NextHandheld, a leaker known in the Nintendo reddit community, has doubled down on the rumours that the Nintendo Switch 2 will have hall effect sticks. One of the biggest issues of the original Switch were its joysticks which were prone to drift quite often. This led to several Joy-Cons being repaired or returned, or in worst cases, players were forced to buy new Joy-Cons entirely.
It seems like Nintendo is taking preventive measures to ensure that stick drift won’t be an issue for the Nintendo Switch 2. Corroborating previous rumours, NextHandheld claimed that the Switch 2 will indeed have hall effect sticks.
Reddit user sinom_00 provided a quick breakdown of what hall effect sticks are:
“Hall effect uses contactless electromagnets to measure the stick’s position. Most sticks rely on physical contact potentiometers, which will wear down with use and are prone to errors that cause drift. The contactless nature of hall effect sticks makes them much more resilient.”
New third-party controllers, such as GameSir’s excellent G7 controller, have implemented hall effect sticks to prevent drift, giving them a lot more longevity than even the official controllers used by PlayStation and Xbox.
Hall effect sticks are definitely the right direction to go for the Nintendo Switch 2, especially to address the disastrous issues that plagued the designs of the original Joy-Cons. However, Nintendo has yet to make an official announcement confirming that it will be use hall effect, so it’s best to take this rumour with a grain of salt for now.
In related news, Nintendo is bolstering its supply chain to accommodate the sale of 20 million Switch 2 units in its first year, preventing any serious scalping issues. Make sure you also check out which regions will host some hands-on sessions with the upcoming console. Unfortunately, South Africa isn’t on the list.
Source: NextHandheld (via Reddit)