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Let's talk GameShare! [roundtable]
 
GameShare on Switch 2, that is. It's mysterious. It seems kind of like a marriage of Wii U multi-screen support and DS Download Play. Here's my understanding of GameShare:

A GameShare session needs to be initiated by a Switch 2 with ONE copy of the game. At least 3 Switch 2 OR Switch 1 consoles can then be used as dummy terminals (through the new GameShare app added to every Switch's Home Menu), only capable of control input and video reception. All of the dummy inputs are sent to the Switch 2 host (online or locally), and then the Switch 2 host beams back up to three extra viewports (online or locally), while also rendering its own. (In theory, those viewports could just be clones of the main screen in a single-screen game like Smash. But separate viewports are the more interesting application, by far.) This would allow for the best example we've seen, individual hands of cards in Clubhouse Games, all rendered on the host Switch 2, but sliced up and individually served to each Switch through video transfer for full privacy. This could, in theory, also be done using smartphones as dumb terminals (as in something like Jackbox), but let's not get into that right now.

Back when Wii U was still Project Cafe, I was actually hoping it could do something like this with multiple Gamepads. Maybe Nintendo was even planning something like that, but couldn't make it happen.

There are still tons of questions about this. What is the streaming protocol? What resolution would its bandwidth allow? How high is the latency in local/online? Would it be viable for action games? Even online?

There is SO much potential in this concept. Obviously, the Switch 2 would have some trouble serving up four separate 60fps viewports in something like Mario Kart World, but not in something like Clubhouse Games. Perhaps that host Switch 2 could render 4 viewports in a 4k frame and serve a full 1080p image to each screen (or 720p for the Switch 1 dummies (no offense)).

The games thus far announced for Switch 2 Upgrades are:

ARMS
Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
Game Builder Garage
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
Pokemon Scarlet
Pokemon Violet
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
Super Mario Odyssey
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Breath of the Wild
Tears of the Kingdom
Super Mario Party Jamboree

We can easily imagine that the single-player games in this list will be updated to increase performance and/or resolution. The single-screen multiplayer games may also be updated with same-screen GameShare, for tv-less multiplayer sessions. (Maybe Nintendo could even bring the missing Wii U functionality back to NSMB?) But the interesting exceptions are Clubhouse Games, Big Brain Academy, ARMS, and Game Builder Garage.

We already know how Clubhouse Games works. Big Brain Academy could rejigger its multiplayer to work the same way. Game Builder Garage could go all sorts of ways. But ARMS... why ARMS? It already worked amazingly well in split-screen, aside from a 30fps drop in 3-4 player.

Sure, they could improve that framerate and bump the resolution to 4k. But what if they went one step further and cut those frames apart in order to serve each console its own full-sized screen? What if they did the same thing with Mario Kart 8 DX, which runs on the same engine? People have been wondering why Super Mario Party Jamboree only supports GameShare locally, on one board, with 30 mini-games. What if those are the mini-games most suited to surreptitious split-screen play?

Let's take it further. What if Nintendo updated the NSO N64 emulator to do the same trick, enabling, say, four-player GoldenEye or Mario Kart 64 with no screen-peeking? What if the Switch 2 had the power to render four separate GBA emulators and GameShare the other screens to separate consoles?

What if!

But, really, I just want Clubhouse Games 3. And a bunch of virtual board games.

URL to share (right click and copy)
05/03/25, 02:26    Edited: 05/03/25, 06:17
 
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A re-release of Four Swords Adventures!?
05/03/25, 04:17   
@Secret_Tunnel
Pac-Man Vs.! NintendoLand!

Man, I really doubt that this could go smoothly online, but that would be super-cool.
05/03/25, 06:09   
I admit, I don't understand it. But if things happen to align and I am in a room with other people with Switch consoles I will give it a whirl!
05/03/25, 17:24   
@J.K. Riki
Nobody really understands it. That's why it's so interesting!

The simplest way I can summarize it is: When you play Starfox 64 multiplayer, the N64 generates four separate little screens, right? With GameShare, the Switch 2 can generate the same four screens, but then also wirelessly beam each player's quarter to a separate console (Switch 1 or 2).

And the other players can interact with that beamed image and beam their inputs back to the host Switch 2.
05/03/25, 17:34   
I just hope the ol' hack to play one copy of my game online with my nieces and nephews still works.

...but it probably doesn't, eh?
05/04/25, 00:02   
@Zero

I think you're thinking of Virtual Game Cards, which is what I also thought this thread was about at first...
05/04/25, 04:26   
I DON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.
05/04/25, 07:18   
@Zero
That was also my exact use case for the online multiplayer sharing! That and locally getting 60fps four-player online multiplayer going with two systems in games like Mario Kart 8 DX and Mario Golf. And two-player races in Super Mario Maker 2.

