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    Switch 2 will be backwards compatible with Switch

    (www.videogameschronicle.com)
    285 points ashitlerferad | 22 comments | 06 Nov 24 14:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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    dmonitor ◴[06 Nov 24 15:17 UTC] No.42063608[source]▶
    This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Nintendo has had a trend for the past couple decades of releasing "sequel" consoles that are essentially a modernized version of the old one with extra features, compatible with everything that released on the predecessor.

    With all three major console manufacturers prioritizing backwards compatibility, and the rise in PC gaming (universally backwards compatible), people are starting to catch on to the fact that old games don't "expire" after 10 years. I wouldn't be surprised if backwards compatibility just becomes the standard for all gaming consoles going forward.

    Tangential, but I'm also interested in seeing how games that released on old consoles and are continued to be played, like Fortnite, will support aging hardware. I don't like that Epic can one day announce the game just no longer works on that console, rendering your purchases null and void until you upgrade your hardware, but I can't expect them to update that version of the game forever.

    replies(10): >>42063816 #>>42064395 #>>42064760 #>>42065199 #>>42065211 #>>42065278 #>>42067231 #>>42067586 #>>42067644 #>>42070675 #
    1. Taylor_OD ◴[06 Nov 24 16:55 UTC] No.42065199[source]▶
    "Nintendo has had a trend for the past couple decades of releasing "sequel" consoles that are essentially a modernized version of the old one with extra features, compatible with everything that released on the predecessor."

    Isnt it pretty much just the Wii and Wii U? I guess you could play GameCube disks on a Wii but calling the Wii a modernized version of the GameCube is a real stretch.

    replies(6): >>42065310 #>>42065346 #>>42065541 #>>42065669 #>>42065695 #>>42067654 #
    2. aurareturn ◴[06 Nov 24 17:01 UTC] No.42065310[source]▶
    Wii, Wii U, GBC, GBA, DS, 3DS all had backwards compatibility.
    replies(1): >>42067500 #
    3. jtsnow ◴[06 Nov 24 17:02 UTC] No.42065346[source]▶
    In addition to supporting GameCube discs, the Wii had physical ports for plugging in GameCube controllers and memory cards. So, not much of a stretch.
    replies(3): >>42065894 #>>42066972 #>>42067506 #
    4. ◴[06 Nov 24 17:14 UTC] No.42065541[source]▶
    5. bitwize ◴[06 Nov 24 17:22 UTC] No.42065669[source]▶
    That's exactly what they called it when its internals became known: an enhanced Gamecube with waggle controls.

    The graphics chip was even fixed-function, like the Gamecube's, not shader-based like the Xbox 360 or PS3.

    replies(1): >>42065879 #
    6. red_admiral ◴[06 Nov 24 17:23 UTC] No.42065695[source]▶
    GB/GBc/GBa, DS/3DS (we don't talk about DSi) come to mind if you count them as consoles. You can even play GBa in the original DS, but not in the 3DS as far as I know.
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    7. gjsman-1000 ◴[06 Nov 24 17:33 UTC] No.42065879[source]▶
    > The graphics chip

    The graphics architecture was even the same between Wii and GameCube - ATI's Flipper, just with 50% higher clocks on the Wii.

    replies(1): >>42066690 #
    8. user_of_the_wek ◴[06 Nov 24 17:34 UTC] No.42065894[source]▶
    The Wii Hardware was also basically a beefed up GameCube. Plus the Wiimote.
    9. tripplyons ◴[06 Nov 24 18:05 UTC] No.42066487[source]▶
    The 3DS actually has a GBA CPU that was used when Nintendo gave some free GBA games away to early 3DS buyers after they lowered the price, as a sort of refund for the difference in prices. You can access it now buy jailbreaking your 3DS, but if you have a New 3DS, emulation on the main CPU is more convenient.
    replies(1): >>42067200 #
    10. monocasa ◴[06 Nov 24 18:17 UTC] No.42066690{3}[source]▶
    And in fact bug for bug compatible.
    11. extraduder_ire ◴[06 Nov 24 18:31 UTC] No.42066972[source]▶
    They even released a version of the wii without the gamecube ports or compatability (before the wii mini) which immediately supports gamecube games again if you solder the ports back on.
    12. jamesgeck0 ◴[06 Nov 24 18:45 UTC] No.42067200{3}[source]▶
    Similar situation with the Wii U. It was technically capable of natively running GameCube games, but Nintendo locked out the functionality. It can enabled with homebrew.
    13. estebank ◴[06 Nov 24 19:02 UTC] No.42067500[source]▶
    Technically, so did the SNES with the NES, it was just never really exposed. SMB all-stars started as SMB3 running directly on SNES. And you had the Super GameBoy, but that was little more than a GameBoy in a cartridge.
    replies(2): >>42069365 #>>42069839 #
    14. scrame ◴[06 Nov 24 19:03 UTC] No.42067506[source]▶
    yeah and the DS had a GBA cartridge slot.
    15. SkyBelow ◴[06 Nov 24 19:03 UTC] No.42067509[source]▶
    >(we don't talk about DSi)

