Nintendo Fans Are Desperate to Know How Close Switch 2 Will Get to PS4's Power

I guess we will find out when it's released.

Not sure why some of these people keep going on about native resolution. Native res is dead. PSSR and DLSS are the future for these consoles.

it won’t be no steam deck. i really wish nintendo would make 2 versions of switch 2 with one dedicated console counterpart. It’s also a shame that it won’t be able to atleast be on par with a series s either, but nintendo constantly gets away with lowballing and treating their players dirty so whatever

We live in an age where raw performance simply doesn't matter anymore. There is no value in pushing 4000 pixels every 33 milliseconds when you can push 1000 and have upscaling do the rest, leaving processing power for doing other things like better effects, bigger worlds, more complex AI....

But in terms of marketing, bigger number is easier to sell. So who the hell knows.

The main advantage of the PS4 will likely be the CPU, and this despite the poor Jaguar x86 architecture, because of the much smaller power budget of the Switch 2.

Let‘s hope that they are similar in this regard, without enough CPU performance some games are just not able to run properly.

Oh come on, it will be more powerful than a PS4 lol. I know Nintendo hardware is usually a bit less powerful than its competitors, but saying it's gonna be weaker than 10+ year old tech is crazy talk.

I've never seen so much talk about specs and fps and resolution and how it's gonna play all the big games now while simultaneously boasting about how Ninty fans don't care about that stuff or power

I'd be surprised if the thing comes close to a steam deck and if it were to come to it or be even better than it, then the price is not gonna be cheap. And at that point it would still just be better getting a pc handheld

More powerful than a 32x, less power than a rtx 4090 is my guess.

Curious to see the price, probably 400 +.

I'm honestly happy with the GPU being PS4 level as that would still be better than the steam deck. I think on the cpu side it will likely be better as well as the jaguar cores were always bad and even the steam deck has the PS4 beat on the cpu side. the likely pain point will be memory bandwidth.

Saying it'll be stronger or even on par with base ps4 is just wishful thinking.

@Haruki_NLI “ leaving processing power for doing other things like better effects, bigger worlds, more complex AI”

this still falls under raw performance, no ?

@nomither6 Raw performance is a term most often used to describe pixel counts and FPS, how a game performs, thus performance.

What a game is doing with a systems power isn't necessarily how it performs. It impacts it but it's not the main focus anymore.

But this is also the english language so it's one of those things where your view determines if it is or not. shrug

@nomither6 Well, if the rumours are to be believed, it will at least beat Series S in terms of RAM (12GB vs 10GB) which at the very least helps developers a lot by making porting games much easier.

People have very high expectations, but they should remember that portable devices are limited on physical volume, energy consumption and thermals. Even Steam Deck struggles to reach PS4 performance. Sure, it can run some PS5 games that aren't available on PS4, but at the cost of resolution.

I think it would very impressive if they can reach PS4 levels of performance in a slim form factor close to the current Switch, with decent battery life.

Nintendo doesn't need raw power to have a great catalog of games. Just look at Tears of the Kingdom. It has frame rate drops, sure. But how on earth did they fit THAT amount of content onto a switch game? The Big N will continue to march to the beat of their own drum while Sony and Microsoft keep chasing numbers.

@Haruki_NLI that makes sense . it’s like the ps3’s situation with the whole cell processor thing

@KoopaTheGamer That sounds good enough to me, just rival or be on par with a spec of something - whether it’s RAM or CPU with a modest resolution . Nintendo can make some pretty looking games so graphics isn’t really an issue. a lot of gamecube games still look great to this day.

oh, and a better online service, please

@8bitOG 🙄

@Mikey856 isn’t that the case for all new consoles though? The early adopters buys at launch and the console continues to sell additional units throughout its lifecycle.

There’s an awful lot of ps4 owners that have yet to upgrade to the ps5, this hasn’t stopped Sony from dominating this console generation. There’ll always be people that delay upgrading to the latest iteration, it’s why console manufacturers are able to continue selling their hardware for many years after launch.

There will be plenty of people buying the new switch to make for a successful launch. The ps5 pro is a $700 sideways upgrade offering little value in terms of new software or gameplay, yet plenty of people still went and bought one. I’m expecting the switch 2 to launch at a similar price point to ps5 and series x - $450. I’ll be preordering one for launch.

