As you may remember, Nintendo dropped a lot of hints about Switch games being compatible with the Switch 2. As they revealed in the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, Switch games can be transferred to the Switch 2, using your Nintendo account.
However, some keen readers may have noticed that Nintendo did not equivocally state that all Switch games will run on the Switch 2. As it turns out, there’s a reason for that.
As shared by Wario64, Nintendo has provided lists of Switch games that have compatibility issues on the Switch 2. There is a separate list for games that won’t start up on the new console, and games that will run, but have different compatibility issues, that may mean a variety of things.
Of course, to be fair to Nintendo, there are also PlayStation 4 games that won’t run on PlayStation 5. And in spite of the hard work Xbox has put on their backwards compatibility program, they have similar issues even with games on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
With that said, the list has several popular titles that a lot of people will need to know won’t work. We want to emphasize that we think Nintendo should get all these games to work. We’re putting the spotlight on games that we know Nintendo fans will want to know that they can’t bring over to the Switch 2, as they weigh their choices about buying the new console.
These games have startup issues:
- Darksiders Genesis
- Dead by Daylight
- Doom Eternal
- Fitness Boxing
- Fortnite
- GRID Autosport
- Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville
- Rocket League
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole
- The Jackbox Party 1 & 2
- Warframe
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
In the meantime, these games have other issues than failing to start up:
- Alan Wake Remastered
- Alien Isolation
- Fall Guys
- Just Dance 2019
- Mega Man Legacy Collection
- Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
As we see it, there seems to be a strong case for not buying a Switch 2, or at least not getting one at launch. We do expect that it will sell a lot of units at launch, because there will be a large number of Nintendo fans with that much purchasing power that they can afford and justify even getting all of the products and services available then.
So, we wrote this for gamers who don’t have that 100 % certainty. Maybe you still do value your Nintendo Switch over other platforms, but you may not have the money to buy without thinking, and you may also feel you haven’t gotten the most out of your Switch just yet. We expect Nintendo will mostly eliminate this list in time, but let’s not forget; gaming is a hobby and you should definitely prioritize other essentials. So you may consider this, as well as pricing, availability, and other uncertainties, in your decisions and plans regarding buying the Switch 2.
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