Nintendo Confirms Switch 2 Will Support Backward Compatibility for Switch Games

Recently, after unveiling their Corporate Management Policy at a briefing, Nintendo took to Twitter to announce some exciting news for their fans: games on the Nintendo Switch will be compatible with its upcoming successor, which is currently being referred to as the Switch 2.

A deep dive into the Management Policy Briefing, which you can find on Nintendo’s website, offers a comprehensive view of how Nintendo is currently faring in the console hardware market. A staggering 146 million units from the Nintendo Switch Family have been sold so far. Remarkably, more games have been played on the Switch than any other Nintendo console. The extensive 59-page document delves into sales data and other historical nuggets, confirming that services like Nintendo Switch Online (alongside elements like Music) will transition smoothly when the Switch 2 hits the shelves.

For those in the Sony or Microsoft realms, this might not seem groundbreaking. Microsoft has set a high bar for backward compatibility, offering features like FPS and Resolution Boost with Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X playable games spanning back to the original Xbox and Xbox 360. Sony’s track record is a bit mixed. While the PS3 had comprehensive backward compatibility, by the time of the PS5, full backward support was limited to PS4 games, with a decent selection of PS2 and PS1 titles available through emulation. Unfortunately, PS3 games are only accessible via cloud streaming on both PS4 and PS5, which isn’t ideal for many PlayStation fans.

Historically, Nintendo has been quite reliable with backward compatibility—at least up until the arrival of the Switch. For instance, the Wii U supported discs from the Wii and GameCube and had a robust Virtual Console to cover more of Nintendo’s history. Similarly, the Nintendo 3DS could handle Nintendo DS titles, albeit it didn’t support Game Boy Advance or other earlier handheld games. The Nintendo Switch, however, marked a shift, merging both handheld and home consoles while moving from PowerPC to Arm CPU cores, and in the process dropped backward compatibility altogether. The success of the Switch’s Nvidia-powered mobile hardware seems to have encouraged Nintendo to continue this setup, which means the games you buy for the Switch now will be waiting for you when Switch 2 debuts.

This move also brings hope that games previously held back by hardware limitations, such as Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, might run smoother and exceed 60 FPS. This is particularly promising considering Nintendo’s efforts to curb emulation software, which often enables performance enhancements—just as emulators like Dolphin handled GameCube and Wii games, there’s speculation that Switch emulators could do the same for Switch 2.

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