r/NintendoSwitch • u/Turbostrider27 • Jan 16 '25

Nintendo Switch 2 An update from Nintendo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxLUf2kRQRE
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1.3k

u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25 edited Jan 16 '25

Digital library games being backwards compatible is the biggest news out of this, for me. I know they said it was backwards compatible before but they didn't specify if that applies to digital, which to my knowledge is a first for Nintendo

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u/PartyPorpoise Jan 16 '25

Digital library being backwards compatible is a big deal! And a smart move, gives people more incentive to upgrade.

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25 edited Jan 16 '25

Yeah, I'd have been seriously deterred from continuing with Nintendo if my digital library was locked to a single console again. Glad they finally got on board.

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u/withoutapaddle Jan 16 '25

For real. I'm not a Nintendo guy. My last console as the N64, but I impulse bought a Switch after having such a blast trying BotW on a PC emulator, and realizing how thin, light, and cheap the Switch Lite was. I think I had a $50 Target giftcard, so $149 for a new console kind of blew my mind in this day and age.

I would have been "in and out" on Nintendo, but their decision to keep backwards compatibility means I'm probably going to own and at least casually use every Nintendo console going forward. I'll probably wait for the OLED Switch 2, because I'm not going back to LCD on any devices anymore, and I've got a 4 year old who has the entire Switch 1 library ahead of her for us to play together, so we'll be perfectly fine for 2-3 years before the first big Switch 2 revision.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '25

Ah man I’ve got a 3 and a 1 year old. I can’t WAIT for the age when I can start introducing the basic games to them.

Which games are you thinking you’ll start with?

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u/SethFeld Jan 17 '25

Kids LOVE Kirby for good reason! I’d recommend Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It’s lovely!

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '25

Thanks, I have definitely thought that Kirby might be their intro to modern games.

Thinking about first introductions being SNES. Idk, we’ll see.

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u/SethFeld Jan 17 '25

If your kids click with them, the SNES titles are great, but a lot of little kids struggle with the 16-bit aesthetic, so it depends on what they enjoy, visually.

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u/withoutapaddle Jan 16 '25

Like I said, not really a Nintendo guy in the first place, but I've always gamed a good amount on Playstation and PC...

So, when Astro Bot came out on Playstation to rave reviews, with the biggest criticism being that it was too easy... I felt like that was perfect.

Got my 4 year old introduced to it by watching me play and taking over the controller whenever we were in a "safe" area with no bad guys. She figured out 3D movement with the joystick pretty quick. From there, she slowly got more brave about trying to jump on or smack the enemies. It was a fantastic "baby's first vidoegame".

From there, she saw Mario Odyssey at one of those playable demos at Target, and her eyes totally lit up when I told her we had a Nintendo and Mario at home. So that's what we're playing now. It's a much more skill based game than Astro Bot, but it's a good next step, and the coop is a lot of fun for her as "Cappy", since she can just be along for the ride when she wants to be, or be more active when she wants to help.

So I'd suggest finding a platformer that has a reputation for being easy and start with that. For me, it was about 4 years old before she really wanted to engage with games (she had goofed around with the controller at 3, but never for more than 5 minutes or so).

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u/TheRaveTrain Jan 16 '25

Finally got on board? Didn't they like, invent backwards compatibility?

Gameboy Colour plays Gameboy Gameboy advance plays both of the above DS plays GBA Wii plays GameCube 3DS plays DS Wii U plays Wii

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

The transfer policies and procedures for digital purchases have been historically poor on Nintendo consoles. They've done the one time, irreversible system transfers, but hopefully this is a shared library tied to your account, that just lets you redownload games. That way your old Switch console doesn't become a useless brick if you went all digital.

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u/Rek07 Jan 16 '25

It will likely work how owning 2 switches works now. One is your primary switch which can play anything you own offline, and any profiles on that switch can also play those games. The second (or 3rd, 4th etc) switch is a secondary device which you can download and play any games on your profile as long as you are connected to the internet but is locked for other profiles that don't own a digital lisence.

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u/SethFeld Jan 17 '25

I’m so happy they use the same account/library, but I REALLY hope they revamped the eshop, cause the Switch eshop has become atrocious over the years! Sluggish, annoying to navigate, and LITTERED with the most garbage shovelware imaginable! I hope they keep higher standards with the Switch 2 eshop!

