Nintendo patent seemingly confirms key Switch 2 technology

A freshly emerged Nintendo patent offers clues to a key Switch 2 graphical technology.

Nintendo – which may have had a better 2024 than you think – is widely expected to launch its follow-up to the enormously successful Switch console over the coming months, and speculation has been rife as to just how capable it will be.

We may have just received another piece of the puzzle, courtesy of a patent application from the company. The patent concerns a technique “for converting images through use of a trained neural network”.

More specifically, “Applications of the technology include converting images of one resolution into another (e.g., higher)”.

In other words, Nintendo is seeking a patent for upscaling technology. It sounds very much like existing upscaling solutions like Sony’s PSSR for the PS5 Pro, or Nvidia’s well-established DLSS on PC.

This patent application mentions one particular advantage for a potential Nintendo handheld that doesn’t apply to those aforementioned rival systems, however. Nintendo is the only player in town still using compact physical cartridges for its games. The original Switch cartridges only hold up to 32GB of information.

By using such an AI upscaling technique, the Switch 2 will essentially be able to cram full 4K experiences into those tiny slabs of plastic without necessitating prohibitively lengthy download times.

Ever since the first Switch 2 rumours started appearing in the wake of the 2017 original Switch console launch, the suggestion has been that the successor would be capable of upscaling a 1080p image for output on a 4K TV. This patent – which was filed back in July of 2023 – seems to supply the final stamp of approval to such rumours.

Rumours just prior to Christmas suggested that the Nintendo Switch 2 could be announced as soon as this month, so we shouldn’t have too long to wait to find out just how capable this little hybrid console will be.