Nintendo Patents Watch

GVG and Jon Cartwright asked an important question in the video above: Will the new EU packaging regulation (PPWR) force the Game Card packaging to change by 2030? I’ll sidestep few imprecise points conveyed in the video, and attempt to answer the question below.

First of all, the limitation of 50% “empty space” (img below) applies only to shipping boxes and grouped packaging, not “sales packaging” such as Game Card cases.

However, the sales packaging is still required to be “reduced to the minimum” (img 1 below), regardless of “marketing or consumer acceptance” (img 2). In other words, Nintendo cannot refuse to minimize the Game Card case just by saying “our customers like it”. They may, however, argue that the current packaging is “necessary to ensure its functionality”—e.g., to protect the Game Card and manual—and keep it unchanged.

There’s also an exemption that Nintendo might claim: packaging designs registered before 2025-02-11. This is another instance where Nintendo’s meticulous IP protection helps them, because (you guessed it) they did register the design of Game Card case on 2017-10-07 (imgs 1-2 below). It isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card though. To claim the exemption, Nintendo needs to prove that minimization will alter the design’s novelty or character (img 3), not exactly a straightforward task.

Lastly, collectors of special editions might be glad to hear that there’s a carve-out for packaging intended for “gift purposes”, “seasonal events”, and other particularities (img below). It seems that you may still be able to purchase luxurious collectible boxes post 2030.

(sources in alt text)

[Originally posted on 2026-08-13 Pacific Time]

The reason that Nintendo partners with Salim Group to enter Indonesia is simple: growth (img below). Their sales in the “Other” region has been increasing in the Switch era—despite the setback in China—while the shares of Japanese and European markets gradually decline. The share of the Americas also grew until the trade war began in FY2026-03; my speculation (no data) is that Latin America was its area of expansion.

With the potential high costs of PS6 and Project Helix, Switch may be the only console system that can effectively expand in these growth markets. Judging from the Indonesian presser, Switch 1 seems to feature prominently in Nintendo’s plan for Indonesia. Its more accessible price and extensive game catalog could play an important role in the Other market.

👆 In FY26, sales of Switch 1 hardware dropped 66.3% YoY in Japan + Americas + Europe combined, but 52.3% in Other

👆 In Q1 FY27, sales of Switch 1 hardware declined 35% YoY in Japan + Americas + Europe, but only 11.8% in Other

Although the sample size isn’t large, it signals that Switch 1 has stronger legs in the Other market. It’s little wonder that Nintendo’s rumored India plan centered on Switch 1 too. (I’m skeptical of the “selling only Switch 1” claim though; see my reason here.)

Some of you probably remember the 2024 report that Foxconn Group (Hon Hai) invested in the Song Khoai Industrial Park in Quang Ninh, Vietnam, and would begin assembling Switch 1 consoles and accessories there from Jan. 2027. However, newer reports since then contain no reference to the Switch, but only Foxconn production lines for EV parts, monitors, and printers at Song Khoai (img below). It seems that their Switch 1 manufacturing plan might have changed or delayed.

(Sources in alt text)

Related:
Southeast Asian market for Nintendo
Pokémon’s Asia Expansion Plan

[Originally posted on 2026-08-11 and -12 Pacific Time]

Nintendo filed a trademark application for Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Resort Hotel logo in Japan on July 22, and wasted no time to introduce the Hotel merch.

Sources: official X post; trademark publication

[Originally posted on 2026-08-11 Pacific Time]

Regardless the reports of dominant digital sales ratio for Square Enix, Capcom, and other companies, the question not answered by the numbers is what the consumers would buy when given a choice. Many games are simply unavailable on physical media.

