Did anyone feel like Nintendo was hinting at ditching courses in Mario Kart and maybe just have an open road race in MK? In the video, the racers leave the track and hit the road.

Leakers are claiming the following games are coming to Switch 2:

• Diablo 4
• Fallout 4
• Starfield
• Call of Duty
• Elden Ring
• Tekken 8

Microsoft has an event this Thursday where we may learn more.

https://metro.co.uk/2025/01/20/xbox-will-biggest-nintendo-switch-2-publisher-predict-insiders-22395830/

https://youtu.be/CHzEV_1xrLM?si=C3w95IKN7qrCKNAt

How Powerful is Switch 2 really?

PH Brazil the journalist who first told us of the Switch 2 delay.

He says that from everyone he's talked to, 3rd parties are considering Switch 2 versions of their most ambitious AAA projects. Not just older games, but new games in development.

He says that regardless of specs talk, this is a good indication of what the console will be able to do. He says he doesn't know if GTA6 would work as its cpu heavy.

Nintendo Secretly Teased The Switch 2’s Power—And We Totally Missed It

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2025/01/21/nintendo-secretly-teased-the-switch-2s-power-and-we-totally-missed-it/

If you felt underwhelmed after Nintendo revealed a short glimpse of the next Mario Kart (presumably Mario Kart 9) during its Switch 2 first look trailer, you’re not alone. Excited about the jump to 24 racers? Absolutely! But it wasn’t immediately obvious if the Switch 2 hardware would deliver a massive jump in graphics performance. However, a brilliant and articulate new analysis of the trailer by a game developer has completely reversed my own expectations and sent my excitement through the roof.

Game developer Jerrel Dulay of Sungrand Studios is intimately familiar with Nintendo hardware. He has worked extensively on the 3DS, Wii U, and Switch. Dulay frames his analysis as a way to illustrate how the Switch 2 is “a massive improvement that will really help developers get more out of their creative vision, and to do more with their games.”

What’s especially fascinating about this video is that Dulay admits he is currently under NDA, implying that he may have detailed knowledge of the Switch 2’s hardware specs (likely from a Nintendo-supplied developer kit). So, there’s a lot of speculation here, but the speculation is based on incredibly smart and convincing observations.

How The Switch 2 Is “Significantly More Powerful”

Dulay begins the video by pointing out the inclusion of a lighting technique known as “physically based shaders,” which aims to simulate how light interacts with various materials and surfaces in the real world.

"On the original Switch, you would be very careful with the complexity of your shader,” he says. This is because the more complex they are, the more the game’s framerate would decrease. Dulay posits that everything shown in the gameplay trailer is physically based, from the kart wheels to the very subtle effect of Mario’s gloved hand receiving yellowish reflections from the dirt below him.

Later, Dulay gives us a mini-tutorial on how expensive it is to render textures at high resolutions, especially when there is a high number of unique textures present, as there are on the road near the track’s starting grid.

“True Volumetric Lighting At This Resolution Is Insane”

But Dulay looks genuinely impressed when discussing what he considers the most important element demonstrating the Switch 2’s massive performance boost: volumetric lighting.

Volumetric lighting creates a sense of density in the atmosphere, and when light passes through that density it can make games look realistic and give scenery real depth. “It can be used to communicate clouds, fog, dustiness,” he says. Dulay then shows us how Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch “faked” various volumetric lighting techniques out of necessity.

"To have true volumetric lighting at this resolution is insane,” he says, citing that the technique contributes most to massive slowdown on original Switch games. He suggests that to pull all of this off, the Switch 2 has at least 200% more memory than its predecessor (between 12GB and 16GB, up from the original’s 4GB).

Dulay continues with more fascinating observations, like the realtime cloth simulation that’s happening with several flags billowing in the wind, which suggests the Switch 2 is also significantly more powerful when it comes to physics simulation.

This analysis reinforces the rumors suggesting the Switch 2 uses a semi-custom processor from Nvidia called the Tegra T239. That’s a leak that spilled in late 2023, and was further validated with the much more recent Switch 2 motherboard photos.

If true, that means the Switch 2 has a staggering 500% more CUDA Cores than the original Switch. That represents a dramatic jump in potential performance.

An Nvidia CUDA Core is essentially a processing unit inside of a GPU that handles complex operations like 3D graphics rendering. Specifically, think about things like particle effects, fire, liquids, and how objects in a game should move based on physics. Because these cores work together, increasing their number improves the speed at which these operations can be handled. And crucially, greatly expands how much graphics complexity game developers can add to their games.

While it’s far from being the only factor in overall graphics performance, it absolutely makes a substantial difference. And it’s looking increasingly likely that the Switch 2 will be a substantial upgrade over the original. Personally, I can’t wait to see how my Switch games perform on Nintendo’s new hardware.

Foolz said:

Almost the only thing it has going for it is the improvement in graphics!

Nintendo finally catching up with the competition!  

But frankly, Mario Kart hasn't changed in terms of gameplay since the N64 release.  The only thing I'd call actual innovation would be the 2 character carts of double dash, and that was ditched after one game, while actually being a very fun mechanic.

Ravenprose said:

All of that additional power but to the untrained eye, it still looks about the same as before. At least frame rates may be improved.

SupremeAC said:

I think it's just a case of the Mario artstyle having reached maturity. It looks great as is, we don't need more realistic graphics so we can count Mario's nostral hairs.

But stuff like physics based lighting, or volumetric lighting is a big step.

I wonder though, how long will Switch2 be able to keep up? Sure, it'll get contemporary games for a year or 2,maybe 3.  Once the ps6 comes around I'm expecting that well to dry up fast though.

Foolz said:

Looks much better to me. Have you considered the rock textures? Seriously, though, the textures are a massive step up, so is the detail in the scale of the tracks, and the models look so much more chunky, as well. Lighting and shadows are super clean and gives everything a slightly less plasticy feel, too.

And yet the only interesting change in gameplay is more racers. Almost the only thing it has going for it is the improvement in graphics!