A new patent published on December 31, 2024, has given weight to the claim that the upcoming Nintendo Switch successor will use DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling)-style upscaling technology to boost the resolution of games.
“A computer system is provided for converting images through the use of a trained neural network,” read the abstract of the patent filing. “A source image is divided into blocks and context data is added to each pixel block.”
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“The context blocks are split into channels and each channel from the same context block is added to the same activation matrix. The action matrix is then executed against a trained neural network to produce a changed activation matrix. The changed activation matrix is then used to generate a converted image.”
The patent filed on July 13 had Alexandre Delattre, Theo Charvet, and Raphael Poncet as the innovators. Console and hardware makers are increasingly relying on AI to boost the graphics fidelity of games—which developers believe is important for consumer satisfaction (although that is up for debate).
Late last year, Sony launched PS5 Pro which comes with the company’s native image upscaler, PlayStation Super Spectral Resolution (PSSR). AMD also has the FSR while Nvidia has the DLSS.
Nintendo will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch in the next 3 months, by March 31, 2025. pic.twitter.com/djeSwKgEgE
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 31, 2024
Therefore, it is not surprising that Nintendo is planning to implement a DLSS-style technology in the next iteration of the Nintendo Switch console which is expected to launch this year. This can help the company overcome the technical constraints that handheld consoles face.
How the Nintendo Switch successor can benefit from upscaling technology
The emphasis of developers on graphics fidelity has led to a continuously swelling game size. About a decade ago, 20 GB was more than enough for an AAA title. Fast-forward to today, AAA games occupy over 100 GB of space. This means gamers see their console storage capacity fill up faster.
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With the help of hardware that can upscale the graphics of games, Nintendo is predicting that the size of installed games will experience a sharp decline. The sentiment was shared in the patent filing as spotted by journalist Laura Kate Dale on BlueSky.
“The example given is that a game with native 4K textures might need a 60GB download, but a 1080 native version might only need 20GB (which would allow it to fit on a 32GB Switch Cart, the current max size Nintendo produces for Switch 1). The idea being to do a 4X upscale on the device in realtime.”
Perhaps the most interesting piece of this, after a lengthy read, is that one example use case given is explicitly to reduce overall game sizes, to fit a modern game onto "smaller capacity physical media", e.g. Switch carts, which get exponentially more expensive for larger cart capacities.
— Laura Kate Dale – LauraKBuzz (@laurakbuzz.bsky.social) 2025-01-01T13:41:57.130Z
The Nintendo patent also emphasized the speed and accuracy of their 540p to 1080p or 1080p to 4K upscales. Until the next Nintendo Switch iteration arrives, Nvidia’s DLSS is still the upscaler to beat in terms of speed, quality, and the ability to perfectly upscale low internal resolutions.