Here’s what the physical-to-digital ratio looks like for Switch in Q1 FY2027-03 after removing the download-only titles, DLC, and NSO:

• Revenue booked in the financial report → 50:50
• Gross sales (after adjusting for 3rd party eShop fees) → 39:61
• Consumer spending (if retail:eshop price=1:1) → 47:53
• Consumer spending (if retail:eshop price=0.88:1) → 44:56
• Units sold (if physical:digital price=1:1) → 47:53
• Units sold (if physical:digital price=1:0.78) → 41:59

So depending on the metrics, around 50-60% of Switch game sales in Q1 were digital when consumers had a choice.

Note that digital ratio is usually higher in Q1 and Q4 than in Q2 and Q3. Click here to see these metrics for the full FY26—which are more representative than the quarterly numbers—and my methodology to calculate these ratios.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-10 Pacific Time]

Counterfeit Joy-Con 2 has been a thing since last year, but I just saw its innards for the first time. The board and components actually look decent enough. Having a rotary motor (instead of a linear actuator for HD Rumble) but no mouse sensor is a dead giveaway though.

Source

Related: Full-featured Joy-Con 2 and Pro Controller 2 replacements

[Originally posted on 2026-08-10 Pacific Time]

Let’s check in on the Game Card suppliers’ financial reports.

MegaChips (メガチップス): After years of sales decline (img 1 below), its Apr-Jun sales grew 56% YoY, mostly because of the “amusement business” (i.e., Game Card biz; img 2)—suggesting that it’s finally shipping Switch 2 Game Cards after a long delay.

Macronix (旺宏): As MegaChips’ manufacturing partner, its ROM sales also grew 37% YoY in Apr-Jun (img below). As evident in the chart, the company is making a mint from the NAND and NOR price surge, therefore very little was said about the ROM business in the earnings call. No investor/analyst questions either, its ROM biz has become an afterthought.

Rohm (ローム): Similarly, Rohm talked mostly about its automotive and AI server business in the Apr-Jun report. The sales of Game Cards (img 1 below, under Consumer » Others) saw no change YoY. This is consistent with its flat forecast for the full year (img 2).

As I noted last quarter, if we combine MegaChip’s growth forecast and Rohm’s flat forecast, the Game Card sales is expected to increase this FY, even though Nintendo’s software forecast is flat. The divergence is possibly due to the rising memory costs, and/or Nintendo’s forecast being too conservative.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-09 Pacific Time]

(Warning: highly speculative) There are rumors on Chinese social media of a “green” Switch 2, and many interpreted it as an Ocarina of Time Edition. I was somewhat skeptical at first, but now I think that it may be real and even rolling off the assembly lines as we speak. Here’s why:

In July, the Switch assembler Foxconn Technology Co. (鴻準) saw their revenue soared to NT$21.4B (img 1 below), NT$6B+ higher than any month in the Switch 2 build-up and launch period. One Taiwanese site claims it being a historic high, but I can only confirm that it’s the most since 2017 (img 2), even higher than Switch 1’s first holiday months when FTC was the sole assembler (now there are three assemblers sharing the business).

Although it’s possible that the sales surge was due to FTC acquiring a new, large customer, I can’t locate any reports or disclosures suggesting such. Assuming much of the growth came from the Switch business, its magnitude is way beyond the typical pre-holiday buildup (and too early also).

As I wrote last month, FTC’s revenue rebound in June could be an indicator of the EU model (OSM) shipments, but the July number points to something bigger. In Q1 FY2024-03, the Tears of the Kingdom Edition of OLED Model was so popular that it temporarily reversed the Switch 1 decline (img below); Nintendo might want to give Switch 2 sales a similar jolt after the September price hike with an Ocarina of Time Edition. The timing and scale of the FTC revenue growth would align with such a plan.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-06 Pacific Time]

Unlike the amateurs at Valve (jk), Nintendo kept on converting cash into inventories (img 1) to counter the rising component costs. According to the company’s latest balance sheets, at the end of Q1 FY2026-03, the value of inventories officially crossed over 600B yen for the first time, to the stratosphere of 618B (~3.92B USD; img 2).

