Hands-on with the Switch 2: It’s the Switch, too

A mouse? On a game console?

Nintendo has a history of trying to differentiate its consoles with new features that have never been seen before. Some, like shoulder buttons or analog sticks, become industry standards that other companies quickly aim to copy. Others, like a tablet controller or glasses-free stereoscopic 3D, are rightly remembered as half-baked gimmicks that belong in the dustbin of game industry history.

I can’t say which side of that divide the Switch 2’s Joy-Con “mouse mode,” which lets you use a Joy-Con on its side like a mouse, will fall on. But if I had to guess, I’d go with the gimmicky side.

It works, but it’s kind of awkward.

Kyle Orland

It works, but it’s kind of awkward.

Kyle Orland

That top shoudler button is really much too thin to serve as a mouse button.

Kyle Orland

That top shoudler button is really much too thin to serve as a mouse button.

Kyle Orland

The ring and pinky fingers don’t have anywhere to rest comfortably.

Kyle Orland

The ring and pinky fingers don’t have anywhere to rest comfortably.

Kyle Orland

That top shoudler button is really much too thin to serve as a mouse button.

Kyle Orland

The ring and pinky fingers don’t have anywhere to rest comfortably.

Kyle Orland

The main problem with “mouse mode” is that the Switch 2 Joy-Cons lack the wide, palm-sized base and top surface you’d find on a standard PC mouse. Instead, when cradled in mouse mode, a Joy-Con stands awkwardly on an edge that’s roughly the width of an adult finger. The top isn’t much better, with only a small extension to rest a second finger on the jutting shoulder button that serves as a “right-click” option on the right Joy-Con (the thinner “left click” shoulder button ends up feeling uncomfortably narrow in this mode).

This thin “stand-up” design means that in mouse mode, the thumb side of your palm tends to spill awkwardly over the buttons and joysticks on the inner edge of the Joy-Con, which are easy to press accidentally in some gameplay situations. Meanwhile, on the other side, your ring finger and pinky will have to contort uncomfortably to get a solid grip that can nudge or lift the Joy-Con as necessary.

Two mice at once? In this economy?

Nintendo

Two mice at once? In this economy?

Nintendo

Swooping one mouse back and one mouse forward for a quick pivot.

Nintendo

Swooping one mouse back and one mouse forward for a quick pivot.

Nintendo

Two mice at once? In this economy?

Nintendo

Swooping one mouse back and one mouse forward for a quick pivot.

Nintendo

These ergonomic problems were most apparent when playing Drag x Drop, a Switch 2 exclusive that I can confidently say is the first video game I’ve ever played using two mice at once. Using long, vertical swoops of those mice, you can push and pull the wheels on either side of a wheelchair in a kind of tank-like fashion to dash, reverse, pivot, and gently turn with some degree of finesse in a game of three-on-three basketball.