Will Nintendo have full backwards compatibility from now on? (Poll)

[SweetVermouth]

What do you mean only the virtual Wii?

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You buy a VC title on Wii and you could transfer it to the virtual Wii within the Wii U. To be able to play it on Wii U you had to pay an upgrade fee and a lot of titles didn't even make it to Wii U VC.

And the Switch is a completely different chipset.

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I do not give a shit. Every time I buy a new PC it's a new chipset too and I can still redownload all my steam games and play them.

"But that's a different situation"

stop licking Nintendo's ass

 

[MayorSquirtle]

They had a lot of the WiiU games on the store as well, they could go for digital version but was more convenient reselling ports. Saying Nintendo likes backwards compatibility is a bit too much from my experience.

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Yes, they charged for the ports because it actually takes work to port the games. The Switch does not have Wii U architecture built into it and so it can't run Wii U games natively, they have to port them. What Nintendo has always done with backwards compatibility is put the previous gen's hardware into the new system so that the games can be run natively. If Nintendo has to port a game or build an emulator so that the system can run it, they charge.

 

[genjiZERO]

lmao I'm stupid, was thinking in Wii > Wii U.

I never had a NES/SNES so don't know.

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Let me tell you young blood....

No obviously not lols.

 

[808s & Villainy]

You buy a VC title on Wii and you could transfer it to the virtual Wii within the Wii U. To be able to play it on Wii U you had to pay an upgrade fee and a lot of titles didn't even make it to Wii U VC.

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No you didn't. To be able to play it with Wii U features you did, but you could play the game perfectly fine FOR FREE after transferring. I don't care about what bullshit stipulations you impose to make your argument. You're flat out wrong

 

[HotHamBoy]

I don't know about full BC but I suspect that the legacy NSO apps (NES, SNES, etc) are being built to be cross-generational.

 

[LittleAlchemist]

The question isn't whether this will be true for the Switch 3, but whether or not there will even be one.

 

[Neoxon]

Yeah, that's the plan.

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And there you have it. Thanks for setting our minds at ease.

No. They won't be using these game cards forever.

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Do you think Nintendo will go digital-only?

After how much their ports are selling and how they use them to patch up empty seasons i honestly doubt it, not saying it won't happen but if Switch 2 isn't BC i wouldn't be surprised.

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Part of the reason why said ports are working now is because the Wii U bombed.

 

[Calamari41]

I mean, they made the Wii, Wii U, GBA, DS, and 3DS backwards compatible. I don't see why they would do away with that long term strategy now that they're going to have the same hardware architecture going forward and it will be even easier to do so.

 

[.exe]

I think Nintendo is done with this. Why have BC if they can sell you Deluxe versions at full price?

 

[Deleted member 3017]

As much as I'd love for them to backwards compatible Nintendo really enjoys getting you to buy the same game over and over again(I have bought many of them). They never let us link the downloaded copies of classic games from 3ds to wiiu even though games like earthbound, Mario, Zelda, and many others were on both systems. I could see maybe digital switch games be able to move over to a new system since most of the titles are digital only(about 500 physical carts and about 2000 digital). Again don't get me wrong I'd love for it to happen just I don't think they will.

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I think Nintendo is done with this. Why have BC if they can sell you Deluxe versions at full price?

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BC won't stop Nintendo from re-releasing games. They've done it in the past. They launched a remastered version of Twilight Princess on Wii U, despite the Wii game being fully backwards-compatible on the console....and people were happy to purchase it.

I'm more confident Nintendo will offer full BC than Sony. And since I'm fully convinced PS5 will offer this feature (they've even basically said as much)....yeah.

 

[ApeEscaper]

I think Nintendo is done with this. Why have BC if they can sell you Deluxe versions at full price?

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Sadly this... :(

 

[Twister]

I would be surprised if they didn't. The Switch doesn't really have any gimmicks that it's successor would need to also implement to allow for backwards compatiblity (like the two screens on the 3DS making 3DS backwards compatibility impossible on the Switch). Nintendo has always allowed backwards compatibility when the successive console could feasibly play the older console's games without much issue. I don't see why the poll is as contentious as it is. History shows that the next console probably will have Switch compatibility, and doubly so because the Switch is Nintendo's handheld now and their handhelds have been the one place where they have always included backwards compatbility when possible.

