Although pre-release footage suggested the contrary, the Nintendo Switch 2 makes widespread use of NVIDIA DLSS, but it may be difficult to notice if the upscaler is being used due to differences in image characteristics compared to PC.
Replying to a supporter's question during this week's episode of their podcast, the tech experts at Digital Foundry highlighted how the new Nintendo consoles makes widespread use of the NVIDIA upscaler, saying that it was difficult to say if this was indeed the case before launch due to the image characteristics of Switch 2 DLSS being different from those seen on PC. Based on certain visual elements, however, it is now possible to say if a game is using NVIDIA DLSS on the system, such as the disocclusion and aliased edges patterns seen in the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet update.
Looking further into the matter, the Digital Foundry tech experts also highlighted how there's a good chance that NVIDIA DLSS on Nintendo Switch 2 comes with different modes, like on PC. The most common version seems to be a lightweight version that can easily upscale the resolution to 1080p in handheld mode and to 1440p or 4K in docked mode, but that doesn't do a great job of reconstructing the image in motion. The most glaring example is in Fast Fusion, where NVIDIA DLSS is used to upscale to 4K resolution in docked mode. Image quality is fine in still shots, but in motion, things are much different. Hogwarts Legacy seems to use this lightweight version of DLSS as well, only that the much slower pace of the game, and the higher base resolution deliver much better results, although different from what the upscaler delivers on PC. Besides this lightweight version, however, there seems to be at least another version of NVIDIA DLSS available to developers, as the implementation seen in Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be closer to the PC version, rather than the one seen in the other launch titles.
Besides supporting NVIDIA DLSS to deliver better image quality and performance upscaling from lower resolutions, the Nintendo Switch 2 offers plenty of unexpected benefits via its backward compatibility feature. Although updated games take better advantage of the increased system specs over the original system, several unpatched games can brute-force better performance in several different titles.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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