The Nintendo Switch is one of the most popular consoles for young and very young people due to the great fun that its games are able to bring and for the flexibility it brings with it: in fact, it is possible both to use it as a portable console and to use it as a living room console by connecting it to a TV and using various controllers to play games with friends and family.
In the following guide we will show you what the best little-known features of the Nintendo Switch, so as to be able to exploit it to 100% of its capabilities without limiting itself only to playing. The functions can concern both the console itself and the controllers (called Joy-Con).
READ ALSO -> Start playing the best free games on Switch
1) Find lost controllers
If we lose one of the Switch controllers we can find it with the console itself using the Find Controller function. To use this convenient function, open the tab Controller in the main menu and select the item Find controllers on the right side of the menu.
The console will provide a list of controllers associated with the Switch: we select the lost controller, hold down the A, L or R buttons on the screen and follow the vibration of the controller to find it. If the controller is off, the console can turn it on remotely, but only if it is close enough (within 20 meters of the console due to the physical limit of Bluetooth).
2) Use user profiles
User profiles are useful if multiple people are using the same Switch, but they can also be very useful if you’re just playing the game, as they’re a great shortcut to creating extra save slots for single-slot games.
To create a new profile on the fly, open System settings from the main menu, we select Users and finally press on Add user. Now all that remains is to follow the on-screen instructions to create a new profile, so that you can select it when you start the console.
3) Play games not available in Italy
The profile system seen above also lends itself very well to playing titles not yet available in Italy but playable in a foreign country (for example in Japan or the United States). Once the new user profile has been created, we also create a new Nintendo Accounttaking care to use a different email address than the official one (we can use many free email services for the purpose).
When indicating the country of the Nintendo Account, select a country other than Italy (such as Japan o USA), in order to be able to buy games not yet available in Italy on the store.
Nothing prevents us from buying foreign Nintendo Switch game cartridges on sites like Amazon GermaniaAmazon UK or Amazon USA: The console is unlocked and can play any game, even those from overseas.
4) Connect Joy-Con to PC
The Nintendo Switch controllers can be used as controllers for PC games: they will be seen as simple Bluetooth controllers and can be mapped in a simple and immediate way with a program like antimicro.
All we have to do is turn off the Nintendo Switch, unhook the controllers by pressing the small button on the top of the controller, bringing us to the PC and opening the menu dedicated to Bluetooth, so as to start the search for new devices; after pairing the controllers, just use antimicro to associate the keys of a game with the Joy-Con keys.
If we have pairing problems for Bluetooth we can read our guide on what to do if bluetooth won’t connect.
5) Activate an anti-theft for the Switch
If we travel often, it may be a good idea to activate one anti-theft for the Switchwhich will prevent the thief from using the console and starting any app without knowing the unlock code, effectively making the theft useless.
To proceed we will have to enable the Parental controls on the Switch, which can protect access to games and apps but also protect the Switch from theft; for this purpose we download the app on our phone Parental Controls for Nintendo (available for Android and for iPhone), let’s go to the Nintendo Switch, let’s go to the System Settings -> Use your smart deviceconfirm the presence of the app, scan the QR code to associate the Switch with the parental control app and choose an unlock code.
To activate the real anti-theft, open the app again Parental Controls for Nintendowe activate the voice Suspend softwarewe set the minimum age in Custom settings (ie 3+) and enter the time slot in which we plan to travel or stay away from home (we can also enter all hours of the day and all days of the week for truly effective protection).
In this way we will be able to play or do anything on the console only if we know the unlock code, which must be entered as soon as you turn on the console and try to use any game or app.
6) Streaming services for Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch can be used primarily for gaming, but it can become a good pastime for watch streaming videos on compatible apps for the consoleso that we can have fun between one game session and another.
At the time of writing the only streaming apps supported by the console are:
- YouTube
- Pokémon TV
Abroad it is possible to exploit too Funimation e Hulu as streaming services; to access these two services from Italy we will have to use a VPN router and a VPN connection to the United States, as seen in our guides on how configurare VPN su Router and about how connect to VPN from USA for free.
Unfortunately there is no support for very popular apps such as Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime Video and Disney +: for now Nintendo has not communicated support for these services for the portable console, which is therefore decidedly not suitable for lovers of streaming.
Conclusions
The Nintendo Switch console hides some “secret” functions that we can use at any time to avoid theft of the console, to use numerous save slots for your favorite games, to find lost Joy-Con and to connect the controllers to the PC as well.
To learn more we can read our guides on which one to choose between Playstation, Xbox and Nintendo as a console and about how play on PC or TV with your smartphone (such as Nintendo Switch).
