Nintendo has confirmed that the Nintendo Switch 2’s Joy-Con 2 controllers will not feature Hall Effect analogue sticks, which is sure to raise fears about Joy-Con drift rearing its head for the new generation console.
Having been rather coy about the underlying technology in press Q&A sessions last week, Nintendo Life were able to get an actual answer out of Nintendo of America’s Nate Bihldorff, who confirmed that the new Joy-Con will not have Hall Effect sticks… but doesn’t state definitively whether that applies to the new Pro Controller.
Nintendo Life –  Let’s jump off the sensitivity stuff then and talk about the stick of the Switch 2 Joy-Con because it feels so different to the original Switch’s analog stick. So is it a Hall Effect stick? Were you inspired by the Hall Effect stick?
Nate Bihldorff – Well, the Joy-Con 2’s controllers have been designed from the ground up. They’re not Hall Effect sticks, but they feel really good. Did you experience both the Joy-Con and the Pro Controller?
Nintendo Life – Both!
Nate Bihldorff – So, I like both, but that Pro Controller, for some reason the first time I grabbed it, I was like, “this feels like a GameCube controller.” I was a GameCube guy. Something about it felt so familiar, but the stick on that especially. I tried to spend a lot of time making sure that it was quiet. I don’t know if you tried really whacking the stick around but it really is [quiet]. I’m thinking back to my Smash Brothers days, where you just whack it. [The Switch 2 Pro Controller] is one of the quietest controllers I’ve ever played.
There’s certainly the possibility that the new Pro Controller has Hall Effect sticks, given that it has added features like back buttons that are typical of pro controllers, but we wouldn’t put money on it.
Having new analogue stick modules that are “designed from the ground up” could make them more resistant to the issue, but this will stil be massively disappointing for anyone who’s had Joy-Con Drift through the Nintendo Switch generation. Potentiometer analogue sticks use physical contact to determine the position of the stick, but this is prone to being worn down over time, and can have dust and residue build up that prevents a good contact. As this happens, Joy-Con can start to “drift” giving an incorrect reading from a neutral position that leads to a consistent directional input.
By contrast, Hall Effect sensors measure magnetic fields instead of using direct contact, making them nigh on impervious to the problem.
It’s not an issue that is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch – there’s definitely been an uptick in awareness of the problem amongst PlayStation and Xbox gamers as well.
Joy-Con Drift led to lawsuits, to Nintendo implementing blanket repair programmes in certain regions, and a cottage industry of DIY repair kits on any open online marketplace. It even went so far that some accessory makers started to produce Hall Effect sticks and both offer them standalone, and use them extensively in third party and pro controllers.
At the very least, we hope that Joy-Con 2 continue to use easily replaceable modules, as opposed to soldering the analogue sticks in place, making them better for repair, both at repair partners and by end users.
Source: Nintendo Life
