Why Nintendo Switch 2 needs backward compatibility?

Imagine owning a bunch of Nintendo Switch games but not being able to play any of them on your new Nintendo Switch 2 because of missing backward compatibility. Fans have been waiting for the Nintendo Switch 2 for too long, and rumors suggest it will be released sometime in Q4 2024, but much of its success depends on the status of backward compatibility.

This article explains why backward compatibility is a necessity and if Nintendo can realistically deliver that.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.

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What is backward compatibility?

Backward compatibility can be best described as a compatibility layer that allows you to run games designed for the older generation device onto the newer generation device. Essentially, it's a compatibility layer that will allow you to run your current Nintendo Switch games on the newer Nintendo Switch 2 when it releases.

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Why backward compatibility is necessary?

The Nintendo Switch running Assassin's Creed 2 (Image via Manny Rataul/YouTube)

If you already own the Nintendo Switch, you probably have a whole library of games by now. Now, if you can't play those games on your new Nintendo Switch 2, they become e-waste. This will be a huge issue for Nintendo fans. The lack of backward compatibility could lead to another Wii U-like situation, which Nintendo doesn't want.

To better understand this, you will have to go back to the year 2000 when PlayStation 2 was released. The PlayStation 2 was a massive success and sold over 158.7 million units in its lifetime becoming the highest selling console. In fact, it still remains the highest-selling console in 2024. The Nintendo Switch is on the 3rd rank with 139 million sales till now.

If Nintendo wants to beat the sales of PlayStation 2 or even surpass the original Nintendo Switch's sales figures, they need backward compatibility. That's because it's exactly what made PlayStation 2 so much better. Sony knew the original PlayStation was quite popular among gamers, and they had to find a way to make the original PlayStation games backward compatible with the new console.

If they made the new console backward compatible, gamers could replay their old games on the new console, and it would play into the success of their new PlayStation 2 console. It would also increase the resale value of old PlayStation game disks. Nintendo needs to follow the same strategy if it wants a similar success.

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Can Nintendo realistically provide backward compatibility for Nintendo Switch 2?

The Nintendo Switch Lite (Image via Manny Rataul/YouTube)

Achieving working backward compatibility is not as easy as it sounds. The CPU and GPU architectural changes between each console generation are usually too big, which makes it almost impossible for old games to run on new consoles. To make PlayStation 2 backward compatible, Sony used a clever trick.

They repurposed the original PlayStation CPU as the I/O processor inside the PlayStation 2. That's how Sony solved the issue of backward compatibility. So, the original PlayStation games were run on that reported I/O processor. But when the PlayStation 3 came out, Sony couldn't do the same trick as the PlayStation 2 CPUs were too expensive to be repurposed, so they abandoned the backward compatibility.

But Xbox picked it up and made almost all of the original Xbox and Xbox 360 games backward compatible on the Xbox One and newer Xbox Series X consoles. Instead of repurposing the CPUs of the older console, Microsoft went with a different approach by emulating the older Xbox games inside the new Xbox One hardware.

Nintendo can do the same and emulate the original Switch games inside the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2. So, can Nintendo realistically provide backward compatibility? Yes, they can, and a recent leak also suggests the same. According to a leaker on the Chinese Bilibili site, the original Nintendo Switch cartridges are backward compatible with the new Nintendo Switch 2, but the reverse is not.

However, we are still several months away from launch. As we get closer to the launch, we will have more information. But for now, we hope Nintendo is indeed working on the backward compatibility technology. They don't want another repeat of the Wii U.