Turning the system on for the first time greets users with the Switch logo along with a bright and cheery jingle. After selecting your language and region, the system will automatically begin searching for a network to connect to. The system then prompts to connect to a TV and follows up by showing how to detach the joycons. Lastly, before getting to the meat of the system, it asks users to set up their accounts and icons, up to eight of which can be on a system at a time.
Navigating through the different options on the operating system is seamless – taking less than a second to load after each click. The main menu has empty spaces for cartridge and downloadable games, along with six smaller icons on the bottom. These consist of news, e-shop, album, controllers, system settings, and sleep mode. The main menu is simple and pleasing to the eye, lacking any unnecessary clutter or advertisements.
The news panel open up with cute Nintendo sound effects and vibrant images displaying news and information. As time goes on the tutorials like “Take Screenshots! Show Your Friends!” and “Where Do I Put the microSD Card?” will most likely be replaced with game announcements and update notes. The eShop is inaccessible without a system update, so it was not shown. And the album section is quite bare without any actual screenshots. The controller menu shows a “Change Grip/Order” button along with the option to pair new controllers.
The system settings contain most of what you would expect – brightness, parental controls, internet options, and more. The Data Management section shows that out of the 32GB of internal storage, 6.1GB are used for the operating system itself. Amiibo support allows users to delete game data and reset their amiibos, like in the Wii U and 3DS.
One nice feature is selecting themes, which hopefully will be updated with more than just basic black and white. The TV settings are as basic as possible, but uncover that the display can output a lower resolution at 480p.
The last section of the video shows the Switch going into sleep mode and turning back on. The system can either be manually put into sleep mode through the main menu, or be set to automatically enter sleep mode after a certain amount of time has passed. Interestingly, there is an option to “suspend auto-sleep while playing media content” – hinting at the future release of applications like Netflix and Hulu.
The leaked video didn’t unveil any ludicrous secrets or hidden features, but it did show a smooth operating system that appears responsive and clean. Seeing the touch screen in action gives the impression that it’s more reactive than the Wii U, and the sound effects and jingles really give off the Nintendo feel. The Nintendo Switch releases on March 3rd and will hopefully answer all of our questions about Virtual Console and actual system specifications.
Check out the full video below:
