How To Save Nintendo Switch Battery When Playing Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing New Horizons is a huge surprise success for Nintendo since the pandemic began. The game has sold millions of copies already at the time of this writing and the surge has not yet stopped. If you’re an Animal Crossing fanatic and you can’t just stop playing the game everyday, you may realize that the normal battery life of your Switch is often not enough to keep you entertained, especially when you’re having fun.

In this guide, we’ll show you some simple tricks that you can try to extend battery life on your Switch so you can play Animal Crossing longer.

How long does the Nintendo Switch battery last when playing Animal Crossing New Horizons?

Animal Crossing New Horizons is not as graphics intensive as other Switch games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild so it’s not as hard on your console or the battery. However, you’ll still notice that playing this game can easily drain the battery. 

In my experience, it took me almost 5 hours of playing Animal Crossing (from 100% to 0) before I have to take a break and charge the console back to 100%. While that may sound long enough for some, I should have used the console longer if I took some steps like the ones I’m discussing in this guide.

Keep in mind that I am using the Nintendo Switch Version 2 and not the original Nintendo Switch model. The older model has a shorter battery life than the newer one although the things that I’m going to show here today should still help.

How To Fix Nintendo Switch Fast Battery Drain Issue

How to extend battery life of your Nintendo Switch when playing Animal Crossing?

There are a number of simple yet effective little things that you can do to save battery life on your Nintendo Switch when playing Animal Crossing New Horizons.  Learn how by checking these steps:

  1. Turn off wifi.

    If you’re not planning on downloading game save data from the cloud, visiting other islands online, or waiting for someone to come to your island, you should keep your Nintendo Switch wifi off when playing Animal Crossing. 
    You should consider disabling your console’s wifi even if you’re not using it as your Switch will attempt to scan and connect to wifi networks in the background. To turn off your Nintendo Switch wifi completely, you need to enable Flight Mode or Airplane Mode. 
    -On any screen, press and hold the Home button on the controller.
    -Go to Flight Mode, select it, and turn it ON.
    Alternatively, you can go under Settings>Flight Mode to enable it.
    Keep in mind that Flight Mode is unavailable when your console is in the dock. You need to take it out, or the console must be in portable mode, in order for you to turn on Flight Mode.Nintendo Flight Mode

  2. Lower screen brightness.

    If you’re planning on playing Animal Crossing longer and you’re anticipating that you may not be able to charge the console, another great thing that you can do is to make the screen darker. Sure, the game looks a lot better when the screen is in full blast but that also put a lot of pressure on the battery. Lower down screen brightness to the lowest comfortable level for you to improve battery performance.
    To lower screen brightness on your Nintendo Switch:
    -Go to the Nintendo Home screen.
    -Select System Settings.
    -Select Screen Brightness.Nintendo Screen Brightness

  3. Change display colors.

    Just like with screen brightness, the more colorful the screen is, the faster the battery drains. You can try to change the display colors of your Nintendo Switch when playing Animal Crossing to save battery life. Here’s how:
    -Go to the Nintendo Home screen.
    -Select System Settings.
    -Select System.
    -Select Change Display Colors.
    -Select Grayscale.

  4. Disable controller vibration.

    You can also save battery power if you turn off unnecessary controller vibration on your Switch. Here’s how:
    -Go to the Nintendo Home screen.
    -Select System Settings.
    -Select Controllers and Sensors.
    -Select Controller Vibration.Nintendo Controller vibration

Get a portable power source.

If you’re planning on a trip and you may not be able to charge your Switch for hours, you should get a portable power source like the Nintendo PowerCore 20100 Power Bank. 

If you don’t want to get one from Nintendo, do a quick Google search about other third party portable battery chargers for your Switch.

How to keep track of your Nintendo Switch battery indicator?

It’s always a good idea to know the battery level of your Nintendo Switch when in portable mode. To keep track of your Nintendo Switch battery, do these steps:

  1. Go to the Nintendo Home screen.
  2. Select System Settings.
  3. Select System.
  4. Select Console Battery.
  5. Switch the battery indicator on.

Nintendo Switch battery life dies eventually

Just like any Lithium-based batteries, the battery life on your Nintendo Switch gradually decreases as time goes by. According to Nintendo, the console’s battery life will shorten to about 80% compared to the battery of a new Switch after 800 charge cycles. 

If your Nintendo Switch has been around and you notice that the usage time when in portable mode is now shorter, it’s likely caused by battery degradation. This is not a design fault and is expected.

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