Fast Bootup Time Was A Top Priority During Nintendo Switch Development

Before Nintendo Switch, the Wii U was infamously known for its slow loading times to start a game or even boot up the system. That has changed with the Nintendo Switch, which takes up less than a second to wake up from Sleep Mode and start a game.

In a 4Gamer interview with Nintendo Switch Producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, the producer said that Nintendo aimed to make starting up a game from turning on the system as quickly and easy as possible. It was a priority for the system’s engineers and developers to work on this feature.

Here’s Koizumi’s comments on why Nintendo made it an important priority.

4Gamer: The scenes from the Nintendo Switch trailers have turned into reality. In Japan it seems there are many Nintendo Switch customers between 10 to 20 years old, was Nintendo Switch marketing targeted specifically at this age group?

Koizumi: Traditionally speaking, the 15 to 25 age group is a segment that Nintendo was weak at (as compared to other age groups). But, the Nintendo Switch has been very popular with this age group. If you were to ask whether we specifically targeted this age group, I would say that is not true.

As the Nintendo Switch has a concept of sharing and playing with other people, and we have a scene where sociable people were playing with each other (in the Nintendo Switch reveal trailer), doesn’t it look like the 15 to 25 age group?

4Gamer: However, nowadays it’s said that the (15 to 25) age group doesn’t spend money on home consoles…

Koizumi: Yes. The people from this age group are satisfied with the smartphone games and apps they play. So we thought of making a Sleep Mode similar to smartphones that allows people to easily pause and continue playing from where they left off. During development we repetitively said “it must be fast and easy to start a game after boot up” and “it must not affect the game and boot up must be zero seconds”.