Switch 2 Joy-Cons May be Able to Predict the Player’s Next Move

Summary

  • The Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con controllers may predict player movements based on a patent filing.
  • The patent describes a system for tracking finger movement to predict player inputs.
  • The Switch 2 will get a proper unveiling in April, potentially revealing new controller features.

The Joy-Con controllers used by Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2 console could have technology in them that predicts a player’s next move. The information comes from a Nintendo patent filing published on January 23, referring to potential tech that could be incorporated into the Nintendo Switch 2 interface.

The Nintendo Switch has had a good run. Launched more than seven years ago, Nintendo’s hybrid handheld/desktop game machine is the leading console of the current generation. In fact, the Switch recently became the best-selling console of all time in the US, surpassing the PlayStation 2’s lifetime sales numbers. Now, Nintendo is getting ready to pass the torch to a new generation of hardware, aptly called the Nintendo Switch 2. After months of leaks and rumors, the company officially unveiled the Switch 2 with a brief trailer. More questions about the console’s capabilities remain, though, which might be answered in an upcoming Nintendo Direct set for April 2.

Related

What to Expect From the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct in April

The Nintendo Switch 2 will be the subject of a Nintendo Direct in April, and the original Switch may hold the key to the content of this presentation.

Some of those questions will undoubtedly be concerned with the console’s controllers, which seem to be packing a number of new features, including Joy-Con features originally intended for the first Nintendo Switch, like magnetic attachment. One such feature could be a system to predict future player inputs. A patent application filed by Nintendo in August 2024 and published on January 23 details a system that tracks the position and direction of the player’s finger when near buttons, with the potential to predict the player’s next input.

Nintendo Patents System to Track And Predict Player Inputs

According to the patent application, which features little more than a system flowchart detailing the logic of the mechanism, Nintendo describes a system that tracks the player’s finger as it contacts buttons on a controller. When the player’s finger moves to press other buttons in sequence, the system can then automatically perform future inputs based on the order of the buttons the player contacted or pressed. In other words, the system as described can record the movement patterns of players’ fingers on the controller, then perform actions based on predicting their next input. This could smooth out operations for certain things, like menu selections, or even in-game actions like attack sequences. Predictive systems have been at work in games for years, and similar attempts to use game logic to “guess” a player’s input underpin systems like rollback netcode in fighting games.

It should be noted that a patent application is merely an attempt to patent an idea or mechanism, and not an indicator that the technology has been built or even deployed. Thus, absent confirmation from Nintendo itself, none can say whether the system patented is in the Switch 2, the original Switch, or any actual hardware Nintendo has made. That said, patent applications do reveal what Nintendo’s engineers and designers are at least thinking about, such as how newspapers might work in a future Animal Crossing game. Whether or not these systems do make it into actual products is a different matter.

Nintendo Switch 2 Tag Page Cover Art

Nintendo Switch 2

Brand

Nintendo

Original Release Date

2025

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