New Nintendo Switch Improvement Is a Game Changer For Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Nintendo recently replaced the launch Nintendo Switch model with a newer one that has a better battery, and this new battery is proving to be big for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players who play the platform fighter undocked. At the time of the swap, Nintendo made the bold claim that the average battery life would improve with a range of 4.5 to 9 hours depending on the game. The previous range was 2.5 to 6.5 hours. So, a pretty hefty boost. That said, some were skeptical if the new battery would improve battery life this much. But it does.

When running an endless 8-player CPU battle in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on both the newer and older switch, the former did much better battery life wise. The new version ran for nearly five hours, while the older version ran for about 3 hours. Two extra hours may not seem like a big difference, but when you're dealing with such lower numbers it is.

That said, 4 hours and 50 minutes may not seem like that much either. It's not, but this was with the AI difficulty turned up all the way, as well as the brightness at max. Of course, auto-sleep and auto-brightness were turned off. This was done to push the system as much as possible. In other words, you could probably get a lot more time with the newer battery playing the game normally.

As an owner of a launch Nintendo Switch, this is a bit hard to hear. I exclusively play the system in handheld mode, but it can be a pain sometimes with the battery life not being great. For example, Fire Emblem: Three Houses burns through my battery. All of this is to say, don't buy systems at launch, especially ones that use batteries.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available on the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch only. For more news, media, and information on the critically-acclaimed and best-selling platform fighter, be sure to take a peep at all of our previous and extensive coverage of the game by clicking right here. And as always, feel free to leave a comment or two with your thoughts.

Thanks, Tom's Guide.