Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2 will debut with a modest selection of new titles, but for the initial months following the release, players will primarily rely on their existing game library.
The company is still in the process of testing the new hardware with over 15,000 third-party titles originally released for the Switch.
According to Nintendo, almost all of the approximately 5.000 remaining Switch titles are expected to run without issue on the upcoming Switch 2.
However, the company notes that “further tests” are still “in progress”, without saying when a further update might be provided.
Nintendo has also released updated PDF documents detailing compatibility status for individual games. These include lists of titles that currently fail to launch, those that start but experience other issues, and games with known problems that the company expects to resolve by launch or shortly after.
Nintendo has confirmed that almost all of its 122 first-party titles will be compatible with the Switch 2 at launch. The exception is the Nintendo Labo series, which was designed to fit the original Switch’s specific measurements.
Even more so, some games that make use of Joy-Con features will require players to pair external Joy-Cons with the new system in order to function properly.
To make sure games run smoothly on the Switch 2, Nintendo says it’s using a hybrid method that falls “somewhere in between a software emulator and hardware compatibility.”
While some reports described this approach as emulation, the technology appears to involve a form of code translation. It’s used to allow Switch games to run on Switch 2 hardware and is similar to the one Valve uses to run Windows games on the Linux-based Steam Deck.
This method minimized the performance costs typically associated with full emulation while allowing most games to run natively, without requiring developers to make any modifications.
The Switch 2 is currently scheduled for wide release on June 5, with pre-orders already available in some regions.
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