While Nintendo rushed to get the Nintendo Switch 2 out the door before tariffs, it appears the console once again suffers from the infamous “Joy-Con Drift” that plagued the controllers of its predecessor. Though cases appear to be limited, tear-downs reveal repairing the problem may have been made harder.
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iFixit’s Tear-down Engineer Shahram Mokhtari tore the brand-new console apart, to really find out what was going on inside it, and how easy self-repairs would be for users.
Per the how-to website’s more detailed article covering the tear-down, iFixit Director of Sustainability Elizabeth Chamberlain writes, “We opened up the new Switch 2 to find out how repairable it really is, and it didn’t take long before we started asking: Is this the best Nintendo could do?”
Immediately focusing on the Joy-Cons, as the “the parts most likely to fail,” confirmed what many had feared. “Joy-Con joysticks use a potentiometer to read the voltage at a wiper that slides across a strip of resistive material. That material wears down over time, or plastic and dust can dirty the sensors,” Chamberlain revealed.
That very design flaw plagued the original Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons, causing the joystick to register input even when it wasn’t being touched.
Also known as “drifting,” the issue became so prevalent (two in five Joy-Cons, per UK watchdog ‘Which?’) that Nintendo agreed to repair Joy-Cons for free and refund prior repairs — hardly a surprise given the multiple lawsuits they faced across the western world.
Nonetheless, Chamberlain hastened to add “all three major console manufacturers are using potentiometer-based joysticks” — recommending users to replace them with joysticks that use magnets, “such as Hall effect or Tunneling Magnetoresistance (TMR) sensors.”
While Nintendo revealed they wouldn’t be using Hall effect joysticks, as it’d mess with the magnets that attach the Joy-Cons to the Nintendo Switch 2, Chamberlain muses TMR would be less susceptible to magnetic interference.
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“Nintendo says the new Joy-Cons are better,” quotes Chamberlain, citing an interview between Nintendo Life and Nate Bihldorff (Nintendo of America Senior Vice President of Product Development & Publishing).
Therein, Bihldorff declared, “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.”
Prior to the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch, Kouichi Kawamoto (Producer, Entertainment Planning & Development Dept.) echoed Bihldorff’s comments during one of Nintendo’s Ask the Developer series of self-interviews.
“Compared to the Joy-Con controllers for Switch, the control sticks are larger and more durable, with smoother movement,” Kawamoto added.
Nonetheless, Chamberlain highlights, “from what we can tell, the redesign didn’t include a revision to the core tech that causes joystick drift.”
Those hoping they can rely on third party fixing kits or their own ingenuity are also out of luck, as disassembling the Joy-Con is a little tricky; requiring practically all parts to be removed to get at the joystick. During their accompanying video, iFixit had to utilize four tear-down engineers to work out how to get the Joy-Con apart in some places.
“A glued-on plastic rib hides more screws, including another tri-point. That’s not intuitive, and it turns what should be a basic repair into a frustrating guessing game,” Chamberlain dismays. “With this reliance on adhesive, we wonder how well it’ll go back together. Only time will tell.”
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While the battery is easy to disconnect, its is tricky to remove thanks to yet more adhesive. Even then, Chamberlain warns the process of removing the joystick requires a bit of “wrenching,” and can’t guarantee it won’t damage it in the process.
All for a joystick that is “more of the same” of the original Nintendo Switch.
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In their accompanying video, iFixit notes that even if there was a more durable material somewhere they could’t tell, declaring, “we haven’t yet met a potentiometer-based stick that’s drift-resistant.”
“If you’ve dealt with joystick drift on the original Switch, Lite, or OLED, you know what’s coming,” Chamberlain foreshadows. “And unless Nintendo is using some miracle new material on those resistive tracks, or the change in size magically solves it, the best fix is going to come from third-party replacements like GuliKit again.”
Many parts of the Nintendo Switch 2’s insides were also revealed to be difficult to remove. The stickers over screws may likely be a means to indicate official Nintendo technicians when a home or unlicensed repair had been made (despite, Chamberlain highlights, voiding warranty over DIY repairs being illegal in the US).
