Switch 2 Patents Seemingly Confirm Mouse Functionality Rumors
Nintendo hasn't revealed much about its upcoming Switch 2 console since teasing it last month with a reveal trailer, leaving leaks and rumors to fill in the gaps. But a pair of new patents strongly suggests that a rumored feature -- using a Joy-Con controller like a computer mouse -- could be coming in the Switch 2 after all.
The two new patents, first filed in August 2023 in Japan and both published Thursday on the website Wipo, have a trove of detailed drawings showing the Switch 2 and its Joy-Cons in a variety of positions. The first patent explains how a "novel input device" -- a Joy-Con controller -- can be used as a mouse (as translated from Japanese by Google Translate). While it's not outright official confirmation that the Switch 2 will let you use its Joy-Cons like computer mice, it shows how much Nintendo invested in the idea, and very likely included it in the final console.
Several of that first patent's drawings show the Joy-Con with its inner side facing down, to be used "placed on a desk or the like," and a hand placed such that fingers are curled over the trigger buttons. There's even reference to using other inputs when in mouse mode, like with the thumb on the joystick as seen in the image above. Though rife with the kind of ultra-clinical language of patents, the descriptions go into detail about how light enters a sensor on the inner side of the Joy-Con, presumably like how a modern optical computer mouse operates.
Perhaps most intriguing are other drawings showing a single user two Joy-Cons in a mouse orientation at once and another drawing showing a user operating one Joy-Con normally with another in mouse orientation. Prior rumors of this functionality suggested it might make the Switch 2 better suited for game genres that require a mouse, like strategy and MOBA, but the possibility that Nintendo wants players using two Joy-Con mice at once suggests the new console could have some of the more novel (and outlandish) control inputs that the company is famous for, from minigames in 1-2 Switch to the zany creations in Nintendo Labo.
The second patent details how the new Joy-Cons connect to the Switch 2 -- and aligning with previous rumors, it details how magnets keep the controllers connected to the console. Interestingly, the patent suggests the magnets are within the console and attracted to the buttons on the side of the Joy-Con (which become shoulder buttons when the controller is held with two hands).
The drawings and descriptions detail things like how, when holding a Joy-Con solo, one of the wrist strap-equipped bumpers slides onto the new controller.
But the most exciting revelation from this second patent is at the very end of the drawings: a charging stand or dock, allowing users to recharge up to two Joy-Cons without needing to attach them to the console. Patent details also suggest the dock could have wireless capability to connect with the controllers.
Since Nintendo didn't release any specs information when it introduced the Switch 2, these patents are the most official source of information on the new console we've found. Nintendo is planning to have a full reveal of the console in a Nintendo Direct on April 2.
Read more: Switch 2 Looks a Lot Like the Original Nintendo Switch... and That's a Good Thing
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