Nintendo Switch browser capabilities

Before the Switch, Nintendo had a nifty HTML5 framework for game development called Nintendo Web Framework. It used to have its own page on Wikipedia, no idea where it disappeared to.

Anyhoo, I was looking forward to its return so I could make games for the Switch using my existing skillset. Due to Nintendo's enthusiasm for the Unity and Unreal game engines, it doesn't seem like that's happening anytime soon if ever, much to the chagrin of aspiring game developers (and Switch owners) like myself. However, I was curious to know what the built-in browser is capable of. Here's what I found1, with my Switch's OS on version 4.0.1:

Parsing Rules

✅ triggers standards mode

✅ HTML5 tokenizer

✅ HTML5 tree building

✅ Parsing inline SVG

✅ Parsing inline MathML

Elements

✅ Embedding custom non-visible data

New or modified elements

✅ Section elements

✅ section element

✅ nav element

✅ article element

✅ aside element

✅ header element

✅ footer element

✅ Grouping content elements

✅ main element

✅ figure element

✅ figcaption element

✅ reversed attribute on the ol element

⚪️ Text-level semantic elements

❌ download attribute on the a element

✅ ping attribute on the a element

✅ mark element

✅ ruby, rt, and rp elements

❌ time element

❌ data element

❌ wbr element

⚪️ Interactive elements

✅ details element

✅ summary element

❌ menu element of type toolbar

❌ menu element of type context

❌ dialog element

Global attributes or methods

✅ hidden attribute

✅ Dynamic markup insertion

✅ outerHTML property

✅ insertAdjacentHTML function

Forms

Field types

✅ input type=text

✅ Minimal element support

✅ Selection Direction

✅ input type=search

✅ Minimal element support

✅ input type=tel

✅ Minimal element support

✅ input type=url

✅ Minimal element support

✅ Field validation

✅ input type=email

✅ Minimal element support

✅ Field validation

❌ input type=date

❌ Minimal element support

❌ Custom user-interface

❌ Value sanitization

❌ min attribute

❌ max attribute

❌ step attribute

❌ stepDown() method

❌ stepUp() method

❌ valueAsDate() method

❌ valueAsNumber() method

❌ input type=month

❌ Minimal element support

❌ Custom user-interface

❌ Value sanitization

❌ min attribute

❌ max attribute

❌ step attribute

❌ stepDown() method

❌ stepUp() method

❌ valueAsDate() method

❌ valueAsNumber() method

❌ input type=week

❌ Minimal element support

❌ Custom user-interface

❌ Value sanitization

❌ min attribute

❌ max attribute

❌ step attribute

❌ stepDown() method

❌ stepUp() method

❌ valueAsDate() method

❌ valueAsNumber() method

❌ input type=time

❌ Minimal element support

❌ Custom user-interface

❌ Value sanitization

❌ min attribute

❌ max attribute

❌ step attribute

❌ stepDown() method

❌ stepUp() method

❌ valueAsDate() method

❌ valueAsNumber() method

❌ input type=datetime-local

❌ Minimal element support

❌ Custom user-interface

❌ Value sanitization

❌ min attribute

❌ max attribute

❌ step attribute

❌ stepDown() method

❌ stepUp() method

❌ valueAsNumber() method

✅ input type=number

✅ Minimal element support

✅ Custom user-interface

✅ Value sanitization

✅ Field validation

✅ min attribute

✅ max attribute

✅ step attribute

✅ stepDown() method

✅ stepUp() method

✅ valueAsNumber() method

✅ input type=range

✅ Minimal element support

✅ Custom user-interface

✅ Value sanitization

✅ min attribute

✅ max attribute

✅ step attribute

✅ stepDown() method

✅ stepUp() method

✅ valueAsNumber() method

✅ input type=color

✅ Minimal element support

✅ Custom user-interface

✅ Value sanitization

✅ input type=checkbox

✅ Minimal element support

✅ indeterminate property

✅ input type=image

