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Understanding the Switch 2 ‘Mouse mode’

This should make it easier for indie devs to port games to Switch 2 from PC

By Brad Bennett
Understanding the Switch 2 ‘Mouse mode’

There is a ton of new information out regarding the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, and one of the most peculiar new features is something called ‘Mouse mode.’

This new feature lets you use the upgraded Joy-Cons sideways on a table like a mouse. You can even use both Joy-Cons like this at the same time to play new titles like Drag x Drive, a new multiplayer sports game.

To be clear, regular Joy-Con and controller support are still the main ways to play most games, but this new mouse mode just offers a new control scheme for games that want to take advantage of it.

Older Switch games like Mario Party Jamboree are also going to be updated with mini-games that take advantage of the new control scheme. The controllers still have gyroscopes inside, so you can also rotate them while in mouse mode to allow for some intuitive controls to help solve puzzles.

New games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond even have enhanced first-person shooter (FPS) controls that mimic how you control similar games on a computer. In this mode, you use one Joy-Con like a mouse and the other like a traditional controller with a joystick. The mouse controller is used to look around while the joystick physically moves the player.

mouse mode in various forms

This is cool, but it seems that you’ll want to be playing at a desk to use this mode since bending over to place your controller on a coffee table might be a bit annoying for some titles. That said, it might work well for the odd mini-game in Mario Party. 

Nintendo is planning to launch a website detailing the new Switch hardware later today, so ideally we’ll learn more about the feature then. The company also plans to release a game called Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour in June alongside the console, which will also go into greater detail regarding the hardware.

Overall, this is a pretty unique addition to a console and it should help the Switch 2 be both unique, but also work well with games designed for PC. This should help indie developers who make games for Steam port them to the Switch 2 without having to completely re-tool the control methods.

For all of our Nintendo Switch 2 Direct content, follow this link.

More to come…

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