RUMOR: NX Platform Details, Both Console & Handheld

[Frogger]

Soundwave said:

Backwards compatibility with a failed console that is probably going to finish in the range of 17-18 million consoles and a tiny library of games should be right down near the bottom of Nintendo's design priorities.

What did Wii backwards compatibility (a much more popular system) do for them this gen?

Fact is it's a feature the overwhelmingly majority do not care about and accomodating it means you have to make compromises to your hardware design which can hinder performance or force you into choosing hardware components at a higher cost (because no one uses the damn tech any more) for no performance gain.

It's lose-lose-lose all around.

That's bullshit. The virtual console is immensly popular and immensly lucrative. That's literally what Wii U BC would become. Wii U eshop games would all be indefinitely purchasable to a new audience and be put in the same library as NX games. It's not just about being able to play old games you used to own; that's an extremely limited way to view it. Its about being able to buy games from legacy platforms and, more importantly, Nintendo and 3rd parties still being able to make money off those games without having to spend an extra penny porting. Mario Kart 8 will still be bought brand new on the NX. Smash Wii U will still be purchased.

The library will turn Steam-like and transend generational barriers. You aren't buying Wii U games, you're buying eshop games. That's it. That's why digital BC is more important than it ever was before. No console out has ever retained a legacy library like that. Instead of starting from scratch again, they'll continue to build on what they've done and continue to make money off games they ported years ago. People still buy old VC games on the Wii U. They'll add more N64 games, more Wii and DS games. They'll add a GCN VC. No more wasting time and money reporting the same old games again and again.

Win-win-win.