Nintendo confirmed back in November 2024, two months before the company even unveiled the Nintendo Switch 2, that the new console would be backward-compatible with games for the original Nintendo Switch. Now, after detailing the system’s hardware and software in an hourlong Nintendo Direct presentation, the company has provided the first real specifics on the nature of Switch 2’s backward compatibility.
We now know that the Switch 2 will work with many Switch accessories — including, most importantly, the original console’s Joy-Cons and Pro Controller — as well as games. But as Nintendo has previously hinted, not every Switch game will be playable (or, at least, fully playable) on the Switch 2. Here’s what we’ve learned so far.
Yes, Nintendo confirmed in its April 2 Nintendo Direct that the Switch 2 will support both physical and digital copies of Switch games. The size of the cartridge isn’t changing; it’s just that Game Cards for the Switch 2 will be red, as opposed to the gray ones for the original Switch. (They’ll also have “much faster data reading speeds” than the old ones, said Tetsuya Sasaki, hardware design lead for the Switch 2, in the Nintendo Direct.)
The Switch 2 doesn’t contain any hardware from the original Switch, and Nintendo isn’t relying on software emulation for backward compatibility, either. Instead, the company’s solution falls “somewhere in between a software emulator and hardware compatibility,” said Switch 2 director Takuhiro Dohta in an Ask the Developer interview published by Nintendo. Sasaki explained, “The process of converting game data for Switch to run on Switch 2 is performed on a real-time basis as the data is read in,” which makes it sound similar to the way Proton gets Windows PC games to run on the Linux-based Steam Deck.
This method allows for adding Switch 2 features, such as GameChat support, to Switch games played via backward compatibility. Dohta added, “We believe there are many things we can do, such as making Switch games compatible with GameShare through free updates, as well as leveraging Switch 2’s processing power to enable games to run in higher resolution and with a smoother frame rate.”
Nintendo has not indicated that the Switch 2 will provide across-the-board improvements to graphics or performance when running Switch games, although that will happen with some games. It appears that it will be up to developers and publishers to issue patches to deliver these upgrades.
So far, Nintendo has detailed two different strategies for upgrading first-party Switch games. Select titles — the list on the Nintendo website currently features a dozen — will get “free updates to improve playability on the Nintendo Switch 2 system.” The games in question run the gamut from launch-year titles like Super Mario Odyssey to recent releases such as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. In addition to performance improvements, these patches can add elements like support for Switch 2 features such as GameShare.
The other upgrade route sounds like it will offer more significant additions and improvements to certain Switch games — but this one will cost you money. Nintendo will sell what it calls an “upgrade pack” for these titles; the company hasn’t yet said how much it will charge. A bundle of a game and its upgrade pack will be known as a “Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.”
At this point, the company has announced upgrade packs for six games: Kirby and the Forgotten Land, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and the upcoming titles Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Pokémon Legends: Z-A (both of which are scheduled to launch in 2025).
The details vary greatly depending on the game. For the new Pokémon game, all you get is “improved performance with higher frame rate and resolution.” Both of the Zelda upgrades will deliver that, along with faster load times, HDR, and support for the new Zelda Notes service. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be playable on Switch 2 with mouse controls, thanks to the Joy-Con 2. And the upgrade packs for both Super Mario Party Jamboree and Kirby and the Forgotten Land will offer new content.
That would be a tall order, and the answer is no — but the level of support, as seen on a page on the Nintendo website that details the Switch 2’s backward-compatibility functionality, does seem impressive so far.
Nintendo is currently working its way through the entire library of Switch games one by one, conducting “limited testing” with each game to see if it works on the Switch 2. “It might not be that all Switch games run perfectly in time for the launch of Switch 2, but we will continue our efforts so that we can support as many Switch games as possible,” said Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto in the Ask the Developer interview.
Nintendo says that as of April 1, it has tested 122 first-party Switch titles and found only one that doesn’t work with the Switch 2 — Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit. That package came with a cardboard contraption that turned the Switch into a pair of virtual reality goggles, and the Switch 2 is a bigger device, so it simply can’t fit into it.
However, Nintendo Labo won’t be completely dead on the Switch 2: Toy-Con 01, Toy-Con 02, and Toy-Con 03 will each work to some degree. Those three titles and six others can only be played on the Switch 2 using Joy-Cons from the original Switch, because they rely on something unique about those controllers. Some games, like WarioWare: Move It!, need the infrared camera in the right Joy-Con, which doesn’t exist in the Joy-Con 2; others, like Ring Fit Adventure, use an accessory that the Joy-Con 2 can’t fit into.
By Nintendo’s count, more than 15,000 third-party games have been released for the Switch. In the company’s testing so far, it has found 141 titles that don’t boot up at all on the Switch 2, including popular games such as Dead by Daylight, Doom Eternal, and Fortnite. (Thankfully, Fortnite appeared in the April 2 Nintendo Direct as a Switch 2 launch title, which takes care of that concern.) An additional 47 games are listed as “playable” with “some in-game compatibility issues”; these include Alan Wake Remastered, Fall Guys, and Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection.
It’s possible that those numbers will go up as Nintendo tests more games, but it’s also likely that some titles will come off these lists as the company works with third parties to address the compatibility issues.
Yup! With a few exceptions, peripherals such as the Switch’s Joy-Cons and Pro Controller will be compatible with the Switch 2. You can check Nintendo’s support site for a full list of Switch accessories to see whether the Switch 2 supports them.
As far as the Joy-Cons go, note that because the Switch 2 uses a magnetic hookup for its Joy-Con 2 controllers — rather than the sliding mechanism for the original Switch and its Joy-Cons — it isn’t possible to connect Switch Joy-Cons to the Switch 2; they can only be paired and used wirelessly. (That also means that you won’t be able to charge the Joy-Cons unless you slide them back onto your Switch, or you have a Charging Grip or Charging Stand for that system lying around.)
The Switch Pro Controller can be charged by plugging it into the Switch 2 dock or one of the system’s two USB-C ports, but it must still be paired wirelessly in order to be used. In other words, a wired connection isn’t supported with the Switch 2 as it is with the Switch.
No, unfortunately. While Nintendo made a point of saying in its April 2 Nintendo Direct presentation that the Switch and Switch 2 have the exact same depth — they’re both 13.9 mm (0.55 in) thick — the original Switch’s dock is not compatible with the Switch 2. The issue could come down to physical differences in the bottom edge of the console that prevent it from sitting in the old dock.
The Switch 2 features 256 GB of onboard storage, and it can be expanded only with microSD Express cards. This is a flash memory standard with significantly faster read and write speeds than the standard microSD cards that the original Switch supports.
You can slot a microSD card from your original Switch into the Switch 2, but the only thing you’ll be able to do with it is view screenshots or videos captured in Switch games to the card.
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