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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Prediction: The NX will not be backwards compatible

Considering all the talk about a smash bros port and a mario kart port at launch, I'd assume the NX wont be backwards compatible. If it was, why spend any effort on making ports of games that already work?

However, both the wii and wii u had BC. It might be expected, and it could be difficult for consumers to accept.

If it makes the console cheaper and stronger, I wouldnt mind losing BC.



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All good. If BC holds them back (which it would if they retain PowerPC) then all for them not including it.  I expect that in the future they would put some of the classics on the eshop.



To the OP: The NX can use not only x86, but also ARM. I'd prefer the former (to make cross-platform development easier), but given that we don't know what Nintendo is trying to do with it, ARM could be the better suited tech for their plan.

OT: Ever since the NX version of Zelda was announced, I took granted that NX won't have BC.



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A lot of people are expecting this, especially if the NX isn't the same architecture, which it probably isn't



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JEMC said:
To the OP: The NX can use not only x86, but also ARM. I'd prefer the former (to make cross-platform development easier), but given that we don't know what Nintendo is trying to do with it, ARM could be the better suited tech for their plan.

OT: Ever since the NX version of Zelda was announced, I took granted that NX won't have BC.

yep if Nintendo does in fact go for a unified strategy than ARM would make much more sense.



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they should go public with this soon.... another reason to buy a Wii U!



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It would only be BC if it has a software emulation layer or it it retains the POWER architecture.



silvergunner said:
From what I can see, it all depends what processor architecture Nintendo use. They've got a choice between the ancient PowerPC G3 (Wii-U, Wii, GameCube), ARM (most handhelds) or X86 (PS4, Xbone, Xbox).

If the processor chosen is the PowerPC G3 then they'll have backwards compatibility as standard. However the system won't look any much better graphically than the Wii-U as its got a weak FPU and lacks modern features like SIMD.

If they choose an X86 or ARM we can expect a performance boost over the Wii-U at the cost of losing backwards compatibility. It will also make more developers jump on ship because those two processors are the most popular in the industry and support the modern features the G3 does not.

In theory they could emulate the Wii U, but current PC Wii U emulators require hardware that's way beyond anything Nintendo would build into a system.

On topic, by locking out the Wii Virtual Console, on Wii-U they'll probably just lock out the Wii-U virtual console as well. Nintendo are stuck in a mentality where they think they can con gamers into buying the same game 3 or 4 times by breaking compatibility. They even went as far as to lock out online play on Wii and DS ten days before Mario Kart was released on Wii-U (at the time, Wii was outselling Wii-U in some countries).

Considering Wii-U is a total failure, if Nintendo do go for ARM or x86 we can see back compatibility been scrapped completely. This is looking likely as the long delay for NX suggests Nintendo are revising the hardware.

It's a bit of a false choice. POWER8 is backwards compatible with all previous versions of POWER up to the oldest PowerPC ISA versions.



zorg1000 said:
midrange said:

With the introduction of the NX, we can gaurantee that it will contain x86 architecture (and if it doesn't, it will have near 0 third party support)

I think NX will be ARM based and recieve significantly better 3rd party support than Wii U had.

Why? ARM and POWER are more related then ARM and x86.



WolfpackN64 said:
zorg1000 said:

I think NX will be ARM based and recieve significantly better 3rd party support than Wii U had.

Why? ARM and POWER are more related then ARM and x86.

Because I am a strong believer in the unified platform setup where the handheld and console will share a software library.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.