The original Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017. Its eShop has been notoriously slow, clunky, and prone to freezing for most of that time. Nine years later, a system update has quietly done what millions of players had been asking for all along: made the thing actually usable.
The fix arrived alongside system update 22.5.0, which rolled out this week for both the original Switch and the Switch 2. While the Switch 2 side of the update carried its own changes, the headline for original Switch owners is straightforward: the eShop no longer feels like it was designed to test your patience.
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What was actually wrong with the old eShop
Here's the thing: the original Switch eShop's problems were not subtle. Players had documented freezes, multi-second load times between menu transitions, and a particularly aggravating bug where the store would lock up after every one or two purchases. That last issue is the kind of thing that makes buying a small indie game feel like a chore rather than a treat.
What most players miss when looking back at the eShop's history is that third-party tools and browser-based workarounds became genuinely popular precisely because Nintendo's own storefront was so unreliable. The community had been working around the official app for years.
The key here is that Nintendo has now addressed the freeze-after-purchase issue directly. The update resolves the recurring crash that hit after consecutive transactions, meaning you can finally browse a sale, grab a few games, and move on with your life without babysitting the process.
What the update actually changes
Beyond the crash fix, the update brings noticeable performance improvements to general navigation. Menu transitions load faster, the store responds more reliably to inputs, and browsing through DLC pages now opens into proper search-style result views rather than the previous sluggish single-item scroll.
One trade-off has surfaced: bulk selection for DLC purchases appears to have been adjusted, with some users noting that DLC no longer supports the same multi-select processing that existed before. Whether that is an intentional change or a side effect of the overhaul remains to be seen.
For Switch owners still playing on the original hardware, this matters more than it might seem. With titles like Pokémon Champions still available on the Switch eShop (check out the Pokémon Champions release date and start times guide for the full breakdown) and a steady stream of indie releases continuing to land on the platform, the eShop remains a live storefront. Having it actually function properly is not a luxury.
Nine years is a long time to wait for a fix
To put this in perspective: the Switch launched before Breath of the Wild became a cultural phenomenon. Players have completed multiple full playthroughs of 100-hour RPGs in the time it took to get a functioning storefront on the original hardware.
The timing is interesting too. The Switch 2 has been out for a matter of months, and Nintendo is still pushing updates to its predecessor alongside the new platform. That dual-platform support is good news for anyone not yet on Switch 2, and it suggests Nintendo is not simply abandoning the original hardware now that its successor is out.
For players jumping between both systems, titles like Pokémon Pokopia use features like GameShare to bridge the two platforms. The guide on how to play Pokémon Pokopia on Nintendo Switch 1 covers exactly how that works if you are navigating the split-platform setup.
What Switch owners should do now
The update is available now and installs through the standard system update process. If you have been avoiding the eShop because of its historically poor performance, this is a reasonable moment to give it another look. There are active sales running, and the storefront should no longer punish you for trying to use it.
The Switch 2 continues to attract new ports and exclusives, including the upcoming Phasmophobia arrival confirmed for the platform. Full details on that are in the Phasmophobia Nintendo Switch 2 guide. For now though, original Switch owners have something they have been waiting nearly a decade for: an eShop that does not make you want to close the console and walk away.
