Perhaps one of the most underappreciated design choices for the Nintendo Switch is the way its Joy-Cons attach to the main device. This plays a significant role in a small number of games. But it looks like there’s a chance that the Japanese games company may be going in another direction for the much-rumoured Nintendo Switch 2.
Spanish site Vandal reports that for its next generation hardware, Nintendo may be choosing to have its detachable controllers reattach to the main device magnetically instead. This would make backwards compatibility between the Joy-Cons of the Nintendo Switch 2 with the current one “difficult”. This is partially simply due to the difference in attachment mechanism, but there’s the software consideration for the small handful of titles as well.
The report cites unnamed accessory makers who got access to the new console, though not in the most straightforward of ways. These accessory makers got to touch the supposed Nintendo Switch 2 inside of an opaque box, which provides a general feel of what the device is like while still maintaining secrecy as to the exact way it looks.
With all that in mind, these claims of magnetically attached Joy-Cons for the Nintendo Switch 2 should be taken with double the usual dose of salt. But for what it’s worth, Ars Technica points out that Vandal previously reported on the early details of the current Switch OLED accurately before the official announcement. As for the new console, it is currently rumoured to have an early 2025 release.
(Source: Vandal via Ars Technica)
