9 Things You Might Not Know About The Switch 2

One of Nintendo’s big shifts for the new hardware is the addition of GameChat, a tool for voice chat and sharing video with people on your friends list. But how do they get added to that list to begin with? Still friend codes, it turns out; Nintendo’s annoying method of finding other players that requires entering bespoke strings of numbers into a text field instead of browsing by username.

Fortunately, there’s now a new, easier way to link up with people that bypasses the tedium of entering friend codes: QR codes. Players can now share them via the smartphone app to easily sync up with one another. Not great, but still much better than the current system. —Ethan Gach

Sadly, the Nintendo eShop on Switch 2 won’t have a musical theme like it did on the Wii. According to Nintendo, it’s not because they hate joy, but instead because the eShop has trailers and videos now and the company didn’t want to “intrude” on that content. Still, they should just put the Wii Shopping Channel theme in there as an option. Come on. -Zack Zwiezen

Animal Crossing: New Horizons only let you have one island per Switch, and you couldn’t easily back it up to the cloud. It was also a pain to transfer it between consoles when upgrading, requiring you to deal with an entirely separate smartphone app. Not so with Switch 2. System transfers have been streamlined for the new hardware, including when going from Switch 1 to Switch 2.

“When you do the system transfer, everything like save data will remain on the Nintendo Switch and once it moves to the Nintendo Switch 2 as well,” hardware director Takuhiro Dohta told Polygon. The transfer will include players’ islands. “But the [Animal Crossing] island will be an actual move. So it will leave Nintendo Switch and move over to Nintendo Switch 2,” he added. Millions of players with hundreds of hours cultivating their Animal Crossing retreat can breathe a collective sigh of relief. - EG

Once again, Nintendo has decided to not include system-wide achievements in a new console. At this point, I’m not surprised. But I am still sad about it. Achievements are a great way to create a record of what you’ve played and can also challenge you to play a game a different way. Not including them on Switch 2 is a shame. -ZZ

While only mentioned briefly during the Nintendo Direct, the company’s NFC-enabled plastic figurines known as Amiibo will continue to work with the Switch 2 via the right Joy-Con and new Pro controller. In fact, Nintendo is releasing even more of them this year, including a set of Sages from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as well as third-party Amiibo from Street Fighter 6.

We still don’t know what kinds of new functionality might be incorporated for games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond or Mario Kart World but anyone’s big Amiibo collection will remain relevant heading into Nintendo’s next-gen console. —EG

Back in 2017, when the original Switch came out, we discovered that the console’s game carts were covered in a bitter substance that made them taste horrible. The idea was that kids and pets would spit the tiny pieces of plastic out instead of swallowing them. Flash forward to 2025 and Nintendo has confirmed that Switch 2 carts will also be covered in the same bitter chemical. - ZZ

The purpose behind the mysterious C button was finally revealed earlier this month during Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct. It turns out the button stands for chat and it will be how you open up all the GameChat options on Switch 2. But GameChat, after an initial free trial, will only be available to paying Nintendo Online subscribers.

And if you don’t pay and press the button you are told to subscribe. Neat, a physical button hidden behind a paywall! I love our dystopian future. -ZZ

One of Nintendo’s most bizarre but beloved peripherals ever is making a comeback. A limited supply of modern GameCube controllers will be available for the Switch 2 which is adding games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and F-Zero GX to its Switch Online Expansion Pack subscription. Yay! But Nintendo also clarified that “the controller is only compatible with Nintendo GameCube: Nintendo Classics.” Boo!

However, the company also had a similar disclaimer for the NES and N64 controller re-issues on the current console, which did work with some Switch games. So it’s still possible you might be able to play Mario Kart World or, more importantly, the next Smash Bros. with the GameCube controller, it’s just not something Nintendo is committing to across the board. —EG

Fans of Nintendo’s cel-shaded, seafaring Zelda entry have been waiting for the company to port the HD remaster of Wind Waker for the Wii U to the Switch just like it’s done with nearly every other Wii U game. When the company revealed GameCube games coming to Switch Online, it seemed like a clear signal that was never going to happen. But it turns out there might still be hope, thought it sounds slim.

Kinda Funny Games co-host Tim Gettys recently said that he’d asked the senior VP of product development and publishing at Nintendo of America if the Switch Online port precluded the Wii U version from still being brought forward at some point. “He was very quick to say no, like all options are on the table,” Gettys said. “Obviously nothing’s confirmed one way or another but there are many examples of games that are on NSO and you can still get them in a different way whether it’s a remake or just the same port version or whatever it is, so interesting that they didn’t say it’s not happening but essentially it was ‘never say never, it’s Nintendo.’” - EG