It's fairly ironic that ARM's downfall is likely to be getting outcompeted on one of the bigger factors behind its current dominance in the first place, having a much more open licensing model than x86.
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StarTopic Future Nintendo Hardware & Technology Speculation & Discussion |ST| (New Staff Post, Please read)
- Thread starter Dakhil
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OP
OP
Turns out selling Arm to SoftBank was a terrible idea to begin with, especially with SoftBank destroying Arm bit by bit after Nvidia's attempted acquisition of Arm failed!
ArchedThunder
Uncle Beerus
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Nintendo aren’t know for bullshot trailers, their trailers tend to represent the actual quality of their games. The Pikmin footage is incredibly clean, has super clean shadows, great textures and materials, etc.
Whether or not it’s actually running on Drake I do think those are the visuals they’re targeting for that hardware and base Switch will look worse.
So whether it’s actually running on a Drake devkit or a PC it would seem to be representative of the game’s target on Drake.
Also, I’m pretty sure Nintendo captures their trailers off of devkits.
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Gyemknight
Rattata
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Sorry If there is drama in the thread after this, but I am a long time lurker and have been reading post and all of this talking about the New Switch, but why has most of the talk about it being about how "It has to launch with ToTK or it will flop" or " A Metroid Prime remake and Metroid Prime 4 has to come next year with the Switch and next year". Sorry if this comes across as rude, but I'm gonna need a 16 page essay on why the things I stated above have to happen it's just that 1. The New Switch doesn't need to launch with ToTK to get sales and 2. I just don't think there is enough information on why a Metroid Prime remake has to happen and why nintendo would bother to make Metroid Prime 4 2 years after Metroid Dread came out (considering their release pattern for the series) sorry if there is any drama but I needed to get that off my chest. Peace 
LiC
Member
"It would seem" that we're officially adding Pikmin 4 to the same pile of moldering wrongheaded predictions from the past as MHR, M+R2, TotK, and more.
This is so totally baseless.
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Or a Xenoblade superboss
What if the driver had a toggleable option that enables DLSS and other improvement patches by default on legacy software. The user can then turn this off on the settings. Much like how Geforce in windows works.
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Sorry If there is drama in the thread after this, but I am a long time lurker and have been reading post and all of this talking about the New Switch, but why has most of the talk about it being about how "It has to launch with ToTK or it will flop" or " A Metroid Prime remake and Metroid Prime 4 has to come next year with the Switch and next year". Sorry if this comes across as rude, but I'm gonna need a 16 page essay on why the things I stated above have to happen it's just that 1. The New Switch doesn't need to launch with ToTK to get sales and 2. I just don't think there is enough information on why a Metroid Prime remake has to happen and why nintendo would bother to make Metroid Prime 4 2 years after Metroid Dread came out (considering their release pattern for the series) sorry if there is any drama but I needed to get that off my chest. Peace
Plenty of people agree with you on 1.
However most in here agree it only makes sense that assuming hardware does launch in Q1/H1 next year, that it should either launch with or before TotK. TotK arguably has no equal in terms of core audience releases for Nintendo, and it’d be a huge missed opportunity to have it launch and not use it as showcase for the new device.
As for 2, we’ve been hearing about a Metroid Prime remake from Emily, NateDrake, Grubb, and others for some time now. Most are just assuming it’s happening, and we just don’t know when. Grubb was saying this year but we’re running out of time for that. It’s starting to feel like it’s a title for early next year, and then it becomes a talking point for the new hardware launch.
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OP
OP
Personally, I agree that Nintendo's new hardware doesn't need to launch with Tears of the Kingdom to be successful.Sorry If there is drama in the thread after this, but I am a long time lurker and have been reading post and all of this talking about the New Switch, but why has most of the talk about it being about how "It has to launch with ToTK or it will flop" or " A Metroid Prime remake and Metroid Prime 4 has to come next year with the Switch and next year". Sorry if this comes across as rude, but I'm gonna need a 16 page essay on why the things I stated above have to happen it's just that 1. The New Switch doesn't need to launch with ToTK to get sales and 2. I just don't think there is enough information on why a Metroid Prime remake has to happen and why nintendo would bother to make Metroid Prime 4 2 years after Metroid Dread came out (considering their release pattern for the series) sorry if there is any drama but I needed to get that off my chest. Peace
But at the same time, and to play a little bit of a devil's advocate, launching Nintendo's new hardware with Tears of the Kingdom certainly doesn't hurt, going by how the Nintendo Wii launched with Twilight Princess and the Nintendo Switch launched with Breath of the Wild, with the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo Switch being one of Nintendo's most successful consoles.
Anyway, I do wonder when Nvidia's going to go back to designing custom Arm based CPUs.
