Forums

Topic: The Nintendo Switch Rumor and Speculation Thread

Posts 4,301 to 4,320 of 4,933

skywake

@PikminMarioKirby
Assuming there is this cross-gen period with games on both, and I think there will be, it'll be interesting to see where that line is drawn. For simplicity lets use the GBC terms again and call them Class A (regular Switch), Class B (Switch compatible, Switch 2 enhanced) and Class C (Switch 2 only)

Class A:
The vast majority of the Switch back catalogue plus a subset of new games. For the new stuff mostly titles along the lines of a new Rhythm Heaven, NWC 2, that sort of thing. Generally these games will run the same on Switch 2 as they did on Switch. At most they run at a more reliable framerate but generally, they'll be as they were on Switch

Class B:
Metroid Prime 4 is obligated to be here I think. Also I would suspect that most of the less-demanding new releases post Switch 2 would fall into this category. Would definitely include things like remasters of GC era games and that sort of thing. Probably also some developers, especially Nintendo themselves, would dip into their Switch back catalogue and push "Switch 2" patches for existing games.

What that enhancement would be? My thoughts are mostly higher target resolutions, higher target framerates, more demanding settings, possible use of stuff like DLSS. Broadly this category is basically games developed for Switch that have some small sections of code wrapped in a "Switch 2" flag

Class C:
All of the headline acts post Switch 2 launch. Mario Kart 9, any new 3D Mario, headline Zelda titles, major third party release. I expect most of these to disappear from the Switch. A Hyrule Warriors type game? That's a bit tricky. But I would think it lands here rather than in Class B given previous entries were notoriously a bit framey. These games would be games developed from the ground up to take advantage of the Switch 2 hardware. And because they don't have to QC or optimise for two platforms I would think that most developers are going to fairly quickly shift to here. Unless the game really, really doesn't need it and they want to tap into the existing Switch userbase

[Edited by skywake]

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

Grumblevolcano

@PikminMarioKirby By Switch 1 and Switch 2 games I was meaning in the sense of release timings. That it would be a better idea to have the Wii U Zelda remasters come before the Switch 2 launch and have Hyrule Warriors set during the Imprisoning War during the Switch 2 era. I'd imagine if another Hyrule Warriors came out as a Switch 1 only game, complaints about unstable framerate would overshadow the game (Age of Calamity's framerate is very rough at times).

Grumblevolcano

NarwhalKing

I think he’s more so suggesting the idea is overdue for exploration, not hinting at anything specific. Honestly, I’m inclined to agree she would be worth giving a playable role in her own title at this point. I’m sure there is some concept they could do, maybe a spin off more based on puzzle solving then direct combat, just something that would give a good chance for Zelda to shine.

NarwhalKing

PikminMarioKirby

@skywake I truly hope that we get game upgrades for the next console. I'd love to play my favorite Switch games with better resolution or maybe even framerate. Most games look fine on Switch, but I'd love to see upgrades to enhance the experience. Sadly WiiU doesn't seem to really upgrade Wii games, and same with Wii to GCN games. Hopefully with the modern technology they can pull it off though!

@GrumbleVolcano I think that if it did release on Switch it would have some problems with framerate (probably similar to Age of Calamity), however maybe if the next console is backwards compatible it runs better on there.

MarioKirbyPikmin?

skywake

@PikminMarioKirby
I think there are a few reasons why it could happen now and didn't for the Wii. Firstly, Wii Mode on the Wii U was a sandbox by design, when you played Wii games on the Wii U you were effectively playing Wii games on a Wii. They could do this again with Switch 2 but this new SoC will be closer to the Switch than the Wii U was to the Wii. So I'm not convinced that they will have a "Switch mode" in the same way

Secondly, the Wii had no mechanism for game patches. When a Switch game boots it looks for any additional game files outside of the main game itself. A Wii game doesn't. The only update Nintendo ever issued for a game on the Wii was for Skyward Sword and it wasn't an update to the game itself. It was a tool to update a game save if you encountered a bug

Lastly, resolution. A Switch game for is already built for 720p output at the very least. Wii games were all standard def. If you've ever done any kind of Wii emulation you'd know how jarring SD textures and HUD elements can be when you run the game at 1080p. But a game designed for 720p? All that stuff still looks good even if you boost to 4K or something silly

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

PikminMarioKirby

@skywake Those are all very good reasons. I feel like there's a lot more demand for such an upgrade these days anyways. It's not a dealbreaker if games don't get upgraded, however it would be very nice.