 

[Lucael]

Yes, they charged for the ports because it actually takes work to port the games. The Switch does not have Wii U architecture built into it and so it can't run Wii U games natively, they have to port them. What Nintendo has always done with backwards compatibility is put the previous gen's hardware into the new system so that the games can be run natively. If Nintendo has to port a game or build an emulator so that the system can run it, they charge.

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I don't like Nintendo approach in the recent years, I stopped at WiiU that still own today, so I must admit I have some bias. I can sound a bit harsh but honestly, as a consumer, why I should care about the Switch architecture? That's a Nintendo problem, what I see today is Microsoft putting a lot of effort in BC with upgrade to game graphic quality for free and all is that matters to me. Let's remember that Nintendo killed two digital stores, Wii and WiiU, for reason I still don't understand. Still Sony showed that PS3 could support PS2 games but that feature was killed off probably to open the market to digital distribution only of old games and remasters.

 

[YukiroCTX]

I mean, it makes sense logically but you never know. I mean, Switch has all the functionality to play Wii, GC games digitally but there's really nothing there. People are also buying remastered games at full price as well so it's a huge success for them.

 

[Nathan2055]

I'm tending to think that Nintendo will just continue to iterate on the Switch hardware-wise from now on. Switch carts are just SD cards in a different case, which means that the current distribution form factor will remain viable for newer and larger games for decades to come as Moore's law continues to shrink flash memory (SD cards reaching half a terabyte are already on the market, and 1 terabyte cards are supposedly imminent within the next year or two).

I also tend to think that Nintendo is going to try and standardize on the NSO "streaming" approach to Virtual Console from now on, and will just keep adding new consoles on a yearly basis (to encourage people to re-up their yearly subscriptions) until they've made their entire back catalog available. By the time that's done in four or five years from now, Nintendo will have hopefully gotten their server game in order and people will just accept the ongoing yearly fee like we did with Xbox Live and PSN.

Regardless, I highly doubt there will ever be another case of a major platform change with Nintendo. It's just not going to be necessary anymore. The Switch's systems are the new standard, and the Switch game card, NSO's virtualization, Nintendo Accounts, etc. are all just going to be the standard going forward, and Nintendo will just introduce new Switch models with better hardware, basically like Apple has been doing with the iPad. Eventually they'll cut off the old models once they've gotten too old to run "modern" titles, and new games will only be usable on Switchs produced after x year.

It really seems like the logical step forward for Nintendo in the modern gaming market.

 

[III-V]

I hope so.

 

[ArchedThunder]

You buy a VC title on Wii and you could transfer it to the virtual Wii within the Wii U. To be able to play it on Wii U you had to pay an upgrade fee and a lot of titles didn't even make it to Wii U VC.

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Uh, playing it on a Virtual Wii is backwards compatibility.

I do not give a shit. Every time I buy a new PC it's a new chipset too and I can still redownload all my steam games and play them.

"But that's a different situation"

stop licking Nintendo's ass

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Because it is literally a different situation, you clearly have zero clue as to how game development and consoles work, they can't just slap Wii U games on the Switch, it literally doesn't work like that. It's not just a different chipset, it's an entirely different architecture.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Likely yes.

 

[BlueManifest]

I really hope so because I've built a pretty large library on the switch, and so has Nintendo

 

[mopinks]

I think Nintendo is done with this. Why have BC if they can sell you Deluxe versions at full price?

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they sold a full price Deluxe version of Link's Awakening on the Game Boy Color even though you could still play the original on it

they can have it both ways!

 

[Puffy]

Nah. That would prevent them from reselling a donky kong deluxe deluxe edition

 

[Sieglinde]

Part of the reason why said ports are working now is because the Wii U bombed.

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Switch re releases would defnitely work on a new system specially if they were better priced like $40, a BOTW Ultimate edition would sell great, of course Switch ports wouldn't sell as good on a new system like Wii U ports as they've already found success, but they could defnitely make some good money off of them.

 

[SweetVermouth]

No you didn't. To be able to play it with Wii U features you did, but you could play the game perfectly fine FOR FREE after transferring. I don't care about what bullshit stipulations you impose to make your argument. You're flat out wrong

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I could play it perfectly fine? So after transferring the game to my Wii U and selling my Wii and all of it's accessories (cause I don't need them anymore) I could play it perfectly fine? No I couldn't, because the virtual Wii doesn't support the Wii U Gamepad and neither the Wii U Pro Controller as input device.

