Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about the possibility of DS and 3DS games coming to Switch Online, and… he didn't say no, which is good enough for me!
Nintendo Switch Online has been an absolute highlight of the console since it was released, and while Virtual Console on the Wii may have given us all the consoles right away, the Switch has almost been on a rate of one a year since the service launched in 2018 (although 2021 and 2023 dropped two consoles at once to make up for missed years).
But now, we're at the point where… well, I mean, Nintendo put the Virtual Boy out – clearly things are a bit more difficult.
Nintendo's remaining consoles all have some form of gimmick that could potentially prevent them from working on Switch and Switch 2, be it touch controls and dual-screens on the DS and 3DS, motion controls on Wii, or the multi-screen Wii U (although that console already had almost its entire library released again on Switch).
However, that didn't stop an investor from asking if the DS and 3DS will be coming.
回答4古川：具体的にどういうことをか替えているかはこの場で答えられない。基本的には過去に発売した貴重なソフトをできる限り現行機で遊べるように取り組んでいる。NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINEで過去ハードのソフトを提供している。…June 26, 2026
Twitter user NStyles covered the Q&A session from Nintendo's shareholders meeting (via machine translation), and Furukawa was reportedly asked if there are plans to bring DS and 3DS to Switch Online for Switch 2.
The Nintendo CEO responded, allegedly saying that while he can't answer specifics, the company is looking into making as many of its classic games playable on modern consoles as possible, citing the Switch Online library as a way for people to discover such titles and evoke nostalgia in those who played them at the time.
Obviously, without some compromise, the DS and 3DS are going to be difficult – but they also seem more realistic than the Wii or Wii U getting a Switch Online app (especially when Nintendo is selling Wii games like Mario Galaxy or Donkey Kong Country Returns as separate releases).
Personally, I'd like to see Nintendo team up with Sega again to follow up on the Mega Drive app and get Sega Saturn and Dreamcast games onto Switch 2.
