I think consumers need to be brutal with Nintendo and give them a WiiU 2 in terms of sales if there’s no backwards compatibility.
That said, Switch emulation is pretty decent from what I’ve seen online (haven’t tried it myself, but it seems the Switch Emulation scene was pretty ahead, plus I’ve seen Switch hacks on YouTube too). So there’s still ways to play these games if that happens.
However, the Switch has a very good library, probably the best they ever had. It’ll be a shame if Nintendo makes no efforts to bring these games forwards. I don’t care much for 4K/120fps of these games, but at least make them playable, warts and all as they currently are. The switch joy cons will keep drifting and soon the stores will stop selling them, and instead carry whatever controller comes next. The Switch, more than any other hardware in Nintendo’s history, seems more prone to either breaking or having its battery die or overheat.
I think technology has advanced enough as to make Nintendo accountable for making their online stores and games future proof.
PS5 had the benefit that it ran PS4 games better, for the most part. It made easy to jump into because you could start day one with a full library that was optimized, even more so if you skipped the PS4 Pro.
If Nintendo releases a Switch successor that can also run Switch games better, Nintendo won’t be as pressured on releasing new games for their new console so much, because they can simply keep promoting their newer games, run better on Switch 2, and get a lot of mileage and good will just from that. Remember how awesome TOTK was last year? Wait until you see it run 1080p and locked 30fps on next gen. Haven’t gotten Mario Wonder? It runs Wonderfully on the Switch 2.
I don’t think Sony or Microsoft will ever abandon their libraries now. And if they ever do, we should make a big deal out of it too. PC gaming doesn’t have to worry about this at all. Console gamers shouldn’t have to either.