Nintendo Switch day-one update takes less than a minute to download

If you’re planning on picking up a Nintendo Switch, prepare to spend less than a minute downloading the update — and quite a bit less than that installing it.

The Switch will let players know that the 2.0.0 update is available when they boot Nintendo’s new hardware. We knew the update was coming and navigated to the System Settings menu ahead of time. In our experience today, the entire process — downloading via Wi-Fi, installing and rebooting — took less than 90 seconds. You can see the update process in the series of screenshots below.

The Switch doesn’t disclose the update’s file size, but considering how fast it downloaded, our best guess is Nintendo essentially flipped the switches on a couple of locked features and patched in a relatively small amount of code.

The 2.0.0 update allows players to connect to the Switch’s online features, which includes access to the eShop to download games and social media. The day-one patch also brings back the dreaded 12-digit Friend Codes that players must use to look up their friends online.

The Nintendo Switch will go on sale worldwide on March 3. For our thoughts on the system, be sure to check out our review.