Not sure it really matters what the specs are. At the end of the day, Nintendo will continue to release compelling software which people will buy in droves. I only picked up my switch last year, but for what it is, it's a great little machine and my kids love it. Does exactly what it needs to and fills the gap left by my Vita.

Nintendo's console sales are primarily for their first/second party software, no one is buying a switch for its specs and multi platform games. Aslong as the software is there it doesn't matter how powerful the Switch 2 is, it's still going to sell gangbusters. The fact you can play a game like Tears of the Kingdom handheld natively is a remarkably good feat on its own and shows what the Switch can do if developers put time and effort into it.

I mean, I'll be playing Metroid Prime 4 and Xenoblade X this year. 2025 is already made of win! I'm expecting PS4 ports and the odd miracle PS5 port. Anythng beter than that would be great. Anything less would practically be the Switch!

@nomither6 I agree with better online services. Not sure why you're rolling your eyes at me, though.

Is there ever a day when Tom Warren isn't an absolute idiot? One continues to hope.

Ps4 🤣🤣 It hasn't even been released yet and it's already old.

I think it being a handheld PS4 would actually be pretty good. After all the Switch seems like it's at the level or just above the PS3 and X360. PS4 had some really good looking games on it and Ninty don't chase hardware anymore after the GameCube. However I tried playing Xenoblade in handheld earlier in the year and my god it was like I had stuffed vaseline in my eyes, so I hope they can translate whatever they do so when using it handheld you get similar results to docked.

It doesn't really matter. Nintendo isn't targeting high performance, they gave that up almost 20 years ago.

They'll get what they can at the $350-400 price point with a slight profit. And probably still outsell the more powerful hardware.

@Neither_scene Software drives hardware. As long as the 1st party lineup is strong and Nintendo keeps them exclusive, Switch 2 will do well.

At a 720/1080 resolution it should blow the ps4 pro out of the water in terms of performance if it’s close to the portable pc market(the ally and legion go at those resolutions easily trump the ps4 pro in performance ands that’s not even considering that both devices are probably getting sequels in the next 6 months or so)

My day 1 launch Nintendo Switch is still going strong, somehow surviving my son who was quite the abusive gamer towards my hardware in his early years. That system always felt cheap and slow, so any improvement with the Switch 2 will be welcome.

I’m a 90% of the time docked player, and I really hope that it upscales nicely on my 4K LG OLED. The other big improvement I would like to see is a more responsive UI and online store.

I thought Nintendo fans doesn't care about graphic, resolution, or performance. It's all about fun and inovative gameplay they said, nothing else matter. But now they desperate to know if Switch 2 will be as powerful as PS4? Why the change of heart?

@PuppetMaster to attract 3rd party publishers, obviously. Nintendo IP is all about fun, and they have proven time and again that they can do more with less without massive layoffs

"Nintendo Fans Are Desperate to Know How Close Switch 2 Will Get to PS4's Power"

source?

"The question everyone's asking"

the writer desperately wishes to beg the question, but no one seems to be asking it but them. at least based on the evidence presented in this article.

Normally I'd just ignore this entire site but this one got crossposted and it's so dumb I had to comment (literally, the only time ive seen this question raised on Nintendolife is this crosspost. "desperate" lol.)

happy new year 🖖

I just hope the reveal wait is over soon. Then we can begin the release wait! Or even the “pre release purchase, gotta reserve one” wait. So much waiting

PS4 power for the switch 2 is about right for a hybrid.
Nintendo do like Sony developers get the best out of their own machines.
Imagine a Zelda at the level of HFW, enough said I think.
And it will be the best selling console for the second time running, like Switch.

@Mikey856 true, although I don’t think it’s pc handhelds or the rumoured PlayStation and Xbox handhelds that will be the biggest threat to Nintendo’s portable console dominance - its mobile. The console market is changing quite rapidly and I’m not sure any of the major players will enjoy continued growth and profits in the ways they have in the past. The business will still be viable, obviously, but it won’t be the big return investment of the past.