Some parts are modular, and Chamberlain notes the dock looks “almost as if it was designed by a completely different team.”
Giving the Nintendo Switch 2 a damning score of 3/10 for repairability, Chamberlain concluded, “That means we recommend you get some experience under your belt before tackling a Switch 2 repair. And we’re still waiting on Nintendo to step up and support the people who want to fix their stuff.”
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For those turning to Nintendo for repairs, there may be a silver lining.
As reported by Engadget, the repair costs for the Nintendo Switch 2 and near-all of its accessories were more expensive than those of the original Switch.
For example, repairing a water-damaged Pro Controller is $48. Yet, “Nintendo is apparently willing to fix a Joy-Con 2 controller for free.” Though Tom’s Hardware reports that repairs in Japan cost the equivalent of $25.33.
The cumbersome nature is likely intentional (repair charges aside) as Nintendo’s Account User Agreement, states they have the right to brick the console, stipulating that the company “may render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part” if users refuse to follow the conditions.
Nintendo notes that users may not “publish, copy, modify, reverse engineer, lease, rent, decompile, disassemble, distribute, offer for sale, or create derivative works of any portion of the Nintendo Account Services.”
“Bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services,” are also actions that violate Nintendo’s stipulations and may render either an account or the console itself unusable.
Nintendo has not released repair parts or manuals for the Nintendo Switch 2 or its predecessor, something Chamberlain theorizes “might also be a violation of New York’s Right to Repair law.”
So, if the “two in five” figure (40%) applies to the original Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons, and the Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Cons appear to be the same — despite Nintendo’s insistence of a redesign — how many Joy-Cons could be suffering from drifting?
Nintendo announced they sold 3.5 million Nintendo Switch 2 consoles in four days (far surpassing the Nintendo Switch- selling 2.7 million in a month). With two Joy-Cons in each box, that’s a total of 7 million controllers. Even ignoring buying additional ones for multiplayer, that should mean 2.8 million Joy-Cons can potentially develop the dreaded drift.
So how many cases are there at this time of writing? Err, if genuine? Four.
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On the r/Switch subReddit, user ‘NearlyCrossing’ claimed, “I got Joy-Con stick drift out of the box.” Despite the issue often arising after extensive use, the user claimed once they started playing, “The left Joy-Con felt a little cattywampus, but I still was able to play Mario Kart World. Today, Saturday 6/7, the stick felt worse when pushing right. I guess I already had stick drift or something.”
“Tried to recalibrate it in the Switch Settings, and it showed the joystick all messed up. Called Nintendo and now have to send it in for repair. My luck in a nutshell, lol.” The video shows the user unable to put the stick in a neutral position for calibration, and it registering as being a little to the left even when untouched.
Some are reporting ‘NearlyCrossing’ has the first ever documented case of Joy-Con 2 drift, at least caught on camera. Another user pre-dating that by two days was ‘whoatemyteeth,’ who claimed, “Right out of the box my right Joy-Con 2’s joystick is loose and drifts.”
The three to four week repair would have taken them beyond the Best Buy refund period, so the user instead tried to return the console. They were willing to upload a video proving the drifting was occurring.
Reddit user ‘helpmypcisbroken’ provided a far shorter post, declaring, “does anyone know what causes motion drift??? ive tried 2 different consoles, several brand new controllers including third party ones, and all kinds of different things like recalibrating and making sire [sic] the controllers are updated but nothing works,” later adding, “help.”
VTuber Hanyachi shared a similar issue on X. “Okay I’ve been using the #NintendoSwitch2 for exactly ONE day now and the left joy con is ALREADY drifting??? @NintendoAmerica genuinely extremely disappointed.” The accompanying video shows the console endlessly scrolling through a menu in Mario Kart World, without the controller being manipulated.
It should be noted that this particular drifting issue historically tends to develop the more the joysticks are used. Does Nintendo have some secret-sauce deep in the Joy-Cons that are reducing cases of drift to a minority? Or is this a slowly-approaching iceberg?
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