Some time ago, Colorware - purveyors of all things colourfully customised - sent over a few sets of Joy-Con they had painted for us to review. Not content to simply fawn over the admittedly gorgeous paint job they applied, we wanted to thoroughly test them, not only to make sure the paint job stood up well to wear and tear, but to make sure the Joy-Con themselves performed as well as the unmodified product.
We're pleased to report that Colorware's Joy-Con do indeed hold up to scrutiny, looking good even when compared to Nintendo's own colour variants. The paint job is every bit as good as the real deal, and you have a lot more options from which to choose, including those gorgeous NES-Style ones.
A set of custom painted Joy-Con will set you back $149, so it's a bit steep, but that price includes the hardware, so you're really only paying about a $69 premium to get a hue that may never be officially available. If that piques your interest, take a look at the pictures below to get an idea of just how these painted Joy-Con look on an actual Switch console.
Now that you've seen these products in a real-world setting, do you have a mind to add some colour to your own Joy-Con? Let us know what you think of these with a comment below.
Special thanks to Colorware for painting our Joy-Con for use in this feature.
[source colorware.com]
Comments 30
I'll just wait for official ones, I have the grey and the yellow ones. Hoping for a white or blue pair in the future.
Oooh... love the color of Joy Cons !
I'm waiting for White Nintendo Switch.
White ALL.
White color on tablet body, white color on Joy Cons, white color on the Buttons, except the monitor will definetely Black when Turn Off.
Yeah these are super over priced...
I... missed the part where the Splatoon 2 Review copies are already shipped out.
They look amazing, but make me wonder how easy would it be to do your self as I have done it for many controllers in the past? but I think first investment is pro controller.
I want a deep dark Purple but not for that price
They look nice,but not for what they're charging. The standard official ones cost enough for the pair
It might just be the picture quality, but they don't "pop" as much as the official controllers
I love how people are complaining that these are overpriced. Have you seen the cost of similar products at Controller Chaos!?
Joy-con color variants are definitely cool, but I'm more eager to see physical changes to the joy-cons, like gamecube style ones some have photoshopped.
Too bad the photos made of the Joy-Con attached to the Switch are made against backlight... Doesn't really sell the colors...
Still no d-pad.
If you've got the opportunity to create custom Joycons, why would you design them with buttons instead of a d-pad? I don't get it. It's a missed opportunity.
If someone finally builds Joycons with high-quality d-pads, I would buy them instantly.
I'm torn over whether I want to pay the $70 for a Pro controller, so this would be a tough sell for me, regardless of how nice they look unfortunately.
@shani I don't think they're building them, just repainting.
green and pink look funky
I like these but I'd have to be pretty flush to add to the cost of a switch when I pick one up. I still wince when I look at the accessory price's 😱😱
The green and wine colour looks really nice.No chance I'd pay that amount for them though.
@Wolfy76700 It isn't. That's just a screenshot from the last Testfire!
@Anti-Matter
Ditto to all that, as I said once before.
Orange, teal, glow-in-the-dark, gold, "wood", lilac, cream, clear, golden rod, rainbow, checker, houndstooth, and/or periwinkle.
@blackice85 Lol really? Then what's so custom about them? ^^ Everyone can paint some Joycons...
On a different note: definitely get the Pro Controller instead!
I was facing the same decision and I'm really glad I bought the Pro Controller, it's marvellous. I always thought the Wii U Pro Controller was the best controller I ever had, but this one is even better regarding the size and feel of the buttons, ergonom and general build quality. It's also slightly heavier which is great for gyro aiming (e.g. Splatoon). I got mine for 56€ with a coupon.
The Joycons are just a really cheap piece of tech (aside from the known connection issues, see Ben Heck's remarks about the Joysticks in his video) and not worth spending that much money on them.
@Anti-Matter The trouble with white is, over time it may turn yellow. Happened to my DS Lite and my Wii!
@Julien
Not happened to me.
My NDS Lite and Wii still White as new.
@Anti-Matter You have whiter Wii than me!
As I've posted on Twitter, I am the very first customer of ColorWare Nintendo Switch custom paint job.
On the night that they soft launched the service, only Joy-Con's could be bought, which is what I went for.
After picking my colours (and talking to ColorWare customer services), my chosen matte metallic colours were: Mystique (purple) and Goldrush (gold).
These brand new Joy-Con's are based on the official grey ones, and ColorWare professionally paint them by taking apart, paint, QC, reassemble, QC again, and repacking it into the official packaging as if Nintendo had sold them. They add a ColorWare sticker on the box to confirm that these are painted.
The paints ColorWare use are exclusive to them and their own blends, a first major point. Second, ColorWare take over warranty for one year, so if you have issues with your Joy-Con's, contact them.
The cost for professional paint job, tools, labour, QC, after care and warranty, plus new Joy-Con's, is pretty fair. If you are skilled you can do your own custom paint job, but you'll have zero warranty (void by Nintendo), and your paints may not match the quality of big companies like ColorWare and Custom Controllers (off the shelf).