With regards to your friend’s son, that’s fair and probably normal for a child of his age. He no longer fits the current main demographic for Nintendo switch, which is more of a casual family and younger “child-friendly” device - not so much teenagers and hardcore gamers. There will be younger children growing up to fill the void left by those switching to ps5, and parents of younger children that are more receptive to the more “child-friendly” Nintendo IP.

@Neither_scene To be fair, mobile was touted as the handheld killer both when 3DS launched and when Switch launched, yet here we are, Switch selling millions and millions of units.

"Nintendo fans"

I'm pretty sure that Nintendo fans aren't that concerned about the Switch 2's power. It's just the loud minority on Twitter

@Ashina these are the fans, the majority are the consumers who don’t have time to search and just buy it.

@KoopaTheGamer I didn’t say mobile was going to kill consoles, I still said they’d remain a viable business. I said that mobile was offering ever increasing competition for traditional console manufacturers. Competition that didn’t really exist 10 or 20 years ago. In the UK:

“91% of children aged 3-15 play games on some type of device. Consoles are the leading gaming device amongst this age group (59%), followed by:

Tablet (54%)
Smartphone (53%)
PC (31%)
Smart TV (10%)
VR headset (1%).

Given that, according to children mobile phone statistics, 61% of children own a smartphone device by the age of 10, it is perhaps unsurprising that over half play online games using a mobile phone.”

These children are among the first generation playing mobile games that are almost on par with their console counterparts in terms of feature set and gameplay - call of duty mobile, genshin impact, Fortnite etc. Mobile gaming user numbers overtook console users as the most popular input device for the first time in 2014 in the UK and has remained there ever since.

Populations in the developed world aren’t growing exponentially and the traditional home consoles space is close to saturation. Mobile gaming is eating into that market and will continue to do so as time goes on. This competition didn’t exist in the same way during the 3ds era and to a lesser extent almost 8 years ago when the switch first launched. The flagship smartphones of today are arguably more capable in terms of processing power than the switch of 2017. Smartphone technologies are not constrained by a 7 year hardware cycle, they upgrade and evolve every year.

I'm not worried about how powerful Switch 2 will be. I want to know what games Nintendo is cooking up for it, and I have no doubt it's going to be fantastic.

Sony currently has the most powerful console of all time, but they didn't release a single new game for its release. The power of a console has very little to do with how much enjoyment one can have with it.

Considering the current Switch is almost as powerful as the PS3, PS4 is a decent upgrade. Even then, most of what I've read from hardcore Switch fans is how much they don't care about graphics, resolution, or framerate. Not sure computing power will be a huge selling point for the "Works fine for me!" crowd.

As long as I get the best version of whatever Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Donkey Kong, etc. game is released, I am not too worried.

Nintendo engineers have squeezed an incredible amount of “power” out of Switch, and I am sure they will be able to do the same with Switch 2 with great success.

@GloriosaDaisy The Switch is already kind of a middle point between the PS3 and PS4, why would they upgrade the power so little and why would it be wishful thinking? The current stronger portables which would be already a few years old by it's release are indicators of what to expect and that's something equal or stronger than a ps4 as Switch 2 is likely to be even better than those. There's already knowledge about the possible components used for the console and they are aware of the success of ports on the console and the complaints about lack of performance in them, which would also benefit their own games. Even if Nintendo isn't known for its power, there's no type of advantage in falling behind by so much. If you want, you can quote me on the Switch's 2 release. I'm just that sure of it.

@ButterySmooth30FPS switch 2 will last 7 or 8 years so it will become obsolete specs wise very quickly in a few years...

I’m sure I’ll be happy whatever power it is. I don’t think my mate Ray Tracing will be bothering with it though.

Imagine being excited over how close a new console will get to a 10+ year old one.

Only on Planet Nintendo.

you know, shout out for that slick 500 mil edition controller on the banner, got that one alongside the ps4 pro in 2018 and its still my favorite controller ever.

also, ps4 pro is over eight years old now.
I trully expect the switch successor to be AT LEAST as powerfull, I know that nintendo is doing its own thing and power isnt really a focus, but come one, we live in a time where you can play modern AAA games like re4 remake on your phone. Nintendo needs to put some oompf behind this thing if it wants it to compete in anyway in the third party market, specially with sony's and MS's portable devvices on the horizon.

