close enough to the XBSS (despite lower specs in raw power) for there to be no issues in porting games over.

But there's a whole heck of a lot of assumptions, and a lot of ways the chip could be artificially capped or architectural issues could prevent full usage. Plus only 2GB extra RAM might not let DLSS hit it's full potential...

I dunno, I can't rule it out being strong enough to handle most anything the XBSS can, but it does seem unlikely. It might be close enough to the ballpark for that not to matter though.

EDIT: Also, I think games that are GPU bound on the XBSS would be far likely to perform better on the Switch successor than CPU bound games... which is pretty typical Nintendo lol.

EDIT 2: Forgot to mention that the Switch successor has dedicated hardware for decompressing and compressing data on the fly without using the CPU. No idea on the performance of it from the leaks, but it could make up some of the ground between XBSS and the raw memory bandwidth of the successor if used for that purpose by compressing data before sending to RAM? That's pretty much pure speculation tho, I'm assuming it'll mostly be used for decompressing data from the SSD / flash memory. Who knows if the architecture would even allow for that usage.

Didn't even know we've moved over here lol I'm behind the times.

I'm still along for the ride, guys.

ASUS Zenbook Duo 2024 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< I almost thought it was going to be something like this.

My prediction is that the new switch will have at least a Mario kart and a Zelda game and a smash bros game and a animal crossing game in it’s launch titles.

Nobody is developing games with Steam Deck in mind, but plenty of games or ports will be released optimized for Switch 2, as the player base of Switch is enormous, especially compared to the player base of Steam Deck.

I would bet that the switch 2 announcement is going to have a new online console. I'm guessing it will be gamecube and ds, with a few titles announced that will be coming at a later date. Subscription only of course and probably expensive with only a few games.

Apparently Nate has come out and confirmed backwards compatibility. If there was still any doubt about it. I guess technically there's always doubt until actual confirmation but between the PCB leak, the firmware sleuthing and now Nate making his view clear? Backwards compatibility is almost surely a go

If the leaks are real, I'm thinking Nintendo is planning to lean into exploiting the joy-cons more for shell controllers like Ring Fit Adventure, and they may have something a bit more extra than a kind of classic controller pad shell like they had for Switch 1.

There is one hint, if the rumor about third party controllers being required to use gyros is true. A classic controller design wouldn't need gyros. One-handed controllers use gyros. Why are third parties building controllers with gyros? Because the joycons, when the tablet is docked, are possibly being attached to an IR tracking node/ring. Third parties would be producing controllers to work with the IR node, and those devices would require gyros.

I wish we were getting something totally different from the leaks: a cube shaped console with a 4050 based gpu, 16GB+ of RAM, a new name, new controllers, and revolutionary 1:1 motion tracking.

It's time for a revolution. Not a Switch 2.

I know Switch 2 itself will likely be predictable, but I'm really hoping Nintendo goes for more peripherals this next gen.

With nintendo appearing to release one zelda game a year, what zelda do you think we'll get in the first year of Switch 2? Hyrule Warriors? I'm not into those, but I'm guessing that's what we'll get since that's what the Switch got in it's first year? Correct me if I'm wrong. I think they've been saving Wind Waker for the the Switch 2, but I have a feeling Nintendo doesn't want a zelda port from an older console in the switch 2's first year. Thoughts?

@WoomyNNYes
I think the Remake of NDS version is a great choice.

@Anti-Matter I'd be into that!👌 I'd like that better than a Hyrule Warriors.

Do you think we could get one of those remakes the year after Zelda Echoes of Wisdom released? I'm assuming they have one team that did Links Awakening, and then made Echoes of Wisdom.