Nintendo admits backwards compatibility is easier now, but isn’t interested in it

The man, the myth, the legend himself Shigeru Miyamoto recently talked about how backwards compatibility is much easier now, although it doesn’t seem like a thing. Nintendo is interested in.

In a recent question-and-answer session following Nintendo’s release of its latest financial results, company executives were asked how backwards compatibility is handled internally (thanks to and translations of CVG). Miyamoto apparently didn’t give an answer that pointed in a particular direction when it came to backwards compatibility, but he did talk about how it’s easier these days.

“In the past, we provided a service known as ‘Virtual Console’ that allowed users to play older video games on newer consoles with newer hardware,” Miyamoto explained. “As long as the hardware remains unchanged, those games could continue to be played. However, publishing rights for games are complicated and we have said that we would only add titles after securing the necessary rights.”

The Mario and Zelda creator went on to point out how obviously games that were developed for specific consoles also had specific environments in which they were created for each console. He also pointed out that as a result, with the hardware change, games released on older consoles couldn’t be played on newer consoles without “additional mods”.

“Recently, however, the development environment has become more and more standardized and we now have an environment that allows gamers to enjoy older games on newer consoles more easily than ever before.”

Despite acknowledging that things are easier now, you shouldn’t get your hopes up about something like the return of Virtual Console (as if the Expansion Pass nonsense hadn’t already told you that). “However, Nintendo’s strength is in creating new gaming experiences, so when we release new hardware in the future, we’d like to showcase unique games that couldn’t be created with existing hardware,” Miyamoto concluded, feeling so well like saying ‘yeah sorry no old games for you’.

It is a frustrating position to take considering Nintendo’s position on the illegal distribution of its ROMs, without providing access to many legacy titles. At least Tears of the Kingdom looks pretty good, huh?