I don't think it really matters, we'll get some lovely-looking games regardless, Nintendo know how to get the most out of their systems, Luigi's Mansion 3 and Pikmin 4 look absolutely stunning on Switch, the days of big leaps in graphics with a new console are over.

@roy1990 tbh i don’t even think the switch is more powerful than the ps3. God of war 3 & TLOU would fry it

After the success of the Switch and the booming of emulation-friendly handhelds on the market, the Switch 2 is going to have to be absolutely phenomenal for me to consider getting it anytime close to launch. I don't understand why they would settle for tech that's comparable to what PlayStation was doing 10 years ago... don't they realize that Nintendo people would shell out $500 or $600 for a PS5ish powered Nintendo console?

@nomither6 It's not a matter of believing, you can check the comparisons of both machines to see that it actually is. As for those games, the problem with people and their understanding of graphics and performance is that they have no idea how many factors come into play to actually make a proper comparison. Las of us was extremely optimized for the console and Naughty Dog is a fantastic developer. Not to mention, that the game is way smaller in scale than the likes of Breath of the Wild, making it easier to focus on the visual aspect while the console is still able to handle it. As for God of War... the old ones are on PS3, not the last 2. Yeah, they still look nice, but they are definitely doable and again, focused on graphics as the scale is small. Show me Witcher 3 running on PS3. It takes a toll to be on Switch, but it has a stable framerate, meanwhile I remember Marcin Iwinski from City Projeckt Red saying that it wasn't doable to make PS3 and 360 versions. It's not the only example, as the Dying Light versions for those consoles weren't up to an acceptable standard and cancelled. Switch one is.

I am going to say an unpopular opinion. Nintendo games are irrelevant to me and I have no interest in a new Nintendo platform regardless of how powerful it is. Since third party exclusive games are a thing of the past I think my PS4/5 and Steam Deck cover me 100%. It is true that I love the Game Boy and DS family of systems but I mostly played third party exclusives, especially Japanese games. Those games simply don't exist on Switch so I have not much interest in it.

@roy1990 I said God of war 3 specifically because it had more than just cutting edge graphics , the load on the CPU and the amount of dynamic real time rendering and background activities & action that happen all at once, gigantic titan and boss battles coupled with real time cutscenes intertwined with gameplay all the while maintaining high resolution & a stable framerate; the switch wouldn’t be able to do it, raw graphics ? yeah, sure. but not everything else without some major downgrades at least .

@AfroMario It's not settling for tech that's 10 years old.

ARM and mobile chips have not been a focus of the tech industry until the mid 2010s, when they started being comparable to power guzzling stationary chipsets.

What we are seeing is the modern loss of why raw numbers matter. Teraflops are pointless, even PlayStation is saying that now. It's about feature sets, APIs, upscaling technology, software based solutions.

If this chip is based on what shipping data and Nvidia leaks say it is, we're looking at a chip that is at most 4-5 years old in terms of what its based on.

Yes, its pure performance raw numbers might be equivalent to the old laptop CPU in a PS4 (That was outdated even in 2012 by the way!), but everything else is significantly more modern, more power efficient, cooler running and easier to use by virtue of the tech being made in 2020-2022.

What we know is this thing is using features from the 20series GPUs, with feature ported down from the 30 series, with modern DLSS, custom APIs like any console has, and is going to be a chip smaller than your smallest fingernail, with a fan you can fit in the palm of your hand to cool it, running off of a battery.

So sure, its not comparable to 10 year old tech. It's more than that, because those raw numbers simply do not matter anymore.

with this it looks like people are actually expecting a Switch successor rather than a Switch 2 with these speculations, yet still somehow stick to the Switch 2 moniker for some reason.

@Haruki_NLI Dude The article is talking about the successor to the Switch and how it would compare to the PlayStation 4. Which is the gaming technology we were playing with 10 years ago. I'm just making a quick comment on the internet about how I think the new Switch should stack up to the current generation I'm not trying to make super specific points about chips and teraflops and whatever the hell else you're going on about.

@KoopaTheGamer

Thing about being portable though is that they only need to match the resolution of the screen. For the steam deck, thats 720p. No reason to render any higher unless docked and on a large tv.

Hopefully they go for a 1080p screen like the portal, makes a huge difference over the steam deck or switch.

