There’s a lot we don’t know at the moment about the Nintendo Switch 2, but there’s one thing we do know – it’s backward compatible. For me, and probably for many gamers, that’s going to be its most important feature.
From a consumer standpoint, there are no real negatives to buying a system that is backward compatible. It’s a convenience given to consumers where we’re allowed to keep playing the games we have already purchased, whether they be physical or digital. But that’s the kicker – it’s a convenience given to us.
Let’s be real, most companies would want us to keep buying the same game again and again, and backwards compatibility is a threat to that for companies that have a long-lasting fan base. To those gamers who have been around for multiple console generations, it becomes that much harder for them to entice players to double-dip unless there is some artificial limitation preventing them from playing the games they already bought. Suppose older gamers, like myself, maintain a library of classic titles. In that case, companies can’t resell us the same games with flimsy justifications like higher fidelity graphics or a few extra bells and whistles that don’t change the core experience.

Nintendo has a mixed track record with backwards compatibility features in their consoles. Nintendo will frequently change format media every other generation or so, limiting consumer access to the prior generation and reselling those exact same games. Just recently, Nintendo released Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a compromised port of a great 2010 game that is being resold at a higher price than the original game. That’s not even getting into the fact that Nintendo has effectively made the entirety of their output in the 2000s impossible to play on any modern system given the Switch’s shift to cartridges as opposed to the optical media they were content to use for over 15 years. Despite their friendly exterior, Nintendo is, at the end of the day, a corporation that will attempt to exploit consumers with weird ports and remasters, and this is coming from someone who is an open Nintendo fan.
Still, I can’t deny the fact that Nintendo assuring fans that their Switch games will be compatible with the Switch 2 was a smart and necessary move. I don’t think I need to state this, but the Switch is one of Nintendo’s most popular consoles. By the time the Switch 2 releases, whenever that is, there’s a genuine chance that the original Switch can surpass the Nintendo DS to become the second best-selling video game console of all time. And with such a large install base, Nintendo doesn’t want to isolate them. If Nintendo stated during their announcement trailer that the Switch 2 wouldn’t play any of the Switch’s library, they would have effectively shot themselves in the foot with their fans.
Related: Ranking Every Donkey Kong Platformer, From Worst to Best
If that happened, gamers would have rioted. Every modern company has realized in some way that backwards compatibility is a necessity for their consoles and puts it in as a basic feature nowadays. PS4 games can be played on PS5, and the Xbox Series X allows players to play physical games from all four of Microsoft’s systems. The only reason Nintendo wouldn’t include that feature would be corporate greed, which isn’t the image they want to portray to consumers.

While I’m tempted to focus on the historical preservation angle given my hyper-awareness of history and lost media, some of which became lost thanks to Nintendo, this is a business decision. Even though we don’t know all that much about the Switch 2 yet, it’s pretty clear that the system will be a souped-up Switch. The controllers will effectively be the same. It’s still going to be a hybrid system. Even if the interface is slightly different, it’s still going to deliver the same, or rather a more refined, experience as the original Switch. So, Nintendo needed to decide if it was going to put consumers first or their own interests, and it made the correct call.
Now, this doesn’t mean that Nintendo is instantly going to change its ways when it comes to re-releasing its games. They’re still going to try to rerelease games that aren’t already available on the Nintendo Switch to try to incentivize newer consumers, and those games are probably going to be questionable remasters at best. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo tries to remake a Switch game like Breath of the Wild and add in a few Switch 2 features to try and justify the double dip. I mean, look what they did with Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story.
And yes, not every game is going to be backward compatible on the Switch, but I would assume that pertains more to unique Switch experiences like Nintendo Labo and Ring Fit Adventure that require unique accessories to function. However, at the end of the day, seeing a Nintendo that is more open to gamers continuing to play the games that they own is better than a Nintendo that forces gamers to repurchase the same game every generation for a quick buck.
Published: Feb 1, 2025 09:00 am