Rumor: Switch 2 May Use The Same Tools And ROM Format As The Switch 1

Earlier this year, Nintendo officially announced the successor to the Nintendo Switch, with a full reveal planned for sometime this fiscal year.

At the time of this writing, the full reveal of the Switch successor has yet to come to pass. However, some new information about the console has surfaced from an unexpected source.

This information was originally shared by Centro_Leaks, and is believed to originate from the recent data breach suffered by Game Freak. In the data breach, references to the Switch’s successor were discovered under its codename “Ounce” which was itself leaked previously.

According to Centro_Leaks, the Switch’s successor uses the same tools and ROM format as the original Switch. On the most basic level, this would imply that the Switch 2 would have backwards capability to run Switch 1 games, since they run the same kind of ROMs.

On a deeper level, this could mean that developers who are familiar with developing games for the Switch 1 will have a much easier time updating their games to run on Switch 2. Developers could theoretically ship a game for both consoles using the same ROM, without having to develop two separate versions of the game like competitor consoles.

The same rom could be played on the Switch 1 with one set of features (1080p, 30fps) while accessing different features on the Switch 2 (4K, 60fps). This is in line with some other rumored claims about the Switch 2’s capabilities, which involve being able to enhance existing Switch 1 games.

As with all reports of this nature however, we caution readers to take them with a grain of salt. Stay tuned for more updates as they come.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.