Nintendo fanboys and their incredibly unrealistic expectations of the hardware... that was the case with the WiiU, continued with the Switch and will continue now.

That rude awakening will definitely be wonderful again. If it turns out that a handelheld doesn't have the same performance as a PS5.

I expect worse results than the Series S.

I've always stood by Nintendo since day one but they really do need to step it up a notch. I'm tired of wondering if the next AAA third party game will even run in any kind of acceptable way on their hardware. I know the switch successor won't be comparable to PS5 so we can get that outta our heads right off the bat. Could it be up to at least PS4 pro? Maybe but still doubtfull. Not gonna get my hopes up.

Wise man say, keep your expectations low and you'll never be disappointed.

Some people commenting seem to be of the opinion that the Switch 2 must be as powerful processing wise as a PS5 ...
Don't you know that's currently technically impossible in a hardheld device?
For that to be possible they must give up the hybrid functionality and return to making an exclusively stationary console. That hardly make any business sense after the crazy success of the Switch 1 does it?

@Mikey856

Sure this applies to those who just bought a Switch 1. But the OG switch came out in 2017…. MILLIONS are ready to buy a Switch 2. Just like millions were ready to buy a PS5 (even though some surely bought a PS4 or PS4 Pro just before the PS5 released in 2020..).

Your argument is extremely weird to be honest. Sure. They might not get as big of a success as the Switch 1. But I have a feeling they’ll still outsell the PS5 in the next 3-4 years.

Meanwhile PS5 owners are wondering if the PS5 will have more games like Mario Galaxy than just Astrobot.

I know I’m wondering that.

@RamboMike

"But I have a feeling they’ll still outsell the PS5 in the next 3-4 years."

LMAO without GTA 6 and a second Covid lockdown, that's virtually impossible.

It is precisely this massive arrogance to believe that Nintendo has already won why the Switch 2 is more likely to fail.

As with the Wii or the NDS, Nintendo won't be able to convince casuals to get the successor.

That has always been the case and will not change. The dream of you Nintendo fanboys that Nintendo pushes Sony out of the market will remain a dream.

@MrGawain Astro Bot is nothing like Mario Galaxy, they are both platformers which is where the similarities end. You came from Nintendo Life to make a fool of yourself here, when you have played both like many of us then you can talk 🙂

A Nintendo fan here, and I'm anything but. Besides, Steam Deck has already shown the approximate capabilities of newer mobile chips (never mind Switch's own abundant PS4/PS5 ports from various devs for whom "optimization" doesn't mean something edible), and it's an AMD-based Linux PC with all the consequent fine print thereof.

@Mikey856 And also the fact that apart from the Wii and Switch, every Nintendo console has sold worse than all the previous ones. So in terms of sales it goes Switch, Wii, NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii U. Basically a decline generation by generation with the Wii and Switch being big spikes that go against the pattern.

That's why Nintendo basically dropped out of the home console market and decided to stick to a handheld with a TV out cable, basically. Some Nintendo fans will dispute that but if you criticise the Switch's performance they always say "but it's a handheld!" Their handhelds always did well due to lack of competition compared to the home console market. So the question is will that strategy work again or will the trend for generational decline happen again.

@Juanalf

I have played both. To say Astrobot is nothing like Mario Galaxy is very naive.

I'm not to fussed about how powerful the switch 2 will be because they will still release amazing games that reach the hardwares full potential. If they can get tears of the kingdom to run on the og switch then the new hardware with a new zelda game is going to be awesome.

I'm fine with ps4 power since nintendo games already looks great with switch power (mario odyssey, luigi mansion 3, metroid prime remaster, etc). The updated switch is more needed for indie games, since now even indie games started to have 30 fps framerate (like contra operation galuga).

@Valgore It Will be pretty cool if nintendo update both switch 3D zelda games to have 2K and 60 fps on switch 2 😃

@Juanalf What are you smoking? Astro Bot is HEAVILY inspired by Mario Galaxy and other 3D Marios. Which doesn't make it any less of a great game.

Yeah... it could have the PS4's horsepower, but still produce better results due to a more modern architecture.

e.g. It can push just as many polygons, but it might have the ability to use shaders that can make it require less polygons to begin with.