Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Nintendo has released a massive firmware update for the Switch, which takes the system to version 4.0. The first feature update since May brings a number of additions, and one of the most surprising is the ability to record gameplay clips. User accounts and save data can now be transferred to another Switch, and players are able to update games locally from another console. Neat, eh?
The most notable feature for many is the addition of video capture. Players can hold the Capture button and record up to 30 second clips of gameplay. This won’t work with every game, and only applies to four Nintendo titles at the moment: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms, and Splatoon 2. The games have to be updated to the most recent versions for this to work. Perhaps third-party developers will be able to add this feature with a game update in the future.
If you’re one of those unfortunate folks who’s had a problem with their Switch, or you’ve bought a limited edition console, you’ll now be able to transfer your user accounts and save data. This works just like the 3DS data transfer system, and once you move the user and the associated data to a new Switch it’ll wipe the data from the original console.
There’s also the addition of pre-purchasing and pre-loading of games bought on the eShop, enabling games to be downloaded before release. This only applies to select games right now, with more to come in the future, but at least it brings a common (on other platforms) feature to the Switch console.
There’ve been some changes made to the News Feed, which has received a bit of a spruce up, and now unsubscribing from a news channel removes it from your feed. At last. Players can also match their software versions with a group of local users over wifi, which’ll come in handy if you’re playing a sports or racing game and the updated version has some different gameplay features to yours. Last but by no means least, players are now able to choose new profile icons based on characters from Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
For the full patch notes check out the Nintendo website.