Long before the Nintendo Switch 2 was officially revealed, leaks and rumors suggested that the new console's Joy-Con controllers would attach to the system magnetically, but it turns out that this is an idea that's been in the works at the company for some time.
While Nintendo hasn't given a direct 'yes' on whether the Switch 2 Joy-Con controllers are definitely magnetic, the way they attach to the system with a snap in the reveal trailer certainly suggests so, and again, this follows multiple other accurate leaks. It makes even more sense when you consider that the producer of the Nintendo Switch, Yoshiaki Koizumi, said back in February 2017 that he was "particularly excited" about using that idea on the original console, but it just didn't work well enough back then.
This comes from a now-deleted Nintendo Minute video hosted by Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang (Nintendo's former director of social media marketing and original content, and senior manager of creator relations and original content, respectively), which was highlighted by @Nintendeal and reshared in a new video from Yang on social media. In the old clip, Koizumi explains that Nintendo "tried a lot of different things in terms of connecting the Joy-Con to the console," but "one I was particularly excited about at the time was using magnets, where you could just, like, snap it right to the console." There was a fundamental flaw, though: "As you would play, sometimes it would just fall into your lap."
Did you know that Nintendo told us back in 2017 about their plans to use magnets in the original Nintendo Switch? pic.twitter.com/BGlr3vEsrIJanuary 21, 2025
Nintendo wanted to make "something that was sturdy enough for you to hold onto the console, but also gave you that kind of satisfying snap that the magnets did," which is how it ended up coming up with the idea of the Switch's clicking mechanical rails. Reacting to the video now, all these years on, Yang says: "It just goes to show you that Nintendo is a company that never lets a good idea die, they kind of store it away, and when the technology catches up, they use it in something else."
It really makes you wonder how many other ideas Nintendo could have tucked away for when the time is right – maybe even more of them could be implemented in the Switch 2 in some way. For now, we'll probably have to wait until the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct in April for more concrete details.
