Professor E. Gadd
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- Oct 15, 2012
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Traditionally, Nintendo has included backwards compatibility for one previous system in its current systems, starting with the Game Boy Advance, which had a GB/GBC cartridge slot, and most recently the Wii U, which can play Wii discs and is compatible with most Wii accessories.
One big question to ask about potential backwards compatibility of Nintendo NX is whether Nintendo is going to include an optical drive in the system. Again, traditionally, Nintendo has always opted to use last generation's technology in their consoles, which would indicate that it's probably going to include a Blu-ray drive (which is already on its way to becoming last-generation technology) with Nintendo NX. A Blu-ray drive would enable Nintendo NX to accept Wii U discs, provided that system's internal chipset is built with backwards compatibility in mind.
Another route Nintendo could take is to build the NX CPU and GPU with the ability to run Wii U games in mind without including an optical drive in the console. Under this scenario, you would purchase Wii U games from the eShop or possibly third-party stores, download them, and run them from the system's internal memory or external storage, similar to how "digital downloads" (I know, a very bad name) are handled today. Nintendo NX would still run in "Wii U mode" when Wii U games are played, similar to how Wii had a GameCube mode and Wii U has a Wii Mode (aka vWii).
Finally, Nintendo could enable backwards compatibility via software completely. This is what's called emulation and is the method that Virtual Console games are currently run on Wii and Wii U. Note that Nintendo NX would have to be a pretty powerful system to be able to emulate a Wii U, so this is the least likely scenario of the three.
In the end, we know that after the last two generations of consoles, Nintendo is now fully aware that fans enjoy playing older games on newer systems. Knowing that, the probability of Nintendo NX being backwards compatible is pretty high.
One big question to ask about potential backwards compatibility of Nintendo NX is whether Nintendo is going to include an optical drive in the system. Again, traditionally, Nintendo has always opted to use last generation's technology in their consoles, which would indicate that it's probably going to include a Blu-ray drive (which is already on its way to becoming last-generation technology) with Nintendo NX. A Blu-ray drive would enable Nintendo NX to accept Wii U discs, provided that system's internal chipset is built with backwards compatibility in mind.
Another route Nintendo could take is to build the NX CPU and GPU with the ability to run Wii U games in mind without including an optical drive in the console. Under this scenario, you would purchase Wii U games from the eShop or possibly third-party stores, download them, and run them from the system's internal memory or external storage, similar to how "digital downloads" (I know, a very bad name) are handled today. Nintendo NX would still run in "Wii U mode" when Wii U games are played, similar to how Wii had a GameCube mode and Wii U has a Wii Mode (aka vWii).
Finally, Nintendo could enable backwards compatibility via software completely. This is what's called emulation and is the method that Virtual Console games are currently run on Wii and Wii U. Note that Nintendo NX would have to be a pretty powerful system to be able to emulate a Wii U, so this is the least likely scenario of the three.
In the end, we know that after the last two generations of consoles, Nintendo is now fully aware that fans enjoy playing older games on newer systems. Knowing that, the probability of Nintendo NX being backwards compatible is pretty high.