Details trickled out at a roundtable with the Switch 2's creators.
  • TheYang@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    When asked about Nintendo’s solution for backwards compatibility with Switch games and the GameCube classics available on the system, the developers confirmed these games are actually emulated. (This is similar to what Xbox does with backwards compatibility).

    “It’s a bit of a difficult response, but taking into consideration it’s not just the hardware that’s being used to emulate, I guess you could categorize it as software-based,” Sasaki said of the solution.

    They are (mostly?) talking about Gamecube right?..
    right?

    Or is that the reason for the Switch-Emulator-Witchhunt, they actually “bought” the tech?

    • Chrobin@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      1·
      16 hours ago

      From what people have gathered, the CPU calls from Switch 1 games are converted to Switch 2 calls, and the GPU calls are emulated. Shaders are probably de- and recompiled for the new GPU.

      What people forget is that GPUs are generally not binary compatible between generations, even from the same brand. That’s why PCs usually take time compiling shaders. On consoles, the games distribute the compiled shaders for the console, which means it won’t work on other GPUs without emulation.

      I’m not an expert on game development, so please correct me if I misunderstood something.