As we’ve covered on this website quite a bit, people are making all kinds of claims about the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, and it makes it a bit hard to understand what is real, what is fake, and what is just speculation. For example, you might recall an earlier article about how the upcoming console will have a potentially big announcement dropped soon. What that announcement may be, we don’t know, but it’s got many people buzzing. In fact, after that story dropped, another one came out to take on a little extra info about the new system, information that has to do with the games you can play on it.
On Reddit, industry insider Nate The Hate commented that the Nintendo Switch 2 would be backward compatible, alongside the “big announcement” that may be coming. If you don’t get that meaning, it refers to how the Switch 2 can play games from the original Switch, which many would consider a big boon for the next system.
The topic of backward compatibility is an interesting one in the gaming space. You see, for the longest time, it was pretty much natural for the next system in the line to play the previous system’s games. Nintendo was the one who did this the best throughout both its console and handheld lineups. For example, the Game Boy Color could play OG Game Boy games, and then the Game Boy Advance could play GBC games. For the consoles, the only time that Nintendo made it so that backward compatibility wasn’t possible was when they made jumps in the way they delivered the games, such as when they went from cartridges to disks with the N64 and Gamecube, and then vice-versa with the Wii U to the Switch.
Sony and Xbox have struggled mightily with their systems’ backward compatibility, which has ticked players off. So, hearing that Switch 2 is likely to allow Switch games to be played would be a huge deal.
One reason many would like it is that, naturally, there won’t be too many games to play on the Switch 2 when it launches. So, if they can play Switch games on it yet have the benefit of potentially better graphics, framerates, battery life, etc., that would help entice people to buy the new system.
As a reminder, this is just speculation; Nintendo has not confirmed it. However, many will hope it is true.