The President of Nintendo, Shuntaro Furukawa, has announced that the successor to the Nintendo Switch will indeed feature backward compatibility.
Little information about the successor to the Nintendo Switch is known. Every day seems to populate new rumors and discussions about what may or may not happen when the device is fully revealed.
Switch 2 Backward Compatibility: Confirmed
However, today, Furukawa took to Twitter to announce that during a briefing, he had solidified and announced that the successor to the Switch will be backward compatible with current Switch titles.
Shuntaro Furukawa’s tweet about the Switch successor
Sourcing the transition from the 3DS to the Switch, or even the Wii U to the Switch, gamers have been antsy to declare that the next home console will be backward compatible. Things this time are slightly different, though.
The Nintendo Switch has recently surpassed 146 million units sold worldwide. This puts the Switch less than 10 million units away from the highest-selling console of all time; surpassing the PlayStation 2 and their own Nintendo DS. With backward compatibility, it ensures that the current Switch will still have staying power well within the Switch 2’s lifetime.
Future of the Switch
The upcoming slate of releases for Nintendo includes titles such as Mario & Luigi: Brothership releasing later in November, and the recently announced Xenoblade X Chronicles remaster coming in March 2025. Xenoblade X Chronicles was the last remaining Xenoblade series game exclusive to the Wii U to be ported over to the Switch. With backward compatibility coming, gamers no longer have to wait for Switch titles to be ported or remastered in order to play them on new hardware.
Beyond that, Nintendo still has first-party Switch releases set within their 2025 schedule. Games like Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and the upcoming Metroid Prime 4: Beyond won’t be on the Switch until next year, but it’s unknown how Nintendo will handle titles closer to the release or full announcement of the Switch successor.
Breath of the Wild, one of the last releases for the Wii U, was notable for having two versions, one made for the Wii U and another for the Switch. Before that, Twilight Princess did the same with Gamecube and Wii releases.
What to Expect Next
Switch successor announcement of announcement
Furukawa tweeted in early May that the Switch successor was going to be announced within the fiscal year ending March 2025. Since then, gamers have been expecting a Switch 2 announcement and have been anticipating its announcement to come randomly. Either via a video on Twitter, or the seemingly sporadic disclosures of information, Furukawa drops on Twitter every now and again.
The recently released Alarmo alarm clock was announced in a similar fashion. Nintendo announced the device via a tweet with a video uploaded to their YouTube channel on a random Wednesday at 9 AM.
With backward compatibility being confirmed, gamers can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their collection of games won’t be trapped on the original Switch hardware they currently have, and can indeed come along with them should they decide to embrace its eventual successor.
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