After over six years of Joy-Con drift quashing the fun and wallets of many a humble Switch player, Nintendo may have finally found a solution. A patent for a new Nintendo controller recently published by the US Patent Office proposes “a resistance section using a magnetorheological fluid whose viscosity changes with a magnetic-field intensity and which becomes resistance when the operation element is displaced.”
What does that mean, besides application of a really big and cool science word? Well, basically, that the Joy-Con won’t drift because of a magnetic fluid that activates when the opposite direction is pushed. OR it could be describing a force feedback analog stick kinda like resistive triggers on PS5 controllers. The wording makes it a little hard to tell.
If it’s the latter, hopefully Nintendo includes the ability to tweak it for preferences or those with disabilities (like me!). If it’s the former… then thank heavens, it was about time. It seems likely that this will be part of a controller for the much talked about Switch successor, but we’ll have to see.
Leave a Comment
Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
