PSA: Remember To Update Your Joy-Con, As Well As Your Nintendo Switch

What do these controller updates even do? I've never noticed anything with these controller updates.

@Yosher I had to update my Joy-Con before I could play the Nintendo Switch Sports trial. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I swear, the responsiveness of the gyro controls felt incredibly good. I'm not sure I ever actually needed to recalibrate them when I was playing the game. I tested it out in Mario Galaxy, and I felt like my pointer wasn't drifting quite as much, though it was still noticeable. Maybe it's just a placebo effect, I don't know. I had intended to test it on Skyward Sword as well, but never got around to it. Maybe it's impossible to fix something like that with a software update. Though frankly, it blows my mind you can download an update for a physical peripheral online, so who knows? (Hopefully someone on this site with more technical knowhow than me.)

@Yosher One of my controllers would constantly desync up until one of these controller firmware patches (one of the first ones IIRC, this was only a problem around launch) so I'd assume bugfixes for one.

I want Super Eurobeat songs from update so whenever my Joy Cons start to drift, I can hear Running in the 90's or Deja Vu playing. 😆

Now with improved drift

Hmmmm, I haven't updated my joy cons in a long time, maybe I should do that now.
...
Nah, I'll do it tomorrow, I'll totally remember.

Three of my jocon have problems with L and R tiny buttons. Maybe I press them too hard because they are too small. They are all unresponsive and my others are hit and miss, maybe because of the same problem, or because they are too small. I'll update, in the hope that it resets something. Joycons are the flimsiest controllers of all time. I wish they released a chunkier, more sturdy joycon. I have some nice 3rd parties, but would like the official stuff to be up to standard.

Does Nintendo ever tell us what the controller updates do?

I can’t imagine there’s anything left to update in those things after years at this point

@Joeynator3000 i giggled at your comment 😁

Maybe they found a way to repair drifting through updates! 😉

I always check for controller updates after a system update. It’s totally bizarre Nintendo never seem to encourage or remind us to do it 😅

Without a system notification, most people are probably running around with outdated Joy-con firmware. Many will not even know what a Joy-con updates is.

A fraction of Switch users are following sites like NL and gets some info about this. But Nintendo is not doing much to spread this information. It almost seems like they do not really care about this.

It would be interesting to see some statistics about how many Switch users actually do have the latest Joy-con firmware installed.

@Anti-Matter
Surely we'd hear The Drifters? Under The Boardwalk or Up On The Roof, when you just wanted to stay on ground level

Just updated my four sets, one pair from my launch model switch, as when I gave it to my sister I got her a new set of red/blue neon ones.

All sets are in perfect working order, and did seem better on the Switch sports demo after the last update.

Fingers and toes crossed..... still no drift.

I remember back when mario odyssey came out that I couldn’t perform the motion control correctly no matter what I did, so I beat it using the pro controller. Later a patch came for the joycons that fixed it but I never went back to play it as it was meant to be played, with a joycon in each hand

I updated them a few days ago and it seems like it fixed my huge issue with the right joycon; even if I play just around 50cm from the docked Switch (which is also placed on the right side and in front of everything else), the joycon randomly disconnects. When I place my hands under my desk (which is wood, not metal) or if I play a bit further, the Switch seems to react to input with huge delay like there's weak signal or interference.

I also bought a new pair of joycons many months ago hoping it's just issue with the particular joycon and situation was exactly the same: the left one is ok, the right one acts like it has weak signal and disconnects randomly. (One time, it disconnected when it was like 10cm next to the Switch.) Note that I don't use any other bluetooth devices and the only device which uses my WiFi is the Switch. Also note that I checked videos for fixing the weak signal, but a) they're concerned about left joycon (which works fine for me) and b) after I took the joycon apart, the foam was already there - yes, even in the right one.)

After I updated my joycons a few days ago, it seems like this is finally fixed. I still would like to wait a few weeks before claiming it was actually the update which fixed it, because there's still non-zero chance that a random interference source is off right now and the problem might return, but I think (I hope) the update really fixed that.

