Nintendo has released its Day One update ahead of the Switch console’s release tomorrow, and one element is a bit of throwback – friend codes are still mandatory to add online friends in some circumstances.
As seen in the screenshot of the console’s Add Friend menu below, there are several methods for adding friends – including through a local connection, past online play, and existing friends on Nintendo’s smartphone apps.
However, at time of writing, the only method of adding a friend online who you haven’t had contact with previously is by using the 12-digit code applied to your Nintendo account – you cannot add a friend by searching for a username or another similar method.
Nintendo introduced friend codes as a way of protecting users (particularly children) from unsolicited friend requests. However, the system has been criticised for being cumbersome, and Nintendo had appeared to be phasing codes out.
Given the connection to existing Nintendo apps, it may be that the upcoming Nintendo Switch Online Service smart device app (which will also be used for voice communication for the system) will include a system for adding friends, although this is unconfirmed right now.
The Switch will be released tomorrow, March 3 – while we’re not totally sold on the console itself, its headline launch game is “a watershed game that reinvents a 30-year-old franchise“.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s UK News Editor, and this could all be a huge exercise in nostalgia, who knows? Follow him on Twitter.