[Originally posted on 2026-08-06 Pacific Time]

As a reaction to the news of yet another East Asian developer releasing a game based on generative AI, I’m offering an explainer (not advocacy) for western gamers. It isn’t exactly a great mystery why the general—but not universal—attitude toward AI is more positive in East Asia:

1. Structural labor shortage
2. Financial windfall from AI boom
3. Data centers not as concentrated in poor neighborhoods
4. Stronger labor protection

1. Crude birth rates in East Asia are among the lowest in the world (Reuters/CDC):

Taiwan: 4.6 births per 1k population
Korea: 5.0
China: 5.6
Japan: 5.7
US: 10.7

Due to the structural labor shortage, employees look to AI to improve their working conditions (Deloitte, imgs below).

2. Workers at SK Hynix, TSMC, and other suppliers are getting record bonuses. Due to high stock ownerships in Korea and Taiwan, plus spending from the workers and stockholders, the AI windfall spills over to the rest of the population. So much so that the Bank of Korea warns of inflation.

Korea: 64% of trading volume by retail investors; 1 in 3.5 citizens owns stock (KSD)
Taiwan: 54% (TWSE)
US: 18% (SIFMA)

Since a large number of East Asians directly or indirectly benefit from the AI boom, it may influence their perspectives.

3. Wealth inequality is higher in the US than in East Asia (UBS, img below). That, plus the weak transit and discriminative financing, low income Americans live more segregated. Unsurprisingly these poor neighborhoods are often targets for data center development. This is less of a concern in East Asia.

4. Japan already has stringent labor protection (seiri kaiko). Firing for AI is unlikely to pass the “four factor test”. In China, there are arbitration and court rulings (Beijing; Hangzhou) that specifically block firing for AI, and CAC provisions that protect workers from “algorithmic recommendation”. Korea also has regulations regarding “automatic decisions” for employment/recruitment (PIPA; AI Framework Act).

Bonus point: It may be hard for some western minds to comprehend, but many East Asians trust tech companies more than their governments (ntu.edu.sg, img below).

Again, this is only an explainer, and I’m not suggesting that western gamers shouldn’t impose our own economic insecurity on Easter Asian developers. We are the consumers, and can freely let our preferences heard. Just know that choices like the AI Ryza are born from a different economic reality than ours.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-05 Pacific Time]

At ChinaJoy 2026, NYXI offer hands-on demo of the Hyperion 3 Ultra. They claim that the Ultra is a “full-featured” Switch 2 Joy-Con replacement: HD Rumble 2, mouse mode, 9-axis motion, NFC, and GL/GR/C buttons. The visitor reports that I saw were very positive, except the ergonomics of mouse mode (img below). Its bootleg HD Rumble 2 can reproduce fine vibrations, and also make sound. Since Hyperion is larger than the genuine Joy-Con 2, NYXI needed to tune the rumble strength for better hand feel.

Interestingly, the company also gave a preview of yet another Joy-Con replacement. It has all the features of Hyperion 3 Ultra, but is smaller and uses “silent” micro switches (img below). No words on the release date yet.

And there’s something unexpected: NYXI showed off the first true Pro Controller 2 replacement (imgs 1-3 below), featuring HD Rumble 2 and even an audio jack (img 4). These are engineering samples, so the final product may vary slightly. They aim to release it in September, but the rep didn’t sound very confident though.

[Sidebar] Alps Alpine is now selling the new rumble actuator to accessory makers, enabling them to replicate HD Rumble 2. However, 3rd parties still need to reverse-engineer the HDR2 software for it to work properly. Judging from Mobapad founder’s Bilibili video on 07-21, the company is still working on an HD Rumble 2 solution.

[Update on 2026-09-01] Some NYXI Hyperion 3 Ultra owners reported that it’s prone to fall off, because there is no seam between the controller and console. 🤦 In addition, some said that its bootleg HD Rumble 2 feels duller than the real deal—“about 80% there”, according to one owner. So it seems that the quest to replicate the Joy-Con probably will go on for some time. In the time being, just buy the genuine Joy-Con 2 and add an ergonomic grip available from Jsaux, Savage Raven, Genki, MystiForge, and many other brands.