"Of course you can't, these are Wii U features"
okay so there is no backward compatilibity then because I can't even play it with my Wii U pro controller. But I know you are still defending this because you don't realize that a virtual Wii is not a Wii U. It's a god gamn Wii. All Nintendo did was allow me to transfer Wii VC titles to another Wii. All they did was saying "cool you own 2 SNES consoles, we allow you to put the cartridge of Super Metroid into the newer SNES console you got and prevent you from also using the older SNES console". And if you still think that's great BC: Why can't I transfer these to the Switch then?

 

[evilmonkey]

That's a lie because it only carried over to the virtual Wii. Also did they carry over to the Switch? Yup... lmao

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How do you expect BC to work between a dual screen system (Wii U) a single screen one (Switch)? Your opinion may be "I don't care" and you're entitled to it, but there's a limit to what can be reasonably expected.

 

[Sectorseven]

I think transferring to the next Switch is highly likely as that tends to always be the case with Nintendo. But nothing will be backwards compatible indefinitely.

 

[ArchedThunder]

I could play it perfectly fine? So after transferring the game to my Wii U and selling my Wii and all of it's accessories (cause I don't need them anymore) I could play it perfectly fine? No I couldn't, because the virtual Wii doesn't support the Wii U Gamepad and neither the Wii U Pro Controller as input device.

"Of course you can't, these are Wii U features"
okay so there is no backward compatilibity then because I can't even play it with my Wii U pro controller. But I know you are still defending this because you don't realize that a virtual Wii is not a Wii U. It's a god gamn Wii. All Nintendo did was allow me to transfer Wii VC titles to another Wii. All they did was saying "cool you own 2 SNES consoles, we allow you to put the cartridge of Super Metroid into the newer SNES console you got and prevent you from also using the older SNES console". And if you still think that's great BC: Why can't I transfer these to the Switch then?

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Being able to use the new system's controllers is not a necessity for something to be considered backwards compatibility, the fact that you can play your Wii games on Wii U is the very definition of backwards compatibility.
You can't transfer anything to Switch because it's an entirely different architecture.

 

[toilet_sandpaper]

I'm (sadly) old enough to remember this lack of backwards compatibility being a story on the news. Parents were "outraged".

And to answer the main topic: No. Nintendo got a taste of that sweet REMASTER MONEY. There's no turning back now.

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Not just Remasters, they just slap a "Deluxe" on the Wii U titles and go with it, if you already had it for Wii U, well then...

 

[Jon God]

As far as I know, they are the one company that hasn't made any promises about BC. Since it's Nintendo, flip a coin.

 

[PetrCobra]

Makes sense IMO to just make new Switch versions for some time, and keep BC for at least one older generation. Could actually be more generations (or even all of them for quite some time), since the architecture now seems pretty future proof, as does the cartridge size and everything (physical media compatibility was the reason Wii U, and even newer versions of Wii before that, dropped GC). But I think they should also have forward compatibility, to keep the lower income customers on board, and that one doesn't really make much sense for more than one gen back, especially if they keep waiting several years between them.

 

[Deleted member 11008]

I say yes, because historically Nintendo have put BC in their handheld systems, and Wii and Wii U were BC with their former systems.

Because Switch is their only platform I expect they follow something better than the Game Boy path.

 

[mopinks]

I'm trying to imagine someone seriously arguing that the Wii didn't actually have backward compatibility with Gamecube games because you couldn't play them with the wii remote

 

[Alastor3]

It's Nintendo.

 

[Braaier]

Nah. That would prevent them from reselling a donky kong deluxe deluxe edition

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No it won't. Even with bc Microsoft and Sony will sell deluxe models on the new consoles. Nintendo will do the same

 

[808s & Villainy]

I could play it perfectly fine? So after transferring the game to my Wii U and selling my Wii and all of it's accessories (cause I don't need them anymore) I could play it perfectly fine? No I couldn't, because the virtual Wii doesn't support the Wii U Gamepad and neither the Wii U Pro Controller as input device.

"Of course you can't, these are Wii U features"
okay so there is no backward compatilibity then because I can't even play it with my Wii U pro controller. But I know you are still defending this because you don't realize that a virtual Wii is not a Wii U. It's a god gamn Wii. All Nintendo did was allow me to transfer Wii VC titles to another Wii. All they did was saying "cool you own 2 SNES consoles, we allow you to put the cartridge of Super Metroid into the newer SNES console you got and prevent you from also using the older SNES console". And if you still think that's great BC: Why can't I transfer these to the Switch then?

