Why That Brief Look at Mario Kart 9 Suggests Nintendo Switch 2 Is 'Significantly More Powerful' Than the Original — According to a Developer

An indie game developer with extensive experience creating games for the original Nintendo Switch has offered compelling evidence suggesting the Switch 2 boasts significantly enhanced processing power. This conclusion stems from a close analysis of the brief Mario Kart 9 footage showcased in the Switch 2 reveal trailer.

Nintendo's recent hardware unveiling generated considerable excitement, yet details regarding the Switch 2's technical capabilities remain scarce. While upgrades to the Joy-Cons, kickstand, and overall form factor are evident, the console's raw power remains officially unconfirmed.

Jerrel Dulay of Sungrand Studios, a developer with a proven track record on Wii U and 3DS titles, provides insightful commentary in a recent YouTube video (via GamesRadar). He highlights several key graphical elements in the Mario Kart 9 footage as indicators of a substantial performance leap.

Mario Kart 9 - A Closer Look

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Dulay points to the utilization of physically-based shaders, impacting textures and responding to lighting and reflections. These shaders, demanding on the original Switch's hardware, are heavily employed in the Mario Kart 9 footage. He also notes enhanced material reflections and high-resolution ground textures, demanding significant RAM resources.

Reports from late 2023 (Digital Foundry) suggest the Switch 2 incorporates an Nvidia T239 ARM mobile chip with 1536 CUDA cores – a substantial increase from the original Switch's Tegra X1 chip with only 256 CUDA cores. This is further supported by leaked Switch 2 motherboard images. The rumored 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM (6GB per module) in the Switch 2, compared to the original Switch's 4GB, significantly boosts memory capacity and potential transfer speeds. This increased bandwidth facilitates faster texture loading and allows for the use of higher-resolution textures and a greater number of unique textures.

The Mario Kart 9 footage also showcases true volumetric lighting, a computationally intensive process considering distance, height, and light density. The inclusion of these effects, along with far-distance shadows (also computationally expensive), strongly suggests a significant increase in processing power. The high polygon count characters and real-time cloth physics on the flagpoles further support this assertion.

Dulay concludes that the graphical enhancements visible in the Mario Kart 9 trailer strongly indicate a substantial power increase in the Switch 2, enabling higher frame rates and more complex visual effects. He emphasizes the significance of these visual improvements, particularly the volumetric lighting, as a key indicator of the console's enhanced capabilities. More official details are expected in April's Nintendo Direct.

What do you think of the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal?

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