Nintendo Switch Is Not Backwards Compatible With Physical 3DS or Wii U Games

I feel like this is Nintendo's biggest blunder in history. Yes, even bigger than bowing out of the Playstation project. Bigger than Virtual Boy. Bigger then R.O.B. There was no reason not to make the Switch compatible with either of the systems is was meant to replace!

that misleading switch form for a sec I though it might play 3ds on it, but then I was like not that might be to good oh well as long as i get to play a good Pokemon game i got no complains.

I'm sure they'll be perfectly happy to sell them to you digitally again for the 20th time though.

Backwards compatibility with WiiU would have been nice, since I don't have a WiiU, but wouldn't mind playing a few games on the system. But given the probably quite different hardware, Its not really a surprise.

Lack of 3DS back compat damages the potential value proposition for this in my case. Unless they start developing games for both it and 3DS, or truly replace 3DS with it (which they've said they won't do,) this means the hope of seeing their development pipeline streamlined into one system instead of divided between at least two platforms, won't become a reality. E.g. no mainline handheld Pokemon playable on our TVs via the Switch.

I was hoping in addition to being a portable console hybrid, it would also be a sort of "Super Gameboy" for the 3DS. That dream is dead now. Disappointing, but not terribly surprising given the differences in architecture. We can only hope for discounted ports for those with proof of purchase (which should be easy to provide since games are registered with Club Nintendo and its successor, the Nintendo ID.)

I was hoping for an 2nd screen with touch as an addon or the Switch with WiiU, Wii, 3DS and DS BC :(

So now that even nintendo is abandoning physical backwards compatibiliy, why arent we bashing them?

I wasn't going to get a Wii U for a multitude of reasons. As of a couple weeks ago, I was kind of curious about the NX in hopes that it would be backwards compatible. I could get the console for the new games, but also get access to the Wii U library that I missed out on (though that's a pretty short list).

Now the console is announced with yet ANOTHER horrific name and we know its just going to be an under-powered tablet with no backwards compatibility. Also, you know damn well that the third party support is going to be just as bad as it was with the Wii U where companies will only give the Switch a fraction of the games that the competition will get, plus the Switch will likely get dumbed-down versions of what few games it receives.

My excitement for Nintendo is pretty much at zero now.

is this "turnover" region locked?

Digital 3DS and Wii U games have not been ruled out for the Nintendo Switch.

Measly Tegra will emulate PowerPC Gecko and Radeon 5650? Don't be ridiculous... 3DS games are somewhat possible (not likely), but not the Wii U games for sure.

If you don't like the Switch name, just call it the NS. Sounds really close to NX. "Yo. You got the NS?" Timmy asked. "...yeah," Timmy's brother replied.

ps4 isnt backwards and look how much of a commercial flop that was - ms brought it as an after thought couple years later ........ and it took a 4k player to bring back sales ....................... :D

What about diigital copies,

Like if I give my game serial number or barcode from the store I purchased from, will it read the barcode number and say

"hey since you bought this already in a previous system here is a digital copy for this system" (Lmao! only in a dream world I know)

Well that's disappointing seeing as most of my WIi U games are physical, and I'm not even crazy about a lot of them to play again, so I was hoping to get rid of it for the new console.

And I bet the games will be region locked too. Thanks for nothing, Nintendo.

Well that sucks

I didn't catch it, but the tablet isn't touchscreen right?

Hopefully Nintendo will still make the efforts to digitize old DS & 3DS games. Lets face it, a lot of dual screen use is for displaying a map---which can be reverted back to a sub-menu button. And most touchscreen features, are also tied to buttons. What I'm getting at is that a lot of handheld games could/should be worked on for the digital store. I'd love to play some (3)DS games again on a bigger screen~

I get the lack of instant backwards compatibility, but I hope those games aren't just left in the past.

Tens of thousands of potential sales just lost because not backwards compatible.