Which Video Game Consoles are Backwards Compatible? 

I picked up my Nintendo DS one day and suddenly found that the hinges were broken. As I stared at it, unsure of how it even broke in the first place, I wondered if there was a way I could fix it so I could still play all my DS games. Then I remembered that the DS could play old Game Boy Advance games and wondered if my 3DS could play my DS games. So, I started to do some research about which consoles were backwards compatible. I thought I’d share my results. 

Nintendo 

We’ll start with Nintendo. As I already mentioned, the DS can play Game Boy Advance games. The Nintendo 3DS and its counterpart, the 3DS XL, are backwards compatible for DS games, but they don’t have any space for the cartridges for the Game Boy games. They can also play any DSi game. 

The Wii can play GameCube games, but the Wii U cannot. The Wii U can play Wii games, though. It’s also compatible with Wii accessories. Fair warning though that there are some versions of the Wii later than 2011, that don’t have the port for GameCube controllers and won’t play the discs. 

Unfortunately, the Nintendo Switch isn’t backwards compatible. However, the company has released older games in Switch versions, both physical and digital.

Xbox 

Xbox has been one of the best companies for backwards compatibility. All their consoles so far are backwards compatible and can play any of the older games. However, the Xbox Series S doesn’t have a disc player, so it can only play digital games.

Xbox does have digital versions of the older games available as well. If you already have the game downloaded from the Xbox Marketplace and it’s in your library, you’ll be able to download it again and play it on the newer consoles. 

PlayStation 

The PlayStation 5 is backwards compatible with PS4 games, but to play any PS3, PS2, or PS1 games, you’ll have to be a PlayStation Plus subscriber. This means that they can be played digitally.  

There are a few PS4 games that can’t be played on the PS5. Here’s the list from PlayStation’s website: 

• Afro Samurai 2 Revenge of Kuma Volume One 
• Just Deal With It! 
• Robinson: The Journey 
• We Sing 
• Hitman Go: Definitive Edition 
• Shadwen 

You also can’t play any of the discs on the PS5 digital edition. Digital games can be transferred from the PS4 to the PS5, though. 

The PS4 is not backwards compatible and cannot play any PS3 games. The original PlayStation 3 is backwards compatible, but there are other versions that aren’t. The PS2 can play PS1 games. 

Conclusion 

Most video game consoles are backwards compatible, but there are some that have limitations. I’d say that Xbox wins in terms of backwards compatibility if you’re trying to figure out what console you want to buy.

A lot of the compatibility has to do with its physical components. For instance, the Switch can’t play any physical older games because there’s no disc tray for them. Hopefully, gaming companies keep in mind that many gamers want to be able to play their older games on the new systems when they continue to make newer consoles. 

What are your thoughts? Do you like backward compatibility?

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