Switch 2 Speculation

[Seanspeed]

It's obvious that Nintendo is not gonna be deterred in any great way by PC handhelds and any processing power inferiority on their own part, but I also suspect that Switch 2 is not gonna be quite the wild success that Switch 1 was for a number of reasons, and the rise in popularity of PC handhelds will absolutely be a smaller, but not negligible part of this.

And it wont simply be a case of 'one PC handheld sold means one less Switch 2 sold', I think it's gonna be a sort of overall perceptual knock. Even by people who end up buying neither, among both console and PC gamers, the Switch's novelty appeal that helped Switch so much this past generation is gonna have way less impact this time around over the course of its life and the mere existence of PC handhelds that are more capable will be a part of this.

Overall though I agree with Shifty that nobody can come in and eat Nintendo's lunch. That's simply not possible, not remotely on the cards. The only thing that could possibly prevent Nintendo from being successful with Switch 2 is themselves.

 

[orangpelupa]

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1hwa2qa/genki_releases_video_showing_full_unit_switch_2

Video if switch 2 in the linked we site

Edit https://www.genkithings.com/cdn/sho...9c743c4601a2.HD-720p-1.6Mbps-40662365.mp4?v=0

 

[troyan]

I got a cheap used MSI Claw 155h. I can tell that the first experience was utterly garbage - install Windows, update Bios, update Firmware, update drivers, update Windows...
After i finished everything there is a desktop and gamepad mode. Everything feels like a windows pc. There is no fun here.

No clue about the Steam Deck but "pure" windows handhelds are not for the mass market.

 

[cheapchips]

No clue about the Steam Deck but "pure" windows handhelds are not for the mass market.

Worlds more console like than a PC. It's hard for me say how close it can be to a console, as I nob about desktop model for other stores' games. In day to day use, playing game that are installed, it's functionally a console.

 

[Chiimaero]

Ok I'll bite and be contrarian

As more games are optimized for the Switch 2 those same games should then run better on the PC portables as a bunch of optimization for lower specs can be transferred cross platform.

So in essence Switch 2's success will rise the tide for all boats. Improving their competition's games.

This must be right to a certain extend. I guess competition alone is also supposed to achieve this "rise the tide for all boats" goal. A "low power profile" device being a big player in the market will entice devs to find ways to get their game run on it. I'm thinking of RAM and storage usage mainly here.

Other important aspects being how to deal with a relatively slow CPU and different GPU.
The slow CPU part is debatable, as the expected worst case scenario still put it above PS4Pro CPU level.
So how specific Switch2 optimizations with its DLSS-capable NVidia GPU can be translated to other devices is a question mark for me as I expect a lot of work to go into leveraging the potential of those tensor cores. The recent DLSS4 presentation is very interesting in that it shows AI upscaling has room for improvement. Not saying the Switch 2 will get DLSS4, we don't know if it will have the required "AI power" for this as it's touted to require 4x compute power vs DLSS3. But even if it does not get it, it's likely the devs will find new ways to go beyond what DLSS3 can give us as of now.

 

[Cyan]

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1hwa2qa/genki_releases_video_showing_full_unit_switch_2

Video if switch 2 in the linked we site

Edit https://www.genkithings.com/cdn/sho...9c743c4601a2.HD-720p-1.6Mbps-40662365.mp4?v=0

not sure how the optical sensor is going to be used after watching the video. I see no use for it as of currently.

I got a cheap used MSI Claw 155h. I can tell that the first experience was utterly garbage - install Windows, update Bios, update Firmware, update drivers, update Windows...
After i finished everything there is a desktop and gamepad mode. Everything feels like a windows pc. There is no fun here.

No clue about the Steam Deck but "pure" windows handhelds are not for the mass market.

you can just put SteamOS or Bazzite on it. The only issue might be some of the drivers.

 

[fehu]

La Nintendo Switch 2 se dévoile en avant-première au CES 2025

Sur plusieurs stands, des accessoiristes présentent discrètement les futurs accessoires de la prochaine console de Nintendo. Certains d'entre eux revendiquent même être en possession de la console, qui serait déjà distribuée sur le marché noir. Nintendo va-t-il annoncer la Switch 2 dans les...

www.numerama.com

 

[Dominik D]

So in essence Switch 2's success will rise the tide for all boats. Improving their competition's games.

Something people tend to not account for is that *if* Super Switch has performance characteristics similar to Xbox Series S, ports to Switch 2 will be a complete no-brainer for the remainder of Xbox Series lifecycle. Currently when you're developing cross-platform title you tend to do Gen 9 consoles in-house and push Switch port to some co-dev studio hungry for work and hope they fix all of your problems. Having something that has some parity with XSS would either largely eliminate that hot potato mentality or create market for Xbox+Switch2 ports. Both would be pretty good outcome in terms of costs and quality.

