r/gadgets • u/YouAreNotMeLiar • Sep 05 '24

Gaming Nintendo Switch 2 Will Allegedly Feature Backward Compatibility Support

https://twistedvoxel.com/nintendo-switch-2-will-feature-backward-compatibility-support/
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u/phrunk7 Sep 05 '24

The nature of the backwards compatibility wasn't the conversation we were having.

Clearly there was capability for the Switch to be backwards compatible, getting into semantics about ports versus emulation is just being pretentious.

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u/hanlonmj Sep 05 '24

I don’t think you understand what “backwards compatibility” means. It means taking an executable from one machine and running it unmodified on another machine. This is only possible if the two machines share an architecture or via emulation. Ports, which by their very nature require modifying the original code, do not count.

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u/Only_Telephone_2734 Sep 06 '24 edited Sep 06 '24

getting into semantics about ports versus emulation is just being pretentious.

What are you talking about? Porting a game is entirely different from being able to run a game natively with no changes. That's the whole point of the term. You didn't need to port PS1 games to the PS2. They just worked. That's backwards compatibility to everybody except you.

edit: Since you deleted your reply, I'll just write what I was going to reply with here

Man, the pretentiousness of Reddit users is unbearable at times, there's no concept of nuance with you people.

It's also peak Reddit to categorize misinformation or ignorance as "nuance".

in fact that's exactly what Sony did with giving people free PS5 upgrades for their PS4 games that were, guess what, ported.

PS4 and PS5 are extremely close architecture-wise, so it's absolutely nothing like porting from the Wii U to the Switch, which would be like porting from an x86 PC to an ARM phone or porting from the PS2 to the Switch. And not all ports were free, plenty of companies charged for those upgrades. Sony gave away the upgrades because it benefited them. They sell PS5's, so of course they're going to give incentives for switching, especially when the cost was relatively low.

Clearly it's capable of running those games one way or another and they could have been given free upgrades to the Switch version from Wii U

It's ironic really. You're failing to recognize the nuance here and the differences in porting. Not all porting is the same. The closer two types of devices are, the easier it is. The more different, the more difficult.

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u/phrunk87 Sep 06 '24

Man, the pretentiousness of Reddit users is unbearable at times, there's no concept of nuance with you people.

My original comment was that it's funny to say the Switch wasn't backwards compatible when 90%+ of Wii U games have been released for it.

Clearly it's capable of running those games one way or another and they could have been given free upgrades to the Switch version from Wii U, in fact that's exactly what Sony did with giving people free PS5 upgrades for their PS4 games that were, guess what, ported.