Some Last-Minute Revelations about the Switch.

The Switch is being released today, and all around the world, people were standing in line for midnight launch parties, collecting pre-orders, and generally getting pumped for getting their hands on Nintendo’s innovative new product. And while I’m not one to discourage that kind of excitement (at least, not yet: wait until I publish my op-ed), we’ve learned a few more things about the console, and if you were looking to know as much as possible before you finalized your purchase (in case there are any left over at your local retailer), then here’s what you should know:

First of all, the Day 1 patch for the Nintendo Switch was released for Journalists, and it added a few things that weren’t in the vanilla game. Most of it was fairly standard stuff, like the eShop, but there was also the inclusion of the ever-troublesome Friends Codes, so if you thought Nintendo was done with that mess, you’re in for a sad realization.

But Nintendo, via Polygon, has revealed there will be other, alternative ways to add friends: once you match your mobile device to the Switch, any friends in Super Mario Run or Miitomo can be easily added to your Switch friend’s list. You’ll also be able to import or accept friends from your Wii U or 3DS. And some games will give you the option to add players to your friend's list, either during or after gameplay. Finally, if you connect with another Switch through local wireless, you can add the owner of that account.

So that’s nifty.

Secondly, it’s well-known that the Nintendo Switch has 32 gigs of internal memory (that can be expanded with a MicroSDXC card), but if you were hoping to avoid that using Cloud Storage, then more bad news: Nintendo has clarified via IGN that all their data will be stored internally, on the console itself, and there’s no way to transfer that data to the cloud or to another Switch device. The tricky part is this remains true even if you remove the MicroSDXC card and move it to another Switch console, as progress is ALL saved internally.

So that’s upsetting.

Finally, several reviewers have noticed that the Nintendo Switch game cartages taste super bad. Don’t ask me how they figured that out, but yeah, put that thing on your tongue and you’re gonna be in for an unpleasant surprise. Turns out, however, that’s no accident: Nintendo has confirmed they intentionally made the cards taste terrible to avoid being eaten by any stupid children. Apparently, the coat each card with a non-toxic bittering agent to ensure no youngins accidentally or intentionally swallow each card.

So that’s actually really cool.

Anyway. Enough from me. If you want the Switch, hurry up and grab one before you lose your chance for the next year and a half.