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Nintendo Switch 2 Update Adds Handheld Boost Mode For Switch 1 Games – And Is Apparently Their “Most Insane Security Update Yet”

March 17, 2026 by Ryan Parreno

Of course Nintendo was always working on it.

Nintendo has published what may be the biggest system update for the Switch 2 yet.

As explained in the patch notes, it adds Handheld Mode Boost:

Handheld Mode Boost will cause compatible Switch software to run as if in TV Mode, so certain functionality may be affected. Please see the on-device description for more details.

Handheld Mode Boost increases the image quality of Switch 1 games running on Switch 2 handheld mode. The functionalities Nintendo warns about is some games reading the Joy-Cons as a Pro controller, needing the Joy-Cons to be removed from the console, etc.

Interestingly, one part of this update isn’t directly stated in the patch notes, that’s come to Switch and Switch 2. As programmer Nock notes on Twitter, this is their ‘most insane security update yet’.

Switch Modder SwitchTools also warns other modders on Twitter not to update their consoles. If this update has not really locked out modders from hacking Switch consoles, they haven’t figured out how to make it work again yet.

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Category: UpdatesTag: Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2

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