Nintendo has published a page for the console’s technical specifications, but there’s something missing in the page that a lot of fans expected.
Just to get it out of the way, they confirm that the main console has a custom processor from Nvidia, 256 GB in UFS storage, and microSD Express card slot and a brightness sensor. This sensor has not been highlighted so far, so we’ll wait for a few months to find out what it’s for.
The Joy-Cons will once again have accelerometers, gyroscopes, and mouse sensors. HD Rumble is returning, alongside Bluetooth 3.0 and all the buttons and inputs we already know it will have.
Nintendo listed the C Button as well, but it only says that the left and right stick on the Joy-Cons are pressable. The page does not mention that Nintendo chose to use hall effect joysticks for the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons. For that matter, the page for the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller also does not mention that it uses hall effect sticks.
The rumors about hall effect sticks started not from speculation, or even any leaks, but from a third-party accessory company. As Gulikit explained on their website, they started to work on their own hall effect sticks to use as a replacement for the sticks on the Switch Joy-Cons, after the notorious issue of the Joy-Con drift came into prominences. Other accessory companies would follow with their own replacement sticks and Hall Effect controllers.
We reported that Nintendo filed a patent for hall effect joystick technology in 2023. Last year, a leaker claimed from making their teardown of a Switch 2 that it has hall effect joysticks. So why is Nintendo not confirming that they are using hall effect joysticks?
One possible reason is that Nintendo does not see it as a selling point. We understand that many hardcore gamers, and hardcore Nintendo fans, would disagree. Nintendo’s perspective may be that they’re focusing their efforts to casual gamers, who do represent a bigger ratio of their user base.
But we should also acknowledge that Nintendo may have chosen not to add hall effect joysticks at all. That can certainly turn some potential customers off, but if they have fixed the stick drift issue, than we must admit that it won’t be necessary to use hall effect joysticks.
Since the Switch 2 Joy-Cons attach magnetically, there could be interference or other problems with using even more magnetic components in hall effect joysticks. We have previously shared links explaining that many hall effect products turned out to have issues. Here, we’ll point to this post from the Controller subreddit pointing out that the simpler technology in hall effect sticks creates new problems. Because they don’t center as accurately and have worse polling rate, they are worse for games that require stick precision, such as competitive FPSes.
What really matters, especially with the $ 450 asking price, is that Nintendo has addressed the stick drift issue completely. Here’s hoping that it has been taken care of for sure.
