Nintendo Switch 2 is officially almost completely backwards compatible

The Nintendo Switch 2 has just been officially revealed, and its announcement mercifully officially confirmed the rumors that it would be mostly fully backwards compatible with Nintendo Switch 1 games. Thank God.

A screen near the end of the trailer reads: “Plays Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive games, as well as Nintendo Switch games.” It is followed by an asterisk: “Nintendo Switch 2 plays both physical and digital Nintendo Switch games. Certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2. Details will be shared on Nintendo’s website at a later date .”

What this sounds like this means is that the Nintendo Switch 2 will indeed be fully backwards compatible, but with the caveat that a handful of games may not work on it for various technical reasons. Given that the Nintendo Switch 2 so far appears to be a bigger and more powerful Switch 1, it’s not entirely clear what circumstances would prevent something from being playable on it if it worked on the Switch 2, but hopefully it doesn’t apply to that many games.

Personally, I’m a little worried about the Ring Fit Adventure, given that the Joy-Cons would have to fit into the accessories like the Ring-Con and the leg strap, but that’s about the only one I can think of that this would apply to. But for now, we can probably be sure that most games will be fine, including the physical ones.

We’re still dissecting everything we saw this morning, so check out our roundup of the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement, what looks like a brand new Mario Kart game, and everything else about the new console here on IGN.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posts on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].