If there is one thing you can count on Nintendo for, it’s taking an idea and pushing it to its limits. After months of speculation regarding the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, we got confirmation in its reveal video that the revamped Joy-Con would attach to the console via magnets. Interestingly enough, that idea was intended for the first Switch and that information dates back eight years to when former Nintendo employees Kit and Krysta spoke with Switch designer Yoshiaki Koizumi.
In a brief short shared by Kit and Krysta, Krysta explains how one of the earliest Nintendo Minute videos saw Koizumi-san explaining some of the decisions made around the design of the Switch. In it, he explains that he wanted to include magnets for the Joy-Con so that they would snap on and off from the sides. The problem at the time was that the magnets would randomly lose grip, causing the console to fall into testers’ laps. It seems eight years later, Nintendo was able to overcome that obstacle.
The original Switch uses a sort of plastic rail that holds the controllers in place whereas the Switch 2 will have them seamlessly snap off from the sides, eliminating some of the wear and tear on the device. It’s a clever upgrade and one that does make the Switch 2 appear more futuristic. Even still, I can’t help but think the rail for holding Joy-Con was eliminated from the new console design mostly as a way to prevent hacking. The original Switch’s firmware was circumvented quickly by using an exploit in the Joy-Con rail, to which you can still buy bits of plastic on Amazon to hack your device. Nintendo fixed the exploit in later revisions but totally doing away with any contact points will make it harder for hackers to break into the new OS.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
