Nintendo patent hints towards a brilliant Switch 2 feature that should make games look, and perform, better

A US legal patent filed by Nintendo in July 2023 and made public on December 31, 2024 revealed an interesting new feature that could be used in the Switch 2. The console, which has yet to be officially revealed but remains a major mystery within the video game industry, could be played in games with higher visual quality And with better performance if the patented technology is implemented.

The patent covers “machine image conversion systems and methods” which, as you can see, are similar in function to Nvidia’s DLSS technology and PlayStation’s similar PSSR upscaling technologies. This machine learning technique allows hardware, in layman’s terms, to fill in the gaps in video game graphics. It can generate the visuals you see in higher resolution, without the need for the hardware that such visuals typically require.

This improvement in visual quality also comes without the performance sacrifice you’d normally expect. In general, this is a convenient technology. Especially for the Switch 2, which is widely believed to be not as powerful as current rival consoles from Microsoft and PlayStation, and which could benefit greatly from being able to squeeze more out of the processing power it has.

The patent itself which you can read hereQuite technical in his descriptions and visual diagrams. However, if you take the time to read it, there are interesting points scattered throughout. How Accessibility consultant Laura Kate Dale highlights BlueskyThe patent says the technology could reduce the size of games to better fit “smaller-capacity physical media.” Laura correctly connects the Switch carts, which currently have a maximum capacity of 32GB. Image transformations using machine learning can allow “big” games to run natively on smaller capacity physical hardware.

As far as we know, this isn’t the first handy feature we know Nintendo is working on. It was previously confirmed that the console will be backwards compatiblewhich makes sense given the Switch’s vast library of exclusive games.

All that’s really left to do is to officially unveil Switch 2 at some point. What else do you expect from Switch 2? Are there any sleep peculiarities? Let us know!