Nintendo Switch Pro: 10 Improvements It Desperately Needs

Compounded by their bizarre mobile phone chat app, online is an area of the gaming universe that Nintendo are relatively new to… and it shows.

The Switch Online service is the company’s first paid subscription-based online facility and big things were expected. However, this is madcap Nintendo and so nobody expected their first true foray online to be as slick as Microsoft’s Xbox live and Sony’s Play.

Even so, they still have an unfortunate habit of clinging onto features and ideas that only seem to aggravate their custom and delay progress.

First up is the much maligned ‘friend code’, a convoluted coding system that Nintendo users must indulge in order to add and play with their friends online.

Designed to protect their more vulnerable players, it borders on paranoia, needlessly hindering a process that should be quick and simple. Similarly, the Nintendo Online service has a reputation for lag, a problem cause by a combination of things - native processing power and a network incapable of dealing with all the traffic it hosts probably play a large part.

As their online presence expands, these aspects need to be remedied if Nintendo are to solidify their return to prominence.