After its latest Corporate Management Policy Briefing, Nintendo took to Twitter to reveal some exciting news for fans: games for the Nintendo Switch will still be playable on its upcoming successor, which many are dubbing the Switch 2.
This announcement, detailed in a comprehensive 59-page PDF available on Nintendo’s website, comes alongside a report on the company’s current standing in the console hardware market. With 146 million units sold from the Nintendo Switch Family, the document highlights how more software has been enjoyed on the Switch than on any previous Nintendo console. It also confirms that services like Nintendo Switch Online will continue to function seamlessly with the next-gen console.
For those familiar with Sony or Microsoft’s approach to console compatibility, this move by Nintendo won’t raise many eyebrows. Microsoft has excelled in backward compatibility, allowing enhanced versions of games from the original Xbox and Xbox 360 on newer consoles like Xbox One or the Xbox Series S/X. Sony, on the other hand, has had more limitations since the PlayStation 3, which supported previous consoles. However, the PS5 does play PS4 titles nearly flawlessly, and quite a few PS2 and PS1 games are accessible through emulation, though PS3 games remain limited to cloud streaming on PS4 and PS5, which hasn’t sat well with PlayStation enthusiasts.
Historically, Nintendo has offered decent backward compatibility, right up until the Switch shook things up. The Wii U, before it, could run Wii and GameCube discs and offered a Virtual Console filled with older games. Similarly, the Nintendo 3DS could play Nintendo DS titles, though it couldn’t handle Game Boy Advance games or other older handhelds. But with the Switch, which merged Nintendo’s handhelds and consoles and switched from PowerPC to Arm CPU cores, backward compatibility was essentially dropped.
Thankfully, the runaway success of the Switch and its Nvidia-powered mobile hardware has encouraged Nintendo to maintain this platform, promising a future where today’s Switch games will have a home on the Switch 2. This is welcome news for players worried about their current library of games moving forward.
Moreover, the hope is that the next-gen console will breathe new life into titles that the original hardware struggled with, like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which may finally run above 60 FPS without relying on third-party emulators. This is particularly relevant given Nintendo’s known efforts to crack down on those emulators that can play Switch, and potentially the Switch 2’s, games without restriction.
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