When it comes to the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo made quite a massive splash online. Fans were eager to get a video game console that was perfect for both home use or taken on-the-go. However, it wasn’t very long before a major issue started to appear and it was due to the Joy-cons. If you owned your Nintendo Switch very long then you probably even encounter this problem already and if you haven’t, this issue may appear sooner or later and that’s the dreaded Joy-con drift. This Joy-con drift causes the controller to register a movement when the analog stick is not being touched which could lead towards a character death or a problematic turn during a racing game. I can’t tell you how many times I drove off the track during Mario Kart 8 Deluxe due to the Joy-con drift.
This problem was something that Nintendo would fix for a fee otherwise those with a problematic Joy-con had to purchase a new controller to make use out of the system. That changed recently after a lawsuit action caused Nintendo to repair affected Joy-con’s for free along with giving back money to those that were charged previously. As a result, there was some concern towards the Nintendo Switch Lite as the Joy-con’s are attached permanently and that could mean the Joy-con drift would make it difficult for the consumer to quickly replace.
Now that the Nintendo Switch Lite is out, there is a waiting game to see if this problem is present for the system. In fact, there is already teardowns online that showcase the system internals where we now see the joysticks are very similar to the standard Joy-con.
That doesn’t mean that we are not seeing different material that just looks similar to the Joy-con joysticks, but if these are the same materials then the material could be worn down quickly making room for the drift problem to appear. We’re hoping that this system has a new more hardy material that can take a standard gameplay beating but again, we’re left waiting to see if any new reports made their way online in regards to a sudden unwarranted joystick movement being registered.
Source: Spawn Wave, Gamerant