Six unreasonable expectations for new Switch 2 features

04.08.2023 - 11:51 / thesixthaxis.com / New

It feels as though we’ve been waiting forever to hear about the Switch 2, but now it seems that it’s finally happening next year! Recent years have seen the original Switch start to creak at the seams as game designs have become more extravagant, open and complicated, leading to various titles – from Pokémon Scarlet through to Bayonetta 3 – performing in a less-than-desirable way. That’s partly because of Nintendo’s consistent and canny use of slightly older technology in their consoles, but also because we never got the ‘Pro’ version of the original Switch (though the OLED version almost feels like a Pro version). It’s fair to say then that we’re excited for the prospect of the Switch 2, and while Nintendo can be resolutely certain to do things their own way, that doesn’t stop us from having a series of unreasonable demands for the new hybrid console it’s touted to be.

Given that even the PS5 and the Xbox Series X only have a passing interest in pumping out true 4K resolutions, it seems unlikely that Nintendo will find a way to push them out of a glorified handheld. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Improvements are coming all the time, and we’re seeing upscaling tech come on by leaps and bounds, using machine learning (often branded as AI) on GPUs to fill in the blanks and even create entirely new frames out of nothing but computer guesswork, improving frame rates and resolutions along the way.

Could we see a Switch 2 pumping out 4K Tears of the Kingdom or Metroid Prime 4? My brain says no, but my heart says yes please!

Following on from those 4K expectations, we know it’s unreasonable to want the same processing power as the big two, but that doesn’t stop us wanting it. I mean, the only real sign is that both Sony and Microsoft’s consoles are big enough to house a family of four, and my ill-informed takeaway is that this means things have to be physically big to have lots of power.

That rules the whole handheld hybrid thing out, but it doesn’t rule out having a dock that’s actually got some processing power in it. Look at ROG’s external graphics card solutions for some of their laptops and you can see how it could work.

The other counterpoint is Apple and the CPUs they’ve been shoving in their iPhones, iPads and Macs over the last few years. If Nintendo are sticking with ARM over x86, they could definitely pull off something similar and have a CPU worthy of some cutting edge games.

That said, Nintendo like to aim for a more accessible price point than Apple, and have never really cared about being the best and most powerful stuff before, but this could be one way to play to both their casual market and the hardcore gamerz with a ‘z’.

What’s the thing you’ve missed the most from the Wii U? Was it