
Nintendo has released a new firmware update for the Switch. This takes the system from Version 8.1.0 to 9.0.0 and includes the usual stability enhancements as well as a number of other improvements. There's also an update for both Joy-Con controllers.
In Version 9.0.0, users can now search for select articles in the News Channel section, use a QR Code feature to check-in, set alarm notifications and configure touch screen sensitivity settings (or swap to stylus sensitivity). There's a special Switch Lite feature in there, too.
Apart from this, "Online Play Invites" allows you to invite your friends to supported games and a number of general changes have been made to enhance the overall experience. This includes a Fire Emblem: Three Houses fix, resolving an issue where users who recently purchased the Expansion Pass were unable to start the game.
This update will also make your system compatible with the recently announced wireless SNES controller (designed for use with the Switch Online SNES App). For more information about these controllers, check out our guide.
Added the following system functionality:
- Added a search feature for the News Channel.
- Channels can be searched using filters or free text.
- Added “Display QR Code to Check In” to User Settings.
- You can display a QR Code on-screen to check in using your Nintendo Account.
- Alarm Notifications have been added to System Settings > Notifications.
- You can check or delete pre-set alarms.
- Alarms can be set up only within supported software (to be added at a later time).
- A controller firmware update may be required to use this feature.
- You can now configure touch screen sensitivity settings.
- Select between Standard and Stylus sensitivity (optimized for stylus input).
- Added the option to turn on/off the system button input (Nintendo Switch Lite only).
- When this setting is turned off the system no longer receives input from the console buttons, with the exception of the Capture and HOME Buttons, and can only be operated from a wirelessly paired controller (sold separately).
- This setting is on by default and can only be turned off if a compatible controller (sold separately) is wirelessly paired to the console.
- The setting will automatically turn back on when the console is restarted or after returning from sleep mode.
- Added “Online Play Invites” section to the User's page.
- Invites from friends to join online play in supported software will be displayed in this section.
- General system stability improvements to enhance the user's experience.
- Resolved an issue where some users can’t start the Fire Emblem: Three Houses game, and get an error instead.
To manually perform a system update, open the system settings menu, select System and then select update. To update the controllers, open the Controllers and Sensors menu and then select the option to update controllers.
Have you installed this update yet? Discovered anything else? Tell us in the comments.
Comments (101)
Not installing yet, is have to turn off Astral chains, which I'm NOT doing yet.
I was hoping for some Fire Emblem user icons. Ah, well.
Woo a new update with so many QOL features!
Said no one ever...
Still no theme support, great.
Online play invites sounds fairly big? Or convenient at least.
Depends on how well implemented it is, will it launch me directly into my mate's lobby or will it only prompt me to open the game they're playing? I'll give it a geeze tonight if they have any supported software up.
Please let me invite all of my mates into a game of Splatoon without having to wait for randoms to leave the lobby!
@thesilverbrick At least now the affected people can play Fire Emblem. 😅
Where the hell are the folders?
Where are themes and folders? Also can we get a 1080p menu in docked mode. IK it sounds silly, but the menu is really ugly and pixelated on the TV.
Can you guys get a news channel? Can you put a "coming soon" news up?
@Ham-n-jam I know, this has been requested since launch, I'll definitely be using it
Give me folders or give me death!
welp keep an eye out on games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2 since they might get a minor update to add support for the Online Play Invites
much better even the Lite has good updates too
Once again this update is honestly super embarrassing. We’re getting featured that have been in competing systems for years and years...
I would personally love to see a ratings feature on games or just a score when searching in the store as there are so many games now, as it’s a bit of a chore sifting through finding a game then looking up reviews or scores.
@Deathwalka they did actually have ratings and reviews on game pages on their website but they removed those cause some users posted dumb stuff
What’s with these incremental changes? Ugh.
@Deathwalka entitled gamer or what?
@CodyMKW Splatoon 2's had invites since 2017.
Getting tired of white or black background
I’d take themes or folders, but all I really wanted was stability.
Got my wish.
"General system stability improvements to enhance the user's experience."
At least there's more flavor text this time in regards to other features, but does this ever get old? XD
That input thingy sounds very smart. To prevent the system from being stuck with it’s own inputs as one of the connected controllers.
Also I bet Pokémon and Animal Crossing will use the alarms, that sounds pretty convenient. Like phone notifications to remind whatever you wanted to do in the game is ready.
Exactly how is this worthy of being 9.0 instead of 8.2?