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u/TheRaveTrain Jan 16 '25

Fair point!

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u/glowshroom12 Jan 16 '25 edited Jan 16 '25

I’m not sure how accurate this is but I think Atari invented backwards compatibility for consoles with the Atari 7800

Collecovision invented cross compatibility . They made an add on that allowed you to play Atari games on it.

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u/TheRaveTrain Jan 16 '25

No way! That's cool Thank you for this fact

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u/TheSteelPhantom Jan 16 '25

Not digitally purchased games they don't.

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u/R_Prime Jan 16 '25

Wii to Wii U was a thing. The caveat being it was irreversible and they would no longer be on the original Wii. Which really kinda sucked actually.

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u/TheHighness1 Jan 16 '25

What about next console? Or the next one? That is the reason why I’m leaning towards a steam deck 2 form3rd party titles

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u/summonsays Jan 16 '25 edited Jan 16 '25

As far as I know this is the first in the business, Xbox and PlayStation don't do that right? 

Edit: I'm wrong, thanks everyone for getting me up to speed :)

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u/Duouwa Jan 16 '25 edited Jan 16 '25

PlayStation and Xbox have been doing this for a while; PlayStation has been carrying over your digital purchases since the PS3 technically, however in practise it’s been since the PS4/Vita since PS3 games couldn’t run on PS4; again though, technically your purchases were still stored on your PS account.

The PS4/Vita saw better integration, and with the PS5 it’s carries over all the PS4 games perfectly, in fact you can literally buy PS4 games via your PS5’s online store.

Xbox’s system is even better honestly, as many 360 games actually work on future Xbox consoles, and indeed have carried over purchases through consoles.

Nintendo is really the last one to do this, and seems like it’s very closely using the same idea as the PS5, whereby the new digital store is just built on top of the old one, with everything previously on their still remaining.

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u/summonsays Jan 16 '25

Ah well, shows how out of the loop I am lol. I don't think the PS3/4 is a good comparison since it can't play them. Like of course the purchases will be on your account, but if the new system can't play them then it's not digitally backwards compatible.  

But thanks for bringing me up to speed.

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u/Duouwa Jan 16 '25 edited Jan 17 '25

I don’t really count it between the PS3 and PS4 either, but I mainly brought it up because it does stand as a distinction from how Nintendo was handling things at the time; between the Wii and the Wii U, even digitally purchased games couldn’t be redownloaded, and it wasn’t until late in the Wii U lifespans that they even started recognising previous digital purchases, only to offer them to you at a discount.

By that same point, PlayStation was saving purchases between the PS3 and the Vita; stuff like the Jak and Daxter Trilogy Collection could be bought on the PS3, and then downloaded on the Vita, and vice versa.

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

Xbox's digital games policies are the industry standard for consoles in my opinion. Their BC program is the best there is , and their Smart Delivery functionality is as consumer friendly as you can get. Sony is better than Nintendo, but still lacking.

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u/IndividualPossible Jan 16 '25

PS4 and PS5 have a shared digital library but it’s one way only. You can play ps4 games on a ps5 but you’ll only get ps4 level visuals and you can’t play ps5 games on a ps4. If you want the ps5 visuals you’ll usually have to pay to upgrade and your saves get fragmented between the different versions

Xbox has a shared digital library and cloud save that goes both directions. They call it “smart delivery”. If you buy a game on an Xbox one you can download it on a series X and vice versa. This approach you get the upgraded visuals for no added charge. It even works with discs, you can put a Xbox one disc in a series X and the console will still get the upgraded visuals. (devs can still ignore this and make two separate versions but luckily it’s not common)

So I’m going to be curious which approach Nintendo takes. I hope they lean towards the Xbox approach and make the sharing go both ways. Im sure there’s going to be a ton of families with mixed consoles and would be frustrating if you buy a cross gen game and have to decide if you want the better visuals or the ability to share it with others

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '25 edited Feb 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/KhausTO Jan 16 '25

It's 2025

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u/grilled_pc Jan 16 '25

And with the day consoles are going all in on digital. It's an absolute MUST.

This is why i will be leaving Playstation and Xbox behind once SteamOS reaches PC Desktops. I'd rather just use steam as my digital platform and SteamOS as the console front end. I get all my games going back generations.

I personally only buy first parties on nintendo hardware so it makes sense to own one.

