With an external battery pack, you can charge the Switch without needing to plug it into a wall charger or the dock. Try as you might to extend the life of your Switch’s battery, it’s eventually going to die, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop playing it when you’re on the go. This will not work when docked, but that also means you don’t need to worry about battery life. To shut this off, head into the main system settings and select Airplane Mode. The Switch likes to search for new access points when it can, and unless you tell it otherwise, even if it has a great network connection, it can still periodically scan the airwaves and muck with your gaming session. Some users have found that disabling Wi-Fi auto-connect helps quite a bit, particularly when you’re in handheld mode. Sometimes, though, background processes and the like can tax the hybrid’s scant computing resources and cause framerate slowdowns. While Nintendo’s latest hardware isn’t as powerful as its cousins from Microsoft and Sony, it still packs quite a bit of performance into a very small frame.
A few carrying cases also contain slots to hold your Pro Controller so you can take it with you. It also still has the motion control features found in the Joy-Cons, and the more traditional directional pad and larger face buttons give you the home console experience that the smaller controllers can’t offer. It’s a lot gentler on the joints than the default Joy-Cons, making it perfect for marathon sessions of Breath of the Wild. It’s technically optional, but we consider Nintendo’s Switch Pro Controller a must-have accessory. If you have a protector on the screen, that will be scratched instead of the screen itself, and you can easily replace it instead of sending your system in for a repair. There are extra-sturdy glass protectors available as well as plastic ones, which will mostly prevent scratches, but a flaw in the design of the console’s dock can lead to it scuffing the screen when the system is inserted or removed. One other must-have protection accessory is a screen protector. Choose the one that best suits your style, but don’t feel weird if you need to buy a second case later on. Depending on your needs, there are several different cases to choose from, including slim ones designed to go in a backpack and larger, sturdier cases that can also hold a variety of accessories.
The Nintendo Switch can be a portable system, but this isn’t like your old DS or Game Boy Advance SP - you’ll want to get a case so it isn’t damaged while you’re out and about. Even if you buy physical games, mandatory content updates on many of them contain the rest of the game files, so there isn’t any getting around purchasing one. Unlike the PlayStation Vita, the cards used for the Switch aren’t proprietary. You can get large-capacity microSD cards for relatively little cash these days, and depending on the speed, you might already have a compatible card. It sucks, we know, but they aren’t too expensive. So if you’re planning on playing just about anything other than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildor Super Mario Odyssey, you’ll probably want to grab a hefty-sized microSD card. Some titles already require more space than that, including Dragon Quest Heroes. The Switch comes with 32GB of built-in storage, which is not enough to play many games. Its internal storage capacity is none one of them. There are many great things about the Switch.
Access region-exclusive games on the eShop.
Make multiple profiles for more save slots.