The Nintendo Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has leaked major details on Switch 2 features including backwards compatibility, 4K support, and next-gen updates.
Nintendo Switch games leaking online shortly before their official release date has become a tradition at this point. This has proven to be a bane for Nintendo and publishers like WB Games, which saw the full Mortal Kombat 1 roster leaked via a Switch cartridge that slipped through the cracks. Even the new voice actor for Mario came out through Super Mario Wonder, nixing any sort of fanfare for the reveal.
The latest incident of this might be the biggest, however. Despite pre-orders being scrapped, a copy of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door got out and was data-mined. Found therein were numerous features in the game that can’t be utilized for the Switch, but are likely to be viable on its successor.
Switch 2 is likely to have 4K TV support, judging from data mine of Paper Mario: TTYD
There is strong evidence suggesting that the Nintendo Switch 2 will have support for 4K televisions.
According to a data mine by RibShark on X, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door includes code related to running the game at resolutions not supported. The Nintendo Switch only handles two resolutions; 1920×1080 in docked mode and 1280×720 in handheld mode. The code in Paper Mario includes strings for 4K’s 3840×2160 resolution.
Officially, Nintendo hasn’t revealed anything related to the Switch 2’s features or specs. The manufacturer was only officially confirmed with a single sentence as part of an earnings call. Details on the
4K support has long been one of the shortcomings of the Nintendo Switch, carrying on what has been a Nintendo tradition that dates back to the Nintendo Wii lacking HD output. Alongside this, the Switch has other significant hardware anachronisms including a lack of compatibility with 5GHz routers, an outdated SD card reader, and limited Bluetooth capabilities.
The fact that a Nintendo Switch game is shipping with code for features that the console doesn’t support also reveals two other key features for the next-gen Switch console.
Nintendo Switch 2 backwards compatibility, next-gen upgrade patching officially confirmed
The Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door data mine effectively confirmed that the Switch 2 will have backwards compatibility and a potential for next-gen upgrade patches.
The fact that Nintendo Switch games are now being shipped with features beyond the existing hardware’s capabilities carries big implications. Most notable is the fact that it essentially confirms backwards compatibility. Nintendo executives have long hinted at backwards compatibility, and reports have stated that it will be a feature. Given how the existing Switch lacked any backwards compatibility and how re-releasing games is a cash cow for publishers, there was reason to question this.
The fact that Switch games now contain code for features that are unlocked on future hardware also suggests that next-gen upgrade patches will be possible.
Many prominent games released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 received patches that added features or improved performance when played on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. For example, Resident Evil 8 on PlayStation 4 was patched to utilize the improved rumble and adaptive triggers of the PlayStation 5 controller. Other games like Dark Souls 3 have received patches to improve performance on next-gen hardware.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door would technically have these features “unlocked” rather than patched in. However, the first report of the Nintendo Switch 2 centered on a hands-on demo involving an upgraded version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This suggests that other Switch games could receive this treatment.