Going 3 years in and still nowhere near the features of my 2013 VITA OS 🤦♂️
If this goes any slower - we will start going backwards.
alright so we got invites, glad to see a positive here, still need a means of text communication nintendo, you know that capability we've had since the internet became a thing?
I hate staring at the black theme screen, give us some new themes Nintendo or at least the option to create some.
So the themes and folders will follow much later like they did on the 3DS? Also that Streetpass function is looking closer and closer.. 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾
Folders, themes and a browser!
@GrandScribe
And where exactly do we pre-order the SNES controllers?
Remember how the 3DS got folders and themes early on? And now it's not really supported anymore? But the switch doesnt have those yet?
System Update 10.0 is a nice number for them to add themes and folders.
@PBandSmelly considering themes were added 3 entire years after release, not sure where you're coming from
Uh... Online Play Invites? Is that what it sounds like? The only thing I’ve wanted from Nintendo since Switch Online was announced?
EDIT: Holy crud, it is. I can’t believe they gave that short shrift. I guess they had to roll out this update ahead of schedule because of the Fire Emblem glitch, so they never got to talk about it
Online invites, alarms, and even stylus mode (hopefully it'll help as much as it sounds with MM2)? I'm actually happy with this update. I literally do not care about themes, and folders would be nice, but invites are way nicer.
Assuming they are easy to use of course
Online Play Invites!?? Like without the switch online app? That would be nice. What took them so long?? Too busy sitting on N64, Gamecube, Wii ports will do that, I guess
Touch screen settings for a stylus? Nintendo just needs to sell a stylus. This is good.
And I need a reason for an alarm, now, I guess.
Oh no, some things people wanted but now want to complain about having because there isn’t more!
How much time are some of you spending on the home menu instead of playing games, anyway?
News search: Useful update on searching news articles.
Stylus control: Well I just brought a stylus a few days ago. Outta be super useful in mario maker.
Alarms: how the heck is that gonna work?
Friend invites: Better late than never. Using a phone for online features is novel but it would be prefered to be on the console. Now we wait 4 voice chat and dedicated servers.
@Captain_Toad
I'm thinking the alarm is for playtime management, like for parents & kids?
@somebread
Oof I guess my memory sucks. I still stand by my point of needing themes tho
Game invites! I wonder how it'll work, but I'm excited to see things improving. I wonder if discord will come to the switch? I hope new icons will be added (especially the DLC from Smash).
Themes and folders would be great, but not holding my breath for it. I want a fast UI. Maybe add some plain colors (red, green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, blue, etc).....
Pffff. Update 9.0.0 complete. eShop still says "Failed to load settings. Nintendo eShop will restart"
At least they kept that intact. I was scared they were gonna fix it
I will update my Switch once i go home after working time.
Stylus support
That means Nintendo is going to start selling DS and 3DS games.
@nintendolie
Very slick thinking. Do you think they'd do that without two screens?
Folders and themes, ninty. Folders and themes.
@Woomy_NNYes Turn the Switch sideway and the vertical screen can easily be divided in 2 to emulate DS/3DS (with even more resolutions to spare).
All I freaking am hoping for is the ability to message your friends like on Xbox or Ps4! I really don't understand why Nintendo hasn't implemented that feature on the switch yet. Like come on, it's a hybrid console! Also, we need themes
Funny how quickly the article glossed over the online invites feature like it’s not a big deal, LoL!
@alinkttpresent THIS
The feature I am most excited for is game invites! It’s about time!! Should have launched with the online service. Now I will be waiting for them to actually make voice chat worthwhile. I literally see no point in using the phone app. I pick up my phone and just end up called my friend and putting them on speaker to voice chat as is. Would be so much nicer to have voice chat through the system.
Also who is going around and disliking any comment that mentions game invites. Do these people want Nintendo to stay in 2005 with their online?
Folders Nintendo. Why no folders? Why no changable icon sizes?What possible reason is there that prevents this?
@PuppyToucher
I'm excited if we can make game invites without the Switch app, but the more I think about it, I think the invite area on the switch might only be for displaying invites from the app. I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to make invites without the app.
Was hoping for some new user icons. Aww well.
Online play invite is a nice feature. But... folders will have to come someday.
Now that friend invites and competent touch screen controls have been added. Mario Maler 2 can now be a 10/10 game.
I wont be surprised if turqoise, grey, and yellow themes are released alongside the Switch Lite.
Wait ik one thing
nintendo should start having home menu themes by now for a switch already. Like why do l have to deal with a boring white or black solid color theme.
