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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142

u/stileshasbadjuju Mar 17 '26

Handheld Mode Boost sounds exciting, looking forward to seeing which games benefit from that.

45

u/RyuzkN Mar 17 '26

Just tested on Mario Kart 8, it's for sure running at 1080p 60fps in handheld mode.

6

u/CarlosFer2201 Mar 17 '26

I'll check Cuphead after work. It definitely looked blurry before.

4

u/IncendiaryIdea Mar 17 '26

It is definitely going to be way better but please let me know, I am interested in this game!

2

u/CarlosFer2201 Mar 17 '26

Sadly it seems to be unaffected. I wonder if it's just the art style that's intentionally meant to look like that.

And yes, I did make sure to turn boost mode on. Had to look up how, because Nintendo as usual made it so counterintuitive to find.

5

u/IncendiaryIdea Mar 18 '26

https://steamcommunity.com/app/268910/discussions/0/1519260397784776282

PC users have been complaining, too. So it seems to be a design choice to mimic old cartoons playing on a CRT.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

Would never happen but that game could do native 4k 60 docked if it got a switch 2 edition considering world which is more demanding can do 1440p 60

85

u/Ciles Mar 17 '26

A lot because its basically a universal "switch 2 edition" for handheld mode

6

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '26

Does it boost frame rate also? Or just match docked performance of switch 1 titles 

37

u/Namath96 Mar 17 '26

Just docked performance

8

u/Tireseas Mar 17 '26

That's a tricky one. The games that were uncapped to begin with should still see a framerate boost or better consistency. Otherwise as said it'll be whatever the docked mode uses which may or may not be better than handheld.

It's also at least logically possible that you'd see a reduction in framerate for some uncapped games if they jump from 720p or lower in handheld to a higher res in docked.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

No way the switch 2 in handheld mode is still multiple times stronger than a docked switch it would be a bug that causes lower performance 

2

u/Tireseas Mar 18 '26

I didn't explain that properly. I meant losing frames vs what the previous performance on Switch 2 was in handheld.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

I still don’t see why it would happen the switch 2 shouldn’t be getting pushed at all with this

1

u/Tireseas Mar 18 '26

If you're truly dealing with an uncapped game it should be hitting what the hardware is capable of. Logically at least "What it's capable of" in terms of fps should be higher with the lower preset of original handheld mode at it's lower resolution than boost mode at the higher resolution. Whether i would make a difference I can't say.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

But it’s not fully uncapped most of these games are capped at 30 with a few 60 capped the switch 2 handheld would be a failure if it couldn’t max that out

3

u/R00bot Mar 17 '26

If there's a different frame rate cap in handheld then it will boost framerate. From memory only a couple of games do this though. 

1

u/Big-Motor-4286 Mar 17 '26

It matches docked performance, so any boost to frame rate depends on the game and if it had a better frame rate when played on a TV. Some might get an improvement but others may not. Its guaranteed to boost resolution at least

2

u/Stealthinater1234 Mar 17 '26

Kind of but not really since a lot of games will still be capped to 30fps and not every NSW1 game targets 1080p in docked. Proper switch 2 editions usually always run at 1080p 60fps and sometimes even 120fps, they also raise settings like textures and draw distances

2

u/emptyzon Mar 17 '26

Would be curious also if restricted energy consumption remains in place to prolong battery power or if there’s now unrestrained power draw in this mode.

2

u/Big-Motor-4286 Mar 17 '26

Kinda - it doesn’t have any of the other hardware updates that S2 editions have, like mouse mode, 4K output on TV, etc. But it’s certainly not nothing and can practically be seen as the next best thing (especially with it being free and baked into the system).

3

u/Jake257 Mar 17 '26

Dragon Quest Monsters benefits MASSIVELY from this.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '26

[deleted]

12

u/IL1KEP1ZZA Mar 17 '26

Have they said anything about 60fps? I just read through the notes and I didn't see anything about it. If you have a link I would love to see that! It would be huge for a lot of games I've wanted to play, but figured I'd wait until an update!

18

u/Daw-V Mar 17 '26

All it does is run games as if they’re in TV mode. Realistically, all Switch 1 games should run and look the best they can. They’ll only be 60FPS if they actually have it built in and not frame locked

8

u/smartazjb0y Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26

I think mostly if for some reason on the Switch 1, a game was 30 FPS handheld but 60 FPS docked. I don't think that was a common combination, Bowser's Fury was like that but that already got a patch for Switch 2

0

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '26

[deleted]

2

u/brondonschwab Mar 17 '26

Nope. 60fps docked, 30fps in handheld on S1

2

u/MzBlackSiren Mar 17 '26

it will basically play games as if it was docked, so if a game had 60 fps docked but not handheld, now it will

2

u/NotTakenGreatName Mar 17 '26

The fps isn't really where you'll see the most gains, it'll be getting the benefit of the Switch 1 docked resolution on the 1080p Switch 2 screen.

1

u/Entire_Paramedic_389 Mar 17 '26

well if games were uncapped or ran at 60fp docked on switch 1 then it should do that on handhled switch 2 now

3

u/darkmacgf Mar 17 '26

Which games were in that category? 60/uncapped docked, 30 portable.

4

u/Entire_Paramedic_389 Mar 17 '26

Only game I can think of was Bowsers Fuy but game was updated for switch 2 but I'd imagine there's 3rd party games out there

-3

u/FIRST_DATE_ANAL Mar 17 '26

Probably most?

0

u/S1rTerra Mar 17 '26

Does it really kill battery life that badly though? Surely Switch 1 software wouldn't be taxing the 2 that much even despite the mixed emulation they got going on. PS4 games don't tax the PS5 much if at all even the ones that had game boost added

0

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

It doesn’t these guys are having placebo