Why That Brief Look at Mario Kart 9 Suggests Nintendo Switch 2 Is 'Significantly More Powerful' Than the Original — According to a Developer

An indie game developer with extensive experience creating Switch titles has offered compelling evidence suggesting the Nintendo Switch 2 boasts significantly enhanced processing power. This conclusion is drawn primarily from analyzing the brief, yet revealing, glimpse of Mario Kart 9 showcased in the recent Switch 2 announcement video.

While Nintendo remains tight-lipped about the Switch 2's technical specifications beyond visual upgrades like new Joy-Cons and a larger form factor, Jerrel Dulay of Sungrand Studios, a developer with a history on Wii U and 3DS titles, provides insightful analysis.

Mario Kart 9 - A Technological Showcase?

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Dulay highlights the use of physically-based shaders in the Mario Kart 9 footage. These shaders, impacting reflections and lighting, were computationally expensive on the original Switch, often resulting in performance drops. The apparent seamless implementation in the trailer suggests a substantial processing power increase. He also points to the high-resolution ground textures and numerous unique textures, demanding significant RAM resources.

Rumors suggest the Switch 2 utilizes an Nvidia T239 ARM mobile chip with 1536 CUDA cores and 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. This represents a considerable leap from the original Switch's 256 CUDA cores and 4GB of RAM. The potential for higher RAM speeds further enhances performance.

Dulay emphasizes the presence of volumetric lighting and detailed, far-reaching shadows in the Mario Kart 9 footage. Both are graphically intensive features that were significantly challenging to implement on the original Switch. Their inclusion, combined with high polygon count characters and real-time cloth physics, strongly indicates a substantial power upgrade.

The combination of increased CUDA cores, expanded RAM, and faster RAM speeds strongly suggests the Switch 2 will offer developers a significantly more powerful platform compared to its predecessor. While further details await Nintendo's April Direct, Dulay's analysis provides a compelling preview of the Switch 2's graphical capabilities.

What do you think of the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal?

I love it and am absolutely buying that consoleIt was a little tame but I'll still buy the Switch 2I liked it but need to see more before I make a decisionIt was a little underwhelming so I'm not really botheredThe reveal was pretty iffy and I don't care for the console eitherSomething else!AnswerSee Results