Nintendo Switch currently offers a decent selection of games for subscribers to the Nintendo Switch Online program as well Representative Director Shigeru Miyamoto says compatibility with titles from past generations has “become easier” than before. But that does not mean that Nintendo will focus on this aspect in anticipation of the creation of a new console.
In a financial briefing on Wednesday, Miyamoto talked about how backward compatibility with games from past generations has gotten easier over time.
“Previously, software development for dedicated video game systems was conducted in development environments dedicated to each hardware platform. This meant that those environments could not be carried forward when the hardware was changed and it would become impossible to reproduce the published software for the previous hardware without making changes, ”Miyamoto said.
“However, software development environments have recently been gradually integrated. So, in general, it has become easier to implement an environment where published software for older hardware can be played on new hardware.“.
Nintendo has a long history of consoles behind it that also looked back to previous generations: Original Game Boy cartridges supported up to the era of the Game Boy Advance, GameCube discs supported by Wii, Wii discs supported by Wii U and DS cartridges supported by 3DS.
Because of this story, Nintendo fans have wondered how the company’s next console could handle backward compatibility with past titles as Nintendo Switch currently doesn’t physically support older hardware cartridges.
However, Miyamoto believes Nintendo’s strength lies in creating new games and not keeping old titles, which means the company won’t focus on backward compatibility in creating a future console..
“Said this, Nintendo’s strength lies in our creation of new entertainmentso when we develop new hardware in the future, we plan to continue to offer new and unique gameplay that cannot be built on existing hardware“, he added.
This does not mean that these titles will be lost forever, but they could land on an increasingly perfected Virtual Console, as happens in the subscription service of Nintendo Swtich Onlinewhich allows us to find in a purely digital format a catalog of old glories of the past from the SNES to the Nintendo 64.
What do you think of it? Let us know, as always, in the comments.
Fonte: IGN