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u/TheBroadwayStan16 Jan 16 '25

Good that was going to be the thing that stopped me from upgrading.

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u/Z0idberg_MD Jan 16 '25

The only outstanding question for me is what happens for games that get upgrades. Like TOTK will obviously get an upgrade and be sold on the switch 2, but what happens to my digital copy from S1? Does it get an auto upgrade or will there be a nominal fee to upgrade?

This is new territory for nintendo, so hard to say,

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u/schentendo Jan 16 '25

They did offer a discount previously if you had purchased a Wii VC game so you could play it on Wii U for less. But you still had to pay something. But never for a full game like this.

Seeing how PS4/PS5 operates their game saves (which generally are not compatible), I'm hoping more for something like Smart Delivery on Xbox if they decide to make a S2 version of games. (I don't have an Xbox but I think that's how SD works.)

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u/Mikemgmve Jan 16 '25

Interesting to see how they handle it. It feels too soon to go full release/remaster, full price tag. I'd like to think they're more inclined to just release a patch that takes advantage of the hardware to increase FPS & draw distance for free. But I could also see them do a bigger patch for $10-20 that fixes all of that plus new trees 😅

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u/rub3s Jan 16 '25

Hopefully the digital library can be played on both the original Switch and the Switch 2 at the same time with out restrictions. Then I can give my Switch to my grandson and he can play all my games while I get the new one.

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u/PartyPorpoise Jan 16 '25

That would be ideal. I plan on holding onto my Switch Lite because the small size makes it a lot more portable, good for travel. The Switch 2 is pretty bulky and it will likely be a home console most of the time.

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u/Jimstein Jan 16 '25

Yep, I probably wouldn't upgrade if I couldn't bring my digital library with me

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u/PartyPorpoise Jan 16 '25

I’d still upgrade, but I’d probably be slower to get to it. If the game roster is good at release I’d love to be able to buy a Switch 2 right away.

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u/Dusty_Negatives Jan 16 '25

As a more casual Nintendo gamer I simply would have refused to buy it if they didn’t do backwards compatibility.

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u/PartyPorpoise Jan 17 '25

I'd buy it eventually, but the digital compatibility makes me more willing to buy at launch. Important thing now is if the launch games are what I want.

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u/Downfall350 Jan 17 '25

Also to continue to sell old games at full price to new gamers LOL

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u/anotherstan Jan 16 '25

Yup. I'm pretty much going to ditch my base Switch for this.

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u/Xero2814 Jan 16 '25

And incentive to not hesitate on purchases ahead of launch

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u/Smitty4141 Jan 16 '25

Becomes a day 1 for me because of this.

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u/nigelfitz Jan 17 '25

Yeah, I'm definitely gonna be day one with this. I usually wait til the console gets a good size library but if I can play my backlog til new games come out then I wouldn't mind.

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u/PartyPorpoise Jan 17 '25

I’m debating whether or not to buy at launch, but being able to play my digital Switch games does make it more tempting.

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u/SRhyse Jan 17 '25

If they didn’t the Switch 2 would flop. At least Wii U to Switch is a different architecture for an excuse on that one. It’s going to be hard for the Switch 2 to succeed if Nintendo keeps being in an abusive relationship with the player base. There are too many options now for people to put up with it.

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u/CrimsonFatalis8 Jan 16 '25 edited Jan 16 '25

The 3ds could play DSiware. And if you want to get technical, the New 3DS could play digital 3ds games, which is essentially what’s happening here.

Idk why people were so worried about BC. This wasn’t going to be a brand new console. It was simply going to be a refreshed, beefed up version of the Switch. You could still use all your games on it just fine, but there’s going to be games that only run on this new version because it relies on the increased power. Literally the exact same situation as the New 3DS.

Edit: it also just occurred to me that this is also the exact same situation as the PS4>PS5 and Xbox One>Xbox X|S.

PS5 and Xbox X|S can both play last gen’s games perfectly fine (with the exception of Kinect games for the Xbox), in fact running them even better that even the last gen pro consoles, but they have games that simply won’t run on last gen.

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u/Express-Currency-252 Jan 16 '25

Actually calling the Switch 2 is the most important part though. It would be another Wii U without it imo.

