Datamining Reveals New "Compat" Feature In Switch Firmware Update All The Way Back From March

We have some interesting new rumors about potential functionality on the Switch 2.

Famiboards user (and seemingly the site’s founder) Pokemaniac posted some interesting findings regarding the Nintendo Switch firmware update 18.0.0. This is what Pokemaniac said:

“So it would seem that 18.0.0 had some pretty unambiguously (as firmware updates go) BC related stuff that was missed back when the update first released since the Atmosphere maintainers also missed it originally and only added support months after the fact.

Specifically, the update appears to have added support for a new type of mount point (basically a way of exposing files to games) classified as “compat”. It is unclear precisely what these would be used for, but some reasonable guesses could include:

Higher quality assets for Switch 2
Shader caches, either from the developer or Nintendo
Assuming Nintendo goes with unified file systems for cross-gen games like I suspect they will, these could be used to emulate the PS/Xbox approach by making some files available contextually.
Protecting certain critical Switch 2 files from pirates or emulator devs
Potentially injecting compatibility shims as part of the overall BC system”

For those wondering, that firmware update went live on March 25, 2024, and came with these notes:

“Added “15 Minutes” as an option for “Auto-sleep when playing on TV” in Sleep Mode Settings.

Added Korean as a supported language for “Nintendo Switch Parental Controls” introductory video.

When the console language is set to Korean, the video can be accessed from Settings > Parental Controls.

General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.”

Now, we did not expect Nintendo to say that they added something like this. But what this amounts to is that this data was only discovered via reverse engineering, using legally grey methods. The research they put into this indicates it has nothing to do with anything Nintendo officially announced.

We don’t know if this is connected to anything, but it just so happens that a month before, on February 2024, rumor spread that Nintendo internally delayed the release of the Switch 2. No less than Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa took to Twitter last May to stem speculation and promise they would announce their next hardware before March 31, 2025.

What this all points to is that Nintendo has already set a lot of their preparations for the console’s launch, obviously without the public’s awareness. While everyone thought they would only be getting updates on the latest things Nintendo was doing, it’s entirely possible that we will find out even more things that Nintendo already did, weeks and months after the fact.