Nintendo Patents Watch

It is known that the Switch 2 system has built-in spatial audio support. Mario Kart World went a step further to re-create spatial haptics.

1. Distance: Based on how far an object (e.g., another kart; img 1 below) is from the camera, a curve reduces the rumble toward 0 (img 2). To mimic the nature, another curve adds on even more reduction to the high-frequency band (img 3), bc high-frequency waves lose energy faster over distance.

2. Rear side: For objects behind the camera (img 1 below), even more amplitude/frequency attenuation is applied (img 2), so that the rumble is weaker behind you.

3. L/R balance: The ratio of L/R vibrations is determined by an object’s angle to the camera (e.g., 80° = 9:1). Once it gets close enough into a “balance correction area” (BCL in img below), the L/R bias will be reduced progressively. For instance, 9:1 (outside BCL) → 7:3 (entering BCL) → 6:4 (close to center)

4. For environmental haptics, such as the road surface, the rumble can only be faintly felt when its distance to your kart—not camera—is very small (img 1 below). The balance correct area (BCM) is the size of your kart, so that when the right wheels roll over a rough surface, the rumble is still mostly on the right (img 2).

Source: Patent application US20260249174
Related: How MKW re-creates lingering sound

[Originally posted on 2026-09-01 Pacific Time]

[Reacting to reports of Sony establishing customer harassment policy] Sony is doing this just now because of a new amendment to Japanese labor laws (労働施策総合推進法) that makes it the employer’s duty of care to protect workers from customer harassment (カスハラ), effective 2026-10-01.

Nintendo’s had customer harassment policy since 2022, Sega 2023, Bandai Namco 2024, Square Enix and Capcom 2025. SIE is not only late, but seemingly forced to act just to be compliant.

Kotaku and a few other reports I saw did not identify the true cause, but went to great lengths linking it to the disc media controversy. Take this 364 word article for instance, 195 of it is condemning Sony, 46 words of sympathy for the workers, and 0 telling people to cut it out. I know times are tough for media, but I hope that the necessary click/sub chasing and the duty to illuminate can coexist.

[Originally posted on 2026-09-01 Pacific Time]

Since HD Rumble 2 is more precise and powerful than HDR1, the vibration data was upgraded from 8-bit to 10-bit. However, vibrating at/near the full-strength for long isn’t good UX, therefore games typically rumble at lower amplitudes (bars in img below; line is frequency).

It’s wasteful to use 10-bit when much of the amplitude range is unused. So Nintendo scales up the waveform to the max amplitude segment by segment (“T1” in img 1 below), and saves it using 8-bit; the factor of scaling (“magnification”) for each segment is also saved with the waveform (img 2).

During gameplay, the Switch 2 console restores the vibration amplitude to 10-bit (bars in img below) via multiplying the waveform by the scaling factor. To modify the waveform’s pitch or speed, frequency/speed data can also be saved separately (line in img), instead of storing new waveforms.

The invention shows that Nintendo’s lauded optimization extends to the rumble data too. I also suspect that this is partly to maintain pipeline compatibility with 8-bit HDR1.

Source:
Patent application US20260249173

Related:
Four vibration types of HD Rumble 2
Equalizing HD Rumble 1 and 2 UX

[Originally posted on 2026-08-30 Pacific Time]

A Weibo account of smartphone industry insider reported that the cost of 12GB memory and 256GB storage for phones increased 1700 RMB (~253 USD) in a year to 2200 RMB (~327 USD; imgs below). This is significant because Switch 2 uses the same mobile components (12GB LPDDR5X and 256GB UFS). It’s 65% of the Switch 2 new MSRP (500 USD)!

Although Nintendo already secured enough memory-related components for this fiscal year and held 618B JPY (~3.86B USD) of inventories as of 2026-03-31, retaining their product pricing next year is going to be tough.

P.S.: The quoted numbers are likely spot prices (market rates for comparison purposes). The actual contract prices for long-term, high volume orders should be lower.

P.P.S.: As someone who pre-ordered the Playdate, I admire Panic’s decision to refund the tariffs, but it shows their inexperience in managing a hardware platform. Since costs will continue to rise and new tariffs are being planned, it could’ve been used as a buffer. On the other hand, Playdate is a 4GB device sold for 229 USD; I guess they’d be alright.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-29 Pacific Time]

The following patent was filed in 2023 in Japan, but a continuation of it was recently published in the US. Although I covered it briefly before, to prevent misinformation I’m redoing it.

1. A small game device with an IR camera (134) on the side …

2. … is shipped in a special box (200).

