Everything we know about the Switch 2’s Joy-Con controllers

The arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2 heralds some much-needed improvements over its predecessor, particularly its Joy-Con controllers. Here’s a quick rundown of what the announcement trailer showed us about the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons.

Before the official reveal of the console, there were rumors that hinted at how the new Joy-Cons would work and their internal mechanisms. The most significant rumor was that they were held to the console via magnets, and in the reveal video, that appears to be the case. The video shows the Joy-Con seemingly snapping to a cover as if attracted by a magnetic force.

The video shows that the Joy-Cons have a protrusion that fits into an oval recess in the main body of the console that plugs into ports (with the iconic Nintendo Switch “snap” sound) instead of sliding down rails. There’s also a button on the top of each controller that’s apparently how the Joy-Cons detach from the main console, but the reveal video didn’t show it in action. According to some of the Switch 2 rumors reported by The edgepressing that button activates a pin that will push the Joy-Cons away from the console, and in the video, on the inside of each controller, you can see a small circle at the top that looks like it’s pushing out.

The Joy-Cons, like the Switch 2 itself, are larger. In the version of the console shown in the announcement video, they are black with accents in the traditional red and blue colors of the original Switch. Other elements from the previous Joy-Cons are still there, like the indicator lights and SL/SP buttons that are visible when the Joy-Cons are used individually. The left Joy-Con still has its square screen button, and the right has the home button, but just below that is a new button whose function is still unconfirmed.

The biggest problem that plagued the original Switch Joy-Cons was a condition known as Joy-Con drift. Users reported that their analog sticks would show movement without input from the player, much like a cursor moving on a computer screen without moving the mouse. Nintendo didn’t share any information about the internal mechanisms that power the Joy-Cons, so we don’t know how susceptible they will be to this problem.