@Woomy_NNYes I didn’t even consider it would still be tied to the app. I hope it isn’t but wouldn’t be surprised. Will have to test it out tomorrow.
I still keep desperately hoping for a system update that adds universal Capture button video clip functionality not tied to individual games, instead of the useless crap it is now. I've literally only used it on BotW and Splatoon 2, and only a few times. This thing has so much potential and yet they'd rather require archaic things like Smash Ultimate's replay system.
...yea, I know, business as usual for Nintendo. One can dream. Or get a capture card, but I'm not that desperate.
@GrandScribe Thank you. My word.
Sometimes I think it's just the firm's culture to ignore the desires of their loyal customers which is ridiculous. I love Nintendo but I just can't understand their priorities.
@JayronAuron The reason why some games don't support it is because the video capture takes up memory and processing power on the Switch. For the games that don't support it, they're using that bit of memory and power to boost game visuals.
We all get together and stabilized 😃
Really hoping for some new user icons...
@Franz "What’s with these incremental changes? Ugh."
Welcome to the wonderful world of Agile development.
Yeah that online invitation sounds great but it's not, seems you can only use it with supported software and none of my games does that, not even Splatoon 2, Diablo 3 or Mario Kart 8, so it seems like it only works with supported software (and no idea what that currently is)
As for the alarms same story it only seems to work with supported software (which one??) but it seems that functionality does use that blue LED light around the HOME button no other software has ever used.
For the rest a "meh" update, I can live without themes (black is fine) but 1080p support for the menu in dock would be nice (it looks terrible on my 1080p monitor and TV) but what I really want are FOLDERS NINTENDO, and if possible also the ability to sort all my games the way I want just like the Vita and 3DS allow that for ages already.
Also maybe less important but nice would be the ability to upload your screen captured movies to youtube and if the limit becomes let's say 5 minutes (15 maybe? just like the PS4) compared to the 30 seconds now, but that is a slight nitpick.
I don‘t need themes or folders, just give me a CPU clock rate update to 1.2 Ghz, as developer systems already have it since launch. Would help smoothing out frame rate drops in many games a lot. Plus 1.6 Ghz RAM clock for mobile play (if Lite supports that too)
@Max_the_German They do not, was confirmed by few devs a while ago, what some of them do have access too (just a handful of them) is the boost mode for loading times.
Also that smoother framerate depends heavily per game, seems the memory bandwidth is for some games too low even if you boost both the GPU and CPU, but indeed plenty of games that have a profit from higher clocks, but I doubt Nintendo will bring such an update ever and if they do then they would sell it as a "new" Switch model.
I ask again: where is my home button light???
no folders? meh.. come on nintendo!
Folders Nintendo, Folders please., makes it so much easier and more organised.
But hey Im happy with the other updates
Wow you guys sure do love organising things!
And I don't know about you but I don't spend a lot of time 'staring' at the background on the Switch. I tend to want to go and play some games instead - lots of the time my Switch just launches straight into the game I'm playing and I don't even see the theme...
Folders and themes, really? Online friend invites is actually something useful. Without them the friends system was pretty pointless.
The alarm feature is really bloody cool. I can imagine using this for Animal Crossing A LOT.
Does the Online Play Invites section mean Nintendo are getting rid of the Nintendo Online phone app?
Version 9 and still no themes!
Then there's me, waiting for an update to allow:
Themes
Folders
Party Chat
And of course
Nintendo 64
Gameboy
Gameboy Colour
I have a feeling we will get folders and themes just before the Switch 2 is released.....
oh wow, it actually contains some updates rather than just stability.
Although in the real software world, I think the Switch is up to version 2.0 at best, not friggin 9.0 🙄
Not much i need here, except for perhaps news channel search, but still great that there is several new features.
But where is Folders? Even Wii U and 3DS have folders.
Nice update. But no folders or themes, which should be on here by now.
I was only wishing for a search function for the news channels yesterday, so that's a win for me.
Now switch all app chat games to native chat..... And we are good to go!
Ooh, stylus sensitivity setting sounds kinda cool. Might have to dip back into Sushi Striker and give that a whirl.
I still want the ability to ''switch'' off the wifi connectivity and maybe overclock the system to run games a little better 🤷🏽♂️
I've got a (maybe silly) question: should a stylus like the WiiU one now work on Switch? Or would it only damage the screen?
Internet: Can you give us a full browser on the Switch please, Nintendo?
Nintendo: No...but you can use your Switch as an alarm clock now!
