This is the subject of all the rumors about the Nintendo Switch 2: will the console be backwards compatible with Switch 1 games? Without confirming anything, the boss of Nintendo of America discusses options for a smoother transition to a new console.
The rumors about the Nintendo Switch 2 never end. The latest news is that Nintendo’s next portable console should offer DLSS 3.5 and its Ray Reconstruction technology for even more convincing ray tracing effects.
But there is one subject that keeps coming up, and that is backward compatibility with games from the original Switch. This is one of our wishes for the Switch 2 and seems obvious. However, Nintendo (which, as a reminder, has still not announced the console), seems to confirm half-heartedly that backward compatibility was indeed under study.
It would seem absurd for Nintendo not to make Switch 1 games compatible with the new Switch. If in the past, the transition to a new generation did not result in any such option (Wii U, GameCube), we would remain here on a similar platform and technical sheet.
A backwards compatible Nintendo Switch 2?
In an interview for the Inverse site, Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America, discussed the subject of this transition to a new console:
One thing we’ve done with the Switch to make this communication and transition easier is the creation of the Nintendo Account. In the past, each device we transitioned to had a completely different account system. Creating the Nintendo Account will allow us to communicate with our players, if and when we transition to a new platform in order to facilitate this process or transition.
I can’t speak to the potential features of a new platform, but the Nintendo Account is a solid foundation for this communication during the transition.
Technically, and according to the latest rumors, the Switch 2 would in theory have no trouble running games from the original console. The machine would remain on an ARM architecture for the CPU and Nvidia for the GPU.
It is also on Switch that millions of new players have joined the Nintendo ecosystem in order to create a library of games. The account system could thus allow purchases to be transferred to the new console. It now remains to be seen whether Nintendo will adopt PlayStation’s strategy, with versions optimized for the Switch 2 for an additional fee.
But if the Switch 2 is released in two versions as several leaks suggest (one digital and one physical), cartridge owners would only have a more limited choice. No console until now has made it possible to transform a physical version of a game into a dematerialized version.
It is therefore still too early to comment, the announcement of the console not being planned before next year.