Nintendo chose the funniest moment to confirm Switch 2’s backward compatibility

An essential query about the Switch 2 has just been answered. While everyone (at the least in the US) is glued to the TV and watching reruns of the 2024 election, Nintendo has officially confirmed that its next game console will likely be backwards compatible with the Switch.

“During today’s corporate governance briefing, we announced that the Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to the Nintendo Switch,” said Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa. he wrote on Twitter. “Nintendo Switch Online will also be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch.”

Gamers with huge libraries of Switch games all over the place breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn’t a complete surprise, nonetheless, as there have been some hints that every part on existing hardware may very well be ported to the Switch 2. Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser previously suggested that the company wanted to ensure a smooth transition between consoles. At the same time, nobody would pass up Nintendo doing the unthinkable and defying current expectations to carry older game libraries into the future.

Since Switch Online can be compatible with the next console, it appears that each one the emulation work Nintendo has already done to make NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance and Sega Genesis games work on its modern platform won’t work ought to be repeated this time when switching from the virtual console of 1 device to one other.

But where does that leave the actual Switch 2 announcement? “More information about the Nintendo Switch successor, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date,” Furukawa added in his tweet. Many expected a reveal as early as September or October. Now, nonetheless, it seems that the window for a 2024 announcement is closing quickly, especially as the company prepares for a vacation onslaught that goals to sell hundreds of thousands more of its existing Switch models.

Nintendo previously said it could announce the Switch 2, or whatever it calls the successor console, before the end of March 2025. Despite the wait, the company today stuck to that timeline, saying nothing has modified.