MarioKirbyPikmin?

skywake

@PikminMarioKirby
I guess we'll find out soon enough. But yeah, I think it would be a bit of a shame if they released this significantly better hardware and all of the existing Switch games run exactly as they did on Switch. Which in some cases could even mean they look worse if the Switch 2 has a 1080p screen and all these games still render at 720p in portable mode

Honestly I'd be fairly happy with backwards compatibility that did nothing but open up the additional performance so we get more consistent framerates. With the icing on the cake having it "trick" Switch games into thinking portable mode is docked so they run with the docked settings. This should be fairly easy, I can't post here how I know its easy so I think you understand why I think this should be easy. And maybe, at a real stretch, opening up a additional modes "Switch 2 docked" and "Switch 2 portable" which they can optionally support. But additional options would require developers to patch their games to support it

[Edited by skywake]

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

PikminMarioKirby

@skywake Yeah, some games can have inconsistent frame rates (Link's Awakening, Pokemon, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, BOTW) and sometimes it's not that big of a deal, but I'd love to at least see a stable 30fps. I'd imagine making the portable Successor mode act like the docked Switch mode would be fairly easy to pull off.

Yeah some games may need to give a patch to support. I feel like a lot of 3rd Party developers would take advantage of this. The question is if Nintendo would. I think if the update is applied, the game could automatically upgrade. As long as it can tell what console it's on. IDK if updates for just one console and not the other are possible. I would hope Nintendo would upgrade the framerate/resolution on some of their games, but who knows. Maybe 2nd party could also take advantage of it (Kirby, Pokemon, Intelligent Systems) as well.

MarioKirbyPikmin?

skywake

@PikminMarioKirby
To go back to the Class A, Class B, Class C bit it'd be something like:

Class A: Games run as if they were on an overclocked, permanently docked Switch
Class B: Games support additional Switch 2 modes beyond docked/undocked
Class C: Switch 2 developed games

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

skywake

.... I just had a random thought while playing some emulated DS. What if this magnetic JoyCon idea is a way to achieve a secondary mode that allows a vertical aspect ratio. The obvious benefit being DS on NSO, and if it's a 1080p you can fit in a fairly solid 4X scaling with fairly small borders, but it could also be useful for Vertical arcade games. And potentially it could be a way to open up some of the more DS-Like "dual screen" touch screen stuff that has largely been abandoned

The obvious follow up question would be how would this translate to playing on the TV. And it doesn't really. Not without some way to figure out a second screen which I think is a bridge too far. But as potentially a fairly easy party trick that could be used sometimes with minimal downsides? I could see it working

[Edited by skywake]

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

NarwhalKing

@skywake I mean that ain’t a terrible idea, but I’d imagine the whole magnet tech they’re putting into the device has more uses then just replacing the rails for joycons.

NarwhalKing

skywake

Has this post on resetera/famiboards been mentioned yet? Some interesting stuffs here:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/leak-switch-2-hardware-shipm...

Basically component shipment details for various bits and pieces for Nintendo. To save you the click they are:

  • 6GB LPDDR5 chips (presumably 2X for 12GB)
  • 256GB UFS3.1 Flash storage (so 256GB it is, but fast, so that's cool)
  • Nvidia's T239 SoC
  • Realtek Audio chip
  • NFC/RFID reader chip
  • Display port to HDMI converter, supporting HDMI 2.1 (i.e can technically support upto 4K/120Hz)
  • Realtek Gigabit Ethernet Controller
  • Another Realtek microcontroller, similar to the one used on the current dock
  • "Game Console Touch Screen Display" ..... that's it, no part number, nothing, cool