    New 3DS crying in the corner because it didn't even get a side mention, which about matches the number of exclusives it had.

    16. causi ◴[06 Nov 24 19:12 UTC] No.42067654[source]▶
    Incorrect. The Wii is far more similar to the Gamecube than the WiiU.
    17. Lammy ◴[06 Nov 24 19:47 UTC] No.42068219[source]▶
    DSi XL (LL) is actually my favorite way to play DS games because the screen is huge (and IPS!) but is in the native DS resolution of 256×192 pixels. DS games on 3DS-derivatives look like blurry garbage because they get scaled up to 320×240px for display on the 3DS's 800×240px (400×240px per eye) panel.
    replies(2): >>42068371 #>>42069685 #
    18. jsheard ◴[06 Nov 24 19:56 UTC] No.42068371{3}[source]▶
    If you hold down the start button while booting a DS game then the 3DS will render it with 1:1 pixels instead of ugly scaling, but then you're not using the whole display so a DSi XL is still better.
    19. simondotau ◴[06 Nov 24 21:03 UTC] No.42069365{3}[source]▶
    The Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) had backwards compatibility with the Master System. Unlike the Super Game Boy, the Power Base Converter was barely more than a cartridge pass-through adapter. The Mega Drive’s 68000 is idled and its Z80 sound co-processor takes control as the main CPU.

    https://segaretro.org/Power_Base_Converter

    20. derefr ◴[06 Nov 24 21:26 UTC] No.42069685{3}[source]▶
    I'm surprised there isn't a 3DS mod to bodge in a fancy modern panel with enough DPI to hit the lowest common multiple of those screens' resolutions, such that it can pull off a full-coverage integer-scaled mode for both DS and 3DS games. (There certainly exist enough mods that do this for GB/GBC!)
    21. derefr ◴[06 Nov 24 21:37 UTC] No.42069839{3}[source]▶
    > Technically, so did the SNES with the NES, it was just never really exposed.

    I've always wondered how true this is — I feel like if it was literally true, we'd see a lot of NES ROMhacks that involve editing the ROM's layout and metadata bits just enough that it's now a SNES ROM, and then taking advantage of SNES capabilities in the mod. But I don't believe I've ever seen something like that.

    I do understand that the SNES CPU is basically a "very extended" 6502; and that the SNES PPU's default-on-boot graphics mode is compatible with drawing NES-PPU-formatted CHR-ROM data; and that there's a "legacy compatibility" joypad input MMIO in the right place in address space to allow a game that was programmed for the NES to read the "NES subset" of a SNES controller's buttons.

    But is the SNES's (variant) 65C816 ISA a strict superset of the NES's (variant) 6502 ISA? Or would they have had to effectively go through the assembly code of SMB3 with a fine-toothed comb, fixing up little compatibilities in the available instructions here and there, to get it to run on the SNES?

    (Though actually, even if they did have to do that, I imagine it would be still be possible to automate that process — i.e. it would be theoretically possible to write a NES-to-SNES static transpiler. In fact, it's so seemingly-tenable, that I'm a bit surprised to have never heard of such a project!)

    replies(1): >>42071933 #
    22. Uvix ◴[07 Nov 24 00:46 UTC] No.42071933{4}[source]▶
    There's at least one such effort, Project Nested: https://github.com/Myself086/Project-Nested