TLDR: The cutscenes have audio glitches and some in-game sound effects glitch out the first time playing them. The save file was started the day the game came out, on 1.0. The glitched audio on the same save file occurs on the latest version 1.4.3. I made a video showing the glitch and am really hoping someone can help me fix the game. The glitches happen system wide, so not even deleting the save data from my System Settings will fix the game. I can't "Redownload" either, as I'm playing physically and did not purchase from the eShop. I've compiled a video demonstrating the glitch with both the in-game SFX and the in-cutscene audio, here: https://odysee.com/@Clips:db/Glitched-Audio-in-Tears-of-the-Kingodom:a

Can anyone please help me out, and does anyone know if there is a fix for this glitch? I'm playing on the original Nintendo Switch, not a Switch 2.

I started a save file in 2023 on the games version 1.0, the day Tears of the Kingdom released. I played 72 hours worth of the game over the next 2 and a half months, and recorded all the footage for my playthrough channel.

Unfortunately I had to put the game on hold for an unforeseen amount of time, after the HDMI port on my monitor randomly decided to die. So I was no longer able to play the game until I got a replacement monitor.

The problem was: I didn't have money. And I didn't finally get a new replacement monitor until 2025, and I haven't been able to get back to my playthrough until finally now, in 2026, over 3 years after starting.

Early this year, after updating the game to version 1.4.2, I played a bit of TOTK on an entirely separate Switch profile (which of course is a different save file entirely). I was only casually playing a bit of the Sky Island in the beginning though.

The problem was, I was experiencing strange audio glitches and audio-delays that ONLY happened during important pre-rendered cutscenes.

I didn't know why this glitch was occurring, and an internet search did not provide answers. I ended up deleting the save data from that Switch profile entirely from the console from the System Settings. Unfortunately, not even this solved it. It would consistently have bad audio in the cutscenes.

Skip ahead nearly 9 months, to late September 2026 (today). Today I meant to finally come back to my original save file and continue it at long last.

There was an update available, so I updated from 1.4.2 to 1.4.3. After updating, I first launched the game on my second profile to see if there were still audio glitches. Unforunately... there were 🫤. But this time it was not only in the cutscenes (which is a dealbreaker on it's own), but I'm now also experiencing audio glitches upon the first time the game plays some sound effects. The first of note is the sound effect that plays when you pick up an item for the first time. Fortunately these audio glitches only occur the first time the game tries to play the sound effect. But it's still annoying, and isn't good for my future playthrough viewers. I still held onto the hope that this might not occur on my original Switch profile, but I couldn't know until I tried.

So after this, I began my gameplay recording (which I'm still doing for my channel), and loaded my previous save data, which was last saved July 27, 2023.

Everything loaded fine. But as soon as I opened the Purah Pad's map, the opening sound effect got cut-off mid-playing. That's annoying. The very next thing I did was open the memories tab and started rewatching the beginning cutscene with the mummified Ganondorf in the cave beneath Hyrule Castle. The audio played fine in this cutscene, which was promising.

But then I tested the one Zelda memory that I've unlocked, specifically the one titled "Where Am I?". Annoyingly, I had the same glitched/out-of-sync audio in that cutscene as I had with the Ganondorf cutscene at the beginning of this year.

So that means that even on my original save file, which I NEVER had any issues with in 2023 on the games version 1.0: the audio is STILL GLITCHED in both cutscenes and upon the first time the game loads some gameplay sound effects.

To demonstrate the issues, I've compiled a video so you can see just two examples of the glitched audio. The first part of the video shows the sound effect glitch I had opening the Purah pad, the second part of the video shows the "Where am I?" Zelda memory playing with correct audio, and the third part of the video shows the same part of the cutscene playing with the glitched audio.

After watching any cutscene once, the audio glitches are automatically cleared up. The example I've given is a less severe example compared to the issues I had earlier this year, but I still don't want it ruining my first experience with the rest of the cutscenes I've never seen yet in the game.

The video: https://odysee.com/@Clips:db/Glitched-Audio-in-Tears-of-the-Kingodom:a

Update Nov 11, 2026: Fixed broken links in the post and my reply to Zangoose below.

The original Nintendo Switch automatically downloads all new articles to the system when you're connected to the internet. Since 2023, I noticed that the Nintendo Switch only has a limited capacity of articles it can store offline on the console. After you exceed the limit, it begins to delete the articles one-by-one in order of oldest to newest. Some exceptions are that it does not delete articles that you explicitly bookmarked, nor the introductory articles that appear the first time you ever start the console.

Upon discovering this, I immediately realised how terrible this is for the preservation of Switch News Articles. It meant that by 2023, almost all pre-2020s news articles were permanently lost forever on the vast majority of console that are out there in the wild - because most people, even if they've never touched the News app on their console, have accumulated thousands of articles over time, thus causing the system to delete everything that is old.

At the time, I hoped that maybe someone had created a homebrew app for modded Switch's, that maybe rips the articles sort of like ripping games, so that you can store a backup of them. I thought this was incredibly unlikely though. I didn't have time to look into it at the time, so, because I now knew that more and more articles were being permanently wiped from my console, literally EVERY SINGLE DAY, I just got out my capture card, and began recording videos of me scrolling through each and every single article. My hope was that I could save everything on my console, and think about the homebrew thing later.

