Nintendo has pushed new updates for Switch games to upgrade them for the Switch 2.
Nintendo’s website recently updated to indicate that several Switch games recently received new updates. As shared by OatmealDome on BlueSky, several but not all of these games received updates that expressly say they are for the Switch 2. He named these games so far:
- Game Builder Garage
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- ARMS
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
- Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
- The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
- Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- Pikmin 3 Deluxe
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
- Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Kirby’s Dream Buffet
- Kirby Star Allies
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
These updates arrive a day after Pokémon Scarlet and Violet received its Switch 2 update. Unlike that game, not all the games that received these new updates have multiplayer to justify requiring pushing an update across both platforms. It seems that Nintendo simply chose to make a single patch history for these Switch games to unify versions on the Switch and Switch 2. So, even if Switch gamers don’t benefit from Switch 2 upgrades, they’ll get the same Switch 2 patch here, and that may be the case moving forward.
As some fans also noticed, two of the games that received updates, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Super Mario 3D All-Stars, are long out of print. Of course, the latter game isn’t available in both physical and digital, but the point is more or less the same; these particularly rare games are still getting updates, even though Nintendo won’t rerelease them. It of course stands to reason that Nintendo would push updates to make sure both their rare and common games will continue to perform at their best. That doesn’t necessarily indicate that Nintendo has an obligation to rerelease said games.
In any case, there may be a more commonsense reason that Nintendo is pushing these updates hours before the Switch 2 becomes available to the public. Of course, they just want the patches to be ready so that gamers will be able to play these games at launch. If anything, it’s concerning that they haven’t gotten these patches ready for all the Switch games. But maybe there are a bunch of these games that aren’t getting Switch 2 updates and are simply going to rely on the console’s translation layer. We may be hearing of some Switch games needing Switch 2 updates that haven’t arrived yet soon enough.