Nintendo hasn’t yet announced whether its next console – which we’re tentatively calling “Switch 2” – will be backwards compatible. The silence on this issue necessarily means nothing, because it hasn’t each public commentary about the console. But it has to be backwards compatible, right? There’s no way Nintendo engineers can release a console in 2024 without backwards compatibility… right?
In all likelihood, the Switch 2 will be backwards compatible, meaning it will be able to play games from previous console generations. But anyone with knowledge of the history of console games knows that this is not a given. There are several reasons why Nintendo’s reputation for backward compatibility is flawed, like that of any console manufacturer. And while the feature has always been at the top of players’ wish lists, it’s only recently become an expectation – something you couldn’t live without.
Although there are some examples of backward compatibility go back to the eightiesIn the early years of the console industry, this feature was very rare. The constant change of physical characteristics ensured this. It seemed reasonable that your console wouldn’t play the same games because the cartridges didn’t fit in the slot, and indeed the software delivery format is one of the two main technical hurdles to backward compatibility.
The other is how you run the games on the hardware in the first place, and there are three ways to do this. One is software emulation, where a more powerful processor runs a program that allows it to pretend to be an older chip running a years-old game. This was beyond the capabilities of most console chipsets until the 2000s. The second is to simply add another chipset that can run the old games. While older components are often a lot cheaper by the time their successors hit the market, they still add a fair amount to the cost of building a console. The third is to base the new chipset on the architecture of the old one so that it can run the games natively, which has only become truly feasible with the latest generation of consoles.
It was Sony who started to change its attitude towards backward compatibility with the PlayStation 2 in 2000. The engineers cunningly reused the CPU from the first PlayStation as a subordinate input/output processor, meaning the newer console could run PS1 games. The enormous popularity of the PS2 made it difficult to put this genie back in the bottle, but the video game industry certainly tried, especially Sony.
The first PlayStation 3s could play PS2 games, but the cost of including PS2 chipsets proved prohibitive and Sony quickly removed them from subsequent models. However, the PS3 architecture was so elaborate and unique that it remains virtually impossible to emulate to this day, and prohibitively expensive to include as hardware: it’s the lost generation. The indifference to this position seemed to come from the top down. As recently as 2017, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan announced backward compatibility rejected as “one of those features that is highly requested but not actually used much,” and when asked about PS2 classics, he said, “Why would anyone play this?”
Nintendo’s reputation for backward compatibility during this period was better, as long as it met the company’s needs. GameCube games were playable on early Wii models, Wii games on the Wii U, and most Nintendo handhelds could play previous generation cartridges. But by the time Switch arrived in 2017, Nintendo found itself at a technological dead end. The emphasis on quirky hardware features like dual screens and motion controls made backwards compatibility a huge headache at best, and an impossibility at worst. Combined with Nintendo’s mission to unify the home console and handheld, the company felt it necessary to make a definitive break from the Wii U and 3DS generations. Even classic virtual console game emulation was scrapped (although it would eventually return as a perk of Nintendo Switch Online membership).
However, the prevailing winds in the sector were in the opposite direction. Home consoles were now powerful enough to run emulators, while the standardization of delivery formats (first discs and then digital downloads) had removed another obstacle. In addition to technology, gaming culture also matured, placing less importance on novelty and technological advancements and more and more attention being paid to the preservation and availability of older titles. Under Phil Spencer (who, it’s safe to say, is a bigger fan of old games than Jim Ryan), Xbox began the arduous task of bringing the original Xbox and Xbox 360 catalogs to Xbox One through emulation, game by game. It also promised full backwards compatibility for the next generation, putting pressure on Sony to do the same for PlayStation 5.
And all this for a function that is “requested a lot, but not actually used much”? The Xbox’s backwards compatibility push was good PR, but in other ways it was a smart investment. Spencer had noticed that players’ perceptions of gaming platforms had changed, thanks in large part to Valve’s Steam. With Steam, the platform was the user account and the library associated with it. The hardware changed around it, but the library of games remained the same, and this is where player investment – both financial and emotional – really lay.
Nintendo’s decision to start from scratch with the Switch turned out to be wise. The vision of a hybrid handheld system is wildly popular and more compatible with mainstream gaming than the previous decade of strange hardware experimentation. But assuming the next console follows the same format – and reports indicate it will – then extensive, if not flawless, backwards compatibility isn’t just a luxury; it is a basic requirement.
People no longer want to stop playing older games, nor are they willing to part with years of digital purchases they don’t own, like boxes on a shelf that can’t be resold. The Switch also has emerging rivals, in the form of the Steam Deck and a new generation of portable PCs that offer access to a vast library of games dating back decades. Thanks to the PS5 and Xbox Series X, players are even starting to expect performance improvements when playing older games on more powerful hardware.
Achieving backwards compatibility on the Switch 2 is more than just a technical challenge for Nintendo. It will also require the Kyoto company to put aside some of its deepest instincts. This is a company that has long profited from remaking, repackaging, and rereleasing its back catalog in shiny new versions. Perhaps the best example Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a port of a Wii U title that is now one of the best-selling games of all time. This is a company that has also always placed a premium on hardware innovation and gimmicks, and it will have to curb that temptation and deliver a suitably conservative design to ensure compatibility with the Switch library.
Fortunately, there are strong signs that Nintendo’s leadership team knows this, from reports of the Switch 2’s familiar design to a comment from company chairman Shuntaro Furukawa emphasizing the importance of Nintendo Accounts in providing “a smooth transition” to the next generation. But despite all that backward compatibility is now taken for granted, implementing it is a non-trivial challenge and execution is everything. With 140 million consoles sold, a huge market share and total dominance of a niche it has created, Nintendo is in an enviable position as it prepares to launch its next console. But all that could be in jeopardy if backward compatibility isn’t in order.
