Nintendo’s pushed out the latest software update! Here’s what you need to know!
Software Sorting
For the gamer with more than a few Switch games to play at their leisure, you can now sort the games you own under the “All Software” menu.(Provided you have more than 12 games.)
With the press of the R button, players can choose between four sorting options to better manage their games. Want the games you’ve put the most of your time into on the top of the list? Choosing to sort, “By Total Play Time” is for you! Want to see your library of games in alphabetical order? Now you can sort by title! Are you fond of a particular publisher’s release of games? Now you can organize games by that criteria as well! Should you ever want to return the library to how it was before the update, you can always go back and sort by “Time Last Played.”
And should you be missing a title or two from your lineup of games, Nintendo’s even added a large button to take you straight to your eShop account’s redownload list. You would still need to enter your eShop password to sign in, that is you haven’t set it to keep your password saved. From there the menu it takes you to only allows you to manage your memberships, uninstalled games, and wishlist.
However, there is an issue with security. Once there, you can also go to your eshop account’s settings, and manage your credit card info, billing, and other things you may not want just anyone to get access to.
If you were looking for a custom sorting option for your games however, like adding games to a folder, this is currently not a feature of the Switch.
New User Icons
As with other system updates, 8.0.0 brings with it more user icons. This time adding icons from Yoshi’s Crafted World, and icons from Splatoon 2.
Yoshi’s Crafted World is repped with some fuzzy and craft-y character icons,
While the Splatoon 2 additions seem to include supporting characters from the game as new icons.
It’s worth noting that these icons aren’t just for online accounts to use, but for all users, including offline or guest accounts. If you haven’t seen the icon list since you made your user profile, feel free to check out the new icons!
News Update
Of the new features added to the Nintendo Switch, the onboard News app has also gotten a small, though useful, enhancement.
Now, when reading news articles, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page, and a new button will appear, allowing you to “view other articles” by the same channel. As Amelia N., The Switch’s information center guide puts it, this feature is useful for when, “fabulous news articles get bumped off your news feed.”
Sadly, this new feature does not allow you to view all of the news articles pushed to the Switch, so certain gems such as the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct, Final Fantasy Direct, or even featured articles about certain other games won’t be found through this.
The key phrase here is “currently distributed” when it comes to the articles, which tend to be the latest announcements and releases, though this varies by news channels.
Individual Game Save Transfer
It took some time, but Nintendo has finally added the feature to transfer individual game saves to a second Switch system.
Now, a user profile can transfer an individual game’s progress, while retaining the user profile on the original console. There are two different ways to do this.
The fastest way would be to press the Plus (+) button on any game title from the home screen, then go to the “Manage Software” tab, and select “Transfer Your Save Data.”
The slower method would be to go to System Settings, then go to the “Data Management” tab, and selecting “Transfer Your Save Data.” Either way you choose to do it, it takes you to the exact same menu.
Previously, save data transfer was an all-or-nothing endeavor, transferring an entire user profile and all save data on the profile with it to a different console, while erasing the transferred data from the original console.
As an example between the two data transfer methods, say you have a friend or family member who has a profile on your household Switch system. Said person has invested a lot of time and effort in their save data.
Now, let’s say that person has a Switch of their own. Using the User Data transfer method, this person could move all of their save data and their account off of the system, and onto their own, but would have to remake their account on the household system to play their game data.
If the person happened to be a frequent user of the household Switch, they may opt instead to transfer their favorite games’ data individually to their own Switch, that way, they can have their user profile on both systems, while keeping their most important save data on their switch.
Of course, with a Nintendo Switch Online membership, the person in our hypothetical example could back up their data, do either method, and download the data back onto the other system, but each method still has its uses.
Screen Zoom
One of the last features added in the Switch’s latest firmware is that of a screen zoom, perfect for those with vision accessibility needs, or anyone who may want to see a magnified screen. To enable it, head to the system settings, and choose the System tab at the bottom. From there, turn Zoom on to enable a screen zoom at any time by double pressing the HOME button.
The newly added zoom feature also has a few interesting settings of its own. Once the HOME button is double tapped, a teal green border will glow along the edges of the screen. Users can then zoom out with the Y button, Zoom in with the X button, move the magnified area with the left stick, and lock the screen zoom by pressing the HOME button again. It is worth noting that once the screen zoom is opened, the Switch will reduce all audio output until the screen zoom is locked.
Discussion
And that’s all for the new features in Update 8.0.0 for the Switch! How do you feel about the new features? Let’s discuss in the comments!