✅ Minimal element support

✅ width property

✅ height property

⚪️ input type=file

✅ Minimal element support

✅ files property

❌ Directory upload support

✅ textarea

✅ Minimal element support

✅ maxlength attribute

✅ wrap attribute

✅ select

✅ Minimal element support

✅ required attribute

✅ fieldset

✅ Minimal element support

✅ elements attribute

✅ disabled attribute

❌ datalist

❌ Minimal element support

❌ list attribute for fields

✅ output

✅ Minimal element support

✅ progress

✅ Minimal element support

✅ meter

✅ Minimal element support

Fields

✅ Field validation

✅ pattern attribute

✅ required attribute

✅ Association of controls and forms

✅ control property on labels

✅ form property on fields

✅ formAction property on fields

✅ formEnctype property on fields

✅ formMethod property on fields

✅ formNoValidate property on fields

✅ formTarget property on fields

✅ labels property on fields

✅ Other attributes

✅ autofocus attribute

✅ autocomplete attribute

✅ placeholder attribute

✅ multiple attribute

✅ dirname attribute

✅ CSS selectors

✅ :valid selector

✅ :invalid selector

✅ :optional selector

✅ :required selector

✅ :in-range selector

✅ :out-of-range selector

✅ :read-write selector

✅ :read-only selector

✅ Events

✅ oninput event

✅ onchange event

✅ oninvalid event

Forms

✅ Form validation

✅ checkValidity method

✅ noValidate attribute

Web Components

❌ Custom elements

❌ Shadow DOM

✅ HTML templates

❌ HTML imports

Location and Orientation

❌ Geolocation

✅ Device Orientation

✅ Device Motion

Output

✅ Full screen support (prefixed)

❌ Web Notifications

Input

✅ Gamepad control

❌ Pointer Events

❌ Pointer Lock support

Communication

✅ Server-Sent Events

❌ Beacon

❌ Fetch

XMLHttpRequest Level 2

✅ Upload files

✅ Response type support

✅ Text response type

✅ Document response type

✅ ArrayBuffer response type

✅ Blob response type

WebSocket

✅ Basic socket communication

✅ ArrayBuffer and Blob support

Streams

❌ Readable streams

❌ Writable streams

Peer to Peer

Connectivity

✅ WebRTC 1.0 (prefixed)

❌ ObjectRTC API for WebRTC

❌ Data channel

Input

✅ Access the webcam

❌ Screen Capture

❌ Enumerate devices

Recording

❌ Media Stream recorder

User Interaction

Drag and drop

❌ Attributes

❌ draggable attribute

❌ dropzone attribute

❌ Events

❌ ondrag event

❌ ondragstart event

❌ ondragenter event

❌ ondragover event

❌ ondragleave event

❌ ondragend event

❌ ondrop event

HTML editing

❌ Editing elements

❌ contentEditable attribute

❌ isContentEditable property

❌ Editing documents

❌ designMode attribute

❌ CSS selectors

❌ :read-write selector

❌ :read-only selector

❌ APIs

❌ execCommand method

❌ queryCommandEnabled method

❌ queryCommandIndeterm method

❌ queryCommandState method

❌ queryCommandSupported method

❌ queryCommandValue method

Clipboard

❌ Clipboard API and events

Spellcheck

✅ spellcheck attribute

Performance

✅ Workers

❌ Web Workers

❌ Shared Workers

Other

❌ window.requestIdleCallback

Security

✅ Web Cryptography API

✅ Content Security Policy 1

✅ Content Security Policy 2

✅ Cross-Origin Resource Sharing

❌ Subresource Integrity

✅ Cross-document messaging

Authentication

❌ Web Authentication / FIDO 2

❌ Credential Management

Iframes

✅ Sandboxed iframe

✅ iframe with inline contents

Payments

❌ Web payments

Video

✅ video element

✅ Subtitles

✅ Audio track selection

✅ Video track selection

✅ Poster images

✅ Codec detection

Video codecs

❌ MPEG-4 ASP support

✅ H.264 support

❌ H.265 support

❌ Ogg Theora support

❌ WebM with VP8 support

❌ WebM with VP9 support

Audio

✅ audio element

✅ Loop audio

✅ Preload in the background

Advanced

✅ Web Audio API (prefixed)