Does the pro controller ever get any updates?

Amazing, thank you Nintendo for this, I can now sync my Joy-Con's to work with my Atari 2600. More collaborative updates like this please.

@Yosher
Firmware tweaks can do wonders for hardware. This is Nintendo's way of very slowly, but surely fixing drift without having to force everyone to go out and buy a legitimately updated replacement.

If you were to compare drift from 2017 to now, it's still bad, but nowhere near as bad or common.

@Yosher Oh wait! I do remember one of the c ok controller updates did indeed do something! It was the update that added Bluetooth audio to the Nintendo Switch. I started playing Super Mario Galaxy, in tabletop mode, using Bluetooth earbuds BEFORE updating the controllers and the audio sounded like a garbled mess. Apparently there was interference from the controllers themselves because the wireless audio sounded much better after I updated the Joy-Cons.

@dres Maybe it’s a trick:
„Nintendo Customer Service, how can I help you?“
„Hello, my joy-cons show drifting sometimes.“
„Have you installed the latest firmware for them?“
„Ehhhm, no?! Didn‘t know that exists…“
„Okay, so please update your joy-cons and test them for at least six months. If the drifting user experience then still exists, you may call us again. Good bye.“
„Hello?“

@Max_the_German They then release a new update for them before the 6 months are up, and repeat the cycle

Why aren't "Update controllers" and "Button Mapping" in the Controllers submenu that's on the HOME Menu? Those two options should be there as well.

It's a hassle having to go to the options menu for just those two options, especially button mapping.

@Lord Does the pro controller ever get any updates?
If they do you have to connect it to the Dock using the USB cable that came with the Pro Controller to connect and update.

@Fizza Nowadays, it's common to have update-able firmware in pretty much every device, including processors and hard drives in PC (actually, PC processors have their own operating systems - for example, search for Intel Management Engine). I guess it's like drivers which joycons use to handle their hardware (bluetooth, nfc, etc.) The wireless technology is quite complicated (search for Bluetooth in Wikipedia) and by updating the firmware which handles communication might change things for better, fix bugs, etc. See this very discussion; e.g. @thinkhector about fixed interference with bluetooth headphones or my previous post about more stable connection. As for other platforms, I don't know (last one I used was PS3 and I really don't remember), but @RubyCarbuncle mentioned PS5 controller updates.

Solves joy-con drift....ah, who am I kidding?

"Drifting has more stability, now..."

It’s amazing the switch has done so well when the controllers it ships with literally prevent you playing games. I tried playing Pokémon arceus handheld and the camera was just spinning round me.

How does this not just happen automatically, especially when they're attached? PS5 at least guess you a pop up the minute you connect an out of date controller.

@Joeynator3000 it's tomorrow, update that joycon! 😂😁

@Moistnado What Nintendo SHOULD be embarassed about with the Joycons is that they so thoroughly go against the company's ethos. Their systems were always known as tanks and their releases are never the buggy, unplayable messes we see on other systems.

They should be better than this.

Has anyone else had problems with the system battery draining abnormally fast, even in sleep mode" since update 14.0.0?

I had a desync problem with my joycons when i was spamming buttons , i hope it was solved. Also Please fix joycon drift next.

@MikeHiscoe It's worse than that. The Joy-Cons can even be updated wirelessly! (According to Nintendo, I never tried it though.)

@SwitchForce According to Nintendo, the controllers, Pro and Joy, can actually be updated wirelessly. I have the Pro, but not long, and I have never noticed it update. The stranger thing is that my Switch also says that I have a controller that cannot be updated. This must be my 8bit-Do Pro controller that I use on Switch occasionally.

I don’t understand why this isn’t automated. At the very least the Switch should check for Joy Con updates when a Joy con is attached.

@thinkhector I can confirm Joy-cons can be updated wirelessly without any issues - I did that to one of my pairs. It's about 4 times slower and after it's finished, they reconnect (I guess they restart/reload.)