Perhaps the most puzzling mystery left by the Switch 2 announcement is what the new button on the bottom of the right Joy-Con will be used for. Here are a handful of ideas about what it could (or couldn’t) be used for.
Just a New Gameplay Button
The simplest explanation for this button (and the least interesting) is that it’s simply another input developers can integrate into control schemes.
Having another button to access maps, menus, and whatever else developers see fit could be convenient for large-scale games. It’s possible that Sony and Microsoft are planning to add a similar button to their next consoles’ controllers and Nintendo is getting ahead of that curve to stay in line with the trend. Major third parties would probably have an inkling of this upcoming shift, and be asking for the feature’s inclusion now.
At the same time, every new button adds a layer of complexity and inaccessibility, something a diverse company like Nintendo seems unlikely to embrace. It’s also placed in an awkward position where players could accidentally press the home button instead, pulling them out of the game. Such a button could render old Joy-Cons, Switch Pro Controllers, and third-party controllers needlessly incompatible with new games. For all these reasons, it probably isn’t a new gameplay button, nor should it be.
A Programmable Button
My ideal situation—save for accessing a super-cool new feature we don’t know about yet—is that this button can be programmed to whatever the player desires. Since the Switch 2 doesn’t have the back paddles that modern controllers have implemented, this would be a nice alternative.
I’m thinking of something along the lines of how Apple handles the Action button on recent iPhones. Nintendo could provide some presets that would cover the majority of players, such as immediate access to the friends list or photo library, as well as the option to assign user-designated functions. It could even bring up a shortcut menu that lets you pick from a handful of chosen functions, perhaps in conjunction with D-pad directional inputs or the touch screen.
I don’t expect Nintendo to give players this level of control over their controls, but for me, it’d be the best outcome for what this button could be. Plus, a shortcut menu could be Nintendo’s answer to the overlay menus PlayStation and Xbox have used for generations.
A Mouse Button
It looks like Joy-Cons can become mice now thanks to optical sensors and new straps, but the question is, how do you toggle this feature on? It’s likely some games will force you into it automatically, but what about when perusing system menus? A button that swaps undocked Joy-Con into mouse mode would make some sense.
I say “some” because this would essentially render the button useless in handheld mode. It’s just as possible that docking a Joy-Con into its strap triggers the change or that mouse mode is always active when the controllers are undocked. So, while I won’t rule out Nintendo using the button this way, there are more intuitive ways to implement mouse mode and less wasteful functionalities of the button.
A Control Nub
In leaks, this button had a “C” on it. This got the internet speculating about which feature could correlate with the letter. Nintendo’s reveal that showcased the button without a label pours a touch of cold water on the speculation, but a lot of the speculative concepts hold merit.
Nintendo has historically used the letter “C” in association with a stick, be it on the GameCube controller or the New Nintendo 3DS line. What if what we’re looking at isn’t actually a button at all but rather a nub that can be slightly flicked in four directions as inputs?
Okay, it’s clearly not that, but I had to say it. The following idea is a more plausible explanation of the “C” that didn’t come to be.
The Switch’s community features are all but nonexistent, with no way to interact with friends or the broader world of players. It’s a clear area for growth in the Switch 2, and this button could be key to accessing it.
If this community button just brings up a friends list, I’ll see it as a missed opportunity to have made that a programmable option instead. But what if it activated a community overlay for posting screenshots and clips to a Miiverse-esque ecosystem, or chatting with friends? Perhaps if you’re partied up with other players, this could be a quick way of accessing and managing the group? Whatever the case, my hope is that this community integration is multi-functional and seamless, giving us a reason to press the button often and without regret.
There’s a sea of possibility here, and the more daring Nintendo wants to get with community features, the better. I’d welcome the return of Miiverse especially given that we’re all attuned to the absurdity of social media than ever before.
A Microphone Mute Button
Voice chat is a crucial element of gaming communities, and something Nintendo got woefully wrong with the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app. My money’s on Nintendo integrating this feature directly into the Switch 2 after the outcry that this misstep caused (and with more power to work with, there’s no excuse not to).
Should on-system voice chat come to pass, this could work identically to the similarly situated mute button on PlayStation controllers. That quick toggle is way more convenient than sifting through a menu to mute yourself on Xbox. The caveat here is that what makes the PlayStation button work is how it lights up to visually indicate when you’re muted, whereas the Switch 2 button doesn’t seem to be capable of that (that we can see).
I find this to be a pretty plausible use for the mystery button. I just hope that it’s programmable for people like me who aren’t social gamers.
Or Something Else Entirely
Nintendo is gonna Nintendo, for better or worse. It’s possible that the gimmick-loving company has some out-of-the-box use for this button that we couldn’t possibly imagine. For all we know, it could play a Mario coin sound on command and nothing else. That would be so stupid that I’d probably love it, so I hope it does that.
We likely won’t find out until the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct information blowout on April 2nd. Until then, keep speculating about what this Joy-Con addition does. Still catching up? Here’s everything we know about the Switch 2 so far.