❌ Speech Recognition

❌ Speech Synthesis

Audio codecs

❌ PCM audio support

❌ MP3 support

❌ AAC support

❌ Dolby Digital support

❌ Dolby Digital Plus support

❌ Ogg Vorbis support

❌ Ogg Opus support

❌ WebM with Vorbis support

❌ WebM with Opus support

Streaming

❌ Media Source extensions

❌ DRM support

Adaptive bit rate

❌ Dynamic Adaptive Streaming / MPEG-DASH

✅ HTTP Live Streaming / HLS

Codecs

❌ Video codecs

❌ MP4 with H.264 support

❌ MP4 with H.265 support

❌ TS with H.264 support

❌ TS with H.265 support

❌ WebM with VP8 support

❌ WebM with VP9 support

❌ Audio codecs

❌ MP4 with AAC support

❌ MP4 with Dolby Digital support

❌ MP4 with Dolby Digital Plus support

❌ TS with AAC support

❌ TS with Dolby Digital support

❌ TS with Dolby Digital Plus support

❌ WebM with Vorbis support

❌ WebM with Opus support

Responsive Images

✅ picture element

✅ srcset attribute

✅ sizes attribute

2D Graphics

✅ Canvas 2D graphics

Drawing primitives

✅ Text support

✅ Path support

✅ Ellipse support

✅ Dashed line support

✅ System focus ring support

Features

❌ Hit testing support

✅ Blending modes

Image export formats

✅ PNG support

✅ JPEG support

❌ JPEG-XR support

✅ WebP support

3D and VR

3D Graphics

❌ WebGL

❌ WebGL 2

VR Headset

❌ WebVR

Animation

❌ Web Animations API

✅ window.requestAnimationFrame

Web Applications

Offline resources

✅ Application Cache

❌ Service Workers

❌ Push Messages

Content and Scheme handlers

❌ Custom scheme handlers

❌ Custom content handlers

Storage

Key-value storage

✅ Session Storage

✅ Local Storage

Database storage

❌ IndexedDB

❌ Objectstore Blob support

❌ Objectstore ArrayBuffer support

Files

Reading files

✅ Basic support for reading files

✅ Create a Blob from a file

✅ Create a Data URL from a Blob

✅ Create an ArrayBuffer from a Blob

✅ Create a Blob URL from a Blob

Accessing the file system

❌ FileSystem API

Scripting

Script execution

✅ Asynchronous script execution

✅ Deferred script execution

❌ Script execution events

✅ Runtime script error reporting

ECMAScript 5

✅ JSON encoding and decoding

ECMAScript 6

❌ Modules

✅ Classes

✅ Arrow functions

✅ Promises

✅ Template strings

✅ Typed arrays

✅ Internationalization

ECMAScript 7

❌ Async and Await

Other APIs

✅ Base64 encoding and decoding

✅ Mutation Observer

✅ URL API

❌ Encoding API

Other

✅ Session history

✅ Page Visibility

✅ Text selection

✅ Scroll into view

And so…

The Nintendo Switch browser scored 339 out of 555 potential points. Not bad for browsing but it certainly isn't equipped for game development. Lack of support for WebGL, WebM, the Web Animations API, and IndexedDB certainly inhibits the kinds of games you could make, so this might explain their silence on the NWF front.

Oh well.

If you have a Switch and want to see these results for yourself, here are the steps needed to access the web browser:

Go to System Settings > Internet > Internet Settings

Select the network you want to join or are already connected to

Select Change Settings

Select DNS Settings and choose Manual

Under DNS Settings, select Primary DNS

Replace the contents with 045.055.142.122 and hit OK

Save!

Connect to the network you just modified DNS settings for, and you should see a message saying "Registration is required to use this network"

Proceed and you'll be redirected to Google, where you can search for DuckDuckGo and use that search engine instead

Extra stuff

The useragent Nintendo is going with is Mozilla/5.0 (Nintendo Switch; WifiWebAuthApplet) AppleWebKit/601.6 (KHTML, like Gecko) NF/4.0.0.7.9 NintendoBrowser/5.1.0.15785. I am SO glad their useragent isn't the usual fugly spaghetti soup that most browsers come up with. The screen size is 1280 by 720.

I remember when people made websites for the Nintendo DS, back when the browser (made by Opera) came in a cartridge 2. I still have mine btw. It also came with RAM ("Memory Expansion Pak") you put in the GBA slot for a whopping 8MB. IGN gave it a 3.5 out of 10. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Good times. 🕸