Are you an avid Nintendo Switch gamer struggling with limited storage space? Have you downloaded too many games and now need to delete some to make room for new titles? It is a common problem for Switch players. But the good news is that deleting a game from your console is quick and easy.
Today, the Nintendo Switch offers gamers no more than 64GB of storage. At the same time, the system occupies a portion of this storage by default. That leaves even less space for storing games.
Luckily, you can expand the memory of your Switch by installing a microSD card and then save your game data there. But if you don’t have it, the only thing you can do is delete the game.
So here’s how.
How to delete games Nintendo Switch
Follow these steps:
- From the Home screen, go to System Settings.
- Then select Data Management and click Software.
- All the games on your Switch will appear in front of you. Select the one you want to remove.
- In the following menu, select Delete Software.
- Finally, press Delete to confirm the action.
Once you do this, the game will be removed from your Nintendo Switch. It is important to note that any saved data associated with the game will also be removed. After deleting the game, you should see increased storage space on your Nintendo Switch. This will allow you to download and install new games or apps.
How to archive games on Nintendo Switch
You don’t have to delete the game completely to free up space. You can archive it. There are two ways to do this.
From the Software Options Menu:
- Go to the Home screen and select the game icon.
- Then select Options at the bottom. Alternatively, press the – or + buttons on the Joy-Con controllers.
- Finally, select Manage Software and click Archive Software.
From within Data Management:
- From the Home screen, select System Settings.
- Next, go to Data Management and click Manage Software.
- Select the game you would like to archive and click Archive Software.
- Finally, confirm by pressing Archive.
Once you have completed these steps, your game will be archived. You can always redownload it by selecting the game icon on the Home screen.
How to redownload games on Nintendo Switch
Well, the moment you want to dive back into your favorite universe again, it’s easy to install the game back on your Nintendo Switch:
- Go to the eShop from the Home screen.
- Use the Nintendo Account that purchased the game.
- Click on your profile icon in the top right corner to access your Account Information.
- Select Redownload from the menu on the left.
- After that, a list of games you’ve purchased will appear.
- Now, select the game you want to redownload and select the orange icon to begin downloading.
This will download the game again and any previously downloaded DLCs. You can check the download status on the Home screen.
How to delete save data on Nintendo Switch
If you don’t care about saving the progress of a game you want to delete, you can also delete its saved data from your Switch. This frees up the most space but means that you will have to start from the beginning if you play the game again.
- Select System Settings from the Home screen.
- Go to Data Management and select Delete Save Data.
- After that, select the game which data you want to delete.
- Then click Delete All Save Data for this Software.
- Select Delete Save Data when asked to confirm that you want to delete the game save data.
This way, you will lose all the progress and data. On the other hand, this will give you much free space on your Nintendo Switch.
