The Nintendo Switch is a really cool console. Thanks to the variety of ways one can play the Switch, and the versatility of the device, it has quickly become one of my favorite gaming consoles ever. While the Switch comes with a lot of cool features, and the Joy-Cons are amazing, there are a number of tips and tricks that you may not be aware of. So, if you just bought a Nintendo Switch, and are looking to enhance your usage of the device, here are 10 cool Nintendo Switch tips and tricks you should know:
1. Take Screenshots on Nintendo Switch
Taking screenshots of games is a fun way to show off some cool graphics in a game, or maybe even a funny glitch you discovered. Heck, you may just want to share your high score for bragging rights against that noob friend of yours. Whatever your reason, you’ll be happy to know that the Nintendo Switch supports screenshots (for the most part). To take a screenshot on your Switch, all you need to do is press the small square button on the front-lower part of the left Joy-Con.
The button kinda looks like a record button, which may actually be true, because Nintendo is reportedly working on including screen recording on the Switch, as well.
2. Check Joy-Con Battery Percentage
The Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons are awesome, and they are packed with some cool tech. However, charging the Joy-Cons is a hassle. They can only be charged when connected to the Switch, and the Switch is not in use. Fortunately, there is at least a method to check the battery level of the Joy-Cons, so you can know when to charge them.
- From the Switch home screen, just go to “Controllers“.
- Here, you will be able to see the battery levels for both your Nintendo Switch console, as well as the individual charge of the Joy-Cons. With this, you can easily find out when you need to charge your Joy-Cons.
3. Edit and Post Images to Facebook and Twitter
The Nintendo Switch also comes with a cool image editing feature, that you can use to markup your screenshots before posting it to social media. You can do this by following the steps below:
- From the Switch home screen, just go to “Album”. Here, select the image you want to edit and post.
- Tap on “Editing and Posting“, or press “A” on the Joy-Con.
- Here you’ll get the option to add text. Once you’re done with that, tap on “Post”.
- Choose the user account you want to post from, and then select the social media platforms you want to share the screenshot on.
Note: You will have to log in to your social media accounts on the Nintendo Switch in order to be able to share your screenshots on Facebook, and Twitter.
4. View All Games in Nintendo eShop
The Nintendo eShop is quite nice, but on the Switch, there is at least one big missing feature – view all games. The options on the menu are only for Recent Releases, Coming Soon, Enter a Code, and a Search icon. So how do you view all the games? It’s actually simple, just follow the steps below.
- In the Nintendo eShop, just go to Search. Here, tap on the small orange arrow for “Search Filters“.
- This will show you all the games that are available in the Nintendo eShop for the region you’re in. Make sure the “Keyword” field is blank, and the “Price Range”, and “Genre” are set to “Any”.
5. Check Other Countries’ eShops
As you might have noticed in the previous section, there are only 28 games in the US eShop. If you want to see the games available in the other eShops, you’re in luck. A simple method can actually let you access the eShop for any region that you want. We have a detailed article on this, which will walk you through every step of the process.
6. Search for Games with Demo Versions Available
The Nintendo Switch doesn’t have a single free game, and all of the good ones cost quite a bits, so you will have to invest money without knowing how the game is. However, not all games are like that… there are some games that have demos available as well, but finding these games can be quite a challenge.
To do this, you can just go to the Nintendo eShop, and go to “Search”. Here, search for “Demo”, and you will see the games with demos available. Unfortunately, the US eShop only has a single game with a demo version available, and while it is fun, I don’t think a lot of people will want to buy it anyway.
Note: There are two other games available as demos in the Japanese eShop: Dragon Quest, and Tetris. Yeah, there you go! Thank me later.
7. Access Quick Settings
For those of you that don’t know, you can turn the Nintendo Switch off by simply pressing and holding the power button for about 5 seconds, choosing Power Options, and then choosing “Turn off”. You can put the Switch to sleep by just pressing the power button. But there are a lot of other options that you can make use of, and these can be accessed from the Quick Settings menu.
To access the Quick Settings menu on the Nintendo Switch, just press and hold the “Home button” on the right Joy-Con.
This will open up the Quick Settings menu, with options for “Sleep Mode”, “Airplane Mode”, “Auto Brightness”, and more! Pretty cool, right?
8. Quickly Check the Battery Percentage for Nintendo Switch
You may already know that you can get the Switch to always display the battery percentage in the main screen, by going to Settings, and enabling “Console Battery (%)” under System. However, if you just want to check the percentage of battery remaining, but don’t want to have to enable it, you can actually just tap on the battery icon on the home screen, to show the battery percentage for a few seconds.
It automatically disappears after that. This is a handy way of checking the remaining battery on your Switch without having to clutter up the Status Bar.
9. Uninstall Downloaded Games
The Switch has a very limited storage space, and you’ll have to manage storage space efficiently. This might mean having to uninstall games that you’ve already played, and don’t really need on your console anymore.
- To do this, you can simply go to System Settings -> Data Management -> Manage Software.
- Here, you can just select the game you want to uninstall, and tap on “Delete Software“.
Note: You can also choose “Archive Software”. The only difference is that archiving will not remove the game’s icon from your home screen. You can just tap on the icon to download the game again. However, if you delete, you’ll have to download the game from the eShop (without having to pay for it again, obviously).
10. Check Your Internet Speed with Switch
Why use a special app on your smartphone to check your internet speed, when your Switch can do it for you?
- Just go to System Settings, and “Test Connection” under “Internet“.
- Your Switch will then proceed to test your network speed, and you will see the Download and Upload fields get populated soon.
This can come in handy when you just need to check if your network is performing fine, in case a game is downloading way too slow.
SEE ALSO: 15 Best Nintendo Switch Games You Must Play
Use Your Switch Better with these Nintendo Switch Tips and Tricks
The Nintendo Switch, as I’ve already said, is a very versatile device. It packs in quite a lot of power, and can let you play demanding games like the Legend of Zelda on a TV. However, with these tricks, you’ll be able to use your Switch even better, and do a lot of things you might not have known were possible to do. So, what do you think about the Nintendo Switch? Do you think it’s worth all the attention it gets? Also, if you know of any other cool Nintendo Switch tricks, do let us know in the comments section below.
