It’s finally 2025 and Switch 2 speculation is hitting a new fever pitch. A new patent published this week shows how Nintendo could use AI-upscaling to make new games look better without taking up tons of space, while alleged leaks of a motherboard have fans debating just how powerful the new hardware might be.
The U.S. patent for “Systems and Methods for Machine Learned Image Conversion” was filed by Nintendo back in July 13, 2023, but published just this week and spotted by gaming consultant Laura Kate Dale. The lengthy technical document outlines a process for AI-upscaling that could be used to improve image quality using software rather than raw processing power, similar to DLSS used by Nvidia GPUs for PC gaming, as well as PSSR which was recently introduced by Sony for the PlayStation 5 Pro.
Dale also points out another potential use of the technology: keeping game file sizes small. Nintendo’s first-party releases on the current Switch are infamous for how optimized they are. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the company’s biggest game on the platform and it’s still only 18.2GB. Higher resolution textures and other improved assets can all dramatically increase that digital footprint, however.
The patent outlines an example where native 4K textures might bump a game’s install size up to 60GB, while a 1080 native version that uses upscaling could get away with just 20GB, which is still less than the current 32GB cap on existing Switch cartridge memory sizes.
News of the patent comes alongside more alleged leaks about the Switch 2 hardware itself. Following a recent influx of possible first-look images at the upgraded console, there are now potential photos of the hardware’s actual motherboard floating around online. This has led to some heated debate about what semiconductor manufacturing process was used to create the Switch 2’s chip and thus how powerful it might be.
Ultimately, however, it’s impossible to know just how powerful the Switch 2 will be compared to the existing, seven-year-old hardware, until we get a sense of the full list of trade-offs Nintendo has decided on once it reveals the official list of specs and features. If the current Switch has proven anything, it’s that the Mario maker knows how to squeeze great results out of more affordable technology.
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