I Wish Nintendo Switch Could Restart or Turn Off from a Controller

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's inconvenient and favouritism of Sleep Mode.

I have owned the Nintendo Switch for over five years now (that's...a long time!), so something must be really bothering me to suddenly begin complaining about a feature/command that hasn't been in there that entire time. And at the risk of being deemed a shill or FAKE NEWS, it's the lack of being able to access this power options menu using a controller/button inputs:

You need to physically hold down the Nintendo Switch's POWER Button for three seconds to access this menu.
It's only through this menu that you can Restart or Turn Off your Switch.
Hey, is that the HARVESTELLA demo?
I suppose you'll see some content on that soon.

All you can do from a controller is hold down your controller's HOME button during gameplay and you'll be able to activate Sleep Mode... which you could also do right from the HOME Menu itself with the stick and selecting it:

The right side of the screen obscures it, but from the HOME Menu you can pick a Power Button icon to turn the Switch off to Sleep Mode.
You can hold the HOME Button itself during actual gameplay if you want, and adjust the volume and Airplane Mode from that too.
They call this the Quick Settings Menu.

Why might I want to actually turn my Switch off instead of letting it sleep all the time? Because even after Splatoon 3's version 1.1.2 patch that I said “Fixed Many Disconnect Issues”, I'm still getting some connection problems. Tonight, I played a lot of Salmon Run (the rotation has the Splattershot Jr. and Dynamo Roller, which are the two primary weapons that I've mained across all three Splatoon games) without an issue. So far, so good. Then, I decided to play some Turf War. After a lengthy losing streak, I filled up the third Sub Ability on my shoes and went to switch gear, still in the same room. But I couldn't queue up successfully to the next match. Connection error. Well, alright. It was after 20:00 and it was a new rotation (and day). I could collect my Shel-drone item and play the Shell-Out Machine. No big deal.

But after doing that, I kept getting connection errors trying to get into a match. So I never did get into a match, and instead I wanted to reset my Nintendo Switch. Sometimes doing that gets its act together, like resetting a personal computer or laptop fixes issues. Anyone who has ever worked at a service desk before knows that's the first (and often only) solution you have to offer when someone reports problems—and somehow, it miraculously often works.

But there isn't a convenient way to restart your Switch. The only convenient (from your controller, as opposed to on the hardware device itself) power option for your Switch is to put it in Sleep Mode, which doesn't fix any problems, and if anything, exacerbates the issue if your Switch remains connected to the Internet the whole time (but poorly connected). I don't know why Nintendo is obsessed with making Sleep much more accessible (through HOME Menu and holding down the HOME button) than the real power options. The Switch still consumes electricity while asleep, after all. Not much, but it's more than it would while totally off. What's their dang problem? Even their How to Power Off the System support article has a call-out telling you how to use Sleep Mode first before actually telling you how to power off your Switch.

After powering off my Switch and turning it back on later in the night, my Splatoon 3 was free of connection issues. ...At least, for a while.


Is there something about Sleep Mode that Ludwig isn't aware of that makes it way better than turning off the Switch? If so, let Ludwig know in the comments section. If not, feel free to speculate in the comments section why Nintendo supports sleeping more than powering off, to the point of them labelling the Sleep Mode button on the Switch user interface with universal power button design. Ludwig continues to deny that his Splatoon 3 1.1.2 article was incorrect. Additionally, perhaps you could let KoopaTV know when the last time your Switch was turned off or restarted as opposing to left in sleep mode forever.


Ludwig next investigates the power options on the Xbox One and Xbox Series, because its manufacturer has promoted a new energy saving option that doesn't turn the system off.