Well, that was three years ago, and I've still been recording every single article on my Switch since then. I've accumulated hundreds, possibly thousands of video file recordings of Nintendo Switch news articles. The only pre-2020s stuff I managed to archive were the few articles that I actually bookmarked back in the day. Otherwise, nothing earlier then June 2022 existed on my console anymore. My intention is to upload all these videos to The Internet Archive and Odysee (permaweb) when I get time to do so.

Since I'm in Australia using an AU console, I don't get every single article on my console. There's probably a bunch of country-exclusive articles I haven't recorded that could only be received on U.S. consoles, U.K. consoles, and more countries. I do mostly get articles that are released in most English speaking countries including America, but there are also a ton of region-specific articles I get too. Australia and New Zealand are grouped as the same region, so I get articles for both countries.

So, I've tried to look into whether a homebrew app of some sort exists that can be used to actually properly archive these articles... not just a video recording archive like mine, but a backup of an actual article file that can be loaded onto any console. I don't have any programming skills or console-hacking skills or a modded Switch, so unfortunately I can't just simply take the initiative to create something like this for myself. If I had the skills and knowledge, I would probably give it a try, but I just don't unfortunately.

So, does anyone actually know if there is any better way of archiving these news articles on a modded Switch?

TLDR: A Switch 2 game sold as brand new to me has scratches on it's pins, indicating use (seen in photo). Can anyone here confirm if brand new games are supposed to come like this? Or, if you have any unwrapped brand new games that have never been inserted in a console, could you please check for me if the pins have any scratches on them?

I'm pretty annoyed because I just bought a "Brand New" copy of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition from EB Games in Australia, and it appears to have been used. It has scratches on the gold pins. You can see them in the photo, but it's very hard to tell from the picture, you have to zoom in and look really closely for a faint line going down every pin. I've not inserted it in my Switch at all yet. Now, I personally know that these scratches are completely normal for Switch 1 & 2 games (even DS & 3DS). They are not generally a reason for concern. Every single Switch game you own should have these scratches if you've ever used them - they're normal. But this is supposed to be brand new. This to me indicates EB Games sold me a used copy. Also, as usual in Australia, like seemingly every store here, they annoyingly don't sell ANY brand new games with the original plastic wrap on them, meaning issues like this can in theory easily occur.

Other then it not having plastic on it, the game case itself is perfect looking condition on the outside - it appears to be brand new. The only thing off about the case was that when I got home and opened it, it had a very tiny white hair sitting inside it that looks like it came from a short-haired dog. It also had just a few very tiny flake-like white specks the size of dust inside it too.

Really, everything seems to point to that they sold me a used game as a brand-new one. But I'm not 100% sure yet. The only reason I'm slightly skeptical is because I'm wondering if the games possibly come with those scratches when it comes from the factory or if they're tested before arriving in stores (I doubt it, but it's just a thought). Does anyone here have any unwrapped brand new Switch games, or, ideally, Switch 2 games that you've never played that you can check for scratches for me? It has to be a cartridge that has NEVER been inserted into the console even once, otherwise it's almost certain it will have these scratches. If I can prove brand new games aren't supposed to have these scratches, I can know for certain that they sold a used game to me. I have a couple of wrapped Switch 1 games, but I was hoping to save them for when I do an unboxing video of them, which I was going to do when I get around to playing them.

Update: Okay, to save you some reading time, from what people are telling me in the replies below, this seems to be almost certainly a normal thing, even for brand new games. Apparently the games do get tested before being sent out, and the pins get scratched in the process. I'm not sure about the hair that was in it, though. I'd still appreciate if anyone check a copy of their own unused cartridges for these scratches. I'm a collector like many of you, so I get it if you don't want to open any games that are still wrapped until you want to play it; I'm the same. I was just wondering if anyone who has an already-unwrapped copy might be able to check.

Kojima said (via machine translation), “It has been announced that physical game software will no longer be produced starting in 2028. As someone who grew up with physical media, that makes me very sad. Because of that, I’m buying as many CDs, Blu-rays, and other physical media as I can while they’re still available.”

“The transition to digital will happen in stages. Right now, even if physical discs disappear, you’ll still be able to download game data onto your hard drive. At least in that case, the data is still on your own computer. But I think the next step will be a complete move to subscription services and streaming. At that point, I won’t actually own anything anymore.”

Something that a lot of you might find really cool: With Nintendo's recent update for the Switch, you can now share most digital games (and DLC) with your friends/family using "Virtual Game Cards". Essentially, you're lending a digital copy of your game to your friends, and lose access to it yourself, for the duration that your friend is borrowing it.

One of the very first things I wondered was if you could share discontinued games that have been delisted. I personally have 2 or 3 of such games myself, including the legacy version of Minecraft Nintendo Switch Edition, which never got a physical release and was delisted from the eShop in 2018 when the bedrock version replaced it.

I went to my friends house today to let him borrow a game, and we decided to test it out. I can confirm that it works! My friend has been wishing he could play the legacy version on Switch for years, and he can now finally do so because I was able to lend my digital game to him!

The lending is for 2 weeks, and the game will be automatically returned to me once the time is up. At that point, I will have to meet up with him in person again if he wants to continue borrowing the game.