Nintendo's day-one update for the Switch 2 is just a big 'ON' switch

Maybe you’ve camped out all night, or you’ve refreshed furiously at the risk of breaking your F5 key, but tomorrow you are finally getting your hands on the Nintendo Switch 2. After tearing it open and booting it up, you might quickly realize that the console’s functionality out of the box is basically non-existent. You have just purchased a very expensive paperweight.

This is all by design, as Nintendo wanted the console as locked down as possible in order to prevent leaks ahead of time. They didn’t even send review units to press ahead of launch this time around (it’s fine, I’m not bitter). Now that the Switch 2 is out in parts of the world where it’s already June 5, we’re getting our first look at the patch notes for the console’s day one update.

The Version 20.1.1 update for the Switch 2 basically turns the console on. The day one update enables support for Switch 1 games, virtual game cards, the Nintendo eShop and those Game-Key cards where the physical card you bought doesn’t actually contain the game, but allows you to download it. The patch notes themselves include some fairly important features like "use of Nintendo Switch Software" and "Nintendo Switch Online." You can read the full patch notes at nintendolife.

Users will be prompted to update their consoles during initial setup, so it should be a seamless experience. I won’t give them the clicks by linking here, but suffice to say seeing leakers and hackers get their hands on the console early only to realize they can’t do much of anything was strangely satisfying.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-day-one-update-for-the-switch-2-is-just-a-big-on-switch-175136898.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-day-one-update-for-the-switch-2-is-just-a-big-on-switch-175136898.html?src=rss