Nintendo Switch 2 System Update Finally Fixes Broken Pokémon Freebie
Topics: Pokemon, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch Online
Featured Image Credit: The Pokémon Company/Nintendo
Topics: Pokemon, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo has finally addressed a game-breaking glitch that made one of its Pokémon freebies unplayable for hundreds of Nintendo Switch 2 owners.
Those who still own and play on a Nintendo Switch may not feel the need to upgrade to a Nintendo Switch 2 yet, and that’s perfectly fine.
At the time of writing, the Switch 2 is still in its infancy as a console and while new exclusives are expected to be announced in the coming months, most new games don’t require the company’s shiny new hardware.
This means Nintendo has had to find other ways to incentivise gamers to buy a Switch 2, one of which being an exclusive collection of games at no additional cost for Nintendo Switch Online members.
Those subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online and in possession of a Nintendo Switch 2 get access to several Nintendo GameCube games to play in-between the latest first-party offerings.
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One such game is Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, a title that even some of the most dedicated Pokemon fans probably haven’t played.
You likely won’t have been playing it recently either as ever since it first dropped onto Nintendo’s subscription service, it’s been broken.
Gamers have been reporting some pretty nasty crashes when moving between the game’s areas, and many were losing hours of progress due to it.
For many it was deemed unplayable, as why go through the trouble of progressing when you could get booted back to parts you’ve already played through no fault of your own?
It’s taken weeks but Nintendo has finally addressed the problem, and a new system update, reported by Serebii, for the Nintendo Switch 2 has been released specifically for this Pokémon bug.
Serebii Update: The Nintendo Gamecube Nintendo Classics app has been updated to fix an issue with Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness that caused the game to crash and progress to be losthttps://t.co/NWlAdn57aQ pic.twitter.com/V37O0pyk7P
— Serebii.net (@SerebiiNet) April 15, 2026
The update seems to have done the trick but it’s a bit too early to know for sure, and the cause of the problem is still unknown.
It put a dampener on what was supposed to be a momentous occasion for Pokémon fans, as Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is a severely underrated title that’s never seen a re-release before.
You can buy second-hand copies nowadays but due to its rarity, you’d be paying an arm and a leg. Chibi-Robo is another game that was re-released through Nintendo Switch Online, and another title that costs a fortune if you want a physical copy.
Say what you will about Nintendo’s subscription service, but for those who want to play classic games but don’t have a PC for emulation, it’s a godsend, if not for how infrequent new library additions are.
Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is available now on Nintendo Switch 2 with a valid subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, hopefully crash-free from now on.
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