The Switch 2 Will Emulate Switch Games, Because It Shares No Internal Hardware With Its Predecessor

So this means the console is quite powerful if it’s able to emulate the same performance as the OG Switch.

Honestly the console is looking better and better spec wise, games do look amazing, but prices man…

Essentially, Nintendo developed their own emulation layer for the Switch similar to how Apple made Rosetta for its hardware transitions on the Mac.

Or similar to the Xbox with emulating OG and 360 games.

This might be a better option since the software would be flexible rather than booting into a separate environment like the previous Nintendo systems used to do (Wii U booted into the Wii for its games).

It’s still a highly-unusual level of transparency from Nintendo, but this fills in the missing pieces of why it’s so complicated. Really interesting that the system is literally brand new, that’s kind of surprising considering the Switch 2 name.

@IOI emulation layers allow for the software to play natively on hardware it wasn’t made for. I think it’s a better choice than including some piece of hardware to play Switch games on the device.

The more I hear about the S2, the more wildly excited I am becoming. The coming weeks can’t go fast enough.

"And so is it that, in the end, Nintendo stopped worrying and learned to love emulation? Of course not."

I mean, Nintendo has loved emulation for a long time. They just don't like it when you're not buying their stuff. That's like saying Disney hates digital media because they don't like when people torrent Disney content.

This can potentially be a very good thing, as we might get free performance boost as a result of the additional power on the Switch 2. When you incorporate original hardware, you are capped at what you can do, outside certain things like faster storage for loading times, and of course, the cost of the console would be higher, too. The negative side effect is that it might lead to some compatibility issues, which they will hopefully sort out.

Why should there be any transfer required at all between Switch to Switch 2? On PS5, you just log into PSN, and your PS4 games are right there ready to download. Nintendo acts like they're innovating here, but the word "transfer" suggests I'll no longer be able to play my digital Switch 1 games on my Switch 1 after transferring, which sucks. Maybe that's not the case and the wording is just awkward...

This is very interesting to me. I assumed the Switch would just be beefier hardware, but really the same "tech". To hear it's completely different is wild to me. Hopefully this "hybrid emulation" approach pans out. I was looking forward to some games running better simply due to more advanced versions of what the OG Switch already had, similar to upgrading a PC.

After the crapshoot that was PSP to Vita BC (only digital PSP games worked; publishers were also allowed to restrict access like Sega with Phantasy Star Portable 1 & 2), I would have been very worried about software based emulation but thankfully there aren't that many games listed as having issues on the Switch 2 compatibility pages.

Remembering the beast that was the OG PS3. Three generations in one console.

I'm glad they choose this approach, this also means not all Switch 1 games will be playable on Switch 2 meaning shovelware, scam titles, and less popular games may get the boot. It's similar to how Valve handles the Steam Deck, while more popular games get optimized for Steam Deck just fine, lower tier games like shovelware and old DOS/Windows games such as Earthworm Jim and Sonic R won't work at all as those required old hardware utilization for them to work and Steam Deck just doesn't had that. Those may work if you try to install Windows to Steam Deck and download some compatible drivers and emulators for those but that's jumping a lot of hoops to achieve. May as well just play emulation versions from Dolphin and Super NES or Sega Genesis instead.

@TheExile285 I had a PSP Go and as such lots of digital games. The Vita played them all perfectly, except for the ones, that as you mentioned, were from doing so by their butt monkey publishers. Though I vaguely remember transferring a PSP game that wasn't available on the Vita store front via my PS3.

@no_donatello Yeah, I always hated the system transfer. I like to keep my old units in working order - like my Ambassador model 3DS. I don't want to transfer, but I do want to keep the same account. Nintendo makes it so awkward sometimes.

@TheExile285 Also remember that third party back in the days also try this method too with the Super NES. The Super NES had different hardware from the NES so the only way to play NES games on Super NES was through software emulation, that's why modders created the Super 8 adapter also known as the Tristar which had an early internal NES/Famicom emulator install to achieve NES and Famicom backwards compatibility on the Super NES. While the adapter support games from both regions (Japan and North America), compatibility was limited and performance and bugs are all over the place.

The Tristar Super 8 adapter for playing Famicom and NES games on Super NES. It's software emulation only and not all games are compatible especially more enhance games like Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Holy Diver, Summer Carnival Recca, Rad Racer II, and Dragon Warrior IV.

@Ploppy Yep, I remember having to use my PS3 to transfer some PSP games as they were "compatible" with Vita but could not be downloaded from the Vita's PSN.

I don't want to have to deal with any of this kind of silliness with Switch 2.

This is a surprise. I assumed the BC was based on the hardware being similar. I’m still waiting to see how this works out. I have hundreds of switch games and it will be a bummer if some aren’t compatible or have glitches or something.

I gotta sit down and read these interviews. Sounds like lots of information to be had.

So this is why they have been so lawsuit happy about emulators?

I’m dubious of the comment about having to run at full power to fully emulate. I highly doubt that the switch 2 could emulate switch at anywhere near an acceptable level. Looking forward to finding out if I’m right over the coming months and years…

@no_donatello That's cause the PS4 and PS5 used similar hardware and operating system so account and games compatibility will work out okay. The reason the Switch 2 required transfer if you want your Switch 1 stuff to be playable on Switch 2 is that when you transfer all your Switch 1 stuff to Switch 2, a compatibility check will also process the transfer. During the transfer any software or apps that are render incompatible for Switch 2 will be sorted out by the check and would not be transfer to Switch 2 or may give you an option for transfer or not. If you don't do the transfer then you won't know which games or apps would work on Switch 2 even if they appeared on your Switch 2 account which means you will have to run them and do the compatibility check yourself if you want to use them. That's the only reason for the transfer. You could still download your old digital games for play on your Switch 1 even if you transfer those to Switch 2 also, just keep in mind that the the copy on your Switch 2 account will act as a secondary device to your Switch 1 unless you change the Switch 2 as the primary.