In either case, this is certainly an extravagant luxury (just like the amazing Waterfield Switch Cityslicker cases), but for those who like to be unique, it's pretty damn cool ^^
Since my purchase the service was fully expanded into full Nintendo Switch customisation (Joy-Con's, Switch, and Dock), and Switch Pro Controller, alongside the option of just Joy-Con's only.
Here is my most recognised tweet of my setup (#2 with Meze Audio 99 Classics; my #1 swaps headphones for TaoTronics TT-BA07 Bluetooth Transmitter + Ultimate Ears UE Boom 2), and my unboxing pics via Imgur.
https://twitter.com/theoneinyellow/status/855081366848983044
https://imgur.com/gallery/EeJLk
DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with either ColorWare, Meze Audio, Custom Controller, Ultimate Ears, or Waterfield.
I personally purchased my ColorWare Joy-Con's and Waterfield Switch Cityslicker case.
Something about the Switch attracts overpriced accessories like flies to dung.
Oh wait, it was Nintendo that set the precedent...
@TheOneInYellow I got a pair as well...and have been eyeing the City Slicker.
As you said, it's not for everyone...for some people $150 is a "lot of" money, but if one of the color ware ones fail between now and next summer, it is replaced.
In a world with millions of Switches, it's nice (for me at least) to have one that is a little more...personalized
@MrKai Awesome dude! What colours did you go for (pics)?
The Waterfield Switch Cityslicker case is simply gorgeous and has high-protection, even though it is a (semi-)soft case:
The internal, plush, padding is the first key point and is far higher than almost all current cases on the market, more so than EVA cases that have lot's of air and room inside.
The ballistic nylon is tough, has high resistance to everyday conditions and won't tear, or be punctured easily.
The leather flap is genuine high-quality, full cowhide leather, but is actually double layered; front-side is your choice of coloured leather, underneath is black leather.
This type of leather is expensive alone (a large portion of the costs to make such a case), and thick, giving further protection.
Finally, this case, though based on a previous Cityslicker design, was planned via crowdsourcing; excellent customer relationship.
The cost of materials alone, plus that each case is hand-made, is why the cases, on first blush, seem expensive, but with the above is rather cheap; a lot of expensive, haute products on the market from (fashion houses, automotive, etc) would charge far more for less that what goes into such a case.
This is why I first bought the 3DS XL/New 3DSXL Cityslicker all of those years ago (Nintendo Life and Kotaku made great reviews).
I wanted to invest my Switch in a great case, not a cheaper one, or one that I did not feel could both protect well and look good.
Take a look at my unboxing pics of this case and comparisons to my New 3DS XL case:
http://imgur.com/gallery/nPWlJ
I wanted to reiterate cost of, at least, ColorWare Joy-Con custom paint jobs, to everyone, just so that some of our community might try to understand why the service costs as it does:
Ignoring shipping for now (esp to the UK), the cost of purchasing a set of ColorWare Joy-Con's is $149.00.
Of that, $79.99 goes towards 'new' Joy-Con's.
That leaves $69.01.
That remainder goes towards: high-quality and unique ColorWare exclusive paints, maintaining tools, H&S, workmanship and labour, QC, applying ColorWare warranty, after sales customer services, profit for ColorWare, etc.
That's just Joy-Con's; Pro Controller is a similar process, whereas painting a full Nintendo Switch (Switch, Joy-Con's, and Dock) is more expensive due to both purchasing a brand new console and painting it is itself involves more work, and thus cost.
Remember, you are buying either new controllers or console as part of the paint job.
In my opinion, then, <$70 to paint Joy-Con's alone, using paints that cannot be bought off-the-shelf, and include full warranty via the painter, is not a bad proposition, taking into account the painter's previous work and lauded feedback.
However, if this is too much, then that is also fine, but I hope that this may help explain costs and what goes into creating products like this.
Once again, I am not affiliated with any of the manufacturers mentioned, but I do a tonne of research and reading, because if I am going to invest my own money then I want to know what it is I am getting.
I apply this to games, accessories, audio (I am a headphone audiophile), horological timepieces (watches, soon Xeric Soloscope Quartz), mechanical keyboards, smartphones (Samsung S7 Edge Plus), skins (DBrand), multitools (will hopefully get either Victorinox Swisstool X or Leatherman Surge), wallets (I have a Secrid Slimwallet Dutch Martin Whiskey), pens and pencils (Tombow Zoon 727, and rOtring 800+), etc.
This is sometimes why I have such a background knowledge on certain products; because I studied the product and sometimes the company behind them.
I like to switch up my colors on the switch every once in a while .
@TheOneInYellow I got the pastel-leaning "Splatoon" combo.
It is funny what you mentioned about the quality - one of them ("Clover") was a bit dirty and I thought it was paint fade. I was able to get it new-like clean and after the first few rubs was impressed at just how well baked on the recolor is.
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