- Photos of an alleged Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con leaked this week
- They appear to show an optical sensor on the controller
- Some are speculating that this means it can be used like a mouse
We’ve seen no shortage of Nintendo Switch 2 leaks over the last few days, including what seems to be our first genuine photos of its controller. One small detail on these images has fueled plenty of speculation about a potential Nintendo Switch 2 feature.
If you look closely, you can see what appears to be an optical sensor on the side of the new Joy-Con. These are the same sensors that you can find on the bottom of a PC mouse, leading some to speculate that the controllers will be able to function similarly.
The idea is that, when placed on its side, you might be able to move the Joy-Con around like a mouse. It sounds a bit far-fetched at first, but this feature is already present on the Lenovo Legion Go, a PC handheld from competitor Lenovo, albeit in a more vertical orientation.
It’s not hard to see the potential utility of such a feature. It could offer some of the precision of the original Wii Remote, making it easier to play ports of old games. Newer titles could also benefit. Many Splatoon 3 players rely on gyroscope controls for faster and more accurate aiming, but a mouse-like accessory such as this could provide an even more precise control scheme.
Navigating a more complex user interface or a web browser would also be much simpler. If the Nintendo Switch 2 is going to feature a significantly altered UI or, as some have speculated, an integrated social media website à la Miiverse, then moving in this direction would make a lot of sense.
Just bear in mind that this is all pure speculation for now. Although they seem extremely genuine, we still don’t know for sure whether the leaked photos are actually real. We also don’t know whether that’s truly an optical sensor, or just something that looks an awful lot like one.
Of course, even if an optical sensor is present on the Nintendo Switch 2 controller, there’s no guarantee that it will actually be utilized like this. The original Joy-Con features an infrared camera, but it is hardly used outside of a single 1-2 Switch minigame and some basic eShop download software.
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