More and more of the bigger Arm licensees seem to have shifted from using Arm's CPU IP to designing custom Arm based CPUs (e.g. Ampere, Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm, etc.).
I presume not for a long while since Nvidia confirmed using Poseidon AE for Thor.
NineTailSage
Bob-omb
ArchedThunder
Uncle Beerus
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Kise Ryota
Then I'll say "I told ya"
Sorry If there is drama in the thread after this, but I am a long time lurker and have been reading post and all of this talking about the New Switch, but why has most of the talk about it being about how "It has to launch with ToTK or it will flop" or " A Metroid Prime remake and Metroid Prime 4 has to come next year with the Switch and next year". Sorry if this comes across as rude, but I'm gonna need a 16 page essay on why the things I stated above have to happen it's just that 1. The New Switch doesn't need to launch with ToTK to get sales and 2. I just don't think there is enough information on why a Metroid Prime remake has to happen and why nintendo would bother to make Metroid Prime 4 2 years after Metroid Dread came out (considering their release pattern for the series) sorry if there is any drama but I needed to get that off my chest. Peace
My first post here was kinda of the same lol
I also don't see the hardware needing a specific game to launch with. Switch was a hit (well, it still is) and things are completely different now (comparing with when nintendo was coming from the wii u disaster). I believe this momentum will continue, and in the first 18 months people will buy the console just for the improved performance in existing games (and future ones). Unless they mess up with the pricing...
LiC
Member
You mean, another Switch game's pre-release trailer with "perfect image quality" (whatever that is) with visuals that high quality (entirely subjective)? I could actually do that, but there's more than a little wiggle room -- and confirmation bias -- at play here making any comparison pointless, I'd say.
Having anything to do with NSO is baseless. Doubly so when you imply a non-zero possibility that NSO could be the only way to get access to them, when the possibility of that is in fact obviously zero.
This isn't really a driver thing. Either the game has been patched or it hasn't.
Can you name a single example of them doing something like that outside of the dubiously applicable VC upgrade fees?
ArchedThunder
Uncle Beerus
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As I said, Nintendo doesn‘t typically do bullshot trailers, if anything their games usually look better when they release.
As far as what I mean by perfect image quality, there’s zero aliasing and the image is crystal clear. It doesn’t have the blurriness or any artifacts typical of TAA or Temporal upscaling, and both of those still result in visible aliasing at Switch resolutions. Outside of potentially some indie games with very simple visuals there is nothing that pristine on Switch.
As for the subjectiveness of high quality visuals, there’s nothing subjective about the geometry, textures, lighting, materials, and shadows being rather high quality in the trailer. Thats not to say that each individual part of the game’s visuals couldn’t be done on Switch, but the combination of all of them in conjunction with the pristine image is definitely not possible.
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LiC
Member
None of this does anything to move past the subjectivity issue. What was shown to my eyes doesn't look at all impossible for the Switch to render at 30 fps. It wasn't presented as gameplay anyway, and there is in fact one extremely high-profile example where a pre-gameplay teaser for a major Nintendo game used footage that was in line with the target visuals but more clean and consistent than the final game could achieve. It involved a horse.
Appealing to Nintendo's typical honesty with trailers is also a bit ironic when making this argument, since it's exactly for that reason that they'd never show footage running on or targeting a more powerful future system than the one they're actually announcing the game for. I mean, they wouldn't show footage running on or targeting any unannounced hardware regardless, because it's, y'know, unannounced hardware, but the power/fidelity part of it is particularly relevant here.
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Another reason I don’t think the teaser had anything to do with Drake is that I kind of expect better than this @ 1080p? I have a feeling that when we see Drake footage we’ll know it
I’m going to assume whatever they were showing is targeting Switch - maybe they’ll miss it, but if they were willing to show it off at this stage it’s probably not far off from what they’ll manage.
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If I were to guess, they'll keep using ARM CPU IPs until RISC-V is stands firm in the SoC CPU space.
Nvidia already did custom ARM development with Project Denver/Carmel and reverted back to ARM IP, so it's probably a situation where the custom design process was netting them minimal benefits for the investment compared to just using ARM IP.
ReddDreadtheLead
#TeamLate2025WithAPotentialForEarly2026
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I was having a look at the Bluetooth+Wifi possibilities for the switch 2/Pro/Kepler 3.
The original switch looks as though it uses Broadcom/Cypress BCM4356 802.11ac 2×2 + Bluetooth 4.1 SoC
But the switch Lite, according to the findings of iFixit, uses Cypress CYW4356X 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0 SoC.
The OLED from what I can find also uses the 4.1 SOC. So only the switch Lite is using a newer one but it’s likely more limited for parity.
So at the bare minimum I think the SoC in the lite could make its way to the switch 2/pro/DreamPlayStationSeriesXCastHalo edition as a sort of improvement over the current 4.1.