This explains the compatibility issues with some games.

Not great imho. It reminds me of my Steam Deck, where you can't be 100% sure all games work. It leads to frustration in my experience (plus you'll have figure out what works and what doesn't - never great having uncertaincy - a bummer imho).

I love reading about this sort of thing. I've got to read the full interview sometime.

1) X360, PS3, GC, Wii, Wii U are PowerPC;
2) PSP is MIPS;
3) Vita, 3DS, Switch, Switch 2, (Apple and Android) Smartphones are ARM;
4) PS4, PS5, X1, X Series are x86.

Normally when people talking about emulation, they mean emulating x) on y), i.e. different architecture, e.g. Wii (PowerPC) on Windows (x86).

While Switch 2 and Switch using different chips, they are all ARM.

Yes, technically one can say it's "emulation" because the core is not exact same, unlike early PS3 contains complete PS2 hardware or DS contains full GBA hardware.

But Nintendo's way of saying it's emulation is more like 90% BS marketing making excuses + 10% actual technical talk.

They want people to thinking and believe this is more like PS3 games on Windows PC PS3 emulator rather than Android 10 apps on Android 11 phones. Which is not true.

So Nintendo and some extreme fans could defend when someone asking "Why only few Switch games got graphic performance boost on Switch 2?".

If they call this same architecture crossing gen thing "super difficult emulation" (and compare it with something like PS3 on PC), then running 2010s intel Core CPU Windows games on 2020s AMD Ryzen Windows is emulation too.

Yes it needs some work, like x86 Windows games running on x86 Linux Steam deck, but that's not Wizardry.

If community driven Switch Emulator can improve graphics on PC, Nintendo has no excuse not doing it for most Switch games on Switch 2, for free.

I do like that the virtual game card system they just announced should let me load up the games that will benefit from the Switch 2 on there and leave the rest of my 1TB library on the old Switch without any internet requirements or other headaches. The requirement to meet in person to share with anyone else still rubs me the wrong way, though.

What's he talking about about - you had to make a new account for every system? No, same account since like 2011, games simply didn't transfer from system to system, and I doubt my 3ds eShop games are transferring here either.

pure *****
S1 and S2 use the same ARM architecture and I'm sure they use the same graphical APIs so it's not an emulation, it's a translation

That's just how the Switch emulators on Android always worked. NCE instead of a JIT recompiler.
You can emulate switch games on basically any post 2020 smartphone, it's not impressive. This also explains why so many games don't work on Switch 2.

I wonder if they took some code inspiration from the emulators they seized. All that work was already done.

Gimme gimme gimme

Since both CPU architectures are ARM, I’m guessing it mostly amounts to translating GPU code. I think I remember seeing in a Modern Vintage Gamer video that switch games ship with the GPU code pre compiled for the switch hardware. This is different from my understanding of how it is done for PC where games ship with GPU code represented in a “shader language” that is then compiled to the specific GPU on the machine the game is running on. I don’t know what low level GPU instructions themselves look like, but I get the impression that they change a fair amount between graphics hardware. I’d suspect this is the level at which much of the translation for switch 1 to switch 2 happens.

Emulation is less efficient than running directly on hardware. So in which universe does it save battery?

@Serpenterror Thanks for the heads up. I wasn't gaming during that era so I had no idea.

This is kind of disappointing with regards to keeping our current libraries going forward. Yeah, Microsoft does this with original Xbox and 360 games on current hardware, but that's down to decisions that were made well over a decade ago at this point. Going forward, I don't see why there is any reason to think any game you buy on an Xbox or Playstation won't just be there for you on every new piece of hardware. With Nintendo, I don't really have that same confidence. They know how much money it makes them to start over and make you re-buy things again.

So does it emulate "docked" mode and render Switch 1 games at 1080p while in handheld mode on the Switch 2?!?

Misleading headline. I would think it's more virtualization, where the Switch 2 presents a Switch 1-like OS environment to Switch 1 games, and any hardware differences are translated at a low level.

Emulation is where you're running ARM code on an x86 or vice versa. That's not what's happening here, since the CPU/GPU architecture is broadly the same.

What the Switch 2 is doing would not work on an x86 PC: it is not software emulation as that word is commonly understood.

@IOI "So this means the console is quite powerful if it’s able to emulate the same performance as the OG Switch."

The bar is in hell. The 5700G could play Switch games emulated pretty comfortably.

Also yeah, this is moreso translation than it is emulation. Think of like how Proton/WINE works with x86 Linux running x86 Windows software. Dunno why Nintendo decided to use that word.

Translation usually has less overhead than Emulation, for example, games running through proton usually only losing around 2% of the performance of a game running natively (In some recent instances, games through proton have actually run better than Native), so it makes sense that Switch 1 games would run with little performance loss on the Switch 2. Translation Layers do have compatibility issues at times, so it makes sense that some games are not able to be played right now. I'll reference it again, it's just like how Proton/Proton-GE gets updated regularly to fix compatibility issues with games

Considering you can emulate the first switch on most smartphones of the last three to four years, it makes sense for them to go the emulation route.

Interestingly, they followed Microsoft's approach for Xbox 360 games on Xbox One. Best choice when the chips are all different and emulation is too much for the successor.

Nintendo lawyers should really go after Nintendo about this. Emulators are wrong and should all be taken down. All they do is cause harm by allowing people to preserve the ability to play games with added enhancements like higher resolution.