I have one small issue with Nintendo Switch 2’s new mouse controls
Nintendo’s Joy-Con 2 feature works well in spurts, but questions remain over longer use
Chris Scullion
There’s one aspect of the Switch 2 hardware that makes me the most excited, but also the most concerned.
Ever since leaks suggested the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons would have mouse controls, I’ve been cautiously optimistic. As much as I’m a proud apologist for motion controls (long live the Wii) I’ve never been a massive fan of gyro controls when they’re used for aiming or pointing.
I play Splatoon games with twin-stick controls even though I know squid-shooting purists would vomit ink into an open sewer should they ever find out about my sacrilegious ditching of the series’ trademark gyro aiming.
And while I was excited to hear that the classic versions of Rollercoaster Tycoon 1 and 2 had been released on Switch, the thought of playing a mouse-based game with button controls or even using the touchscreen (given how small the sprites are) meant I opted out of buying it, and bought the PC version on GOG instead. It’s what its creator Chris Sawyer would have wanted. I mean, he’s still alive, but even so.
The idea, then, that Switch 2 could achieve a first for console gaming and launch with mouse controls as standard was one that filled me with joy(con). Imagine all the point-and-click games that could be ported to the thing with their original control scheme in mind! Monkey Island Collection? Yes please! Lemmings and Mario Paint on Virtual Console? Yes please! A Leisure Suit Larry comeback? Umm… I suppose so. And I assume the pun was intended.
And yet, as keen as I am to play a bunch of mouse games on my TV or look like a proper deviant rubbing my Joy-Con 2 controller on my leg on a busy train, having gone hands-on with Switch 2’s mouse controls last week it turns out Rollercoaster Tycoon is the best analogy for it, because its high and low points are quite extreme.
Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic may be on Switch, but it’s crying out for a Switch 2 port with mouse support.
It’s important to acknowledge the good points first, because they’re very good. This isn’t a half-hearted attempt to emulate mouse controls, this is a proper mouse and an accurate one at that. One of the Welcome Tour mini-games has you guiding a small spaceship through an endless torrent of falling spiked balls, and squeezing it through the tiny gaps of open space was an absolute breeze. When it comes to purely moving the thing around, the accuracy is immaculate.
The biggest surprise is something that addresses a comment / joke a lot of people have been making since Switch mouse controls have been known – what, does Nintendo expect everyone to have a table with them at all times when they’re sitting on the couch? Are we expected to just use it on our leg?
In fact, the tutorial for Drag x Drive literally suggests you try moving the mouse on your leg to see how it works. I was wearing jeans and can report that it worked surprisingly flawlessly.
I don’t necessarily recommend it for playing that particular game because using both legs to move your wheelchair will make you look like Vic Reeves in Shooting Stars, but otherwise I can happily confirm that yes, the mouse works perfectly well on your leg (at least on jeans: other fabrics and shorts to be confirmed).
I’ll have a full preview up of Drag x Drive soon, but the mouse controls work great.
The addition of force feedback also can’t be understated. Mouse controls are hardly a new thing to most people, but how many of you have tried mouse controls with rumble? When you’re pulling back a toy car in Mario Party Jamboree and you can feel it clicking as you pull it back, that’s something you can’t get on PC. Granted, that’s a trivial example, but you can imagine how it can improve immersion in other games – stronger feedback every time you fire a shotgun versus a pistol in an FPS, for example.
The other massive plus point for the Switch 2 mouse controls is how seamless the process is, to the extent that you don’t have to actively select them. Metroid Prime 4 features twin-stick controls but lets you swap to mouse controls at any point by just placing the right Joy-Con 2 down on a surface.
In this way, you can explore with twin sticks then instantly switch to the mouse if you need accuracy when shooting, then switch back to twin sticks by just lifting the controller up again. There’s no need to pause and change your control method, it’s superb.
There’s no escaping the obvious negative, however, and that’s comfort. Even though the Joy-Con 2 controllers are noticeably larger and more comfortable than the Switch’s original Joy-Cons, if you turn one on its side and use it as a mouse it’s still significantly smaller and thinner than a standard PC mouse.
As such, while Switch 2’s tiny Joy-Con 2 mouse is perfectly fine for games that require nothing more than moving and clicking with the ‘left mouse button’ (i.e. the L button), games like Metroid Prime 4, which still require you to press the Joy-Con’s face buttons for things like Morph Ball activation, could result in a claw hand situation.
“While Switch 2’s tiny Joy-Con 2 mouse is perfectly fine for games that require nothing more than moving and clicking with the ‘left mouse button’ (i.e. the L button), games like Metroid Prime 4, which still require you to press the Joy-Con’s face buttons for things like Morph Ball activation, can result in a claw hand situation.”
There are caveats here. This is my opinion based on a single day spent at a Switch 2 event, where I played a total of four games with mouse controls and only had real issues with one of them. It’s perfectly possible that in my own home environment, with a bit more time spent playing Metroid Prime 4 (and with Joy-Con 2 controllers that aren’t attached to a desk to prevent people stealing them), I can find a position that’s more comfortable for longer play sessions.
I should also point out that as someone who’s been writing about games professionally for 19 years and who writes a full book every year on top of that, my hands – in particular my wrists – are suffering from their fair share of wear and tear. I can make them make a clicking noise on demand, and I genuinely have to soak them in ice water before and after covering big events that I know will require a lot of typing. I appreciate, then, that I’m more susceptible to others when it comes to using anything other than an ergonomic mouse.
I would cut my arm off for a wireless remake of the SNES Mouse, though that would make it harder to use.
That said, I can’t help feeling like there’s money on the table waiting for either Nintendo or a third-party peripheral manufacturer to come up with something that will make the set-up more comfortable for players who plan on playing certain games with mouse controls for extended periods of time. I can’t imagine playing Civilization 7 for hours on end with my hand like a claw and not suffering for it the next day.
The problem is, it’s not necessarily the simple solution it may initially appear to be, for the reasons detailed above. This isn’t a case of just making a plastic mouse shell that you fit the Joy-Con 2 into, because of the other features that make it more than a standard mouse. You can’t just lift a mouse and turn it on its side to instantly turn it into a controller with a stick, and a mouse doesn’t have Switch 2’s diamond of A, B, X and Y buttons which games like Metroid Prime 4 still require.
It’s going to need either a more elaborate shell that still provides access to buttons, then, or – and this is probably more preferable – a standalone mouse controller that’s compatible with Switch 2 and has L and ZL mapped to the left and right mouse buttons, along with the Switch face buttons located in strategic places similar to a gaming mouse with extra buttons. If Nintendo was to release a separate, full-sized mouse that only works for mouse-supported games – in the same way that its retro controllers are only intended for its retro library – I’d happily buy that, and I dare say I wouldn’t be the only one.
In fact Nintendo, make it look like the SNES Mouse that came with Mario Paint and you’ll have turned a muddle into a masterstroke.