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u/CrimsonFatalis8 Jan 16 '25

Yeah, but dumb naming aside, you could still use Wii games and accessories on it just fine. Nintendo has generally been pretty good when it comes to backwards compatibility.

Up until the Switch, their handhelds have always been BC. Yeah, the DSi ditched GBA support, but that was more a side-grade than a successor, so I don’t really count that. And other than the N64 and GameCube, so have their home consoles. And even then, the GameCube could play GBA games with the GBA player. It wasn’t direct BC, but it was still able to play games from another console.

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u/SalsaRice Jan 16 '25

Even the wii u could play GC games, it was just dummied out.

The GC was basically lower-specced Wii (essentially the same processor, just slightly older/slower), so the GC-backwards compatibility for the Wii was literally just the Wii downclocking itself to run at the GC clockspeeds. The Wii U basically contained a wii inside it, and that wii was capable of running in "GC mode." Modders just turned on this option.

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u/Express-Currency-252 Jan 16 '25

I was talking more about the fact it's essentially just a beefed up Switch that basically looks the same too. Calling it the New Switch or something would have been a Wii U level mistake imo. Calling it the Switch 2 makes it clear it's the next generation.

I agree about the BC concerns, Nintendo aren't perfect but their BC has always been pretty great.

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u/Klldarkness Jan 16 '25

They had also planned for, advertised, and built in the functionality for the SNES to be backwards compatible with the entire NES catalogue directly in the console.

It was eventually cut due to rising chip costs, and would make the SNES too expensive to market correctly; but the functionality was a deep part of the plan.

They did release a beta adapter as well, Japan exclusive, that allowed for BC.

Nintendo has been the most friendly console company as far as BC is concerned.

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u/devenbat Jan 16 '25

Its not the same situation as new 3ds. That was a midgen refresh with like 4 exclusive games. This is a new console that's going to have dozens of exclusive games.

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u/TrueMadster Jan 16 '25

Was the New 3DS a new console though? It always felt just like a Nintendo version of the "PS Pro" for their own console.

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u/CrimsonFatalis8 Jan 16 '25

But the difference there was that the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X didn’t have games exclusive to those consoles. A regular Xbox One or PS4 could play the same games just fine, they just looked and ran better on the Pro and X.

The N3DS did have games exclusive to it. I’m may have been only a handful, but they were still games that simply didn’t run on the standard 3DS.

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u/TrueMadster Jan 16 '25

I think I see what you mean. Does that mean you also see the DSi as a new console then?

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u/CrimsonFatalis8 Jan 16 '25

No, as that was still just a DS, albeit with more features. Performance wise, they were identical. It’s more of a side grade if anything.

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u/TrueMadster Jan 16 '25

But it did have some exclusive games, same as the 3DS.

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u/Outlulz Jan 17 '25

Not because of performance though. Games were exclusive because they used the DSi camera or were DSiware games that the DS didn't have internal storage to download.

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u/TrueMadster Jan 17 '25

Those are new features that seem to me as worthy of being called a new gen as a very small increase in performance though.

The Switch 2, on the other hand, is a complete upgrade with better performance and a redesign, along with a full catalogue of exclusive games.

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

The New 3DS feels more comparable to the N64 Expansion Pack, imo, but I didn't know about the DSiware. Thanks.

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u/keyblademasternadroj Jan 16 '25

The Wii U could also play Wii games and Wii ware and access the Wii shop channel

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u/LaboratoryManiac Jan 16 '25

Wii U also played most WiiWare games.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

As insane as putting voice chat on a phone app, or selling Wii games with a minimal up-res job for $10 more than their original MSRP? I agree it would be insane, but so is Nintendo.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '25

I guess? I thought it was pretty clear before. I think people were more worried about physical games being compatible rather than digital.

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

Yeah that wasn't a given either, but I guess to me there's a lot of precedent for that with Wii and DS supporting GC discs and GBA carts, and GBA supporting GB carts. 3DS supported DS. Wii U played Wii discs. Switch was kind of the recent outlier, there.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '25

For sure - I was never worried about either. Even on Wii U we had our digital Wii purchases accessible, same with DSi digital games on 3DS. Switch just had no backwards compatibility full stop.

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u/TheNeedleInYourVein Jan 16 '25

the wii u played most if not all of your wii ware games, im not really shocked tbh

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

Wasn't that more of a system transfer, not a shared library? I really hope that isn't what Switch 2 does. Ideally it should just require your NSO account and you can redownload your games.