 

[LiveGamer]

The switch 2 now has two USB C ports which I find interesting. The Dock itself has it's own USB ports so this must be for some planned accessories. Maybe a camera or something to plug on top?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Possibly, although we've seen other expansion options never amount to much, like on Sony DS controllers or Vita, of the NES Expansion Port. So I wouldn't assume it has any important functionality just yet.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Maybe just a temporary debugging port? Nintendo usually doesn't do janky design so I can't imagine them expecting users to plug in cables when in handheld mode. When in docked mode it would make much more sense to have accessories plug into the docking station instead into the console directly.

 

[cheapchips]

The accessory leaks are based of CAD files, so unless there's a bogus leak that they've all jumped on prematurely, the Switch 2 has that second top mounted USB C.

 

[Subtlesnake]

Maybe just a temporary debugging port? Nintendo usually doesn't do janky design so I can't imagine them expecting users to plug in cables when in handheld mode. When in docked mode it would make much more sense to have accessories plug into the docking station instead into the console directly.

How else are you going to charge the unit when in stand mode?

 

[Seanspeed]

SD Express seems to be confirmed as the physical format:

Switch 2 accessory SKUs found in GameStop's point of sale system (confirms MicroSD Express support) Rumor

Sources: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch2/comments/1hx1svb/switch_2_skus_found_in_system_today_crosspost_not/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Switch/comments/1hx0wge/switch_2_skus_found_in_system_today/m65s585/

www.resetera.com

Which is actually something I called three years ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/pkzcjw/the_potential_future_storagephysical_medium

(to a crowd who I kind of predicted would have little understanding of why any of this mattered, sadly)

When it was announced, it really seemed like everything that a Switch 2 would need to maintain backwards compatibility(digitally and physically), 'next gen' I/O, and retain the ability to play games straight from a physical cartridge.

That last point was kinda big for me, as I was curious if Switch 2 would have to resort to mandatory installs, but it doesn't seem like it will, which is really cool. Also means Nintendo doesn't need to go crazy with stock internal storage size.

 

[Charlietus]

SD Express seems to be confirmed as the physical format:

Switch 2 accessory SKUs found in GameStop's point of sale system (confirms MicroSD Express support) Rumor

Sources: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch2/comments/1hx1svb/switch_2_skus_found_in_system_today_crosspost_not/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Switch/comments/1hx0wge/switch_2_skus_found_in_system_today/m65s585/

www.resetera.com

Which is actually something I called three years ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/pkzcjw/the_potential_future_storagephysical_medium

(to a crowd who I kind of predicted would have little understanding of why any of this mattered, sadly)

When it was announced, it really seemed like everything that a Switch 2 would need to maintain backwards compatibility, 'next gen' I/O, and retain the ability to play games straight from a physical cartridge.

That last point was kinda big for me, as I was curious if Switch 2 would have to resort to mandatory installs, but it doesn't seem like it will, which is really cool. Also means Nintendo doesn't need to go crazy with stock internal storage size.

The thought that Nintendo doesn't need or doesn't want third parties on the switch 2 isn't supported by the hardware specs. Why would they spend so much on SD cards with SSD speeds and 12gb of ram if they didn't want to attract third parties? Could have gone with normal SD cards and 8gb of ram instead

 

[LiveGamer]

Question if the Switch 2 does have about 2GBs of extra RAM over the Series S. What would be some possible use cases? Better textures mostly?

 

[Charlietus]

Question if the Switch 2 does have about 2GBs of extra RAM over the Series S. What would be some possible use cases? Better textures mostly?

Yeah, better textures and easier ports.
But game developers may opt to still use lower res textures to make the game fit inside the game cartridge.

 

[wco81]

There was one report that it may have an OLED display after all.

There's a lot of noise out there now.

I actually ordered a microSD card the other day. Is there any confirmation that it will continue to use microSD for storage?

 

[Charlietus]

There was one report that it may have an OLED display after all.

There's a lot of noise out there now.

I actually ordered a microSD card the other day. Is there any confirmation that it will continue to use microSD for storage?

From leaks, it supports SD express, which is faster.

On the possibility of OLED, I would not hope on it.
The leak on the shipping manifest can be considered pretty much as truth.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1co3b99/full_switch_2_shipping_manifest_details

 

[wco81]

Hmm SD Express cards appear to be 2-3x the price of standard micro SD.

Claims transfer speeds of 800 MBps, which is 4-5X the transfer speeds of U10 cards.

What is the Switch2 doing to use that kind of IO?