Patent US 2025/0090952 was approved in the US on 20th March 2025 under the catchy little title 'Non-Transitory Computer-Readable Storage Medium Having Game Program Stored Therein, Game System, Game Processing Method, and Game Apparatus'. That makes no sense, we know, but the central thrust of it describes a program that can render a 3D virtual space in a way that feels two-dimensional.
This objective is achieved through a number of different steps, all of which are wrapped up in the near-incomprehensible legal speak that we've come to expect from patents. From what we can make out, a new approach to shadows is the driving force behind the visual style, with the program capable of doing all sorts of fancy things with Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) to render block shadows on background objects. These appear to ignore the distance between a player character and the object it is casting its shadow on, forming an illusion where the 3D space is 'flattened' but the impression of depth is maintained, "not only the shadow but also the object itself can be rendered in a 2D manner".
This 'flattening' is also seemingly applied to the sprites themselves, with the patent stating that the program could "deform and render a predetermined object so as to make a normal vector thereof closer to a direction toward a position of the virtual camera" — "normal vector," in this instance, being how the depth of the character interacts with lighting and shadows.
Naturally, the accompanying diagrams in the patent do little to explain specific instances where this program could be used, though we've heard rumblings online of people linking the described depth impressions and 2D/3D interaction to something similar to Square Enix's HD-2D visual style. The following tweet from YouTuber Mike Odyssey, for example, muses on how the tech could be used to revamp the 2D visuals of A Link to the Past in a future remake.
Now, as much as we like the thought of seeing Nintendo classics like Super Mario World, Super Metroid and ALTTP brought back in an HD-2D style, it feels like a bit of a stretch to jump to that conclusion from this patent. The technology described, to us, feels much closer to something we've seen in the Paper Mario series than any hint of a new remake style.
As pointed out by Nintendo Wire, it's also worth bearing in mind that Nintendo has applied for similar patents in the past (the same name can be found on US filings from 2022 and 2023). These former applications both contain diagrams which appear far more in line with something like Paper Mario or Mario Kart Tour than the remake speculation.
But this is Nintendo! There's no guarantee when — or if — this patent will crop up in first-party software, but we'll certainly be keeping an eye on the shadows in the Switch 2 line-up.
What do you think this patent could be used for? Is an HD-2D style likely or is it too vague? Let us know in the comments.
