Nintendo Switch Games Receive Mysterious New Updates
Nintendo Switch just released updates for popular games that do not appear to do anything.
This article is more than 2 years old
Nintendo just released new and mysterious updates for some of its greatest hit games on Nintendo Switch, including Super Mario Maker 2, Splatoon 2, ARMS, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. What makes these updates mysterious is the fact that they apparently don’t bring any novelties to the aforementioned games and that their patch notes read almost exactly the same — addressing several issues to improve the gameplay experience.
Given the age of the said titles, users haven’t really expected to see any more updates at all, and there wasn’t any mention among the gaming community that the games had any major problems. So, anyone who expected anything major from the recently dropped updates was left disappointed. According to ComicBook.com, the simultaneous update with the exact same language dropping on the same night for four different first-party titles raises some questions as to what’s going on, considering that these haven’t included any novelties within the game.
Unfortunately, we shouldn’t expect any word on this from Nintendo, which has a nasty habit of explaining its actions in one sentence — if it even does explain itself. And the same goes for any updates on the world’s most popular handheld; the consumers have already gotten used to vague updates from the company. The gamers have already jump-started the rumor mill, with many now speculating that this might be a pre-patch in light of coming updates for said games.
But is that really the case, or is it just wishful thinking from the gaming community regarding the favorite gaming titles? Animal Crossing: New Horizons received its last meaningful update earlier this year, while Splatoon 2 hasn’t received any updates in more than a year. Super Mario Maker hasn’t seen any kind of update since mid-2020, and ARMS hasn’t been updated since its release in 2018. So, what’s the actual meaning of these updates and the exact same patch notes behind all of them?
It was proven, over time, that Nintendo Switch enthusiasts and data miners are usually the ones capable of providing the answer Nintendo withheld, and that’s certainly the case this time. According to OatmealDome, a known Nintendo update data miner, it’s likely that Nintendo has issued these updates across all four games due to major security bugs. This is the most likely explanation backed up by the fact that we’re discussing Nintendo’s first-party releases and that there are some common code components that these games might share.
OatmealDome also stated that the updates most likely aren’t tied to the aforementioned games’ net codes, which would constitute a more massive update backed up by a heavier monetary and time investment. On the other hand, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that the company is currently looking into ways to improve the Nintendo Switch Online service via further enhancements, which might also imply updates to the older gaming titles’ net codes, but that remains to be seen.
Without any official confirmation from Nintendo, we can only assume that the mysterious Nintendo Switch games’ update rectified major security bugs found in common code components shared by the aforementioned games.
