Conina said:
It's not exactly the same, but it is similar. The main purpose of both methods is to make more devices compatible to a game, which can also result in additional sales to new audiences.
It's not unusual that BC also brings some advantages, if the new hardware allows that. Sometimes better graphics (f.e. higher resolution for some Xbox games on Xbox 360), better performance (f.e. some 360 games on Xbox One, some PSP games on Vita), additional control settings + remapping of buttons (f.e. PSP emulation on Vita), faster loading times, modernized video output (HDMI), save games on internal memory instead of memory cards (PS1 games on PS3), backup and transfer option of these save games (PS1 games on PS3/PSP/Vita), some comfort functions like saving where you want... But any of these advantages must be a big betrayal in your eyes to the "original buyers" that are entitled to have at least parity.
Because you say so? BC has two functions: game owners can play their already bought games on the new hardware and giving other buyers of the new hardware the option to buy some older games either physical (if still available) or digital. I bought a lot of PSP titles on Vita and some Wii games on Wii U. And even if Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo promote the first function for their devices that support BC... the second function will be much more important to them, because that allows additional software sales and additional revenue for them.
Because it wasn't that necessary thanks to BC of the other Nintendo systems since GameCube. The hybrid concept of the Switch and the new architecture doesn't allow easy BC, so they have to make t least a few of these games available otherwise. If these ports and remasters find new audiences and are profitable, it is a no-brainer to do it... it's a Win-Win-situation for many Switch users who hadn't a Wii U and the developers/publishers.
Where have they promised that the Wii U games will be never available on any other future system? Have they also promised that Wii games won't run on Wii U? Have they also promised that DSi games won't run on 3DS? Are gamers today more entitled that every exclusive games stays exclusive forever? Was there an outrage of NES fans when Super Mario Bros 1 - 3 were re-released on SNES as Super Mario All-Stars? Was that a scam? Did Nintendo screw these NES fans? Does it even make sense to enforce such a hardware bound exclusiveness when meanwhile unofficial emulation on PC/consoles/handhelds/mobile reduces that exclusiveness to absurdity? |
If backwards compatibility was intended to sell old games to new audiences, they why didn't Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft reprint old games? Because BC was never intended to sell more old games, and any extra features backwards compatibility offered games were minor.
I don't intend Wii U exclusives to be exclusives forever, but Nintendo should have waited a decade or so to remaster most Wii U games instead of a couple of years. For 30 years most Nintendo games stayed on the console they were originally released on, and you had to wait about a decade for those games to be remastered. None of the Virtual Boy titles were ever ported to other platforms, so even on systems that sold poorly you at least got something out of your investment. But with Wii U they promised support instead of axing the console shortly after launch. Yet it is clear that they were deliberately misleading people to sell systems, because most Wii U games were ported to 3DS or Switch at launch, or after one of two years. This never happened before, and it is clear that they scammed Wii U owners to sell a console they were not willing to properly support. They should have canned the Wii U after launch, but instead they scammed gamers like me.
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There's been a couple of Wii U ports to the Switch so far, but for years you were playing games that were only available on the Wii U. That's why you bought the thing, and that's what you paid for; you did not pay for some exclusive right to games that will never again see the light of day once the Wii U is gone, and as that really has no affect on you it shouldn't bother you to begin with. |
I bought the Wii U to play games that wouldn't be on any other system for at least a decade. I bought the Wii U to play an exclusive Mario Kart, an exclusive Smash Bros., an exclusive Zelda plus other games that would be exclusive and stayed on Wii U, just like on every other Nintendo system. I didn't buy the system for beta Switch titles.
