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Nintendo has tended to maintain at most 1 generation of backwards compatibility, though you can get some fuzzy ideas of "generations" in a few cases. Game Bo
by chungy 2y ago
Nintendo has tended to maintain at most 1 generation of backwards compatibility, though you can get some fuzzy ideas of "generations" in a few cases.
Game Boy Color: plays original Game Boy games
Game Boy Advance: plays Game Boy and Game Boy Color games
Nintendo DS: plays Game Boy Advance games
Nintendo DSi: plays Nintendo DS games
Nintendo 3DS: plays Nintendo DS and DSi games
Nintendo New 3DS: plays Nintendo DS, DSi, and (old) 3DS games
Nintendo Wii: plays GameCube games
Nintendo Wii U: plays Wii games
The Switch is a notable break in both of these lines, playing neither 3DS nor Wii U games.
- TuxSH 2y ago3DS has hardware support for GBA games too, actually, though these only got distributed via the Ambassador program. Also had VC for most of Nintendo's platform.
- chungy 2y agoI know, and you can basically restore full GameCube compatibility on the Wii U via Nintendont. Neither of them let you use the actual physical games from the old system, and needing to perform jailbreak hacks to use them and load ROMs on anyway doesn't count as much as out-of-the-box compatibility.
- TuxSH 2y agoFair. A shame, still, especially for GC compat on WiiU.
- Wowfunhappy 2y agoThe problem in both cases is that the consoles were actually missing a key piece of hardware: the ability to read the disc or cartridge. If you're a hacker-type person who has already digitized your gamecube collection (or, let's be honest, downloaded the games illegally) then this doesn't matter. But for regular consumers, there needs to be a way to verify ownership. Nintendo could have made some titles available digitally (which is what I wish they'd done), but that requires getting content rights sorted out for games that have never been sold digitally before, so the full catalog would not have been available. Also, there would have been a ton of hemming and hawing about "Nintendo is making me buy my Gamecube games again?!?" No comment on whether such complaints would have been reasonable.
- bdhcuidbebe 2y agoDownloading roms is all it takes to be regarded a hacker-type these days? I feel words keep losing their meaning …
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- bluefirebrand 2y agoDownloading roms? Probably not Modding your Wii-U to run those roms? I feel that probably qualifies someone to be regarded as a hacker -type
- bdhcuidbebe 2y agoI guess I shoild have quoted what I was referring to, since it seems to high ask to expect others to read the rest of the discourse. > If you're a hacker-type person who has already digitized your gamecube collection (or, let's be honest, downloaded the games illegally) Either way, I disagree with your definition too. The ”hacker-type” is the one figuring out how to mod the wii-u. The one following some instructions to perform it using provided tools is simply a end user.
- bluefirebrand 2y agoI think they are both hacker like behavior, just varying skill levels Using a tool someone else built is definitely the gateway to hacker mindset and culture
- cgriswald 2y agoGatekeeping the term hacker is... paradoxical.
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- 10729287 2y ago>Nintendo New 3DS: plays Nintendo DS, DSi, and (old) 3DS games I know HN doesn't have any room for sarcasm but I couldn't not laugh trying to remember what were the NEW 3ds games. Sure the second pad made the 3DS way more comfortable to play, and 3D was a bit better, but we all got scammed here regarding games supporting this new hardware.
- jamesgeck0 2y agoIIRC Xenoblade Chronicles and Fire Emblem Warriors were the only ones I really cared about. Lots of people held onto their old hardware; probably wasn't worth excluding them. The biggest advantage of owning a New 3DS turned out to be the huge performance uplift. A fair number of games ran at double the framerate or only supported 3D mode on the newer hardware. Code Name STEAM had substantially less downtime on the New models because the AI could process turns faster. Several reviews for Hyrule Warriors Legends flat out said not to buy the game unless you had a "New" model due to performance issues.
- daveoc64 2y agoThe New 3DS consoles did have double the RAM and an improved CPU and GPU, so there were quite a few games like Minecraft and the SNES Virtual Console that could only run on the New models.
