Is it safe to soft reset?
Yes, soft resetting is generally considered completely safe for gamers and will not cause permanent loss of data or damage, as long as some basic precautions are taken around save points.
As a passionate retro gamer and content creator, I‘ve used soft resetting across countless games and consoles over the years. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll dig into everything you need to know:
What is a Soft Reset?
A soft reset refers to closing and restarting a game application or rebooting a game console like the Nintendo Switch without fully powering down. It essentially functions as a quick reset button to reload your last manual save state.
Soft resetting is commonly used to retry difficult sections, farm rare items, hunt procedural elements like shiny Pokémon, or correct glitches. Unlike hard resets, it does not wipe any save data.
According to Nintendo Support, you can trigger a soft reset by pressing and holding the POWER Button on the Switch for 3 seconds until the Power menu pops up, then selecting “Restart”.
| Reset Type | Save Data Lost? | Wipes Console? |
|---|---|---|
| Soft Reset | No | No |
| Hard Reset | Yes | Yes |
So in summary, a soft reset gives you a shortcut to retry or replay certain game elements without losing progress.
Is Soft Resetting 100% Safe?
For the vast majority of games, yes – judiciously using soft resets is completely safe and causes no issues. However, there are a few corner cases around save points and stability where caution should be exercised:
During Save Points
If you reset while the game is actively saving data, there is a small chance this can cause file corruption or lost progress since you are interrupting the write process. As a good practice, allow any save animations to fully complete first.
According to gaming experts on Reddit, as long as you avoid saves, "the worst case would be losing a few minutes of progress since your last save". So damage is usually minimal.
Excessive Frequency
Repeatedly soft resetting too often in a short span of time can theoretically pose stability risks or contribute to data corruption over time due to fragmentation. There is no exact threshold, but keeping some spacing between resets mitigates this.
Unknown Games
For older or lesser known games, without confirmation from reliable sources, assume soft resetting always carries an inherent risk until proven otherwise. Better safe than losing 100+ hours!
Consoles & Hardware Issues
In rare cases, frequent resets can contribute to SD card or hardware issues if there are already underlying problems. But for normally functioning consoles, this is unlikely during average gaming use cases.
What Are the Key Benefits of Soft Resetting?
When utilized judiciously, soft resetting unlocks several useful applications for gamers:
Retrying Difficult Sections
Instead of a lengthy reboot from your last manual save point, you can use soft resets to quickly retry challenging areas like complex boss battles in action RPGs. This preserves resources that would otherwise be spent traversing easier sections just to access another attempt.
According to speedrun.com, soft resetting difficult segments to optimize routes is a common tactic among speedrunners.
Farming Rare Loot Drops
Resetting an area over and over to farm rare item drops or procedural resource generation is a popular soft reset technique. This allows targeting specific loot without needing to exit and lose your farming setup.
Shiny Hunting
For trophy hunters or Pokemon fans, soft resetting encounters to trigger alternate color variants persists as the go-to method for shiny hunting at set spawn points like stationary Legendaries or gift starters. Without soft resets, the astronomical odds would make shinies practically unattainable.
The community odds benchmark is 1 in 4,096 encounters, which can take thousands of resets. Dedicated players have logged over 20,000 soft resets on a single hunt!
| Generation | Shinies Per Hour | Resets Per Hour |
|---|---|---|
| Gen 2 | 3 | 12,288 |
| Gen 6/7 | 4 | 16,384 |
| Gen 8 | 6+ | 24,576+ |
Data sourced from Serebii on average soft reset rates by generation
The above table demonstrates that modern games can facilitate faster reset rates to help shiny hunters. But it still involves significant dedication spanning days, weeks or even months of resets without guarantees.
What Precautions Should Be Taken When Soft Resetting?
While soft resetting does not inherently pose major risks to console corruption, there are some best practices gamers should follow to maximize results and minimize any downsides:
Save Early, Save Often
Manually saving your game frequently is always the number one precaution. This guarantees you have checkpoint restore points to fall back on if anything goes awry. Ideally you‘ll only lose a few minutes this way.
Avoid Ongoing Saves
Allow any save warning icons, animations, or prompts to fully complete before triggering your next soft reset. Resetting mid-save can lead to corrupted data.
Limit Reset Frequency
Too many soft resets in rapid succession may theoretically contribute to stability or corruption issues long term. Use discretion by spacing out your resets and not overdoing them back to back excessively.
Research Unknown Games
If soft reset safety is unclear for older or lesser known games, err on the side of caution and minimize resets until positive confirmation it‘s risk-free. Assume vulnerability otherwise.
Monitor for Issues
Soft resetting in and of itself won‘t instantly break hardware in most cases; failures stem from underlying defects. But monitor SD card performance, game crashes, or odd behaviors after resetting just in case.
Hard Reset If Problems Persist
A full hard/factory reset as last resort troubleshooting can wipe instability caused by excessive soft resets if they start posing recurrent operating issues that staying or progressing in-game can’t solve.
In Summary: Enjoy Soft Resetting Safely!
When used prudently around save points and stability conditions, soft resetting serves as a safe shortcut that unlocks more gameplay opportunities without fears of losing hard-earned progress.
Embrace soft resets to retry difficult areas, grind for rare loot, or trigger those 1-in-4K shiny encounters – just be patient and resist the urge to excessively spam them hundreds of times an hour!
Stay smart with manual saves and research unknown games first. With the right precautions, you can reap all the benefits without significant risks. Just have fun and happy gaming!
Let me know in the comments if you have any other soft resetting best practices I missed! I’m always happy to chat more with fellow passionate gamers.
