According to new leaks, the Nintendo Switch 2 might be addressing one of the biggest flaws of the Switch 1.
Since its release in 2017, the Nintendo Switch has been a point of celebration for the Japanese gaming giant, shipping over 146 million consoles worldwide and climbing the ranks as one of the best-selling consoles of all time.
However, since the very beginning, the Switch has had one problem Nintendo has not been able to knock... Joy-Con drift. This defect—which sees joysticks begin to malfunction over time—has plagued Nintendo's hybrid gaming machine, but the Switch 2 may be able to finally fix this ultra-viral mistake.
Switch 2 Leaks Point to Major Fix
Nintendo may finally fix one of the Switch 1's most common complaints with the release of the Switch 2.
A recent hardware leak suggested Nintendo's upcoming console could feature new Hall Effect joysticks, supposedly doing away with the issues of joystick drift that have been so prevalent in the Nintendo Switch 1.
According to known Reddit leaker NextHandheld, the Switch 2 will feature the innovative joystick technology, as opposed to sporting the flawed traditional joysticks from the original console in the Switch line.
The Switch 1 Joy-Con controllers featured joysticks that infamously were inevitable to fail, with thousands of cases of what became known as 'Joy-Con drift' appearing online over the Switch 1's lifetime.
The issue became so prevalent that Nintendo set up a program in which users could send their drifting Joy-Cons to the console maker for repair before they would be sent back through the mail with new joysticks.
This is just the latest in a long string of leaks surrounding the console, including recent information that may have given away how much the Switch 2 will cost.
Hall Effect Joysticks Explained
Even though this Hall Effect joystick leak is getting into the technical nitty-gritty of the Nintendo Switch 2 (something leakers have been doing for weeks at this point), fans should be excited by the new development.
Joy-Con drift has been easily the biggest problem with the Nintendo Switch 1, and the use of new Hall Effect sticks should greatly cut down the chances of that happening.
For those who do not know, Hall Effect joysticks may have only come back into the conversation in the last couple of years, but their lineage goes back decades. Famously, the controller tech was pioneered by SEGA in the mid-to-late 1990s, being featured in both the SEGA Saturn 3D and Dreamcast controllers.
However, they came back into fashion in the last few years, as they became less expensive than they once were, making them once again viable for consumer products such as the Switch 2.
Hall Effect Sensors allow for smoother, more precise joystick control, but, most importantly, they are much more durable than a traditional analog stick. That is not to say they are entirely invulnerable from joystick drift, it is just much less likely with the use of a Hall Sensor.
This means that they are much less prone to suffer from joystick drift. This is likely the primary reason for Nintendo allegedly including them in its new controllers, especially after the epidemic of drifting joystick on the Switch 1.
Of course, the use of Hall Sticks has not been confirmed by Nintendo as of yet (not much has), but if these rumors prove to be true, fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief that their joysticks will last the life of the console this time around.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to be released sometime in 2025.