- chungy 2y agoThere are a handful of more New 3DS exclusives than there were DSi exclusives. Both revisions failed to garner enough market for developers to try to target them.
- freddi333 2y agoSuper Smash Brothers worked very well with the second pad.
- nerdjon 2y agoBased on that list, they have tended really only to do that on mobile platforms. It was one of my favorite things about the platform, but it always felt like this was partially thanks to the older hardware still getting games well into the new hardware's life in many cases. Major games, I believe Pokemon has done this a few times? Most of their home consoles were complete departures from previous hardware. NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube all did not work with prior games were fairly different (ok admittedly the outward difference between the NES and the SNES were minimal but still no compatability). So honestly I think it was more notable that the Wii could play Gamecube games than the other way around as far as Nintendo's track record goes.
- la6776 2y agofor what it's worth Nintendo had planned to make the SNES backward compatible and that intention influenced design choices, particularly the very similar CPU.
- chungy 2y agoYeah, the SNES uses a 65816, which is pretty much a backwards-compatible and 16-bit extension of the 6502, used in the NES. The SPC is likewise capable of nearly perfectly reproducing the NES's audio capabilities, and the PPU has the same background and sprite layering as the NES as a foundation.
- Lio 2y agoI heard that it was a forced response to Sega aggressively cutting the price of the Megadrive/Genesis to the point that it made it very difficult for Nintendo to sensibly price the SNES bill of materials. Something had to go and it was backwards compatibility.
- bitwize 2y agoSega actually did what Nintendidn't. The Sega Genesis had a Z80 coprocessor, a video chip that was yet another extension of the TMS9918A design, and a PSG sound chip -- all just more advanced, or supplemented by other hardware, versions of components the Master System had. With an adapter add-on called the Power Base Converter, Master System games could be played on the Genesis.
- jedberg 2y agoThe Switch is interesting, because while you can't play the old games you already own, the Switch can play those games with an emulator, if you're willing to pay them more money to get a digital copy.
- danudey 2y ago> playing neither 3DS nor Wii U games. Except the ones they remaster for us for $70.
- BearOso 2y agoI was about to say that. Pretty much every unique Wii U game has been remastered for Switch.
- johnwalkr 2y agoI almost forgot the switch doesn't play Wii U games, given that almost all Wii U games worth playing were also released for the Switch.
- 8note 2y agoim pretty sure all the later versions of gameboys could play the old games, so long as the cartridges have the same package and connector. the GBC games just didnt fit well in the DS
- chungy 2y agoThe DS can't play GBC games at all, it doesn't have the Z80 CPU from that console to even provide backwards compatibility. Nintendo also removed it from the Game Boy Micro, making it a GBA-only console.
- lotsoweiners 2y agoYou probably know this but most of those aren’t really generations. Game boy color, DSi, new 3ds are just upgrades of the same generation kinda like PS5 vs PS5 Pro.
- klausa 2y agoAll of those have games exclusive to them. 3DS has like ~15, though some heavy hitters (Xenoblade and Fire Emblem), DSi has like 6 no-names (and, technically, a whole lot on DSiWare); but there are many GBC-exclusive games.
- Macha 2y agoAlthough funnily enough, in most regions Pokemon Gold and Silver were not actually GBC exclusive and would run on the original Game Boy, despite arguably being the game the GBC was most promoted for and having colour (which didn't work on the DMG, obviously) as their major features. The Korean release of Gold and Silver, along with Crystal, did actually require a GBC.
- chungy 2y ago"Generations" is a fairly subjective term all things considered, and I basically acknowledged it by saying these things are fuzzy. As the sibling post mentions, they all have exclusives, however, which is something Sony has refused to allow for PS4 Pro and PS5 Pro updates. And even though Nintendo considers the GBC to be the same console as the original GB when it comes to tallying sales figures, it's a rather significant upgrade. Slightly better than NES full color games, double the processor speed. It made a compelling upgrade and target for developers.
- Izkata 2y agoBack when they were first coming out, a lot of us also considered GameBoy Pocket to be a new "generation". I think it might have supported a few more shades of grey from the original? And better battery life. And lots of case colors.