Yes. Nintendo's own support documentation says Nintendo Switch 2 "can play compatible physical and digital games released on the Nintendo Switch system" — so a Switch game card goes into a Switch 2 and works, and a digital game you already own downloads to the new console. The word doing the work in that sentence is "compatible", because Nintendo also states that "some Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2", and it publishes the exceptions rather than leaving you to find them.
For a budget buyer this is the single most useful fact about the current console generation, and it changes what a cheap Switch game is worth. A fifteen-dollar Switch game bought today is not a purchase you abandon when you upgrade; it is a purchase that moves to the next console with you. That is unusual. It is also the opposite of what happens at most generation changes, and it is the same reasoning that makes a cheap PS4 disc a safe buy — see do PS4 games work on PS5.
What Nintendo actually publishes
Nintendo maintains a compatibility page rather than a blanket promise, and it is worth knowing what is on it before you buy anything second-hand. Four categories exist.
Games with issues that prevent progress.Nintendo publishes a list titled "Games with issues that prevent progress on Nintendo Switch 2, including games with start up issues". These are the real failures: a game that will not launch, or that stops you partway. It is a short list relative to the size of the Switch catalog, but it exists, and it is the one to check before buying an obscure title.
Games already fixed, or being fixed, by an update.A second published list covers "Nintendo Switch games with issues that have been resolved, or are planned to be resolved, by an update". This is the category most problems land in, and it is why a game that misbehaved at Switch 2 launch may be perfectly fine now. Nintendo states that it "is continuing to improve compatibility, including by working with publishing and developing partners", so the list moves.
Games that need the original Joy-Con.Nintendo notes that "Some games require Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers to play". The Joy-Con 2 controllers cannot be used for those titles, though original Joy-Con can be connected wirelessly. This mostly affects games built around specific motion or HD-rumble behaviour. If you are buying a controller for a Switch 2 household, our second controller for a Switch page is the budget version of that decision.
Software that cannot be used at all.Nintendo lists a handful of applications under "Software that cannot be used on Nintendo Switch 2", including Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit and several video apps. Almost none of this affects anyone buying cheap games; it matters if you bought a Labo kit.
The trap that is not about games at all
If you are moving from a Switch to a Switch 2, the thing most likely to catch you out is storage rather than software. Nintendo states that inserting a microSD card previously used on a Nintendo Switch into a Nintendo Switch 2 will not let you save or load digital games or save data — the new console wants microSD Express cards. Budget for that before you budget for games, because it is a real cost that nobody mentions in the console announcement.
So what should you actually buy?
Cheap Switch games, with more confidence than before. The four picks below are deliberately the least risky kind: older, enormously popular, heavily patched third-party and indie titles, the exact profile that sits comfortably inside "compatible" rather than on an exceptions list. They are also four of the best value games on the whole site, which is why they turn up on indie games under $20 and Switch games under $20 as well.
Buying Switch games when you own, or will own, a Switch 2
Physical or digital: the compatibility answer is the same
Nintendo's wording covers both — Switch 2 plays "compatible physical and digital games released on the Nintendo Switch system". So the physical-versus-digital decision stays exactly what it always was: a question about lending, reselling and shelf space, not about whether the game will run. We work through it in physical vs digital Switch games. The one thing a card still gives you that a download does not is the ability to sell it on, which is the whole of are used games worth it.
Check the exception lists before buying anything unusual
For a popular game this is a formality. For a small or strange release — something built around specific Joy-Con behaviour, something that never got patched after launch — spend thirty seconds on Nintendo's published lists first. The compatibility page is the only authority worth trusting here; everything else is a forum post from a different firmware version.
Do not pay a premium for a "Switch 2 Edition" of a game you already own
Where a Switch game has a Switch 2 upgrade, that is a separate purchase decision from whether the original works — and the original does. Treat the upgrade the way we treat every other better edition on this site: wait, see whether it ends up bundled, and read what does definitive edition mean before paying twice for the same game.
Buying second-hand got safer, not riskier
Because Nintendo game cards are not region locked and because Switch 2 plays compatible Switch cards, a used Switch game card is now a purchase with two consoles' worth of life in it. The region detail is worth knowing in its own right if you ever buy from abroad, and it is covered in are games region locked.
The practical upshot for a budget buyer
A cheap Switch game is now a better-value purchase than it was before Switch 2 existed, which is a sentence you almost never get to write about an outgoing console's library. The cheap end of the Switch catalog has also had a decade to mature: the prices are low, the games are patched, and the recommendations are settled. If you want the full shelf, start at Switch games under $30 or the cheap Switch games page, and time it with when eShop sales refresh.