3. Parts of the box can be detached (32-33) …

4. … and assembled into a movable controller (42-43). The controller and game device are inserted into the box.

5. To play a game, the IR camera tracks the markers (46; printed on 42) to detect the controller’s movement.

Sounds like a simplified Labo motorbike (img below), doesn’t it? This is just one example of the Nintendo R&D in edutainment for children. More in the links below.

Related:
Gamified Video Streaming for Children
Mini Gaming Device Designs

[Originally posted on 2026-08-27 Pacific Time]

There’s one more parts reseller in China listing a “V2” LCD panel for Switch 2. The photo quality isn’t great, but we can see the model number being LS0DAS7081 (imgs 1-2 below). This is strange because the last one I found was LS079T1SX10P.

While “LS” should still mean Sharp LTPS, “0DAS” is a code seldom seen in their commercial products. Based on the very limited information I got, it seems an internal model number (社内品番; differing from the customer facing model number ユーザー品番; img 1 below) denoting an engineering sample for testing purposes (img 2).

So is this panel a scrapped sample that landed in the hands of a reseller? It wouldn’t be the first time. Whatever the case, it’s a further confirmation that a new Sharp assembled panel exists. It might even be in some retail units already.

Note: I put the quotation marks around V2 not to accentuate but to indicate that’s what the seller calls it. Personally I think that Nintendo may be multi-sourcing or this is at best a minor revision.

[Update on 2026-08-29] Yet another Chinese reseller is listing the Sharp-assembled LCD panel (imgs below). The model number is LS0DAS7081, same as the one above. The panel is now surfacing at a faster pace in these marketplaces, a sign of mass production.

Previously: Evidence of LCD Panel Supplier Changes

[Originally posted on 2026-08-27 Pacific Time]

The Sinophobic reactions to Chinese devs’ strong showing at Gamescom 2026 look familiar to anyone old enough to remember the Japanophobia in the 80s. You could openly accuse Nintendo of “enslav[ing] your children” and garnered enthusiastic reviews from New York Times and Wall Street Journal (img below; Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children by David Sheff).

Note 1: The book is a main source of “Nintendo love hotels” misinformation, which many western reporters such as Keza MacDonald still believe.

Note 2: Be skeptical of the very positive spin for the book on its Wikipedia page. A temporary account created the page, cited it on the Nintendo page, peaced out, and never to be seen again (imgs below). It’s an utter mystery(?) who that person might be.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-26 Pacific Time]

Three US, Japan, and EU patent publications detail how Nintendo makes the Bluetooth pairing between the Switch 2 console and controller more efficient:

1. While NS2 console is in sleep mode, its BT radio 1 remains active
2. When user activates NS2 controller, its BT radio broadcasts an advertising packet
3. After console radio 1 detects the packet, it a) sends a scan request back to controller radio, and b) wakes up whole console, including console radio 2
4. After controller radio receives the request, controller gives user immediate LED/haptic feedback (even though pairing isn’t complete)
5. Awake console radio 2 sends a connection request to controller radio, establishing link (img 1 for steps 1-5)
6. One shared encryption key is created for all BT radios and wired connections (instead of one key each; img 2)
7. Controller IDs itself with a hash based on its GATT; console matches the hash to a pre-stored GATT (skipping GATT discovery; img 3)
8. Normal operation begins

[Sidebar] Switch 2 console’s custom Wi-Fi/Bluetooth IC (MediaTek MT3681AEN) is connected to one BT, one Wi-Fi, and one combo antennas. Judging from the patent filing, there are two BT controller modules (not to be confused with game controllers) inside the MediaTek chip.

Source patent applications:

• US20260247122 (Steps 1-5)
• JP2026133904 (Step 6)
• EP4791050 (Step 7)

[Originally posted on 2026-08-25 Pacific Time]

As previously shared, Nintendo have begun sourcing Switch 2 LCD panels from Sharp, and its backlight module seems to be supplied by Ways Electron (伟时电子). Now there’s another supporting evidence:

Shen Zhen Australis (南极光), backlight supplier for the Innolux LCD panel, admitted to investors that Nintendo had brought in 1-2 other backlight suppliers, thus impacting Australis’ sales. More intriguingly, they also disclosed that their production was suspended temporarily, but is ramping up again (img above).

[Speculation] The temporary pause of production could be an indicator that 1) the LCD panel assembly was completely transitioned from Innolux to Sharp, or 2) Innolux modified its assembly lines for a panel revision.

