Tuesday, February 13th 2024
Nintendo Switch 2 Could Retain Backward Compatibility with The First-Gen Console
Reports are circulating online that Nintendo's upcoming successor to the Switch console, tentatively referred to as the "Switch 2," will offer backward compatibility for physical game cards and digital purchases from the current Switch library. While Nintendo has yet to officially announce the new console, speculation points to a potential reveal as early as next month for a 2024 launch. The backward compatibility claims first surfaced last year when Nintendo America President Doug Bowser hinted at supporting continuity between console generations to minimize the sales decline when transitioning hardware. New momentum behind the rumors comes from gaming industry insiders Felipe Lima and PH Brazil, who, during recent podcasts, stated the Switch 2 has backward compatibility functionality already being shared with game developers.
Well-known gaming leakers "NateTheHate" and others have corroborated that testing is underway for playing current Switch games on new hardware. If true, this backward compatibility would be a consumer-friendly move that breaks from Nintendo's past tendencies of forcing clean breaks between console ecosystems. While details remain unconfirmed by Nintendo, multiple credible sources point to the upcoming Switch successor allowing gamers to carry forward both their physical and digital libraries to continue enjoying this generation's releases. If the compatibility remains, the hardware platform could stay in the playing field of the same vendor—NVIDIA—who provided Nintendo with Tegra X1 SoC. The updated version of the SoC could use a fork of NVIDIA's Orin platform based on Ampere GPU with DLSS, but official details are yet to be seen.
Source:
via HardwareLuxx
Well-known gaming leakers "NateTheHate" and others have corroborated that testing is underway for playing current Switch games on new hardware. If true, this backward compatibility would be a consumer-friendly move that breaks from Nintendo's past tendencies of forcing clean breaks between console ecosystems. While details remain unconfirmed by Nintendo, multiple credible sources point to the upcoming Switch successor allowing gamers to carry forward both their physical and digital libraries to continue enjoying this generation's releases. If the compatibility remains, the hardware platform could stay in the playing field of the same vendor—NVIDIA—who provided Nintendo with Tegra X1 SoC. The updated version of the SoC could use a fork of NVIDIA's Orin platform based on Ampere GPU with DLSS, but official details are yet to be seen.
32 Comments on Nintendo Switch 2 Could Retain Backward Compatibility with The First-Gen Console
Backwards compatibility on Nintendo over the years has been the norm, not the exception
So backwards compatibility for at least the last generation is more the norm for Nintendo than an outlier. Yeah it's very odd people are viewing this as a change on the part of Nintendo. They tend to like backwards compatibility and push it for a few generations. You can gripe all you want about their refusal to lower their asking cost for their first party titles but they are pretty good at transitiong people through the generations. Let's also not forget that the GB went through several revisions and they kept selling them straight into the DS era. The GBA also did the same. They don't like hanging their customers out to dry which is one of the reasons people like them. It goes beyond that when you look at their entire product stack outside of the NES, SNES, N64 sessions they've always had backwards built into it. It's one of the reasons people like and trust them they don't screw their customers and while they still keep high prices on their IP generally they are extremely good at making generational switches as painless as possible.
Shit even the fucking SNES could play gameboy games via a Super GameBoy adapter.
They've had their share of asshole moments and flops but the reason people like Nintendo is it just works. And unlike apple they don't hang people out to dry.
So is it, or is it not backwards compatible?
This is the current topic.
The fact is, nintendo are generationally friendly when it comes to backwards compatibility. That section of the article is nonsensical