That or iFixit is wrong here and the lite doesn’t use 5.0, but a 4.1 like the rest. I just find it interesting that they never updated the other ones but the lite got the newer one.
But maybe Nintendo used all three models to drive manufacturing of parts that’ll be reused in the T239 switch? Few and far…
On another note I wonder if Nintendo will have 9-axis Gyroscope for the switch 2. Currently the switch uses 3-Axis Accelerometer, but a 9-axis adds information from a 3-axis magnetometer to the gyroscope and accelerometer. This would use the Earth’s magnetic field and wouldn’t need to calibrate it. Aka, it’s a compass. It always knows what’s down
Why would you want this? If you have an idea of where I’m getting at and that is probably right, since it has a magnetometer that can detect what is down and what is not, you don’t have to constantly calibrate it. Thus, this can deliver even better and more precise motion control than the Wii without needing the sensor bar…
And, if you’re following along with the train of thought, could be Wii Onli- ok that’s enough but generally the gyro aiming would be way better with the 9-axis than with the current axis.
The Wii U used 9-Axis control for reference!
Currently one of Nintendo’s suppliers, STMicroelectronics, offers 9-Axis in their lineup.
The original switch looks as though it uses Broadcom/Cypress BCM4356 802.11ac 2×2 + Bluetooth 4.1 SoC
But the switch Lite, according to the findings of iFixit, uses Cypress CYW4356X 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0 SoC.
The OLED from what I can find also uses the 4.1 SOC. So only the switch Lite is using a newer one but it’s likely more limited for parity.
So at the bare minimum I think the SoC in the lite could make its way to the switch 2/pro/DreamPlayStationSeriesXCastHalo edition as a sort of improvement over the current 4.1.
That or iFixit is wrong here and the lite doesn’t use 5.0, but a 4.1 like the rest. I just find it interesting that they never updated the other ones but the lite got the newer one.
But maybe Nintendo used all three models to drive manufacturing of parts that’ll be reused in the T239 switch? Few and far…
On another note I wonder if Nintendo will have 9-axis Gyroscope for the switch 2. Currently the switch uses 3-Axis Accelerometer, but a 9-axis adds information from a 3-axis magnetometer to the gyroscope and accelerometer. This would use the Earth’s magnetic field and wouldn’t need to calibrate it. Aka, it’s a compass. It always knows what’s down
Why would you want this? If you have an idea of where I’m getting at and that is probably right, since it has a magnetometer that can detect what is down and what is not, you don’t have to constantly calibrate it. Thus, this can deliver even better and more precise motion control than the Wii without needing the sensor bar…
And, if you’re following along with the train of thought, could be Wii Onli- ok that’s enough but generally the gyro aiming would be way better with the 9-axis than with the current axis.
The Wii U used 9-Axis control for reference!
Currently one of Nintendo’s suppliers, STMicroelectronics, offers 9-Axis in their lineup.
NineTailSage
Bob-omb
I had to go back and re-read my statement as I was certain in the next sentence I stated Nintendo would probably go the route of Sony in charging a $10 fee if you already own the games. Nintendo themselves are using DLC content to make NSO more attractive, I never stated that would be the only way to get those upgrades, just that Nintendo aren't known to be the company to do something for free.
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They are using expansion packs for three of their games as a benefit of a service that is literally called “+ Expansion Pack”
Let’s not overstate things here.
Nintendo is absolutely known to patch random crap into their games for free, though. It's a pretty key part of their post release strategy for many of their titles at this point. There's even some pretty direct examples of them adding support for new "hardware" in the form of all the Labo patches they did.
I'm also not sure Sony is the best example, when they're going so hard on the cynical cash grabs right now to keep their AAA addiction fed that they've functionally gone third party.
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If iFixit has the manufacturer and part number, the likelihood they're wrong is small. The Cypres CYW4356X chip is likely just a result of diversifying their part sourcing (and get competitive rates on parts as a result), since Cypress (now owned by Infineon) competes in this space with some of Nintendo's other suppliers, Broadcom included, and likely managed to snag that part with BT5 for the same or similar price as the one in the OG and OLED Switch.
But because Joy-Cons and Pro Controllers are all BT4.1, the BT5 chip in the Lite does not offer much benefit to official accessories.
Bluetooth 5 felt pretty close to a lock for new hardware and its associated accessories as time went on, especially because they can get a longer battery life without larger batteries by updating to BT5. The question mark that remains is 802.11ax (aka Wi-Fi 6) support. One would hope so, but who knows. And we'll be talking in 6 years about whether or not Nintendo will add support for 802.11be (aka Wi-Fi 7) to the next next hardware.
