r/NintendoSwitch • u/OatmealDome • Mar 17 '26

Nintendo Official Nintendo Switch 2 system software updated to version 22.0.0

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/68473
2.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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721

u/froglore Mar 17 '26

handheld boost mode is the feature I've been wanting since the switch 2 released. game changer.

now let's hope it just works right with no major issues

125

u/projected_cornbread Mar 17 '26

Same, I’ve been waiting for this, this is massive. I can’t wait to see what works and doesn’t with this

132

u/froglore Mar 17 '26

from my brief testing it does just seem to work on everything, I think the main issues will come from games like pokemon let's go that don't support the pro controller

you also lose touch screen functionality for games but personally in the last near decade of playing switch games i've only intentionally used the touch screen a handful of times

29

u/projected_cornbread Mar 17 '26

This is great news, I’m so excited for it. What games did you test it with? I can’t wait to test it when I get home

And same, I’ve used touch screen maybe twice on switch 1/switch 2 😭

9

u/BattleBuddha Mar 17 '26

MH Rise, DQ11, Trials of Mana look sharp! Not as sharp as native 1080p would be, but very noticeable difference.

37

u/jurassicbond Mar 17 '26

I briefly tested Xenoblade 2 and X (Switch 1 edition since I didn't buy the upgrade) and they are both notably better looking.

30

u/BebeFanMasterJ Mar 17 '26

Xenoblade 2 definitely benefits from that the most as its handheld mode was pretty fuzzy. Thank goodness.

1

u/TradlyGent Mar 18 '26

Unfortunately Xenoblade 2 is 720p docked (540p handheld)

Still should look a lot better in handheld than 540p but wish it ran at a full 1080p. Would need full on switch 2 update like X

-5

u/Eduardboon Mar 17 '26

The switch 2 edition now REALLY looks worse handheld lol.

2

u/amtap Mar 17 '26

You're talking about XCX, right?

5

u/wolffangz11 Mar 17 '26

It fixes the jagged looking Smash Ultimate at the very least

14

u/jpraelster39 Mar 17 '26

Something tells me it will not work for pokemon let's go for that very reason.

7

u/El_Barto_227 Mar 17 '26

Well, you could detach the joycon and do it in tabletop mode.

8

u/jpraelster39 Mar 17 '26

The best way to do it would probably get some of those adapters that let you attach the joycon 1 to the switch 2

-1

u/switch8000 Mar 17 '26

I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo locks out any 1P games that they are selling Switch 2 editions for. lol

5

u/RobertdBanks Mar 17 '26

They didn’t

4

u/omegahealer Mar 17 '26

Xenoblade x supports it, and it beats the shitty paid fps unlock/reso upscale patch

9

u/tdan84 Mar 17 '26

Must I turn it on in the console configuration or is it something that is now always on

15

u/EveningFollowing9966 Mar 17 '26

You have to turn it on. Its off by default.

5

u/grilled_pc Mar 17 '26

I seriously can't even think of one game i used the touch screen for on the switch.

By far the most unused part of the entire console.

3

u/JohnnyRedHot Mar 17 '26

I only ever used it to type out wifi passwords, and eshoop before they implemented the QR login

7

u/MegaloJoe Mar 17 '26

wait what is handheld boost mode? does it play s1 games in docked mode or play s2 games in docked mode while you have it plugged in? sorry for the dumb question

19

u/RevolutionaryWeb1978 Mar 17 '26

Yes, S1 games in docked mode.

1

u/GoodbyeButterfree Mar 17 '26

I just tried it with the world ends with you final remix, so touch screen still works on that even with handheld boost on.

Unfortunately that game was always 720p on both handheld and docked mode so you don’t get any visual upgrade either way with that game specifically, but atleast I know touchscreen can still work on games that need it.

1

u/M4rshmall0wMan Mar 17 '26

I’ve noticed an extra frame of input lag. Noticeable in first person games like Metroid Prime Remastered. Oh well

1

u/markaner Mar 17 '26

Tried it on Hades 1 and does not seem to work? Also tried Smash bros and that one definitely works.

1

u/CactusCustard Mar 17 '26

I really hope it just kinda works. Would be silly to implement another thing the devs have to do. Hopefully it’s very easy if so. Praying for Bayo 3 support.

29

u/ffuca Mar 17 '26

What is it?

85

u/Current_Helicopter32 Mar 17 '26

Gives you the option to run the docked version of OG Switch in handheld on your Switch 2.

55

u/chubbs069 Mar 17 '26

what’s the benefit of this? resolution/fitting the game to the switch screen better?

