It Looks Like the Rumors About a “mouse Mode” in Switch 2 May Be True
When the Nintendo Switch 2 was officially announced , it was hard to feel like it wasn’t just more of the same. Without any weird 3D gimmicks or absurd naming scheme, did it really feel like a new Nintendo device? But eagle-eyed viewers have noticed something else: It turns out that Nintendo may become the first console maker to build a mouse directly into the controller by default.
Around 1:01 into the announcement, you can see what appears to be an optical sensor appear on the side of one of the Switch 2’s Joy-Con controllers (or whatever they’re called), and just a few seconds later the same two controllers slide across the table on their side as if they were being used as mice.
This moment follows weeks of rumors and alleged leaks , but nothing concrete has emerged… until now.
In a patent filed on August 1 last year and published on February 6, Nintendo describes an “input device” that looks and sounds very similar to the Switch 2 Joy-Con (as I’ll call it now), held on its side and incorporating a “sensor for mouse operation.” Finally, it seems like Nintendo’s Switch 2 might not be so boring after all.
In the diagram included in the patent, the hand appears to be using the Joy-Con’s shoulder and trigger buttons as mouse buttons, and possibly using the thumb as a scroll wheel. The Joy-Con diagram appears to be missing a button, the mysterious new C button seen in the Switch 2 trailer late last month, but otherwise depicts everything as expected.
Technically, Nintendo isn’t the first to come up with this idea. A similar feature, albeit with a slightly more cumbersome implementation, is already available on the Lenovo Legion Go with that device’s “FPS mode”. But since Nintendo has made mouse control available to its entire user base, developers will likely feel much more comfortable maintaining the control scheme.
So what could a mouse mean on Switch 2? Well, more natural PC ports and easier aiming in shooting games, of course. But I have a slightly more unusual theory.
I think Nintendo wants to bring DS games to TV for the first time since the Wii U Virtual Console. The company recently added Game Boy Advance games to an updated tier of the Switch Online library, but with a mouse, Nintendo could easily bring DS games to the Switch 2 as well. Yes, technically the Joy-Con motion controls can somewhat emulate a stylus on a touchscreen, but a mouse will much more easily provide the speed and precision needed for classic DS games like The World Ends With You , which have never translated well to any other systems (despite numerous attempts by Square Enix). Finally, there will be a good official method of playing these games that doesn’t require you to use an old DS Lite (or, yes, 3DS).
But even if I’m wrong and the mouse simply becomes an additional control feature for some games, it’s fun to imagine a future in which the Nintendo Switch has better shooter support than the Xbox.