With Nintendo expected to announce its new console, the NX, very soon, it's no surprise that leaks and spills are happening all over the place - the latest being a new patent filed by the company.
Eurogamer recently published a detailed report on the new system which included info on a portable handheld component with removable controls.
That was followed by a newly-published patent, filed by Nintendo, for detachable controls that dock into the side of a portable device. However the latest patent to be published, as spotted by Nintendo Life, takes the modular idea a step further.
While the last patent showed a controller that would connect to each side of the tablet-like device, this one shows smaller modules that slide into four slots on the face of the controller.
For example, one of the illustrations shows a d-pad being placed into and removed from one corner, while face buttons are put into another, but all are interchangeable.
Not long now
Another image shows the device with three analogue sticks and a d-pad inserted, demonstrating the freedom that the controller would offer.
Remember that, as with all patents, there's no guarantee that this is what the NX controller will end up looking like, or if it's the NX at all.
Furthermore, this design differs from the Eurogamer report and the design features in the prior patent, which nod to fully detachable Wiimote-style controllers.
TechRadar understands that these controllers attachments will function independently, allowing two players to use an attachment each for multiplayer gaming.
For that reason we believe the new patent may point to an earlier/unused iteration of the console, or that the final design may be a mixture of elements from different reports.
- Everything you need to know about the Nintendo NX.
