There are a lot of different peripherals available for the Switch, some of which are absolutely cracking, and some of which aren't. We recently got our hands on Kaliber Gaming's catchily-named Keymander 2 3Play, an adapter that allows you to use a mouse and a keyboard for any game on your Switch, and blimey does it fall into the latter category of the sentence before this.
Watch in mild horror and abject hilarity as Alex attempts to try and make a go of playing games such as Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Splatoon 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and even Super Smash Bros. Ultimate using a mouse and keyboard, with the mouse clunky emulating the right stick in nearly all instances.
How does this adapter look to you? Drop us a comment in the comments below expressing your comments.
Comments 26
Huh. I thought you could just plug a keyboard and mouse into the dock. Unless I'm completely wrong lmao
@Razputinman I mean, sure, you could physically connect the devices via USB. The keyboard might even function for text input. But that's about all you're going to get. I don't think a single Switch game actually supports mouse and keyboard for controlling the games.
.. I dunno.. I've written 90 games in SmileBASIC with a USB keyboard/touchpad combo (Logitech K400+), and I've not had any issues at all.
@EarthboundBenjy Actually, 2 games support keyboard and mouse on switch. I know Hypnospace Outlaw does and im pretty sure Fortnite does too.
@EarthboundBenjy I know Terraria is supposed to add in keyboard and mouse support for all console versions at some point. Not sure if it's happened yet, tho.
Maybe if the mouse would emulate the gyro controls rather than the right stick? Yeah, you still don't have the fast turning, but you'd probably get the precision that way?
Or just use the gyro on the pro controller
A simple patch to Switch firmware would resolve this. I thought some games supported mouse and keyboard anyway? Like on some xbox games. Nintendo games likely not, but anything that has a PC release should have compatibility.
This is trying to slap a layer over the standard joy con inputs, so of course it is a disaster.
@Yorumi
An analogue stick on a control will reset to a neutral position when not pressed. A computer mouse cannot do that.
So you need either a software solution where not moving the mouse is interpreted as resetting to a neutral position, or a neutral position is calibrated and your mouse cursor needs to return to that position, likely with a large dead zone.
Neither would be particularly ideal, the former would require constant motion to apply a direction, the latter would lack the boundaries to ensure you can comfortably reset to a desired position.
I bought a keyboard mouse combo device which connected via wireless USB. Great with the Switch
I have only ever found the keyboard and mouse combo to be a good control scheme for games like The Sims, Sim City, Civilization.
I can not imagine playing an action game with that. When I switched FFXIV to my PC I still played with my PS4 controller.
Isn't this more the case that the adapter is rubbish, and not necessarily mouse and key in general? Kinda like saying glasses don't work when really you're just wearing someone else's prescription.
@Xiovanni XBOX supports Keyboard and mouse in certain games.
That's what happens when you emulate a gamepad. You get delay, lack of precision and no real translation of functions. Without native support, it's always a joke.
@Jayenkai
And I've played all of them.
Take back to drawing board and fix issues before releasing it.
@Yorumi could it possibly have something to do with how the mouse is setup? I know most decent mouse come with software to allow you to change the DPI? Maybe the mouse is set to a profile with bigger movements, therefore the converter interprets the movements in bigger chunks? I dunno, I'm not a developer/ software engineer.
I tried using the one that is supposed to be the best one. The game sir keyboard and mouse and it was awful. Just don't even bother. If you want keyboard and mouse just play on pc.
@Yorumi You are talking about coding it within the game itself, in which case yes, it would be dead simple. However, for a device like this, all it can do it pretend to be a joystick, so the question is, how do you emulate things like the "keep going up" input that holding a joystick up accomplishes? A joystick is an analog input with very limited range, a mouse is a digital input with massive range, and there isn't really a way to translate directly between the two (at least, not well).
@Harmonie I'm very impressed by all the FFXIV controller players; my brain's too small to wrap around anything but the ol' row-of-number-keys.
Does the keyboard work on Monster Hunter Rise? Would be nice to chat without a mic sometimes, late at night.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Nintendo games are meant to be played on controllers and there's really nothing wrong with them, and I'm especially talking about Splatoon 2. That game was meant to be played on a controller with motion controls, so mouse and keyboard wouldn't fit well in that instance. With non-Nintendo games, just play it on a different platform or PC.
@Yorumi
Coding for a mouse and a joystick are very different and varies with the language you look at. In addition you are also dealing with I/O differences that create issues. You can mimic movements of either one with some routines but overall the Joystick can mimic the mouse better than the reverse.
I know one of the top PPT players uses the GAMO2 K28 keyboard style controller because it allows them to get super fast Tetris inputs with a similar control scheme to when they play on PC. For a game like that, it works pretty well, although you don't need an adapter for it because it has built in settings for Switch (as well as customisable profiles for it too). It's intended use is for rhythm games, to allow you to play them more like on a PC, with it also having PS3 and PS4 compatibility too.
@VR32X All games with text input work with a keyboard for the tex chat.
Why would you use a mouse and keyboard for a jump 'n' run or a beat 'em up if you can use a controller? It even pains me to see people playing Dark Souls with a keyboard... blasphemy!!
My mind immediately went to Hypnospace Outlaw...but that game has keyboard and mouse support built in! Yeah, this other thing sounds terribad.
Nintendolife running out of things to write about.
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