(All sources in alt text)

[Originally posted on 2026-08-03 Pacific Time]

In an article regarding JAXA’s lunar base study, Nikkei Searchlight touched on a previously unknown game console planned by Casio.

According to the report, in the 1990s Casio secretly worked on using camera input for motion-controlled games (imgs below). However, the project was canceled because the technology wasn’t matured enough (Kinect didn’t come out until 2010) and Casio was also developing Loopy, which later became one of the rarest consoles ever produced.

[Originally posted on 2026-08-02 Pacific Time]

What the heck is Mike Odyssey talking about? This is a rendering technique patent for Paper Mario The Thousand-Year Door!

The application was filed in 2024-01, and published in 2025-06 (i.e., not “new”). It is one of three sibling patents about rendering reflections in The Thousand-Year Door. They cover the following:

• Per-object reflection control
• SSR near screen edges
• Reflection for partially obscured object

Whey they were published, I didn’t find them that interesting and posted only a short overview and the source links. You can read them here.

[Update on 2026-08-05; another Mike Odyssey patent fiction]

This is an Another Code Recollection UI patent that was already published in 2024-02. It was just some weeks ago that Mike Odyssey similarly paraded an old (Pikmin 4) patent as a feature for the Ocarina of Time remake. He really thinks we’re that gullible.

Related: Another patent misattributed to Ocarina of Time

[Originally posted on 2026-08-01 Pacific Time]

Nintendo’s patent application US 20260216600 describes the dynamic BGM system of Mario Kart World. Key points below:

• When on a route between two courses, BGM of the first course is played.
• When getting close to the next course, an outro is played and followed by a “predictive track” of the next BGM (img above).
• The system tracks recent BGM history. If the same playlist is repeated too many times, a “versatile playlist” is used next.
• Free Roam disregards the course BGM, and have its own day and night playlists.
• In a multiplayer race, the host’s system determines the BGM, and the other systems synchronize with it.

Related: How Mario Kart World recreates lingering sound

[Originally posted on 2026-07-31 Pacific Time]

In their latest quarterly earnings call, Capcom stated that the Switch 2 price hike in Japan “has had no impact on sales” of Capcom games (“販売影響が出ている状況ではない”). → This makes sense in the short term, because Japanese consumers rushed to buy NS2 before the price hike, pulling market penetration forward.

Although physical media account for less than 10% of sales, “we are not considering compulsorily eliminating physical media” because “some users prefer physical media as collectors” (“パッケージをコレクターとして好むユーザーもいるため、無理にパッケージをなくすことは考えていない”). → It sounds like at the very least that Capcom will continue releasing collector’s editions with physical media. Will they be Switch exclusives?

[Sidebar] Pragmata reached 2.5 million units sold “faster than anticipated”. Capcom now aims to sell over 3 million copies.

Source: Nikkei Shimbun

[Originally posted on 2026-07-28 Pacific Time]

In addition to the Donkey Kong Bananza QA talk at the CEDEC 2026, there are other sessions by Nintendo and Game Freak that some might find interesting.

These two Bananza presentations are essentially expanded versions of the GDC talk in March:

• Game loop for destruction
• Voxel tech for graphics and sounds

The amount of Pokémon and characters is a challenge for efficiency; Legends Z-A’s open world adds another:

• Rendering tech used in Z-A, including PokéRig
• Restructuring battle system, used since Sun & Moon

[Update] Famitsu and 4Gamer also published their own reports:

• Bananza art direction (Famitsu)
• Bananza game loop (Famitsu, 4Gamer)
• Bananza voxel graphics and sounds (Famitsu)
• Pokémon battle system (4Gamer)

[Originally posted on 2026-07-26 Pacific Time]