Source

[Originally posted on 2026-08-24 Pacific Time]

On a new Nintendo Careers page, a Project Manager shared how they managed global collaboration for the “View/Change Controls” feature in Nintendo Switch Online Classics, with teams in America, Europe, and Asia (probably Nintendo Technology Development, Nintendo European Research & Development, and iQue). One tool that they use is GameChat, for checking the online play together.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-21 Pacific Time]

Nintendo’s prudent decision to use Samsung’s 8nm node for the Switch 2 SoC (Nvidia T239) has given them a buffer as component costs continue to rise, but that is about to change.

Reuters reports that in July Samsung raised 8nm prices “by nearly 10%” for new orders. So after the existing T239 order runs out, Nvidia/Nintendo may need to pay ~10% more to fabricate the processor, or even more to upgrade to 4 or 5nm. This not only will put further pressure on the Switch 2 margin, but also the pricing of a hypothetical Switch 2 Lite.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-21 Pacific Time]

[Reacting to Mike Odyssey’s Dr. Mario World “porting” claim] Aside from some rare, unusual cases, trademark renewals aren’t news. What is Nintendo supposed to do—not renewing their trademarks? Note that Mike Odyssey wrote “NEW/UPDATE” instead of simply renewal. It’s crystal clear that he didn’t even bother to check the original application before tweeting.

He is a veritable trademark Nostradamus:

Any day now.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-19 Pacific Time]

In Mario Kart World, lighting can change quickly due to the time of day and terrain features such as a tunnel. The game dynamically corrects pixel luminance to reduce washed-out highlights and crushed shadows.

1. Placing a number of light probes in virtual space

2. Casting rays from user’s gaze point

3. Sampling light probes to determine scene brightness
4. Calculating correction value for dark pixels based on scene brightness and time of day (image below is the correction table)
5. Calculating correction value for light pixels (same method)

6. Blending dark and light corrections smoothly on a curve

7. Rendering pixels with corrected luminance

Thematically this technique is similar to some TVs’ dynamic tone mapping, but is computationally lightweight. More importantly it is controlled by artistic intent, not just to show off the TV’s dynamic range.

Source: Patent application US 20260237150
Related: Lighting technique in Metroid Prime 4

[Originally posted on 2026-08-17 Pacific Time]

The price of the official microSD Express Card 256GB has increased ¥2000 to ¥8980 in Japan (+29%; img below). Before any grifters begin screeching “greedy Nintendo!l!”, keep in mind that a) it now matches the US price, and b) Nintendo’s been singlehandedly anchoring the microSD Express card market.

Since 2025, the price of 256GB regular microSD Cards has gone up around 1.4x-2.4x for Samsung, SanDisk, Lexar, and Onn/Walmart (img 1 below), and 512GB of the same brands about 2x-3x (img 2).

However, because Nintendo never raised the MSRP of its official 256GB microSD Express Card, other brands’ prices could only grew 1x-1.9x from 2025 in order to remain competitive (img 1 below). Due to the absence of an official 512GB EX Card, the anchoring effect is weaker there; even so the other brands only hiked the price around 1.3x-2x (img 2), rising substantially less than the regular 512GB cards.

This is what a responsible platform holder is supposed to do. But with the prolonged memory shortage, Nintendo might have to raise the card price in markets outside of Japan sooner or later.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-17 Pacific Time]

The following shoulder button patent application filed by Nintendo was published last August by WIPO, this May in China, and again in EU just recently. Since it could be used for misinformation, I’ll cover it here even though it’s not new.

Image 1 below shows a shoulder button (411). Depending on how user’s finger presses it and how long the pressing shaft (43) is, the shaft may hit the switch (91) at an angle that doesn’t result in accurate operation. To suppress this, a tapered base (45) is added between the spring (10) and support shaft (44). Because two corners (L3 in img 2) of the base are tapered much more than the other two corners (L2), the pressing shaft will be guided toward the optimal angle when the shoulder button is pressed, resulting in more accurate operation.

This invention is particularly useful on a smaller gaming device (img 1 below), because a) the pressing shaft can be longer to accommodate a smaller PCB, and b) the ZL/ZR buttons may be placed next to L/R (instead of stacked; img 2) without causing the L/R buttons to be pressed at suboptimal angles.

The patent also includes an embodiment that is a mini controller with only one stick and one top button to demonstrate another application of the invention (imgs 1-2 below). It is not a hint of Switch 2 Lite or new Wiimote, but part of a broader R&D Nintendo’s been doing with miniaturized consoles.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-15 Pacific Time]