Nintendo Switch finally has a streaming video app, and it works—kind of

Enlarge / Rick and Morty on a Nintendo Switch?! It's thanks to Niconico, a Japan-only video streaming app that works on any Switch in the world. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

For all of the things we like about the Nintendo Switch, its lack of serious app or multimedia support has become increasingly frustrating. Switch owners had to wait a full four months for the system's first true media-streaming app, which finally launched late Wednesday-and for most of the world, it will require jumping through quite the language-barrier hoop.

The honor belongs to Niconico, a video-streaming app from the popular Japanese video service of the same name. This free app is now available to all Nintendo Switch owners, regardless of their country of origin. To download it, users will need at least one Japanese Nintendo eShop account set up on their Switch-and in good news, the installation is not only easy but free. This is thanks to the Nintendo Switch's utter lack of region-locking. (Niconico has previously released video apps for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems, but those are region-locked.)

The English-speaking friendliness ends as soon as the app boots, however. Having installed and tested the app on an American Switch, I can report that Niconico does the trick, so long as users are fine with a complete lack of language options. You'll need to tap through Japanese-language menus before watching your first video. Doing this creates a free Niconico account attached to your Nintendo Network ID.

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