I think it's fair to assume that mostly everyone in here just stopped trying to understand Nintendo. There are some relatively basic features a lot of people have been wanting since the Switch got released (folders, simple themes, to name two), and Nintendo is spending time and man-hours on an alarm feature and QR code login for their phone app or something.
I'll go with what someone else was saying earlier: my old Vita (from 2012!!!!) had a more functionnal user interface since LAUNCH than what the Switch is offering two and a half year post launch.
The Switch Lite is tempting me (as I'm playing mostly on the go) but I have the sad impression that Nintendo will make it a living hell to manage two Switch systems, as I still want to keep my original one (and be able to play my purchased games on BOTH, online or off).
Nintendo does what Nintendo wants.
It just happens that sometimes, it's also what the consumers want as well, but this seems to be unrelated. lol!
Why does this warrant a full round number upgrade??
I would say, “Why not call it 8.5?”. Then I look at Microsoft, Apple and Google on their OS updates.
Oh my gosh! Player invites!? That's huge! Did I misread that. I hope it works as it sounds. This is something I've been angry that's not been implemented until now. It's a sad thing when I see a friend playing a game that I own, but I have no way to invite them to play together.
Now if Nintendo can just deal with the brutal lag during online play that would be great. I have fibre optic, with download and upload speeds consistently hitting 300 mbps. I should never have frame rate issues that are so bad that I can't play the game. But alas, I do, more often than not.
The invites are pretty surprising. I didn't see that coming at all! Stylus mode is also surprising since there's no "official" stylus, I didn't realize Nintendo actually recognized they even existed. I don't understand the Lite button lock thing at all.
I'm convinced folders will be added in a final system update the day before Switch 2 launches, 5 years from now.
@Realnoize Yeah that's basically Nintendo in a nutshell Then again it's also why they don't just follow trends and produce another PC box designed for MTX and lootbox processing with 100GB $40 day 1 DLC just to play a new $60 game. What they do makes no sense, but at least they're not doing the really really business sensible things that the other companies are doing!
@nuovian by using the phone app not this new Online Play Invite feature
@NEStalgia
I appreciate that Nintendo isn't doing the same things as others, but those lootbox processors aren't what consumers want either (these are what shareholders want).
Is it too much to ask for a major gaming company to actually listen to their customers? Or are they too big and remote to their clients to actually know what they really want?
I appreciate Nintendo for what they are, and appreciate that they don't do the same thing as others, but there is, nonetheless, something called "listening to what your customers want", that gets very frustrating when apparently thrown out the window.
@Realnoize I suppose what the customer wants is kind of irrelevant in the modern business world. Most business serve what the investors want and customers are tools to exploit and use to achieve that. In the modern world as everything consolidates to 2-4 options available per industry, everyone has to buy whatever they sell no matter if it's what they want or not, so the business always wins.
In the case of Nintendo, they always try to chase whatever they think is interesting, or do something differently, and hope that some percentage of that is picked up by consumers as "oh, this is what I really want, I just didn't know it!" To be fair to them, it works pretty well....but when it fails it fails spectacularly.
Alright Nintendo, serious question - so when can I use my Switch as an alarm clock.
@NEStalgia There is an official stylus tho, it came with SMM2 special edition or something like that
Also, day 1 paid dlc are a bitch, but at the same time we could finally move away from "AAA game costs $60 at release"... For example AC in japan costs around $80... Not that moving away from $60 standard price would move publishers away from making $80 games with paid day 1 dlc tho
@CodyMKW They're one and the same.
hopefully the next system update will have more option for organizing the games we have on our systems.
also Nintendo needs to add official support for GameCube controller adapter as well as GameCube controllers. when i have the GameCube controllers synced with the system with the controller adapter, i would like the controllers listed as "GameCube controller", not "wired controller".
it would also be nice if they released an updated version of the GameCube controller that has home and screen shot buttons. since the GameCube controllers do not have those buttons, it may be easier to release a controller adapter that does.
@andjahiam are you always an emotional drama queen to people who write posts about what they would like to see? Maybe you should stick to painting those long sharp fingernails so stick to talking crap to your loved ones instead of people you don’t know you bitter little boy.
@CodyMKW no way I never knew, hope they implement something in the future even something similar to the App Store etc
Unlike some basement dwellers on here who live in mommy’s basement and yell when they want their microwave dinners lol us working class don’t always get time to go reading every review site to find out if a game is worth it.
Sigh, as others said, still no folders. I find it baffling how Nintendo still hasn't added this feature given how (a) it's not difficult to implement, and (b) the 3DS system software has folders!!!
Tap here to load 101 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...