NERD talks about its work on Super Mario 3D All-Stars, used “deep learning engine” to upgrade Mario Sunshine videos to HD
NERD, otherwise known as Nintendo European Research & Development, has worked on some interesting projects over the years. The division has been involved with the DS Virtual Console for Wii U, the New 3DS’ super stable 3D, emulators for the NES and SNES Classic Editions, and more.
Most recently, NERD contributed to Super Mario 3D All-Stars. A notice on the official website mentions how its own GameCube emulation technology was used as well as a “deep learning engine” to upgrade Super Mario Sunshine’s in-game videos to HD. For Super Mario Galaxy, NERD offered “graphics and audio emulation technologies.”
The full post reads:
NERD’s own Nintendo GameCube emulation technology was used in Super Mario 3D All-Stars to bring Super Mario Sunshine to Nintendo Switch.
One of the biggest challenges was emulating the Nintendo GameCube’s old but powerful MPU (microprocessor) on the Switch’s customized processor: a number of optimization tricks were needed to get the game to run at full speed.
In addition, NERD worked with the Super Mario 3D All-Stars team on several features to give Super Mario Sunshine a modern twist. These include 16:9 HD rendering, updated controller bindings for an optimal Joy-Con experience, and others… The in-game videos were also upgraded to HD using NERD’s own deep learning engine.
Leveraging the similarities between Nintendo GameCube and Wii hardware architectures, NERD also supported Super Mario Galaxy porting efforts by providing graphics and audio emulation technologies.
