Nintendo Explains Why SNES Games Will Only Run On New 3DS

If there’s one thing Nintendo fans love, it’s playing old Nintendo games. While other gamers are looking forward to flashy new graphics and new titles, diehard Nintendo fans still cherish the games that they played in their youth. Fortunately for them, the company has made it even easier to bring your favorite SNES game with you on the go…sort of.

Nintendo announced last week during its Nintendo Direct event that a handful of beloved SNES games would be making their way to the 3DS eShop. The release schedule and list of games, as outlined by GameInformer, include such gems as EarthBound, Super Mario World, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past.

But Nintendo followed up the lauded announcement with one less popular: These titles would only be available on new-model 3DS units.

So why the holdout?

In a statement made to GameInformer, Nintendo cited technical limitations as the main motivation for the holdout:

“As previously announced, New Nintendo 3DS has an improved CPU, which enables Super NES games to run on the system with quality results,” GameInformer reported. ““The Super NES games also include Perfect-Pixel mode, which allows players to see their games in their original TV resolution and aspect resolution.”

This news is quite on-brand for the gaming giant, which has demonstrated a history of staggering hardware releases in what some who are far more cynical than yours truly might say is a bid to drive console sales. The Nintendo DS, the 3DS’ predecessor, saw at least three different versions hit store shelves during the unit’s life cycle, and the 3DS has picked up where its forebear left off in that regard. Is this move part of that hardware-driven strategy? We obviously are in no place to speculate, but it’s a theory.