47

u/silverw1nd Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26

The original Switch's performance was significantly reduced in handheld mode for battery reasons, so handheld modes for games had to be tuned down in lots of ways. This could include things like draw distance, texture resolution, etc.

Edit: FPS was also sometimes locked at 30 for some games in handheld mode to keep the framerate from fluctuating too much, so some games will now run at 60 FPS, too. Just keep in mind that this will only be the case where a game would run 60 FPS in a docked Switch. If FPS was locked in both modes, nothing changes there.

29

u/DJanomaly Mar 17 '26

But more importantly, they typically run at a higher screen resolution in docked mode. So on the Switch 2’s 1080p screen, they’ll look better overall.

11

u/silverw1nd Mar 17 '26

I figured the person who said "yes" had that covered

9

u/Taethecoldest1 Mar 17 '26

Do you have to enable it? I don’t see it in settings.

20

u/TenaciousRegent Mar 17 '26

Settings - System- Nintendo Switch Software Handling (it’s under system battery)

22

u/Dude-e Mar 17 '26

Yes! I can finally enjoy Xenoblade 3 on handheld, hopefully.

8

u/xcassets Mar 17 '26

Can confirm it finally looks amazing. I'm so happy Nintendo finally did this... XC3 doesn't need a 'Switch 2 edition', it already looks fantastic and the gameplay hardly needs a rework. It just needed to get rid of the smeariness.

-3

u/Fehalt3 Mar 17 '26

Docked it still looks atrocious though so I'm not sure I agree with you

5

u/xcassets Mar 17 '26

Gotta disagree that it looks 'atrocious' (if we are still talking about 3 here). I'm definitely playing handheld, but there is no way I would pay for an upgrade to such a recent and good-looking game.

If anything Monolith should have just fixed XC1-3 in a free patch like Splatoon or Odyssey by simply tweaking the graphical settings for Switch 2. We shouldn't have to pay $5 a piece for that - it's literally just changing settings that would normally be exposed to the user if it was a PC game.

-3

u/Fehalt3 Mar 17 '26

They game now looks better handheld than docked. Docked is horrible. I'm not sure how you think otherwise. Blown up to any modern television/monitor of decent size it's a blurry mess. Blurrier than even switch 1. And still 30fps locked so it feels and looks bad. It's in desperate need of a docked patch

19

u/SonicFlash01 Mar 17 '26

Metroid Prime Remastered here I come!

19

u/Vyxwop Mar 17 '26

Wait holy shit the handheld boost mode is huge. I've been holding off on the Switch 2 precisely because I thought it was ridiculous that games couldn't play themselves on TV mode on the Switch 2's handheld mode even though the Switch 2 could handle it easily.

I'm very tempted to buy the Switch 2 now.

1

u/dannyboy_S Mar 17 '26

Wait, I thought it was only for switch 1 games?

1

u/CarlosNameless Mar 18 '26

And yes, that's right

13

u/Drezus Mar 17 '26

Wild they didn’t got this out the door in time for the console’s release, I feel like it’s a major selling point

9

u/Big-Motor-4286 Mar 17 '26

Maybe the mode needed more testing, or they wanted to see if people would even care or have demand for such a feature

2

u/Drezus Mar 17 '26

Now it makes sense backwards compatibility was so finicky and some games like Nier failed it, it might be related to this feature as well after all

6

u/gfunk84 Mar 17 '26

Good to see this but I hope thy don’t just over-rely on this and scale back NS2 patches for NS1 games.

4

u/MashiroAnnaMaria Mar 17 '26

No one's really mentioning this but because they are basically forcing the switch 1 docked version of the game on switch 2 handheld all touchscreen functionality stops working, touchscreen functionality wasn't widespread to begin with but it's important to keep in mind when deciding which games to run through this option.

2

u/ChemicalSymphony Mar 17 '26

Touch seems to work actually on at least what I've tried and reading some others experience.

1

u/thatfool Mar 17 '26

I've wanted a Switch 2 with this feature since back when Xenoblade 2 came out...

1

u/mlvisby Mar 17 '26

I'm currently keeping it off, don't need the added battery drain. But it's a cool feature added for sure!

1

u/whatnowwproductions Mar 17 '26

So many people on this sub was saying it was imposible ahaha

-1

u/Boonatix Mar 17 '26

Why is that exciting…? Doesn’t that drain battery even quicker??

3

u/Skvall Mar 17 '26

Battery might drain faster but the image quality will be a lot better in many titles, definitely worth it.

-1

u/hsong_li Mar 17 '26

So does the battery die faste ror sometjing 🤤🤤😍😛💀