I’m currently downloading Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to my Steam Deck, but in the interim of transferring 150GB of data through a weak internet connection, I am staring at my social media feed. Since the official reveal of Nintendo’s upcoming handheld, the Switch 2, I am left seeing a ton of opinion pieces on how Nintendo has one hurdle to overcome. This being the growing market of handheld devices such as the Steam Deck and the ASUS ROG Ally. While those are nice devices that both have their own pros and cons, I know for a fact that these neat little devices are not proper competition for Nintendo in any way whatsoever.
Steam Deck
My hands gripped the beefy Steam Deck since the day it was launched. Valve’s handheld transformed me from a typical console gamer to a fully-fledged PC gamer. Granted, I did play a lot of PC games in my previous life and till this day I spend a lot of time in virtual worlds that seem to never head to the console space. Along with that, the Steam Deck checked a lot of boxes for me, nailing in some of the more important aspects of my gaming habits. I commute to work which gives me about two hours of game time between my train station to Penn. I rarely get to play on my TV because my child has overtaken it. I can’t complain, Bluey does look great on it. And, to top it all off, I’m glad that I have the chance to play games on a device when I visit my family who live a significant distance away.
Unfortunately, the Steam Deck has its faults. While the design and hardware is great, it still falls short in terms of performance for me. Not every game runs perfectly great and there seems to be a handful of caveats to it. It isn’t bad by any sense of the word but it could be improved upon as even SteamOS has a handful of bugs and issues that still need to be resolved. On top of it all, it isn’t as simple to use. Handheld gaming PCs are great in theory but when they are given to those who haven’t really played around with the PC platform, it can be a bit of an adjustment. Not to mention that some games require you to adjust settings to get that perfect balance between visuals and gameplay. By the time you are done, the battery has been drained and I’m at my destination.
This is where the Nintendo Switch 2 comes in.
Faster, Better, Stronger
We don’t know the full specs of the Switch 2 but I have spoken about what I think the specs would be to a point where I am confident in my findings. A custom NVIDIA Tegra processor operating on the ORIN node, 16GB of memory, either 256GB of 512GB internal storage, an 8.5” 1080p IPS LCD display, SDExpress slot, and two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports are my guesses. It is close to what we currently get with a couple of other handheld systems. So the first hurdle we see here would be pricing. With experts saying $400 for this console, I have to agree. The Tegra processor isn’t necessarily new but it is old enough to still encapsulate various modern technologies allowing a wide range of titles to operate. With the rumors of a few Microsoft games making their way to the system, it only makes more sense to provide some base level of tech that makes it easy for everyone to jump on in. So, that’s the second hurdle.
The third hurdle is going to be form factor and with many smart folks out there comparing the size of the original Switch to the Switch 2, it is fair to say that it comes a bit close to the dimensions of a Steam Deck (see why I started with that). It seems to fit in my backpack with no issues, so I have no qualms about the size of the Switch 2.
While the first three hurdles seem to be easy to jump over, we need to talk about the fourth one because it is a doozy to consider, and that is the library. Sure, it will be backwards compatible with a wide range of Switch titles with games like LABO and Ring Fit being two that might not make the cut (amongst others). But, the extended library of titles for folks like me who haven’t really played a lot of Switch games makes the Switch 2 a safe bet for longevity. I’m not only getting the last eight years of games, I’m going to be getting the next eight years as well.
But, what I find to be the most interesting concept of this system and how it interacts with the software is how no matter where we go with it, we are going to get the most optimized version of that game for that platform whether we are playing on the TV or in handheld mode. While I love the Steam Deck, I don’t find every game to run and operate within a workable range. Indie titles that do not dampen resources tend to run absolutely fine while something a bit more demanding has issues just getting through the main menus.
A New Generation
Titles like Cyberpunk 2077 runs great on PC and consoles alike, and while it does have a Steam Deck setting, it still leaves a lot to be desired. I’m not necessarily the Goldilocks of gaming quality here, but when you experience a game of that caliber on a machine that needs a custom setting just to run, I’d rather play in on a more appropriate machine. This also goes for Baldur’s Gate 3 which looks good for the handheld till you see Astarion’s hair which looks like a used Q-tip or when you get to Act 3 and the system kinda struggles to run.
Now, I’m not saying that these titles are going to make their way to the Switch 2, but it does have a benefit and that is NIVDIA’s technologies such as DLSS. While super sampling as a whole is being embraced by companies like Sony, it is easy to see how this technology will make its way to the Switch 2, enabling greater performance for players. The Steam Deck does have it’s own version with AMD’s FSR technology, but it leaves a lot to be desired still. On top of that, these AI integrations require a significant bump in a particular core architecture that enables the AI functionality. Neural Processing Units, otherwise known as NPUs are a literal core element to this architecture. I’m sorry to say, but the days of native resolutions are over, so we should be doing our best to overcome this and accept it.
I’m still not saying that these titles will make it over to the Switch 2 because of DLSS, but I am saying that we could experience something new and interesting when it comes to the handheld, and that is what makes the library the biggest hurdle to date. Taking Nintendo’s pedigree to the side, it is essential that third part developers really deliver their experiences at an optimal level because there is no complimentary device here. While the Steam Deck is great, it is a complimentary device to your PC in the same vein as the PlayStation Portal is to the PlayStation 5- although that is a bit of a different scenario there.
No matter where you go, whatever game you are playing on the Switch 2 is the most optimized version of that game. If the Switch is anything to go by, there is no constant adjusting of settings for the perfect image. There is no question about where to play the game, meaning you don’t have to do the “I guess I’ll just play it on my PC instead of this handheld device” compromise. Fourth hurdle cleared.
Nintendo will not be fighting handheld PC companies at all. At face value they are in a similar sport but completely different leagues. Nintendo is hitting grand slams with Mario, Link, and Samus at the plate while PC handhelds are still trying to get a version of Windows with touch capabilities to work. It’s actually so bad that third parties are embracing SteamOS because it just works. The only real competition Nintendo has is with itself as the Switch has sold over 146 million units worldwide as of September 2024. In eight years, will we see the Switch 2 selling just as many? The only thing we can do is game and watch.