Then there multiple Printed circuit boards for assembly. What appear to be one for left and right controller components (joycons) and a main board. Two labeled "ANT" which are presumably for WiFi/Bluetooth. Headphone/microphone jack (Nintendo have the courage to keep it), a built in microphone (interesting) and volume control. Then additionally some boards that appear to be for the dock and something else that might be a pro controller

There's also some detail on the casing including dimensions. 14mm thick although it might be thicker when fully assembled due to the top housing etc. Same thickness as the current Switch if this is what it is. Then it's 115mm high and 206mm wide. So about 1.5cm taller and 3m wider. Which tracks with what has been leaked about there being potentially an 8" screen

[Edited by skywake]

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

Fullstack

Removed - trolling/baiting

Fullstack

Grumblevolcano

@PikminMarioKirby The framerate problems don't bother me anymore considering more powerful hardware concerns me nowadays but back when it launched, it did make me think wish that the Switch Pro rumours were real.

Grumblevolcano

TSR3

@skywake I'm following Famiboards, so I read the original sources, but a lot is hidden, and Fami have rules about sharing hidden content outside of Fami. The shipping details confirm the magnetic Joy Con rumours. The unredacted summary at the end of your link is half confirmed (i.e. the 12 GB LPDDR5X RAM 7500 MT/s and 256 UFS 3.1). But as we don't know clock speeds yet, the performance estimates (i.e. the PS4 handheld/PS4 Pro docked) are still speculative. That seems to be a Reddit thing.

Speculation is great and all, but I'm not keen of the PS4 Pro comparison as that's still an 8th gen console, and the Switch successor will definitely be a 9th gen device with modern bells and whistles. The speculation and rumours at the moment seem to be focusing on handheld clock of 600Mhz, and docked mode being more than twice that, putting docked performance in the same ballpark as Xbox Series S. Which was certainly above my expectations from a couple of years ago!

TSR3

GrailUK

@TSR3 Looking forward to the second gen hybrid! (I think it's pointless lumping it in with home consoles in that regard.)

I never drive faster than I can see. Besides, it's all in the reflexes.

Switch FC: SW-0287-5760-4611

skywake

@TSR3
Yeah, honestly I'm not so interested in the discussion about where it'll sit in relation to PS4/PS4 Pro/XB Series here. Of course I'm interested but I'm not really interested in it in relation to this batch of leaks. Mostly because none of that is really new information and the clockspeed is still an unknown. But the RAM/Storage and the sizes of the enclosure which effectively cross-confirms the screen size are interesting

The storage in particular. I mean, not a huge surprise that they're going with relatively fast storage given the inclusion of hardware accelerated file decompression in the SoC. But confirmation of fairly decently fast storage to pair with it is very nice. To put this in perspective, I would imagine the Switch as it is is fairly CPU bound in terms of loading times. It's probably not using its fairly slow eMMC storage to its full potential. So the fact that there'll not only be hardware acceleration to remove that bottleneck but also at least a good 10X of raw performance in the storage itself?

In game this could effectively mean the elimination of a lot of load screens. Much hype

[Edited by skywake]

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

TSR3

@GrailUK I like the idea of the Switch being in a category all of its own. I'm sure Nintendo do!

@skywake I forgot to mention, I loved your idea of magnetic JoyCons attaching on the long sides - they could support Tate mode games as well as DS. But I can imagine it may thicken the bezels

TSR3

GrailUK

@TSR3 Well, we have Steam Deck and Rog Ally. In fact everyone harps on about the Switch having stiff competition these days. If they are on their own...I think it's because they nailed it and not just making a category for themselves lol And as usual, both Sony and Microsoft were absent at the start...

[Edited by GrailUK]

I never drive faster than I can see. Besides, it's all in the reflexes.

Switch FC: SW-0287-5760-4611

westman98

The rumored Swirch successor specs from the shipment website look very good, a very solid generational leap compared to Switch 1.

westman98

Please login or sign up to reply to this topic