Here’s What New In The Nintendo Switch’s Massive System Update 3.0.0

The Nintendo Switch has been on the market since early March, yet it’s still quite hard to find in retail stores. Brick and mortar locations sell out in minutes, and online stores aren’t much better when it comes to retaining stock. However, for those that did manage to get their hands on a Switch, Nintendo has a new system update available that brings a wealth of new features (and fixes) to the platform.

System Update 3.0.0 is the largest upgrade to the Switch to date, and right of the bat fixes to existing issues reported by gamers. First, it resolves a problem in which some game software updates would fail, thus preventing the game from running. The second issue that has been fixed pertains to HDMI input changes that could occur at random with some TVs when the console goes into sleep mode while docked.

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As for the feature additions, one of the biggest is the ability to find a “lost” Joy-Con. As long as the Joy-Cons are within communications range of your Switch, you can ping the controllers from within Settings and they will respond by vibrating. Other features include the ability to import friends from your Wii U and 3DS Friends Lists, receive notifications when your friends come online, and offer suggestions on deleting software if the system determines that there is not enough room to download a new piece of software.

Here is the full change list for System Update v3.0.0:

  • Register a channel to receive News for specific games
  • Add friends from your Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Friend Lists
  • Receive notifications when your Friends go online
  • Find paired controllers within communication range by activating the vibration feature
  • Change the user icon order on the Home Menu
  • Select from 6 new Splatoon 2 characters for user icon
  • Change the system volume from the Quick Settings
  • Lower the maximum volume for headphone or speakers connected to the audio jack
  • Change display colors to Invert Colors or Grayscale
  • Use the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller via wired communication by connecting the USB charging cable (disables NFC touchpoint)
  • Update connected controllers
  • Added a feature that suggests deletion of software data if there is insufficient space when downloading other software
  • Resolved an issue that caused game software updates to fail and prevented the software from starting
  • Improvements to prevent unintended HDMI input change with certain TVs while the console is docked in Sleep Mode

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While this update is no doubt much-appreciated, many gamers are still waiting for the ability to store game save data in the cloud. As it stands now, if your Switch’s hardware malfunctions or if the device is lost, you’re out of luck when it comes to recovering your game states. "I can't say there's a solution coming, but we do hear the message," said Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime last week at E3.

And with its decent-sized display, it would be nice to have YouTube or Netflix streaming apps available to install for those times when we’d rather watch a movie on-the-go than to have first place snatched away from us right at the finish line by a blasted blue shell in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (no, I’m not bitter… really…)