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None of this is relevant. You could transfer and play your Wii digital titles on the Wii U. That mean it was backwards compatible. You don't say the Wii wasn't BC with the GC because you couldn't play GC games with the wiimote, do you?

 

[Voytek]

It should. But will it? I highly doubt it.

 

[Garcia el Gringo]

I wouldn't take backcompat for granted with the Switch's successor, not knowing what the format would be like. Matt's words are a relief to a consumer who finally went all digital this gen with Nintendo.

In lieu of backcompat, The Wii U to Switch transition was rough with Nintendo not even offering an upgrade path (similar to the Wii to Wii U Virtual Console paid upgrade path) for customers who owned digital Wii U titles and were considering buying the ports for Switch that had insignificant new content. I get not complicating things with convoluted programs to confuse the customer, and that Nintendo would have no trouble selling Wii U ports on Switch to a new audience (and the less frugal Wii U owners), but yeesh.

I felt it was similarly frustrating that I couldn't put my PS3 copy of The Last of Us into my PS4 - where there is no backcompat - and pay a modest upgrade fee to have access to the remaster.

 

[Deleted member 5334]

Was the SNES backwards compatible?

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From what I remember SNES/SFC was originally designed to be backwards compatible (one of the reasons why the CPU was designed the way it was), but the plans ultimately fell through. It was supposed to be some sort of add-on, similar to the Mega Drive/Genesis for it's backward compatibility with the Master System, but just ultimately didn't happen. Was able to dig up at least one article that I could find on the matter.

Realistically, they should, since as long as they keep with a similar chipset and ARM CPUs, it should make compatibility a lot easier. Will they though? Hard to say for certain, since Nintendo's doing a lot of unusual things this generation, so I can't get a good read on them. I'm gonna go with yes, but they may do the absolute opposite.

 

[Spinluck]

They should, Nintendo has been better than people give them credit for when it comes to BC.

The Switch is the most versatile console ever made. I want to see them continue to grow and expand on it. If we could get to a point where a Switch could have base PS4 level power. It would be the best console ever for me.

 

[John Frost]

Yeah, that's the plan.

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Good shit 👏🏻

 

[Kthulhu]

Fully expect whatever comes next to not have SNES or NES games, so no.

 

[Apopheniac]

My guess is they'll stick with Nvidia for the successor, so there won't be much of a reason not to. Since they don't want to use discs for a handheld, I doubt there's anything cheaper for physical games than the cards, anyway.

 

[brinstar]

I don't know about forever, anything can happen. But I do think the next system will have BC.

 

[Worldshaker]

The next system will like usual but that's about it.

 

[mAcOdIn]

My guess is that it falls more on Nvidia this time around. At least with Sony and Microsoft they're using similar architectures and are more or less using standard PC hardware that's probably not going anywhere soon, Nvidia's chipset, well, I guess it depends on how much work they put into it just to please Nintendo because it doesn't seem to be getting much attention in any other market.

 

[SuperFakerBros]

Fully backwards compatible? No more than anyone else, like how the PS5 won't be able to natively play games made before the PS4. But I do think they'll try to offer as much backwards compatibility as they can, such as what we saw with their previous handhelds, and with the Wii and the Wii U. They're sticking with Nvidia for the long haul. Now, when they have to switch to a different architecture or something, then it might be much more difficult and we could, at best, see what Microsoft is doing with Xbox / 360 backwards compatibility on the XB1

Nah. That would prevent them from reselling a donky kong deluxe deluxe edition

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Not sure why this wouldn't apply to the other console manufacturers. I'm sure they'd all love to resell their equivalent of "donkey kong deluxe edition". But, then again, posts like this are par for the course for you

 

[Piston]

I voted "yes". Mostly just wishful thinking though. My real answer is probably not "full".

 

[SuperFakerBros]

It's Nintendo.

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I don't get posts like this. How are they any worse about backwards compatibility than anyone else? With the Switch doing as well as it is, the Switch 2 is guaranteed to be backwards compatible, like how the Wii, Wii U, and all of their previous handhelds were. Not fully but neither was anything else, save for the PS3, and only early models at that

 

[Gundam]

Not from now until the end of time, but probably their next console.

 

[VariantX]

Always thought they had it when it was possible to have HW BC.

 

[Lukar]

It should, but it won't.