To quote seminal movie classic Bad Boys 2, "this s**t just got real". That's because who is being reported as a verified ResetEra insider has just spilled the beans on the Nintendo Switch Pro, with gamers referring to it on Reddit as the "Super Nintendo Switch".
The revelations come courtesy of the ResetEra forum, which were then surfaced in a Reddit thread, where a user that goes by the handle of 'z0m3le', who is considered a legitimate insider and rated by the forum's notoriously strict moderators, spoke about the Nintendo Switch Pro's capabilities.
And, excitingly for gamers the world over, z0m3le's conclusion is that the Super Nintendo Switch Pro is going to be as powerful as a PS4, come with a native resolution of 1440p and that, thanks to its adoption of Nvidia's DLSS 2.0 technology, it is going to be able to use AI to artificially upscale that resolution.
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Writing in the forum, z0m3le states that:
"As for the Switch model incoming, we should just treat it like a PS4 with DLSS and a more capable CPU. That's plenty to get an idea of what it should be capable of IMO. A decade of GPU advancements and a raw performance on par with PS4 is just something we can all be happy and excited about."
The core of this leak appears to come from data mined information from a Nintendo Switch game that reveals a profile for a 1440p resolution system. z0m3le explains that, "the game has the current model's profile render resolution set to 720p and a new Switch profile (it specifically says switch for platform) with a render (render not just output, so not DLSS) resolution of 1440p.
"It wasn't found by me or anything, it was found by a data miner and shared with someone on Nintendoera, so it's this community's information, I just happened to catch it there and bring it up here in the thread."
The information tallies with what z0m3le has heard Nintendo is working on, though, and especially so in the sense that the BigN has been tipped to be utilising DLSS 2.0 on its next console, which is a smart AI tech from Nvidia that uses a deep learning neural network to boost framerates and upscale resolutions.
With DLSS turned on, for example, a game can be running at a native 1440p resolution, like the rumored Super Nintendo Switch, and then that can be upscaled to something higher, even up to 4K, without a noticeable performance hit on framerate. DLSS 2.0 is the very latest version of that technology, and it is currently improving the performance in AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 on PC.
Indeed, as z0m3le notes, thanks to these leaks he believes "we can say with some confidence that [the Super Nintendo Switch Pro] is a PS4 with DLSS and a better cpu".
Here at T3 we think that a new Nintendo Switch console is definitely coming, and the information in this latest discussion of a "Super Nintendo Switch" makes sense to us up to a point. We can totally see a new Switch coming with a 1440p native resolution, which is double that of the Nintendo Switch's 720p, and we can also see it make use of DLSS 2.0, too, as Nvidia's graphics tech powers the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite.
Whether or not DLSS 2.0 will ramp a 1440p resolution up to 4K, though, remains to be seen. And naturally, despite how verified an insider may thought to be, until any hard evidence breaks cover then we're definitely still operating firmly in rumor territory right now. As such, we definitely think gamers should take this information with a healthy pinch of salt.
All that said, though, there's no doubting that a Super Nintendo Switch Pro console, kitted out as discussed here would be a brilliant experience for gamers. It would properly open the console up to full-blown open world games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, which right now the Switch family simply cannot achieve due to a lack of power.
Just imagine hanging out with Johnny Silverhand on the commute to work, or flying high over Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 in 4K? Truly a mouth-watering proposition. Hopefully we will hear something concrete from Nintendo soon, as right now the Super Nintendo Switch Pro hype train is accelerating at a rapid speed.
As to what the Super Nintendo Switch Pro console could look like, right now nothing is known, however a recent video gives us our best idea yet at what might be incoming.
If this rumor of a Super Nintendo Switch Pro handheld console is true, then that also could set up a tantalising showdown with the rumored Sony PSP 5G, which has been whispered to be potentially incoming for a couple of years now.
The PlayStation Portable 5G is rumored to be a streaming/digital only console that uses a low-latency 5G connection, as well as WiFi, to stream games from a user's own game library or from a Netflix-for-games service such as PlayStation Now.
Instead of having its own proprietary games, the PSP 5G would instead just tap into Sony's existing massive library of PS5 games, as well as titles from its past home and handheld systems. If a gamer owns them, then they can simply select them and play them remotely on the PSP 5G.
The console is also tipped to offer direct access to the Sony PlayStation Store, allowing games to be bought and then played on the go. The console is set to come with a PSNow subscription, too, out of the box, meaning that as soon as a gamer boots up the console they already have access to hundreds of games that can be streamed from the cloud instantly.
A system as described above would be very tough competition for a Super Nintendo Switch handheld, but excellent news for gamers, as it would once more inject a bit of competition into the handheld console market, which Nintendo has been dominating with a massive monopoly throughout the Switch family's lifespan to date.
In other gaming news rumors about the incoming PlayStation VR 2 continue to gather pace, with the console predicted to be a major factor in deciding the next-gen console war.
Unlike both Nintendo and Microsoft, Sony has a virtual reality gaming very firmly in its wheelhouse, with the long-term sleeper hit that was the original PlayStation VR now cementing the Japanese firm's platform.
Nothing yet is concretely known about a PSVR 2, but there have been whispers of a wireless design with higher resolution screen circulating for years now. The system has also been visualised with a micro SDXC port, too, and a USB-C link for a direct connection to the PS5.
Most excitingly for gamers is the rumor that PSVR 2 is set for release before the Summer of 2022. The original PSVR was released in 2016 and, even then, didn't offer the best VR hardware on the market, so an update sooner rather than later seems inevitable. A winter holiday season release date would be ideal, but here at T3 we're thinking Summer 2022 sounds far more likely.