ReddDreadtheLead
#TeamLate2025WithAPotentialForEarly2026
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My reason for the doubt is that they list the OLED model as using LPDDR4 memory from Micron rather than LPDDR4X. It’s likely just an error since the Tegra X1+ (Mariko) doesn’t take the LPDDR4 as it has the memory controller for 4X afaik. But i find it odd that they just left it as such.
In any case, I was looking at the BT5.2 spec and it has something interesting I think for BTAudio users, though probably not that good still:
Bluetooth - Wikipedia
So in hardware-wise it should in theory support a feature like this… it came out in 2019 so it’s not new per se, supporting something like that would be pretty good I think.
I genuinely find it strange people think Pikmin 4 is running on better hardware. Same with Monster Hunter Rise and Mario + Rabbids 2. None of these games look that much better nor are they presented with significantly better quality
Because 6x gpu cores should give you a significantly better picture, iq or fidelity-wise
Because 6x gpu cores should give you a significantly better picture, iq or fidelity-wise
Pikmin 4?
Edit: anyway, there is a lot of confirmation bias at work, when people are judging graphics and the Switches capabilities.
D
Deleted member 341
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we literally had Digital Foundry saying Tears of the Kingdom looks too good for Switch and that it doesn't seem like it would be possible because of the clouds.
Which they thought were volumetric, even though they aren’t.
Odd because I can't see Nintendo trolling everyone, why would they tease the game in 2019 if they did not plan to release this on the current model?
D
Deleted member 341
Guest
Yes. also the game doesn't even look that different from BotW so far.
mjayer
Bob-omb
This always confused me. We have people saying BOTW wasn’t fully optimized for Switch and it seems like those same people say TOTK can’t run on switch.
Raccoon
Fox Brigade
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these are usually different people y'know
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Doesn't change how amusing I find the overall conversation.
If the console is what people think it is, it won't really need DLSS on older games to reach high resolutions/framerates.
Raccoon
Fox Brigade
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I don't find it especially funny that some people are technically knowledgable while others aren't but I guess it makes sense for this thread to
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Hmm I wasn't making a comment about tech knowledge but console warriors and other folks fulfilling their confirmation bias regardless of the information available. Wasn't really my intention to do so.
Also, it is still possible to find certain comments amusing but then take the time to explain or clarify for those interested in learning. The most recent example has been Nier Automata threads, there are those who were genuinely interested in learning how the port was done and others who posted drive bys calling it a cloud port or saying it was low res unplayable and then never responding to folks who quoted them.
I deleted that post anyway, sorry.
D
Deleted member 1324
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Because the shadow quality and range isn't possible on a Tegra X1. I've personally never said Rise or Rabbids 2 was running on Drake because it was within the realms of possible. Those Pikmin 4 shadows and how far they go at the quality they are, along with it's overall IQ is not within the realms of possible on Switch imo.
We all know 6x the GPU cores does not = 6x better visuals. It's also probably early dev footage on Drake and it's probably not got the largest of teams thus budgets assigned to it.
iirc, the off-colour slits we see on the sides of phones starting from the iPhone 6 line are related to antennae apparel. I might be wrong here, but I think it's a slit of a different material where the antenna is placed beneath thus facilitating the signal passthrough.
Would be cool to see nintendo implement something similar for wifi+bluetooh at the top of the console so it isn't obstructed by the dock.
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If a game doesn't have a release date or is like a year+ away it's pretty likely the footage is from a development PC. It's of course targeting Switch though.
I swear as soon as rumors pick up about new hardware people completely forget that all development and trailers and bullshots are made on PCs.
D
Deleted member 887
Guest
There is a single frame - one frame - of footage with playable characters in them.
I think all of Nintendo's footage is from a PC, just with the same fidelity as the Switch version, so I don't think it means much as far as trickery goes, outside of potential framerates being better in the trailers
mjayer
Bob-omb
Ya I just don't believe they would show us drake footage of anything before announcing drake. I'll admit that it looks too good for for Switch gameplay perhaps, but only by a hair... and then maybe not too good to be an in-engine cut scene on current switch.
I guess time will tell.
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I mean they infamously used better than Wii U(and Switch) footage for the original BOTW teaser, and I thought they continuously put out 4k bullshots for most of their first party games.
They only really show Switch footage once they start to show gameplay I thought.
Obviously I agree that the whole "it must be on Drake" is ridiculous but I thought it was pretty well known and expected that most of their teasers are not exactly at the target Switch spec.
OP
OP
That's correct. Metal can worsen Wi-Fi reception due to metal's ability to absorb electromagnetic waves (e.g. Wi-Fi, etc.), hence there are plastic antennae bands on metal smartphones.
I was thinking that maybe Nintendo could place a plastic Wi-Fi antennae band around the screen.
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