Following the release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, data-miners and emulation experts have discovered some interesting features in the back-end of the collection. One of these features includes an emulation layer, a code set used for emulation of GameCube and Wii GPU code to run on the Switch. Of course, this is used by Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. However, it seems that NERD (Nintendo European Research and Development) implemented this hybrid emulation layer with additional GPU features like:
- BoundingBox (used in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
- ZFreeze (used in Super Mario Strikers and EA Sports games on GameCube)
This does not directly confirm that more GameCube and Wii games are coming to Switch but it leads to speculation for upcoming games. Its entirely possible that NERD made this emulation layer for reuse in the future. For instance, NERD could use this to emulate Zelda games like Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess in a collection for the series anniversary in 2021. Native ports take up more development time and resources but Nintendo may use this as an opportunity to bring a library of classic games to Switch at a faster pace. Lastly, MVG went over more details about the emulation layer so please check out his video here.
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