Nintendo has revealed that the Nintendo Switch OLED has a hidden improvement involving the Joy-Con controllers. Since the release of the Nintendo Switch, there’s been consistent backlash regarding the analog sticks on the Joy-Con and how quickly they succumb to stick drift. As Nintendo has said in the past, stick drift is inevitable, however, Joy-Cons seemingly experience the wear-and-tear issue quicker than other controllers and worse than other controllers. That said, the analog sticks on the new Nintendo Switch OLED may not have this problem, or at least it may not be as severe.
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Speaking about the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons, Nintendo’s Toru Yamashita noted that Nintendo has been contionously working on improvements to the Joy-Con analog sticks that can’t always be seen. To this end, the analog sticks on the new Nintendo Switch OLED Joy-Cons represent “the latest version with all the improvements.”
“Joy-Con controllers have lots of different features, so we’ve been continuing to make improvements that may not always be visible,” said Yamashita. ย “Among others, the analog-stick parts have continuously been improved since launch, and we are still working on improvements. The analog stick at first release cleared the Nintendo reliability test using the method of rotating the stick while continually applying a load to it, with the same criteria as the Wii U GamePad’s analog stick.”
Yamashita continued:
“As we have always been trying to improve it as well, we have investigated the Joy-Con controllers used by the customers and repeatedly improved the wear resistance and durability. The parts of the Joy-Con analog sticks are not something that can be bought off the shelf but are specially designed, so we have undergone a lot of considerations to improve them. In addition, we improved the reliability test itself, and we have continued to make changes to improve durability and clear this new test. When the effects of our improvements were confirmed, we promptly incorporated them into the Joy-Con controllers that are included with the console, Nintendo Switch Lite, and the ones sold individually, that were manufactured at that time. This involves the internal components of the Joy-Con, so you can’t tell the improvements from the outside, but we use the new versions of the parts when we repair them. Also, similar continual improvements have been made for the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller as well.”
As you can see, alongside the new OLED controllers, the Nintendo Switch Pro controller and basic Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons also now include these improvements, so you don’t need a Nintendo Switch OLED to experience these improvements.ย
