We might not have had a proper Nintendo Direct in 2026 yet, but there have been plenty of Switch and Switch 2-related announcements in the last few weeks, including a release date for the Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, a surprise port of Kena: Bridge of SpiritsĀ and the final trailer for the imminent The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. But if youāre a Switch 2 owner who prefers to play your library of games in handheld mode, Nintendoās latest announcement might be the one that interests you most.
The company has released the 22.0.0 system update for its latest console, which brings with it a host of tweaks and improvements, the most notable of which being the introduction of “Handheld Mode Boost.” If youāve played any original Switch games that havenāt received next-gen patches in handheld mode on Switch 2, you might have noticed that they look a bit blurry and unappealing. Thatās because theyāre still rendering at 720p on the Switch 2ās larger 1080p display, so the image is being stretched to fit a screen it wasnāt designed for.
Handheld Mode Boost doesnāt mean that all unpatched Switch games are now natively running at 1080p on Switch 2, but rather that the console is telling them to run in the original Switchās docked TV mode ā which was able to output at 1080p ā on the handheld. Since launch this has seemed like the obvious workaround for Switch games, but it has taken nearly a year for Nintendo to implement it. You should see higher resolution visuals and, in some cases, better performance, as a result.
When running original Switch games in Handheld Boost Mode (enabled via a toggle in the system menu) your Switch 2 will treat the attached Joy-Con 2 controllers as if they were a Pro Controller. This disables features like motion controls and touchscreen functionality, meaning some games won’t work on the newer hardware with Handheld Boost Mode turned on. EurogamerĀ names Super Mario Maker 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD as two examples of games that aren’t compatible at the moment.Ā
There are a number of other updates in version 22.0.0, including a new animation for loading a virtual game card, new GameChat features and more customization options in flight mode. The full list of patch notes can be found here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/switch-2-software-update-adds-handheld-mode-boost-for-your-old-games-165451808.html?src=rss
