{"id":36996,"date":"2026-03-17T20:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=36996"},"modified":"2026-03-17T20:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:50:56","slug":"switch-2-system-update-adds-handheld-boost-mode-for-switch-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=36996","title":{"rendered":"Switch 2 system update adds Handheld Boost Mode for Switch games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/gettyimages-2207677101.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Nintendo has pushed out a new system update for the Switch 2, and the star feature is one that&#8217;s been much requested: Handheld Boost Mode. This mode allows the Switch 2 to run original Switch games in handheld mode as if they were docked in TV mode, increasing resolution and performance.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<p>Many Switch games run in 720p (the resolution of the Switch&#8217;s built-in screen) when in handheld mode, upgrading to 1080p when docked. Handheld Boost Mode takes advantage of the Switch 2&#8217;s extra power and built-in 1080p screen to run Switch games like this all the time.<\/p>\n<p>When in Handheld Boost Mode, Switch games treat the Switch 2&#8217;s attached Joy-Con 2 controllers as if they were a Pro Controller, and the touch screen may be disabled due to the game running in TV mode. Some on-screen instructions may be incorrect, too. As a result, some games with motion and touch controls are not compatible. Nintendo hasn&#8217;t provided a list, but reports indicate that <em>Super Mario Maker 2<\/em>, <em>Pok\u00e9mon Let&#8217;s Go Eevee <\/em>and <em>Pikachu<\/em>, and <em>The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD<\/em>, among others, are blocked from Handheld Boost Mode. (In addition, it will have no effect on some games, depending on how they handle TV mode.)<\/p>\n<p>Handheld Boost Mode isn&#8217;t a default setting; you need to turn it on in the settings menu, under &#8220;System&#8221; and &#8220;Nintendo Switch Software Handling.&#8221; Nintendo notes that it may increase power consumption while playing.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the update, Nintendo has added the ability to save notes about friends on your friends list; made some GameChat improvements, making it easier to invite friends; changed the text and animation when loading a virtual game card; added some accessibility features, including Russian and Portuguese support for GameChat&#8217;s speech-to-text feature; and included breakdowns of storage capacity by data type.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the full patch notes:<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"ver-22-0-0-released-march-16-2026\">\n                        Ver. 22.0.0 (Released March 16, 2026)<br \/>\n               <\/h2>\n<p><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"\">\n<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        Changed the on-screen text and animations when you load a virtual game card in the HOME Menu.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added the ability to save notes about friends on your Friend List. The note content is not displayed to friends.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        Added the ability to see and edit these notes from the Nintendo Switch App. The app must be on version 3.3.0 or higher to use this feature.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n                                        The following features were added to support GameChat:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        Added the ability to invite friends to GameChat rooms you\u2019re participating in. Some friends may not be able to be invited, such as supervised accounts.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Friends that haven&#8217;t finished GameChat initial setup can now be invited to GameChat. Some friends may not be able to be invited, such as supervised accounts or those who haven\u2019t used a Nintendo Switch 2.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        It may take a while for this change to be reflected after updating your console to system version 22.0.0.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Improvements were made to the quality of the game screen shared in a GameChat when expanded.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added the ability to rewind 10 seconds\/advance 10 seconds with the ZL and ZR Buttons when watching a full screen video in News or Nintendo eShop.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added the option to add the following data to \u201cAutomatic Uploads\u201d from <strong>Album<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        Clip Video, Video saved as a screenshot, and screenshot with added text.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added Portuguese (Portugal) and Russian to \u201cGameChat Voice \u21d4 Speech to Text\u201d languages in <strong>Accessibility<\/strong>.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Text-to-Speech, under <strong>Accessibility<\/strong>, can now read the text in <strong>Album<\/strong> and during first-time setup.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added the ability to see the breakdown of storage capacity by data type for the system memory and microSD Express card.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added the ability to perform an audio test when \u201cLinear PCM 5.1 Surround\u201d is selected for <strong>TV Sound<\/strong> in <strong>Audio<\/strong>.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Changed the &#8220;Hong Kong\/Taiwan\/South Korea&#8221; region to &#8220;Hong Kong\/Taiwan\/South Korea\/South East Asia&#8221; in <strong>Device<\/strong>.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added \u201cHandheld Mode Boost\u201d to <strong>Nintendo Switch Software Handling<\/strong> in <strong>System<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        Handheld Mode Boost will cause compatible Switch software to run as if in TV Mode, so certain functionality may be affected. Please see the on-device description for more details.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n                                        The following features were added to Airplane Mode:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        When Airplane Mode is activated, the previously set preferences for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or NFC while in Airplane Mode will be saved and applied.\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added the ability to individually enable or disable Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or NFC during Airplane Mode from the Quick Settings.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n                                        Added the ability to see a notification in the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls smart device application when the Parental Controls PIN is input successfully on the console. This can also be set up to be a push notification to your smart device.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        The app must be on version 2.4.0 or higher to use this functionality.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n                                        General system stability improvements to enhance the user&#8217;s experience.\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/nintendo-switch-2-system-update-22-handheld-boost-mode\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nintendo has pushed out a new system update for the Switch 2, and the star feature is one that&#8217;s been much requested: Handheld Boost Mode&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[5988,1889,321,3575,1160,255,2020,2622],"class_list":["post-36996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-adds","tag-boost","tag-games","tag-handheld","tag-mode","tag-switch","tag-system","tag-update","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}