Reports have emerged that Super Mario Galaxy 2 may suffer from visual problems when played on the Nintendo Switch 2, particularly at higher 4K resolutions. According to dataminer OatmealDome, the game’s bloom effect appears broken in certain levels, creating unusual lighting artifacts instead of the intended glow.
The issue was highlighted through captured footage showing how bloom, a common visual technique used to simulate bright light, becomes distorted when upscaled. OatmealDome explained that this same issue has been observed in emulated versions of the game on PC using Dolphin, where community-created mods were later developed to address it. By contrast, Nintendo’s own in-house hybrid emulation does not include such a fix, resulting in the effect appearing out of place.
Interestingly, the problem does not seem to affect Super Mario Galaxy 1, suggesting that the rendering flaw may be specific to the sequel. While the discovery has sparked discussion, it remains possible that Nintendo could issue a patch to correct the issue in future updates.
This follows earlier findings on the technical structure of the Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 release, which reportedly relies on a hybrid approach blending native recompiled code with Nintendo’s Wii emulator, codenamed Hagi. OatmealDome noted that the overall project is labeled “Comet,” with Galaxy 1 and Galaxy 2 identified internally as “Cosmo” and “Cosmo2.” This method is similar to Nintendo’s Super Mario 3D All-Stars and the Pikmin 1+2 Switch ports, which also combine emulation with selective native elements for smoother performance.
The Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 bundle is currently available on both Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, with each game also sold separately.
