Nintendo finally showed us the Switch 2 last week, but we still don’t know what’s inside the new console (at least, not officially). Nintendo rarely discusses specifications, so it will likely be some time before we know precisely what’s powering the console. In the meantime, one independent game developer who has made Wii U, 3DS, and Switch games believes the Mario Kart footage from the reveal is enough to provide some insight into the Switch 2’s power.
As spotted by GamesRadar, Jerrel Dulay of Sungrand Studios recently posted a video in which he examines the Mario Kart 9 footage from the Switch 2 announcement. Based on the footage, he believes the Switch 2 will be “significantly more powerful” than the Switch.
As Dulay explains, the use of “physically based shaders” is the first sign that the Switch 2 could offer a substantial leap in performance over the original Switch. Physically based shaders allow objects to react more realistically to reflections and lighting in the environment, which he points out in a few instances during the footage that Nintendo shared.
“On the original Switch, you would be very careful with the complexity of your shader,” explains Dulay. “The more complex your shader is, the more demanding it is on the hardware.” The fact that Nintendo seems to be exclusively using physically based shaders suggests that there’s far more power for developers to work with on the new hardware.
Some of the other noteworthy details from the footage include high-resolution ground textures, volumetric lighting, the shadows being drawn in the distance, cloth simulation, and high polygon counts on the character models. If this is real gameplay footage of the next Mario Kart, it simply wouldn’t be playable on the Switch due to these enhancements.
Based on what he sees in the video, Dulay expects the Switch 2 to feature at least 12 to 16 GB of RAM, which would be a substantial upgrade over the Switch’s 4 GB.
You can watch Jerrel Dulay’s full breakdown of the Mario Kart 9 footage below:
The post Switch 2 ‘significantly more powerful’ than the Switch, says game developer appeared first on BGR.
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Switch 2 ‘significantly more powerful’ than the Switch, says game developer originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 21 Jan 2025 at 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.