Nintendo Reminds You To Charge Your Switch At Least Every Six Months For Battery Health

Portable consoles featuring internal batteries need to be charged occasionally to maintain the health of the battery, as a drained battery left for a long time can run into problems. Nintendo has reminded people of this fact with a tweet about the Switch, and it’s gone viral.

The Japanese Nintendo support information account made the tweet below on September 28. It translates to “The battery built into the game console may become unchargeable if it has not been charged or used for too long. Please charge it once every six months.”

This is an issue that few owners of the system have likely thought about, but it’s also a solid reminder for the health of the older systems that are gathering dust on shelves and in cupboards, from the Game Boy Advance SP to the Nintendo 3DS. Owners of the Sony PSP have recently found that their units have suffered from swelling batteries that have rendered them unusable–especially since PSP batteries are in short supply these days.

This is more likely to be an issue for Switch Lite users than owners of the standard Switch–the console will charge when placed into the dock, after all.

Most players would be keeping their system charged, though–22.4 million Animal Crossing sales suggests that the Switch’s owner base is quite active.

The Switch has two major Nintendo-published exclusives coming later this year: Pikmin 3 Deluxe on October 30 and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity on November 20. The next fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will also be revealed very soon, which should be a very good reason for fans to make sure their system is charged.