Nintendo Confirms Switch 2 Will Support Backward Compatibility with Switch Games

Following their Corporate Management Policy Briefing, Nintendo recently took to Twitter to share some exciting news for fans: games from the Nintendo Switch will continue to be playable on its upcoming successor, which the community is tentatively calling the Switch 2.

The details from this briefing are stocked full on Nintendo’s website. The discussion highlighted their impressive performance in the console market, with 146 million units from the Nintendo Switch family sold. Remarkably, more games have been played on the Switch than any other Nintendo system. This comprehensive 59-page document delves into juicy sales data and historical insights, also making it clear that the Nintendo Switch Online service and other features will stick around when the next-gen Switch hits the shelves.

For those familiar with console gaming through the lens of Sony or Microsoft, this development isn’t entirely unexpected. Microsoft has been a champion of backward compatibility, enhancing original Xbox and Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One and the Xbox Series S/X, offering smooth FPS and resolution boosts. While Sony has been a bit more conservative since the PS3 era—which supported an array of earlier PlayStation systems—the PS5 shines by running almost every PS4 game beautifully, alongside select PS2 and PS1 titles via emulation. The sore spot remains with the PS3, accessible only through streaming on newer consoles, a decision not particularly loved by fans.

Here’s a snippet of what Nintendo had to share: “[…] We announced that Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch Online will be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch as well.” Leadership conveyed that more details will follow in due course.

Looking back at Nintendo’s track record, backward compatibility was fairly robust until the Switch era. The Wii U allowed gameplay from Wii and GameCube discs and supported a Virtual Console that filled most library gaps. Meanwhile, the 3DS could accommodate DS games, though earlier handhelds like the Game Boy Advance got left behind once the dual-screen era commenced.

The true shift came with the Nintendo Switch, merging the portable and home console lines and transitioning to Arm CPU cores, which wiped out any backward compatibility. Yet, with the Switch’s runaway success and its Nvidia-driven mobile tech, Nintendo seems poised to maintain this path. This is great news for players investing in games today, as they’ll seamlessly transition to the Switch 2.

One can hope this move will enable powerhouse titles, such as Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, to hit frame rates above 60 FPS without resorting to third-party emulators. Nintendo has shown a strong hand in cracking down on these tools, possibly because unchecked emulators like Dolphin hint at future consoles being emulatable, inevitably including the Switch 2.

Stay tuned, gamers, because it seems like the tides are changing in Nintendo’s console evolution, and the switch to Switch 2 looks all the more seamless.