Controller maker says Switch 2 will be backward compatible with all Switch games

Thus far, Nintendo has offered only vague hints regarding whether or not the upcoming Switch 2 will run games and software designed for the current Switch. Now, an obscure Chinese peripheral maker is reporting that the new console will indeed work with existing physical Switch game cards and digital Switch game downloads.

The new report comes from MobaPad, a little-known creator of Switch controllers and carrying cases based in Shenzen, China. In a Sunday morning blog post, the company says it is “in the process of developing the next-generation console controller” for the Switch 2 and has “acquired a lot of first-hand information” about the console as a result (MobaPad shared similar insights days earlier on Chinese video site Bilibili and briefly on its English Facebook page).

Chief among MobaPad’s purported revelations is that “the cartridge slot of the Switch 2 will support backward compatibility with physical Switch game cartridges, ensuring compatibility with players’ existing game libraries, including digital versions.” Game cards designed specifically for the Switch 2, on the other hand, “may not be compatible with the first-generation console,” suggesting there may be a physical change preventing Switch 2 game cards from being accidentally inserted into an older Switch console.

Play it forward

Earlier this year, a Brazilian podcast suggested that the Switch 2 would offer full backward compatibility with the current Switch library. But this is the first time we’ve gotten similar information directly from a company claiming first-hand knowledge of the Switch 2’s design from Nintendo itself.

Bringing forward support for thousands of existing Switch games would definitely be a boon for the tens of millions of Switch owners who might be looking to upgrade to a new, more powerful Nintendo console soon. But direct competition from earlier games could be seen as limiting for Switch 2 game developers—in November 2022, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto noted that “Nintendo’s strength is in our creation of new entertainment, so when we release new hardware going forward, we plan to continue to offer new and unique gameplay that cannot be realized on existing hardware.”

Historically, Nintendo’s portable consoles have offered backward compatibility with software designed for the previous generation of outgoing portable hardware, in a chain dating back to the original Game Boy. The Wii and Wii U extended this tradition to home consoles before the Switch’s hybrid, disc-free design marked a hard break in software compatibility.

More buttons?

Elsewhere in its report, MobaPad suggests that the new Switch 2 Joy-Cons will have a few additional buttons compared to the Switch’s standard controllers. One set of new inputs will be on the rear of each Joy-Con, just below the ZL or ZR button. Another “additional function button” reportedly sits below the Home button on the right Joy-Con, MobaPad says, though it’s unclear what system or gameplay function this button might serve.

MobPad’s report also echoes a recent report from Spanish-language news site Vandal, which suggested that the new console would have Joy-Cons that attach to the system magnetically (Vandal’s report cited “several manufacturers of accessories and peripherals for the Nintendo console,” which might have also included MobaPad). MobaPad says the new Joy-Cons will feature metal SL and SR buttons (the ones along the slide-in rail on the Switch Joy-Cons) to help facilitate this “electromagnetic suction technology.”

Elsewhere in its post, MobaPad corroborates earlier reports saying that the Switch 2 will have an 8-inch screen, which MobaPad says will support 1080p resolutions in portable mode. MobaPad also echoes earlier reports in saying that the new console can deliver upscaled 4K graphics while docked to a TV.

The still-unannounced Switch 2 is now widely expected to see release in early 2025, reportedly to give developers more time to craft launch software. But if peripheral makers are indeed getting detailed looks at the system this early, the actual hardware itself might be going to production well before that rumored launch window.