Yeah, it's gone, unfortunately. Because of the new Virtual Game Card system. GameShare is like DS Download Play. But you should be able to use it to play against other systems online with one copy of a game, if said game supports that feature. Hope you like Clubhouse Games!
05/04/25, 08:43   
I don't think it's as complicated as it seems. Hasn't Playstation done this for years?

And Nintendo for years also (via local/download play)?

Hopefully maybe some of you will be willing to face me online in Street Fighter 6!
05/04/25, 18:00   
@GameDadGrant
If they add Makoto, you're definitely gonna find me online, getting my gi clad ass handed to me.
05/04/25, 18:22   
@GameDadGrant
On Steam and PlayStation, you can share the same screen. The more interesting application of GameShare is sharing completely different screens a la the Wii U. It is a modern solution for download play, but download play was freaking awesome! What's funny is that Clubhouse Games on Switch already supported this type of functionality with a separate eShop app. GameShare is essentially a different method to achieve the same result. But it works online now, so that's cool.

Anyway, I will definitely get Street Fighter 6 at some point. They should have a turn-based variant available with GameShare, instead of that stupid calorie counting mode.

I wonder how much base SF6 will go for on the eShop...
05/04/25, 20:58   
Edited: 05/04/25, 20:59
@r_hjort, @Anand

The both of you are on! The dye is cast!
05/05/25, 01:31   
My assumption for Game Share was going to be that the second player would likely need to download the full game from the eShop in advance, and then there would be something that allows that player to open the game- as long as the first player has invited them? It's hard to imagine it would work like it did on DS or GBA since the file sizes would be sooooo huge.

I also don't see us having a need for this feature but it's cool to have regardless. The ideal scenario would be for some kind of asynchronous gameplay, but I have a really hard time imagining this would be the case outside of a couple games.

Unrelated, but I still wish we could have a version of Scrabble where our tiles are on our phones and the board is on the TV. I thought maybe GameShare would be a good way to do this, but if one player is on the TV, and another on handheld, that wouldn't make much sense. But I mean, if Jackbox can do it, why not Scrabble? Or any other board/card game where the players have to keep their cards/tiles hidden?
05/05/25, 21:26   
@Anand

Well that sounds interesting enough!

PogueSquadron said:

Unrelated, but I still wish we could have a version of Scrabble where our tiles are on our phones and the board is on the TV. I thought maybe GameShare would be a good way to do this, but if one player is on the TV, and another on handheld, that wouldn't make much sense. But I mean, if Jackbox can do it, why not Scrabble? Or any other board/card game where the players have to keep their cards/tiles hidden?

Seems like a stellar idea to me! I know Drawful has such things, and I enjoyed that a ton when we used to play it.
05/06/25, 16:34   
@J.K. Riki

Imagine if the Wii U, in addition to the action on the TV screen, were able to stream to 3 Gamepads at once for asymmetrical multiplayer purposes.

That's what's happening. The host Switch 2 is the Wii U + TV, and the three other Switch systems are effectively being GamePads, not processing anything.

PogueSquadron said:
My assumption for Game Share was going to be that the second player would likely need to download the full game from the eShop in advance

That's not the case. The guest Switch systems don't download anything, they're only streaming. This is how OG Switch systems are compatible with Switch 2 titles with this feature: they're not running it. Just streaming it.

Again, the best comparison is the Wii U, which could display different things on the GamePad and on the TV simultaneously. The Switch 2 is doing that, but displaying different things on itself, as well as on 3 other Switch systems.

It's pretty impressive! And it probably demands a lot more processing power from the host Switch 2, which is probably why so far the games with this feature are simple OG Switch titles like Clubhouse Games.

edit - They explain it in this part of the developer interview. ctrl+f for "Since GameChat".
05/06/25, 18:37   
Edited: 05/06/25, 19:17
4 Swords Adventures 2 when?!
05/06/25, 22:26   
@Zero

I also want this! I've been trying to get my IRL friends to do the 4 Swords game with me online that was included in the A Link To The Past GBA port. But so far, no dice.

If we get 4 Swords Adventures 2: Now With Even More Swords! the Negative World community should get together online and fight together for the peace of Hyrule. Both co-operatively, but also competitively to nab the most rupees. CHICAGO STYLE.
05/06/25, 23:03   
Guillaume said:

Imagine if the Wii U, in addition to the action on the TV screen, were able to stream to 3 Gamepads at once for asymmetrical multiplayer purposes.

So we could see the return of Nintendo Land maybe? I miss it.
05/07/25, 15:41   
Game share and Game Chat are probably 2 functions I will never use on switch 2 🤣

I don't know anyone in my daily life that plays on Nintendo...
05/08/25, 00:45   
Edited: 05/08/25, 00:45
@weeman_com
Dude, same. Both of these features are filed under N for "neat, I guess" in my mind, but they're not exactly selling points for the platform for me.
05/09/25, 10:46   
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