The Countdown to the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct rolls on: T-9 Days. There are nine days left until Nintendo takes over the internet again to fully unveil the new Nintendo Switch 2 and our countdown to the big day continues now. Yesterday we detailed everything we know about the upcoming pre-orders to get gamers ready, including some reliable sources claiming the pre-sale will begin right after the April 2 Direct presentation (all of the details you need are right here), and today we are going to be going over the most exciting early details that have been floating around on Switch 2 hardware specs – display upgrades, core graphics performance that support enhanced games, new Joy-Con features, and more.
Countdown to Nintendo Switch 2 Direct [T-9 Days] – Switch 2 hardware specs and features
Details, credible leaks, and rumors have been soaring since well before the Switch 2 was officially unveiled back in September. But ever since the next-gen Nintendo console was made official, some far more reliable details have surfaced online. While we obviously can’t confirm anything at this point, some official patent filings, alleged images of the machine’s internals, an official FCC report, and more have brought a number of potentially exciting new enhancements to light.
Switch 2 display upgrades
One of the biggest questions in terms of Switch 2 hardware that has been floating around since well before the machine was made official, and now even after, is whether or not Nintendo will carry the OLED tech found on the latest upgraded Switch over to the next-generation of gaming. It would seem it might want to keep that upgrade up its sleeve until later in the Switch 2 life cycle to bolster sales like it did this generation, but it’s hard to say for sure.
Some seemingly credible leaks have suggested Nintendo will indeed be bringing an OLED display to Switch 2, and we certainly hope this is the case, but more recently a user on the Famiboards, that previously leaked Switch 2 GPU specs, suggested this was sadly not going to be the case, saying they heard Nintendo was sticking with the LCD for the first-generation of Switch 2.
On the positive side of things, this same leaker also said they heard Switch 2 will ship with a 120Hz display, delivering a marked upgrade over the current-gen model, alongside VRR and HDR support.
OLED or not, it would appear folks already know Switch 2 will be getting major display upgrade.
Switch 2 core graphics and ‘Switch 2 Enhanced’ titles
While there have what feels like a seemingness endless number of leaks over the years on the next Switch specs, I for one don’t care all that much about the internals to be honest – it’s going to be what it is and it’s not going to have any effect on whether or not I’m going to want one.
That said, it does appear Nintendo will be leveraging an NVIDIA SoC, and potentially something along the lines of the previously rumored NVIDIA Tegra T239 chip that, as many have said, will likely deliver graphics similar to that of the PlayStation 4 (although others have suggested it could be closer to a PlayStation 4 Pro).
The more impressive part of this could be the DLSS and AI implementations that have been spotted in recently updated Nintendo patents as reported from trustworthy sources like Forbes. This suggests Nintendo will be using some fancy upscaling tech for better graphics and performance that wasn’t available back when the previous-gen PlayStation and Xbox machines were launched.
This might very well mean we could see a host of “Switch 2 Enhanced” titles – not just Switch 2 exclusives but rather games already released on Switch 1 that will see major graphical enhancements when played on the new console. Folks have already purportedly spotted this feature hiding in the code of the recently-released Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Now this could be cool and one of the more value-packed features for folks who already have an extensive library of Switch games – let’s just hope Nintendo doesn’t try to re-release these games and make us pay for them again.
Here are a few other notable hardware upgrades Switch 2 is expected to launch with:
Switch 2 Joy-Con – reversible, mouse mode, and more
When we are talking Switch 2 hardware, the display and controllers are a far more interesting topic for me. It is nice to think we are going to see a major bump to the internals (at least as far as Nintendo standards go), but the thing I’m going to be holding onto to play these Switch 2 games peaks my interest far more.
We already saw patents suggesting the Joy-Con are reversible, or rather that they can snap onto both sides of the console and that the screen can auto rotate to accomodate attaching the right Joy-Con on the left and vice versa. But the mouse mode seems like it could be one of those gimmicky features Nintendo is known for on its hardware, and it has me both excited and, if I’m honest, sort of worried.
Some gamers love the Nintendo gimmick…I’m just now one of them. I just want my Mario and my new adventures through Hyrule and so on without any strange motion controls or dual displays, or, in this case, mouse controllers getting in the way. Don’t get me wrong, there has been some wonderful implementations of these unique control methods over the years, starting right down at the development level, but I truly hope mouse mode is an option at most – if I wanted to game with a mouse I’d pull out the PC rig. It could be awesome, and, if it is actually a thing, I truly hope it is, I just hope it doesn’t get in the way of the core experience the way motion controls have in the past.
The countdown clock is officially ticking and we are celebrating every day leading up to the big event next week with our special Countdown to Switch 2 Direct series.
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