Image: NintendoBefore the Switch 2 was officially announced earlier this year, magnetic Joy-Con controllers were rumoured for quite a while. In fact, developers at Nintendo wanted to utilise magnets on the original Switch, but the technology at the time meant that they wouldn't be strong enough to gain the late Satoru Iwata's approval. Thankfully, the technology is now right where we need it to be, and after going hands on with the Switch 2 recently, we can confidently confirm that attaching and removing the Joy-Con feels much more satisfying than the original console. According to a Mobile Syrup interview with the Switch 2's key architects – director Takuhiro Dohta, producer Kouichi Kawamoto and technical director Tetsuya Sasaki – the Joy-Con had originally not included a release button, with Kawamoto requesting that the Joy-Con be strong enough so that children couldn't accidentally remove them, and yet weak enough so that if users wanted to simply remove them with force, they could. Kawamoto: Originally, we didn’t have the button that would release the magnet. And so you had to pull. And then we discussed, “Well, wouldn’t the kids pull it apart?” So my first request was, “Please use a strong magnet.” And the second was, “Okay, if you want to be able to pull it, please make sure you can pull it.” So I gave that conflicting request to the hardware experts. [laughs] And to take this request and bring it into realization, we had several ideas using magnets, but for some of them, the technology wasn’t quite available to us yet. So again, we just went through so many iterations before we arrived at the solution. Of course, the final product features prominent release buttons on the back of the device that, when pulled, produces a small pin from the Joy-Con, pushing them away from the console and thus breaking the magnetic field. Furthermore, it's been confirmed that the 'SL' and 'SR' buttons on the two Joy-Con controllers are now made of metal, so that they too could attach to the console via the magnets. According to Tetsuya Sasaki, metal buttons had rarely been utilised in console development, so such a decision did not come naturally when designing the Switch 2. Sasaki: A notable feature, I think, is for example, the SL/SR buttons, because they’re on the inside — the buttons themselves are made of metal because they need to stick to the magnet on the inside. And actually, in console development, it is incredibly rare for buttons to use metal. And so it was an idea that really didn’t come up very naturally for us in development. So initially, we had a bunch of other ideas on how to make this work. There were many advancements made in the world of technology and we were finally able to get to a place where we could use metal in the buttons. But it took a lot of trial and error until we got there. When you look at the final result itself, it feels like such an obvious answer, but the truth is, when the standard doesn’t exist already, it’s one of those ideas that isn’t actually that simple to come up with. It's fascinating to see what kind of thought went into the design of the Switch 2, and honestly, we're pretty thankful that the rail mechanism has been ditched for something a bit more elegant. We can only hope that the magnet system will hold up for the foreseeable future. So smooth What do you make of the new magnetic Joy-Cons? Do you prefer it to the current rail system? Let us know with a comment. [source mobilesyrup.com] See Also Share:0 2 Nintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Switch 2's Backwards Compatibility List Provides Updates On Two Titles Here's what you can expect 126 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's 'Partner Spotlight' eShop Sale (North America) Every game we scored 9/10 or higher 123 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's 'Save & Play' eShop Sale (Europe) Every game we scored 9/10 or higher Nintendo Switch 2 US Pre-Orders Start 24th April, System & Launch Game Pricing Unchanged But accessories "experience price adjustments" in the US