this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2024

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Switch 2 cartridge format leaked via patent (www.youtube.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Its important to note that patent designs rarely have the final design in them. Most of the time they draw only a very generic, very basic design with the proper technical features. It may look like this and have Switch BC, but it might be completely different.

Also, as I have been saying all along, Nintendo definitely delayed Metroid Prime 4 (a game announced extremely early into the Switch's lifecycle) to be a Switch successor launch title.

I can only hope their new console gets an emulator relatively quickly, because Nintendo keeps making hardware that is severely outdated and underpowered before it even comes out.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Oh yeah, a patent isn't definitive proof of anything. The housing could potentially be different, but the pin out would be pretty well defined here. I'm inferring a lot on this one

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Isn't the new device based on Nvidia Ampere?

I don't really know how it's going to turn out but I'm somewhat optimistic.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

No idea. But going by the trend of Nintendo, the Wii, WiiU, and Switch were all released so underpowered that they were basically releasing a console that could only compete with the previous generation.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

These days Nintendo doesn't really try to compete on performance. The Wii, for instance, was unapologetically what it was. You played relatively low-poly, low-res, low-texture games on it, but you played them, because they were fun and imaginative.

That's their main thing. Performance comes, like, 4th.

However, this time, they got burned on their own games. Zelda Tears of the Kingdom had pretty obvious performance issues that even the normiest of normies could notice, for instance. And my memory is short but I think that wasn't the only first-party game where performance was a challenge.

I think this time they'll care about performance more than last time. It's not like they've never done it. The really old consoles from the 20th century were competitive on performance, right?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Nintendo wasn't always like that though. They only became that way because the Wii printed money, and they have been chasing that success by just trying to repeat it.

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity in multiplayer had an atrocious framerate.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (8 children)

I'm impressed they're sticking with cartridges, since that has been a source of issues with some games. I appreciate it myself. I like them.

This guy is kind of silly for saying that this has been the only time there have been games that fit into the old system, since you could totally put Gameboy Color games into the Gameboy Pocket, they just wouldn't work. They'd scold you and be like "This game can only be played on the GameBoy Color!".

I hope there's no forward compatibility, where games must target the lower spec hardware, since that's the same thing holding the Xbox Series X/S, I hope there's backwards compatibility though, it'd be nice to tuck my old Switch into storage.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago

The first generation DS could play GBA games.

The original Wii could play GameCube games.

The 3DS ran DS games.

The GBA ran GB and GBC games.

The WiiU could run most Wii games.

Nintendo has history making backwards compatibility a selling point of it help sell consoles.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The Switch is a thin tablet, so there isn't any room for a CD drive. It's either cartridges or no physical media at all, probably.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Oh yeah, I know it.

We could get something like UMDs from the PSP again though. Haha!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Those things were so cool, and were absolute junk. I remember the case crackin on Secret Agent Clank, so I carefully pried open my copy of National Treasure 2 that came with the PSP and transplanting it over. Good time

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

What games has the cartridge form factor been a source of issues?

Modern consoles install games off the disk, because discs are so slow.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's not really an issue for the games, but an issue with the publishers, I guess, since quite a few 3rd party games have you download basically the whole thing instead of storing it on the cart.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The problem was Nintendo charged publishers more money for the larger carts. So a lot of publishers simply took the option of the smallest cheaper cards and made you download the rest.

Trying to preserve Switch games by buying the carts has been a bit pointless really. I know Diablo 3 was entirely on the cart, publishers were very pleased with that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

This kind of thing didn't used to bother me at all before it very much bothered me and now I'm somewhere in the middle. I think cartridges/discs for consoles should not require an Internet connection to play them. That said, this isn't the PS2 era anymore. Many games release with patches day 1 and most will have at least some updates post launch. A lot of games kept offline end up missing out on a ton. Keeping a physical copy of a game is only preserving a portion of the game for a future without the servers to supply the final version, which is my main concern when it comes to physical vs digital media. We still have to rely on hacked consoles running custom firmware or emulation to properly preserve games.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I remember a story a few years ago about them being very expensive which drove up the price of cheaper indies, that could all have been sorted by now though

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Huh? I thought there was a bump out on the GBC cartridge that prevented you from inserting it into a Game Boy? Also the notch cut out of the corner that prevents the power switch from operating. Am I mis-remembering?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The original large gameboys had a lock that utilized the slot via the power switch. The pocket removed the lock therefore allowing the non slotted Color games to be used in a pocket gameboy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I forgot the Gameboy Pocket existed

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Japan also got Game Boy Light, which is a Game Boy Pocket with green EL backlighting (like Indiglo).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

It was my first video game device as a child!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

There was a bump out, but I don't think it physically stopped you from putting the cartridge into the console, I don't have a GameBoy on me to check right now though. You're right about the missing notch though, but that would only stop you from starting it on the original Gameboy and not the Gameboy Pocket or Super Gameboy. I know for sure I saw the Pokemon Crystal error screen when I tried to play it on the wrong device after being able to play Pokemon Gold on the older hardware.

Maybe I'm the one misremembering?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Oh you said Gameboy Pocket. I forgot about those. I never had one so I'm not sure.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I like it. They could have easily cited the needs of a mobile console and wanting to dedicate every last cubic centimeter to cooling and battery as an excuse to make the next console digital only.

I'm glad they didn't.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Huh. I am that guy and was not aware some GC Color games would do that. Never had one, always thought of the Color as the first Pro model rather than its own generation.

But it's neat to hear they did that because it matches up with my assumptions about how it may be handled

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There were a few games that worked on the OG gameboy, but were GameBoy color games, the ones that come to mind first are Pokemon Gold and Silver. You could play them on the og gameboy, without color and missing some hardware features, or you could play them on the Gameboy Color as they had intended you do. It was a really nice addition.

I always thought of the GBC as its own generation, since the games were mostly incompatible, just as I thought of the GBA as its own generation for the same reason, but really, it's almost just arbitrary.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is why you may remember some games on Game Boy Color being monochromatic and others having rich color palletes while all of those still working on non-Color Game Boys. That said, there actually were some games that truly did require a Game Boy Color to play and would give an error screen on Game Boy Pocket.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Game_Pak

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago

In this video:

It looks like the new cartridge will be very similar to the original Switch Cartridge. We can't confirm for sure, and we can only speculate why.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Oh that would be sweet if backwards compatibility is a thing. I have a massive switch library, and to play those all on the new one would be huge for me. Also interesting comments on the cart design, that would also be cool if there was some mechanism to turn down the graphics detail or an alternate version that works on the old switch so I wouldn't have to buy a new one right away.

Nintendo, your games are already overpriced, just make the new games work on the old system 😅

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Backwards compatibility is probably the only way they might convince me to buy a new switch instead of just staying with indie games on the old one. I have a good library already and there are still more games to try. I'm not in a rush to try the new AAA bull crap that comes out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Yeah I have not even come close to finishing my library and I still, like you, have more I want to get.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Dude, imagine my surprise when I pop up a random video I'm interested in and see that urban pop Earthworm Jim in the background. Glad to see we both ended up in the same refuge.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

"leaked", err, eh, I mean "LEAKED".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Think I'll finally buy a switch once the sequel is goes on sale.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Why are you waiting?