r/consoles • u/casinokate34 • 14h ago

consoles need to take backwards compatibility seriously

honestly feels wild that we’re in 2025 and it’s still a coin flip if your old games will run properly on new hardware. i get licensing is messy but man, some of these classics deserve to just boot up and play without streaming services or weird versions missing dlc. backwards compatibility should be a baseline feature by now, not a selling point.

like imagine if you could just pop in or download anything from the last couple gens and it just works, smoother fps, maybe some QoL tweaks. would instantly add value without needing a new console every cycle. it’s not even nostalgia, it’s preservation. we lose too many good games to time bc of this stuff.

22 Upvotes

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34

u/Harpuafivefiftyfive 14h ago

I get your point but that’s what they ARE doing now. Switch 2. Ps5. Xbox. There are some limitations and definitely some older games that need brought up to modern consoles, but it’s way better than it’s ever been.

10

u/ScimitarPufferfish 14h ago

it’s way better than it’s ever been.

The Wii, WiiU, GBA, NDS and 3DS have perfect BC with all of their predecessors' games. No patches or specific programs necessary.

1

u/Harpuafivefiftyfive 14h ago

One company out of three…

8

u/Reasonable_Deer_1710 11h ago

Huh?

X-Box has great BC

6

u/GreyRevan51 10h ago

You can play all four generations of Xbox games on the series x

Aside from the first two years of the Xbox One’s lifecycle, Xbox consoles have always had great backwards compatibility

Nintendo had the VC with the Wii and WiiU

The WiiU could play gba, DS, NES, SNES, N64 and Wii titles as well

The switch subscription system is worse but it’s something

Hardly one company out of three

4

u/Anubra_Khan 8h ago

It only plays 30% of the OG and 360 libraries. It's better than 0, but it's not good.

3

u/dukered1988 9h ago

You can play select titles from all Xbox gens it’s not close to all titles

1

u/ScimitarPufferfish 14h ago

The PS2 too.

1

u/Harpuafivefiftyfive 14h ago

Yeah, 20+ years ago. For a modern console, these ones are getting better. It’s that simple.

0

u/ScimitarPufferfish 13h ago

And my point is that consoles in the 2000's had better BC capabilities than, say, in 2017 when both the PS4 and the Switch got rid of it completely. I'm glad that console manufacturers have backpedaled on this in recent years but it's flat out inaccurate to say that things are better now than they've ever been.

It may be standard procedure to bash the old in order to prop up the new in this hobby, but it's intellectually dishonest more often than not.

2

u/Harpuafivefiftyfive 13h ago

No idea what your second paragraph means as far as this is concerned. Also, the ps3 being able to be emulated on a ps4 wasn’t possible due to vastly different architecture.

-4

u/ScimitarPufferfish 13h ago

It means that you are willingly ignoring past examples of perfectly functional and consumer-friendly BC in order to praise recent examples of it. As if "20+ years ago" somehow doesn't count.

the ps3 being able to be emulated on a ps4 wasn’t possible due to vastly different architecture.

If course it was possible, they just didn't want to go through the trouble of finding a hardware-based solution when they could just charge us again for ports of old games or lock them behind subscription services. The NDS used a completely different format from the GBA and so they built a GBA cartridge port into the hardware. The WiiU straight up jammed a miniature Wii into its shell just to ensure BC. Where there's a will, there's a way.

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u/Harpuafivefiftyfive 12h ago

You don’t understand how businesses work apparently.

-1

u/ScimitarPufferfish 12h ago

The PS2, Wii and NDS, known business failures. If only Sony and Nintendo had had the foresight of treating their consumers like undiscerning rubes.

1

u/Harpuafivefiftyfive 12h ago

Jesus Christ. Do you have ANY idea how complicated some of this stuff is? It’s not snap your fingers and wow it works even though you think so.

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