I wish for all controller manufactures to use that magnetic joystick instead

The OLED switch was nice, but it’s what the switch should’ve been from day one.

The processor was long in the tooth and the joycons were unacceptably flawed on day one. The OLED switch changed none of these things and it still frustrates me a lot that people weren’t more critical of it tbh.

Just put in a modern chip to start with if the hardware will be the same for 7-8 years

If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Switzerland Nintendo will fix your joycons for free. If you are anywhere else, just buy some new sticks and replace them.

Ironically my joycons that I've had since launch day have been fine (regarding drift, anyway), but my pro controller got drift last year, and I just had to replace it.

If they don't fix the joycon issues Nintendo is going to lose more lawsuits and be on the hook for fixing people's joycons for free forever. I just sent 4 of mine in in the US.

My thought too. My guess is the early 2024 date is for an announcement for a late/holiday 2024 release, if there is anything actually going on soon. Announcing late this year for an early-year launch makes little sense from a marketing and timing standpoint. You're both cutting the pre-launch buildup awfully close for the comfort of publishers, consumers and retailers, and also potentially screwing up your holiday sales window for this year since people will likely want to hold out for the new console rather than invest in the late-year releases, which then also screws with third parties' bottom line at a critical sales point in the year. If there really is a planned early 2024 release date for this thing, the earlier the announcement, the better at this point.

The WiiU was announced in April 2011 for a November Nov 2001 release?

50%

Either it is.

Or it isn't.

Let's look at the track record.

Backwards compatible handhelds:

• GameBoy Colour (to GB)
• Gameboy Advance (to GBC)
• Nintendo DS (to GBA)
• Nintendo 3DS (to DS)

Home consoles:

• Wii (to GC)
• Wii U (to Wii)

Not backwards compatible:

• SNES
• VirtualBoy
• Nintendo 64
• GameCube
• Switch

Lack of backwards compatibility to the previous generation has usually followed from a change in media format, and even then there has been a willingness to make an effort (the DS with its two slots being the prime example). Backwards compatibility seems to be a good way to ensure a wide selection of games at launch, and the negative aspect (not being able to sell the re-releases of the same games yet again to those desperate enough) seems to be outweighed by the positive (availability of games at launch; maintained interest in games from previous generation).

There's no real reason for Switch cartridges to grow any smaller, and I doubt they'll go back to discs. So I would say there's a pretty good chance of backward compatibility.

It's Nintendo so they will probably try to get you to pay for Mario Cart again

@WestyFlyer With how long first party games are taking to bring to market these days, it almost has to be backwards compatible, just for the sake of having a playable library at launch.

100.0%. There is just no benefit whatsoever to rocking that boat. The Switch is a converted Android gizmo, ARM is still the only sane answer for high-performance mobile platforms, and their video hardware is from the company that bought ARM. To say nothing of the PR shitstorm it would be to slice their market in half.

That said, you'll still have to buy Virtual Console games separately, because Nintendo.

Nintendo has been quite keen on backwards compatibility across quite a few devices, particularly those based around the same general architecture. If this rumored Switch 2 A) exists, and B) has physical capabilities the same or comparable to the Switch (using Joy Cons and controller compatibility, being able to function in docked and handheld modes, etc.) it's a pretty good bet that it will also be able to play Switch games.

We can hope, perhaps, that in its backwards compatibility mode it might even be able to get Tears of the Kingdom to run at a decent frame rate. The fanboys will hit the moon if so.

The Gameboy Advance could play Gameboy games. The DS could play Gameboy Advance games. The 3DS could play normal DS games. (And DSi games, but no one cared about those.) The Wii could play Gamecube games. The WiiU could play regular Wii games. Nintendo's track record on backwards compatibility, at least across a single system generation, has historically been quite good.

On the digital front, you could transfer your digital stuff from the Wii to the WiiU, and you could also (I believe the plug on this capability has since been pulled) transfer your stuff from a DSi to a 3DS. Again, if the architecture is the same I think transfer of your digital assets will also likely be possible.

The Switch will be my last Nintendo console for a long while if they don't make at least the digital library backwards compatible. I'll save my money for Valve's Steam Deck 2 (when it comes) in that case. I mostly play portable anyway.

I'm guessing it will be backwards compatible. The Wii, Wii U, DS, and 3DS all had backwards compatibility, and the only reason the Switch didn't is because it has a vastly different architecture from the Wii U (and no space for a disk drive). I can't imagine that the Switch 2's architecture will be vastly different from the Switch, and they'll both presumably use cartridges, so I'd say there's a very good chance of backwards compatibility.

It definitely is. My uncle, who works at Nintendo, told me so.

Chip design, especially ARM, has come a long way in 7 years. Nintendo will have to try really hard to find a chip that isn’t significantly more powerful than the garbage they put in the Switch.

The thing is that the people that buy Nintendo they don't care about the performance of the console, they care about the games, and those you can only get on Nintendo consoles (yes, you can emulate games but emulation is a very niche thing that most people won't bother doing)

I'd like to see a dock with proper 4k output and scaling. Some of the older switch titles kinda looking strange on larger format TVs. But I guess the main point of the switch is the portability aspect.