Ahh, the Nintendo Switch 2… or whatever it is Nintendo will call it. It is like not a day goes by without a new rumor or a bit of “leaked” information coming to light. We have to be getting real close to some kind of official announcement from Nintendo. They are keeping things very close to the chest with some kind of weird reveal for 3rd party partners apparently having them touch the console inside a box so they could not see it. I love talking about the Switch, be it theorizing about what is next for Super Mario Maker or looking at a huge game like I did in my Batman Arkham Trilogy Nintendo Switch review.
One of the things I am quite interested about in regards to the Nintendo Switch 2 is backward compatibility. At this point, I would be more surprised if the Switch 2 did not have backward compatibility. The Nintendo consoles in the past have had backward compatibility so it is something they clearly see as a big feature. The Wii could play GameCube games, the Wii U could play Wii games, and the Switch while not being able to take Wii U discs obviously got the majority of the big hitters from the Wii U library.
There was a “leak” or whatever you want to call it from a company called Mobapad who make accessories for the Nintendo Switch. Now, they said a bunch of stuff, but they did say that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be able to play Nintendo Switch cartridges and they have not been the only ones to talk about this. They may be the first ones to flat out say this as if it is a fact though. I think that with how huge the Switch has been for Nintendo, backward compatibility is a no-brainer in my humble opinion.
Not only is the idea of having all our existing Switch games be playable great. It makes me wonder if there will be any kind of enhancements. I would not expect any graphical upgrades, but a better framerate on many games would be something that is much appreciated. There are some big games on the Switch that do have framerate issues due to the console’s aging hardware and just having a stable 30 for some of these games would be better than what we have now. Of course, 60 FPS would be the dream, but being realistic, I would take a locked stable 30 on some of these games.
The Nintendo Switch was a huge system and it managed to capture the hearts of gamers and even those who are more casual when it comes to video games. Clearly, the Switch will have been some younger gamers’ first ever system! Having backward compatibility here is sure to make buying a new console for a parent of a younger gamer seem much more reasonable and it also helps ease a younger gamer into this next generation of Nintendo gaming.
While as I write this, nothing has been officially said by Nintendo, if I were a betting man, I would bet it all on Nintendo saying backward compatibility is a major feature of the Nintendo Switch 2! What are your thoughts on this> Is the new Nintendo console being backward compatible with your existing Switch library something you want? Could it even be a deal breaker if it were not something the new Nintendo console offered?
Al addendum: Nintendo have since confirmed that in June 2024 at Nintendo Direct they will announce software line up for the Switch and that an announcement of a successor will happen before April 2025.
