Summary
Dozens of Wii U games will become available across three consecutive generations ofNintendoconsoles once the Switch 2 is finally released. This has never happened before inNintendo’s history.
While the Japanese gaming giant hasn’t always offered backward compatibility, its efforts to focus on such capabilities did intensify in the mid-2000s. But the Switch broke this pattern as Nintendo’s first home console since 2001 not to be compatible with its predecessor’s game library. This is why some vocal fans have long beeninsisting that backward compatibility is a must for the Switch 2—a view that Nintendo seemingly agrees with, seeing how it just recently confirmed that its next console will indeed offer this feature.
One side effect of theSwitch 2 backward compatibilityis that some games from the Wii U era are now guaranteed to be available on three consecutive generations of Nintendo consoles. As originally noted byGame File’s Stephen Totilo, this has never happened before. Out of the 12 consoles Nintendo has released since 1985, only half of them were backward-compatible with their immediate predecessors, and none were able to play titles going back two hardware generations. Although the Switch doesn’t offer any kind of backward compatibility, it has received plenty of Wii U games over the years. This is in no small part because the Wii U severely underperformed, so many of its titles were a novelty for Switch owners.
At Least 36 Wii U Games Will Be Available on Nintendo Switch 2
Game Rant has identified 35 Wii U games that were ported to Nintendo’s hit hybrid console over the years. These include cross-gen titles likeThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildand enhanced editions in the vein ofMario Kart 8 DeluxeandNew Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. Although many of them are first-party games, numerous third-party offerings likeLEGO City: UndercoverandShovel Knight: Treasure Trovehave also been available across the latest two generations of Nintendo consoles and are thus guaranteed to be playable on the Switch 2. They will be joined by at least one more game in the form of therecently announcedXenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, which is scheduled for release in March 2025.
Cars 3: Driven to Win (2017)
Child of Light (2014)
Child of Light (2018)
Swords and Soldiers 2 (2015)
Swords and Soldiers 2 (2018)
Xenoblade Chronicles X (2015)
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition (2025)
Seeing howsome high-profile Wii U games are still missing from the Switch, there’s a chance that this list will keep expanding beyond just the new version ofXenoblade Chronicles X. And while Nintendo’s track record suggests its next console after the Switch 2 won’t be directly backward-compatible with the Switch library, the fact that these games are about to make history by spanning three consecutive Nintendo console generations serves as a reminder that there’s a first time for everything.
