These Switch 2 Rumors Seem Pretty Cool?
There’s a memorable period of time that comes every so often where we get reports about the next Nintendo console. I remember reading the first reports of the Wii’s successor with great excitement. It sounded decently powerful (however, I believe the console released with worse specs than were reported at that time). And then we found before E3 2011 that the so-called Project Cafe had a controller with a screen on it? That was very interesting. You just don’t get this type of rumor experience for the other console makers, right?
It’s been a long seven years since the details of the Switch were first revealed. But now, it’s been reported that at Gamescom recently, developers got a look at the Switch’s successor. And that makes sense. It’s a safe bet this thing is going to release within the next year or two, right? Gotta get developers to start making games for it.
But what’s really exciting is not just the obvious fact that the console exists. It’s that the graphics on it are apparently pretty good.
How can this be? Is this true? Well, I think it makes sense.
Like I talked about recently, the visual gap between console generations has gotten pretty small, even if the specs on paper are vastly different. I don’t think we can say specifically what “comparable to PS5” entails here, but obviously the console’s graphics are gonna look a lot better than the current Switch’s. I’ve been thinking for a while that the Switch 2 had to have PS4-level graphics—I mean, PS4 launched in 2013, after all, so it just seems inevitable—and what a great jump forward that could be. But then you add in ray-tracing, and yeah, Switch 2 would be pretty similar to current gen. Though it’s not gonna be able to do 4K visuals like them, right? But wait, Nvidia has this AI upscaling thing called DLSS. So even though it won’t match the other consoles in raw power, the Switch 2, which we assume runs on an Nvidia chip like the current Switch, could pull off some really impressive visuals.
The question now is, how will Nintendo make use of this new hardware?
I mean I’m gonna say the obvious here: I want them to bring back a Twilight Princess-like art style to Zelda. It’s time. No Zelda doesn’t “need” a realistic art style, but I still love seeing it.
Jeez, at this rate, will Metroid Prime 4 be a Switch 2 exclusive? Because that game is gonna look sick if it is.
With how long it tends to take to develop the games that look the most impressive, I truly wonder what Nintendo’s approach will be. They’ve been smart about art style. Will they even want to try making a game with a ridiculous level of realism? Whatever they do, I think it will impress, one way or another.
The biggest question I have a side from all that is whether this console will have backwards compatibility. Because it would be quite a shame to not have it. Though I also hear that it’s going to have an LCD display, even though they already made an OLED Switch. Which is a little awkward since the new one is going to be better in every other way, we assume. But yeah, for real they should give it backwards compatibility.
Other than that, we see no indication that they’re trying to go a bold new direction with this new console. Which is good. We’ve all been saying “the Switch but better” is all they need to do! Handheld gaming PCs are starting to boom right now, so clearly there’s plenty of demand in this space.
By the way, at this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if the next Switch launched with a new 3D Mario game. Other than Bowser’s Fury, it’s been a looong time now. If that does happen, this console is already gonna be great. I’m looking forward to seeing it.