Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch 2 will not use Hall Effect sensors in its Joy-Cons, and unfortunately, that means it’s still vulnerable to stick drift. Instead, the handheld will use analog-style sticks, but Nintendo assures fans they have been redesigned to combat one of the biggest problems of the original Nintendo Switch.
In an interview with Nintendo Life, Nate Bihldorff, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Product Development & Publishing, provided details on what to expect from Nintendo’s next console. “The Joy-Con 2’s controllers have been designed from the ground up. They’re not Hall Effect sticks, but they feel really good,” he said.
For those unfamiliar, Hall Effect sticks utilize magnetic fields rather than physical contact to detect movement. This makes them much more durable and all but immune to issues like stick drift, unlike the potentiometers in traditional joysticks. As the potentiometer wears down over time, it can give erroneous readings to the console and lead to issues like stick drift, delayed inputs, and more.
Bihldorff emphasized the construction quality of the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons. “Really, every time we put out a new hardware, whether it’s a new system or an accessory, [Nintendo is] designing from the ground up to be the best possible experience for our consumers, whether it’s the immediate effect of the Joy-Cons that you’re playing, how they’re interacting with the game, or durability. They take it and rebuild it so that we can give the best possible experience.”
He also told Nintendo Life that the Switch 2 Pro Controller feels a bit different, and that he intentionally sought to copy the feel of the GameCube’s analog stick. “I was a GameCube guy. Something about it felt so familiar, but the stick on that, especially,” he said. “I tried to spend a lot of time making sure that it was quiet. I don’t know if you tried really whacking the stick around but it really is [quiet]. I’m thinking back to my Smash Bros. days, where you just whack it. [The Switch 2 Pro Controller] is one of the quietest controllers I’ve ever played.”
Like many other aspects of the Switch 2, Nintendo isn’t clear on exactly what technology has gone into the new Joy-Cons. However, Nintendo has said it focused more intently on the sticks this time around. In an Ask the Developer session last week, Nintendo producer Kouichi Kawamoto said, “We designed everything from scratch for Joy-Con 2….the control sticks are larger and more durable, with smoother movement.”
The hope for no stick drift lies in that improved durability. To be clear, Nintendo isn’t the only company that struggled with faulty analog sticks; the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller has also been the subject of complaints. However, the Nintendo Switch became associated with stick drift over its lifetime, and we can only hope Nintendo has learned from past mistakes and focused on ensuring the smoothest control possible.
