Nintendo officially confirmed that the Switch 2 will have backwards compatibility and let users play their Switch 1 games on the successor.
While the Japanese company may have confirmed this important piece of information, it has not yet provided any details on how it would actually work. Nintendo reassured fans that it would share more about the system at a later date.
Nintendo Switch 2 Backwards Compatibility
The news was presented by Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa as he also talked a little bit about the Switch Online service. The latter will also be making a return on the successor console, much to fans' delight.
Backwards compatibility between the two consoles is a topic that Nintendo briefly discussed last year. It was when Nintend of America president Doug Bowser said that a single unified "Nintendo Account" will smoothen the transition to the next generation.
Since the original Nintendo Switch was released, the handheld console has not had a traditional backwards compatibility feature. This is as the device shifted from the disc format of the Wii and Wii U and went back to using game cartridges, according to Game Spot.
Nintendo made no mention of whether it plans to go back to using cartridges or using a dedicated cartridge port for games on the original Switch.
There are also other options the company could use, such as a similar approach toward downloads of digitally-bought titles on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles.
Sales numbers for the Nintendo Switch have begun to slow down nearly a decade after it was first released. There are rumors that an official announcement about this figure is coming within the next five months.
More Information Soon
Furukawa also previously noted that Nintendo will officially announce the Switch successor by April 2025. This time will coincide with the end of the Japanese company's current financial year, Games Hub said.
Historically, Nintendo's backwards compatibility between its devices have been relatively praise-worthy. This is something that fans believe ended with the launch of the Nintendo Switch and how it drastically changed the system.
Many players are now hoping that many titles that underperformed on the Switch will be able to run better on the successor. These include The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which nearly never ran on 60fps.
The game was only playable in that state through emulation, which is something that Nintendo has been keen on addressing in recent months. This was most likely primarily due to Dolphin being able to emulate GameCube and Wii games, according to Tom's Hardware.