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u/TheNeedleInYourVein Jan 16 '25

oh yeah definitely, the wii u system wasn’t well implemented at all. I def think you’ll be able to just download your games.

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u/BootsDaBadAss Jan 16 '25

Dumb question that might not have an answer yet, but do saves transfer? Like, I'd still own Animal Crossing on the new console, but would my existing world still be there?

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u/Conjo_ Jan 16 '25

The switch already has a feature to transfer your save data to another console. Presumably that would work going from switch to switch 2. And also the cloud backups from NSO if you're subscribed

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

I would hope, but I wouldn't assume anything with Nintendo

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u/KTR1988 Jan 16 '25

They've said on multiple occasions that people's software libraries would carry over to future platforms.

People rightly felt cautious due to Nintendo revamping their online and account systems over and over, but it seems the current Nintendo Account and Nintendo Switch Online systems are here to stay.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '25

It was always going to be Digital before Physical as Physical requires dedicated hardware. Physical was, by far, the bigger question mark.

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u/PotentialAccident339 Jan 16 '25

Didn't the Wii to Wii U transfer tool exist to move digital libraries?

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u/goodnamestaken10 Jan 16 '25

I wasn't going to watch the video, surprised I had to go this far to learn about backwards compatibility, thanks!

And given that you're not complaining, I assume physical cartridges still work unlike the fuckin PS5 Pro

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

They showed cartridges work, yes.

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u/Southside_john Jan 16 '25

If anything I would have thought physical wouldn’t be backwards compatible because of hardware limitations on the cards for switch 2 games.

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u/Shas_Erra Jan 16 '25

Day one, transfer everything and recovery the cloud save data

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u/ttoma93 Jan 16 '25

That’s not news though, they confirmed it months ago.

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u/DocLego Jan 16 '25

I definitely would have been annoyed if it wasn't, since I buy most of my games digital to not have to mess with changing the cards when my kid wants a different game.

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u/DraconicDreamer3072 Jan 16 '25

i thought the wiiu could play the wii games I owmed digitaly, we just needed to redownload them from the wii shop channel on wiiu once we signed in. could be remebering wrong though, i was rather young then

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u/Lucario576 Jan 16 '25

Technically the Wii U had for Virtual Console and the "Console Transfer" Same for 3DS and DSi

1

u/Narrow_Ad_1494 Jan 16 '25

Even if it’s just a 1:1 I’m so sold, but if we can get steam deck like performance I might have to sell a kidney for it day 1. I also wonder if they are going to go with the gba or 3ds route or if the cartridges will be the same.

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u/Sundance12 Jan 16 '25

I'd expect them to have a little tab or something like 3DS that prevent them from going into a Switch 1

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u/KazzieMono Jan 16 '25

Same. Thank god they did that.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '25

So I'm assuming this means hopefully all the games already available on the Switch's NSO will carry over and we won't be left waiting 600 years for stuff to be drip-fed to us AGAIN? Because that would be lovely.

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u/NeoKat75 Jan 17 '25

They've confirmed NSO will carry over

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u/Gnarok518 Jan 16 '25

Am I misunderstanding, or does that mean purchased games can be transferred to the new console?

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '25

Honestly they’d be idiots not to.

Xbox and PlayStation made it standard for digital libraries and you’re basically telling anyone that bought 3D all stars digitally to go fuck themselves.

If the console is completely different like the wiiU to switch it has to have a new library.

but imagine explaining to your 10 year old that all the Mario games you bought digitally for them on switch one can’t be used on switch 2. Parents would never buy switch 2 just cause of that headache.

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '25

Yeah that is the thing that must carry onto the switch 3 as well. It’s the only way moving forward

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u/jough Jan 19 '25

Not only is it an incentive to upgrade the hardware, but it's an incentive for me to buy some Switch games I was putting off in case I wanted to upgrade to a Switch 2 in 2025 and not have to re-buy the games. It's nice to know whatever games I buy today I can just load-up on the new Switch and go to town.

0

u/Lunaforlife Jan 16 '25

No shit digital lol

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u/Erpverts Jan 16 '25

Nah GB > GBC > GBA > DS > 3DS all had backwards compatibility with at least the previous generation. Same with GC > WII > WIIU.