A patent for a new type of Joy-Con for the Nintendo Switch has been granted, which will bring back the classic D-Pad and a Circle Pad, assuming that the controller enters production. The patent was originally filed in 2018, but it was only granted earlier this month.

It’s no secret that Joy-Cons are some of the most fragile video game controllers ever made. This is due to controller drift, where the joystick deteriorates to the point where it starts registering inputs, even when not being touched. Nintendo is currently engaged in lawsuits regarding the Joy-Con drift, yet the company hasn’t offered any alternative Joy-Cons that fix the issue. The Nintendo Switch Lite systems use the same type of Joy-Con controls, even though they are embedded into the system, making it even more disruptive to send them off for repairs.

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Nintendo filed different patents for alternate Joy-Con designs in the past, including ones with a stylus attachment for touchscreen games. In 2018, Nintendo filed a patent that was archived on USPTO Report for a Joy-Con design. Users on ResetEra noticed that the patent was granted as of this month, meaning Nintendo can enter these Joy-Con designs into production.

The biggest difference with this Joy-Con design is that it has a solid D-pad, rather than using four segmented buttons. There are some third-party Joy-Con that already use a solid D-pad and some gamers prefer them, especially for the NES & SNES games on Nintendo Switch Online. The other major difference is that the joystick in the Joy-Con is similar to the Circle Pad used in the Nintendo 3DS, rather than the raised joysticks of the regular Joy-Cons.

The fact that this patent is so old means that it’s unlikely that these Joy-Cons are part of some new design for the rumored Nintendo Switch Pro. It’s unlikely that Nintendo was thinking that far ahead for an updated model, especially as the Switch was still in its first year. It’s possible that this design came about as a counter-measure to Joy-Con drift, as this was an issue detected early on by Switch fans. The 3DS’s controller wasn’t drift-proof by any means, but it was far more durable than the design for the Joy-Con. It remains to be seen whether these alternate Joy-Con designs show up someday, or if they’re just one of many ideas that Nintendo wanted to lock down for the Nintendo Switch, on the off-chance that it could be useful someday.

Sources: USPTO Report, ResetEra

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Scott Baird
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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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