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With a Switch 2 looming, Nintendo is sending out the original with a bang
(www.theverge.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Did DS games stay on n3DS? I seem to think they did, and that was technically a somewhat significant shift in hardware.
Wii to Wii U was different iirc, but it’s been a while.
Wii U to Switch for sure did not have any.
GB games could be played on GBA, GBA games could be played on DS up to DSi (I think) and DS games all work on NDS. So it seems like Nintendo gives about 1 generation of backwards compatibility.
This wasn’t possible with the GameCube and N64, but I know the GC and N64 could play GBA and GB games respectively.
Nintendo is generally pretty good with backwards compatibility in my eyes. Better than Sony was with the PS3 for sure.
The 3DS had an ARM9 processor on the board which is what the DS line used so that it could play DS games natively.
The DSi actually has an ARM7 coprocessor (GBA CPU) just like the DS and DS Lite but lacks the physical cartridge slot. You can play GBA games natively on a hacked DSi.
Actually, the 3DS has an ARM7 core too so it can play GBA games natively as well. Either the Nintendo Ambassador titles, or whatever you want if you've installed CFW.