The Nintendo Switch 2 will not only be backwards compatible with the original Switch, but will “enhance” those older games, a report suggests.
Amid a growing number of theories and claims that Nintendo is on the cusp of revealing a successor to the Switch this year, a report has emerged which claims that the Switch 2 – not its official name – will be backwards compatible with that earlier system.
It’s a rumour we’ve heard before, but the bit that catches our eye about this latest potential leak – which comes to us via Centro Leaks on Twitter, as spotted by Eurogamer – is that the Switch 2 will somehow ‘enhance’ the older Switch’s games.
“Switch 2 is gonna have backwards compatibility with [original] Switch titles,” the Brazilian outlet’s tweet suggests. “Devs can enhance their Switch 1 games to take advantage of the added processing power.”
There’s no way of corroborating these claims at present, but they certainly chime with some of the other leaks and rumours we’ve heard in recent months – including the suggestion that the Switch 2 will be more of a hardware update than an outright replacement for the Switch.
It emerged last year that Nintendo showed off a prototype of the console to selected industry types at Gamescom last August, with a demo said to show off some Nvidia-powered tech that was roughly in line with the ray-tracing abilities of its console rivals from Microsoft and Sony.
More recently, a 9th February report published by Reuters (via Nintendo Life) said that Nvidia has set up a new “business unit” dedicated to designing “bespoke chips” – and that those chips would appear in, among other things, a Nintendo console.
“Nintendo’s current Switch handheld console already includes Nvidia’s Tegra X1 chip,” Reuters wrote. “A new version of the Switch console expected this year is likely to include a Nvidia custom design, one source said.”
As for launch timings, at least one analyst has predicted the Switch 2 will come out in 2024; according to Centro Leaks, a “hardware reveal” will be made in March. If any of this is true, we should know a lot more about Nintendo’s next console over the next few weeks. We’ll keep you posted.
Read more: The Nintendo Switch 2 and the risky nature of console launches
