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 stems from a close analysis of the recently unveiled Mario Kart 9 trailer.

Last week's Switch 2 hardware reveal generated considerable excitement, yet Nintendo remained notably tight-lipped about the console's technical capabilities. While upgrades like revised Joy-Cons, a redesigned kickstand, and a larger form factor are clear, the console's raw power remains unconfirmed.

Jerrel Dulay of Sungrand Studios, a prominent indie developer with a history of Wii U and 3DS development, shared his insights in a recent YouTube video (via GamesRadar). Dulay's familiarity with Nintendo hardware lends significant weight to his analysis.

Mario Kart 9: A Technical Deep Dive

25 Images

Dulay highlights several key graphical elements in the Mario Kart 9 footage as indicators of the Switch 2's enhanced capabilities. He points to the use of physically-based shaders, impacting reflections and lighting effects on the karts and environment. These shaders, demanding on the original Switch, are rendered smoothly in the trailer. Furthermore, the trailer showcases detailed ground textures and reflections, demanding significant RAM and processing power.

Digital Foundry's late 2023 report, corroborating Switch 2 motherboard leaks, suggests the inclusion of an Nvidia T239 ARM mobile chip with approximately 1536 CUDA cores. This represents a substantial increase from the original Switch's Tegra X1 chip with only 256 CUDA cores – a 500% jump.

The rumored 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM (compared to the original Switch's 4GB) and its potential high speed (up to 7500MHz) further support Dulay's assessment. This increased RAM capacity and speed would significantly improve texture loading and overall performance, enabling the high-resolution textures and numerous unique textures visible in the Mario Kart 9 trailer.

Dulay also emphasizes the presence of volumetric lighting and far-distance shadows in the trailer. These features are computationally expensive and were significant challenges for developers on the original Switch. Their inclusion in the Mario Kart 9 trailer, coupled with high poly-count characters and real-time cloth physics, strongly suggests a substantial performance leap for the Switch 2.

In summary, Dulay's analysis, based on the Mario Kart 9 footage and confirmed hardware specifications, provides compelling evidence that the Switch 2 represents a significant advancement in processing power compared to its predecessor. Further details are expected from Nintendo's April Direct presentation.

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