Following the news that Nintendo revealed the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware to developers at this year’s Gamescom, new details have already surfaced regarding the new handheld console.
Alongside a tech demo showing an upgraded version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo revealed key features of the hardware using Epic Games’ intensive The Matrix Awakens UE5 tech demo.
Confirming support of Unreal Engine 5, reports claim The Matrix Awakens’ Nintendo Switch 2 tech demo revealed key features for the new Nintendo console. Not only can the system run high-end. UE5 features such as Nanite and Lumen, but also supports Nvidia’s DLSS 3 image reconstruction tech and hardware-accelerated ray-tracing.
While internal resolutions may be low, the use of Nvidia’s DLSS reconstruction tech is said to give Nintendo’s console graphics capabilities “comparable” to Xbox Series and PS5 consoles. However, games will likely run at a lower framerate and resolution due to the console’s handheld form factor.
The Nintendo Switch 2 has yet to be officially revealed to the public, but developers are already hard at work on launch titles for the next-gen machine. With Nintendo Switch 2 dev kits in the hands of trusted studios around the world, developers are looking to get titles ready for the console’s leaked 2024 release date.
With DLSS support and hardware capable of features like ray-tracing, however rudimentary it will be, Nintendo Switch 2 is primed to be very competitive against Xbox Series and PS5. While DLSS was never previously confirmed, it was expected to give Nintendo — the only console manufacturer to use Nvidia hardware — a huge crutch to balance its weaker, handheld machine.
While the support of ray-tracing is good to see, it may not be very utilised in the vast majority of titles, unless the console takes advantage of DLSS 3.5’s new ray reconstruction technology. Even with this in mind, hardware raytracing on handheld machines is very intensive, as can be seen on Valve’s Steam Deck.