Summary
TheNintendo Switch 2will launch with backward compatibility, a well-known leaker has said. This claim adds to a steadily growing list of insider accounts suggesting that theSwitchsuccessor will be able to play its predecessor’s games.
While the Switch is not compatible with the Wii U library, Nintendo has historically demonstrated willingness to offer backward compatibility more often than not, at least as far as its iterative hardware generations were concerned. That’s reflected in the fact that the Wii U, Wii, 3DS, and DS all launched with some level of support for their immediate predecessors' game catalogs. Given the vast volume of Switch content that has been released since 2017, many industry watchers have long been arguing thatbackward compatibility is essentially a requirement for the Switch 2.
Nintendo Switch 2 Backward Compatibility Is Now a Given, Leaker Claims
Nintendo indeed plans to make its console backward compatible, according to YouTuber and established leaker NateTheHate, who said as much in a September 4 Reddit comment. While the insider did not elaborate on the matter any further, this claim serves as an update on one of his early 2024 reports, which saw him state thatNintendo was in the process of testing the Switch 2 backward compatibilityas of February. The leaker also said that the unannounced console’s Switch library support was already demoed to Nintendo’s developer partners at the time.
The first demonstration of the console’s backward compatibility possibly occurred no later than August 2023, when Nintendo is said to have held a closed-door presentation at Gamescom showing theSwitch successor runningBreath of the Wildat a 4K resolution and 60 frames per second. Second-hand accounts of this purported private partner demo were subsequently shared by several leakers, including NateTheHate. Nintendo did not have a presence at Gamescom 2024, which some industry watchers interpreted as the company wanting to avoid any further leaks of this sort as it gets closer to the official reveal of its next console.
Speaking of which, the Japanese gaming giant has alreadyconfirmed that the Switch 2 will be announced before the end of its current fiscal year, which runs until the end of March 2025. Between that and the recent rumblings that the console is planned to start mass production in September, its reveal might be imminent. For clarity, unannounced consumer electronics have historically been extremely prone to factory floor leaks, meaning Nintendo will likely want to reveal the Switch 2 before it starts mass-producing it.
The company’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, said in May that it would be accurate to label the upcoming device as the “next” Switch model, implying that the console will retain the hybrid form factor of its 2017 predecessor. Such cross-generation similarities are likely good news for consumers, at least in the sense that they make it easier for the Switch 2 to offer backward compatibility.
Nintendo Switch Lite
The Nintendo Switch Lite was released in 2019 as a low-cost, handheld-only game system. It’s designed specifically for handheld play, offering a lightweight design as part of its portable offerings. The controllers are built into the system for handheld play, unlike the larger Switch models. The console itself retains full functionality as a standard Switch, but it does not support docked mode.
