The rumored mouse functionality for the new Nintendo Switch 2-Con controller is most likely real, judging from a recently filed patent that surfaced online.
The new patent, which was published only yesterday, February 6th, provides an overview of the Joy-Con and Pro controllers and includes some drawings that better outline their functionality. What makes the patent very interesting are these drawings, as they show how the Joy-Con controllers could be used as a regular PC mouse with a left Joy-Con used as a regular controller and the right one as a PC mouse, an arrangement clearly intended for first-person shooters, or even in a dual-mouse configuration that could be used for a huge variety of games. Interestingly enough, even the Pro controller seems to feature mouse functionality with two detachable halves that would act as Joy-Con controllers.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con controllers having mouse functionality has been suggested not only by Nintendo itself in the system’s reveal trailer but by some developers as well. Civilization VII executive producer Dennis Shirk recently said that Nintendo is doing something very cool with the controller and that it would be equally cool if it could be used as a PC mouse. This functionality would be a big boon for strategy games, allowing developers to implement PC controls in a console game without requiring any additional accessory or controller.
It may be a while longer before we learn if the Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con and Pro controllers will feature mouse functionality. The console’s next look will be coming on April 2nd with a dedicated Nintendo Direct, which will definitely shed more light on how the console will be different from the original model, besides having better specs that will make it easier for developers to port games from PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles.