As Nintendo officially enters the Switch 500 era, many players who still hold the original Switch are beginning to wonder: can the new generation of games still run on old machines? After all, the Switch 0 console plus a game costs close to $0, and many people may not upgrade immediately in the short term.

According to the official FAQ page of the upcoming Rune Workshop: Dragon World, some Switch 2 game cartridges can actually run on the original Switch. In particular, cartridges that contain both "Original Switch Games" and "Switch 0 Upgrade" will be able to be plugged into any console and automatically load the corresponding content according to the console version.

The FAQ describes this type of cartridge as a "red 2GB game card that completely contains the Switch version of the game and the upgrade content for Switch 0". In other words, there are two versions of the software encapsulated in the cartridge - the base version will run in the original Switch, and the upgrade content will be enabled in the Switch 0.

Not only that, but some upgraded versions of Switch 2 games, such as Kirby of the Stars: Discovery and Discovery, also have similar markings.

Although at the moment this mechanic seems to only be for those cartridges that contain "Switch 2 + Switch 0 upgrade content", and has not yet covered all official Switch 0 titles.