Video: The Future Of Gaming Is Joy-Con Drift-Free

@Eagly JoyPros?

For as long as Nintendo keeps relying on software to "fix" drift, we won't ever get as high quality of controllers as we used to.

@KayFiOS 'ProCons' the most debatable controllers the world has ever seen XD

What are the actual odds of a joycon drifting? I've got an og switch l, and a lite. I've never had a problem, and I've played around 1000 hours on each one.

I have been experimenting with the King Kong 2 Pro one and I rather like it. I think with most recent firmware there's less input lag. I tend to play wired and don't use gyro aiming so I haven't noticed the same issues. I have been abusing the hell out of it to try to test the limits of the sticks.

@ModdedInkling The N64 had way less durable analog sticks.

I don’t expect controllers to work perfectly in a thrift shop 10 years later, but I do expect them to work for a couple of years.

All four (two left and two right - release date blue left/red right and separate red left/blue right -bought a year in when the first one started having issues) have had drifting issues, and all of them have been sent back to Nintendo to get fixed at one point. It also looks like my current red left, the L button is starting to get dodgy too, its never ending, but hopefully will get them fixed for free. Gotta test my blue left see if it still works :s

Yeah the problem isn’t that it starts drifting, every controller ever does it, it’s just have quickly it does so that insane.

@Ploppy No offense, but a 1000 hours on an OG Switch is not a lot of hours. That is about 30 minutes a day for the last five years.

I too have an OG Switch. I had two left joy-cons get bad drift. I got new gray ones last Christmas that don’t drift, but I also have 3rd party ones that have better grips that I use more except for travel (and a pro-controller that is just now starting to drift just a tad after many years).

I have had Joy- Con drift, and what seems to fix the problem for me is to clean the rails on the sides and the stick with a cleaning wipe to disinfect surfaces. It's probably not the most ideal solution, but it works for me.

How I get the drift also seems to depend on how I play, if I play with the Joy-Cons detached (i.e. docked or tabletop modes) it's guaranteed I'll get it if I leave them detached for a long time (though I'm talking about days or weeks), if I play with them attached (handheld) there no drift.

I consider myself a bit of a(n un)lucky user.

Thankfully my Pro Controller from 2017 is still working perfectly. That said, I'm thinking of trying 8bitdo Ultimate Controller that has analogue sticks with Hall effect sensors, mostly out of curiosity.

Drift is really a non-issue. Had two joycons that drifted. Sent them to Nintendo who fixed for free. (One also had a damaged rail attachment which was also fixed for free). Believe it or not PS4 joypads also get drift, as did the red nub mouse controller sticks on Thinkpad laptops.

@Ploppy Depends on if you ACTUALLY played 1000 hours or are just guessing. I had gone through two pairs in 3 months from just playing a couple hours a day. I opened the second pair to see what the issue was, and the components inside are just really flimsy due to the small controller size. Meanwhile, I've logged 600 hours on Elden Ring with a single Razer controller and it's still perfect. I know it'll eventually drift, but more companies are adopting hall sensors, so that should hopefully be a thing of the past.

@SonOfDracula
I'd be interested in the model name or link to the Razer controller you mentioned.

I heard the rumor (on this site I believe) about a year or so ago that Nintendo’s new controllers were much less prone to drifting, and I honestly take stock in that. I havent felt much drifting in my new controllers. It doesn’t make the situation right, but Nintendo may have finally fixed the problem without telling anybody. Has anyone else had problems with newer controllers?

@msvt Sure thing, it's a Razer Wolverine V2. I got the wired one for use on PC. Can also be used on Xbox, if you wish. It frequently goes on sale for $60, which is when I bought it. You can find them on amazon. Also worth noting that I did NOT buy the Chroma version, since it's too pricey imo.

Is it 2019 again? Haven't we had this sort of thing before?

Anyhow, I'm more bothered by the ribbon cables for SL/SR rail breaking. I've got at least 4 joy cons with their rail buttons and lights not working.

Drift can be resolved easily and without much fuss, but these ribbon cables are fiddly to swap and need ordering and paying for.

@JakedaArbok I wondered the same thing. I got new controllers last Christmas that haven’t had any problems yet, but I don’t use them as my primary controllers.

At home, I use the pro-controller for the TV and 3rd party ones with grips for handheld. The new joy-cons fit in my case, though, so I do use those when I travel (and have travelled quite a bit this last year).

The original joycons on my OG started drifting quite quickly, but the ones of my OLED switch still work perfectly. I usually play quite easy-going games though.

What do you guys do to your controllers? I have 3 pairs of Joy Con's that don't drift, and a Pro Controller that is fine (well it won't update and doesn't work on N64 games https://twitter.com/RadioTails/status/1586836581884764160?t=E__mBT5gt4Zbik-0G2k4Zg&s=19).

My brother has a lot more than I do, and uses them more, and only 1 controller has started to drift.

I dunno what to believe anymore. It feels like an issue that has been blown out of proportion.

@RadioShadow Whether you believe it or not the fact Nintendo fixes it for free no questions asked speaks for itself. Your experience as one person doesn't change that.

Thankfully I’ve been able to sort out any cases of drift by spraying a bit of bike chain degreaser into the sticks and wiggling them around, but it would’ve been nice not to have the problem crop up in the first place. He’s to a driftless future!

@RadioShadow it isn't. you just got lucky.

not astronomically lucky; i know a handful of people who similarly have never had issues. but i know MANY more who have.

i'd say it's about 1 in 20 people or so that i know of who haven't had drift within the first year of use. My first drift issues came in within weeks.

@msvt I want to point out my experience with the Razor wolverine v2. It is by far the most comfortable controller, and the buttons/analogs feel amazing. But with (my experience) it suffers the razor fate of breaking after 8-10 months. Within 6 months I had to send it for a broken A button. Then not long later (on what was a new controller they sent) the RB button broke and randomly clicks. I really like razor stuff, but it just doesn't last. I've had 2 keyboards, and 3 mice; and in less than a year all had broken buttons/keys.

I haven’t had drift for about two years. Something tells me I will need to order a replacement joy con stick soon.

The drift-free Hall Effect joysticks are the future, and are seeing increased adoption (Steam Deck, 8bitdo).

But Nintendo will probably cheap out and not use them on the next console.

@Ploppy I own 2 pairs of joycon and have had to replace each of the analogue stick at least twice, possibly more, I honestly lost count. Fortunately it's cheap (£6 for 2 on eBay) and takes about 15 mins but for me a Joy Con analogue stick lasts about 2 to 3 years before it drifts and needs replacing

@gcunit same, I've had to replace the sl/sr cable on all 4 of my Joy Con. Fiddly job but at least the cables are cheap

Fortunately, I've never had any joycon drift. This was a problem that I had on my original psp-1000, which was a lot scarier to attempt a fix since they're not detachable. One of the reasons I felt like I could never recommend a switch lite.

@KayFiOS ProyCons?

Unpopular opinion here: While annoying and sad that Nintendo isn't fixing it, it's not really that big of a deal since they are fixing them for free including free shipping both ways. I mean you get a new controller (probably refurbished actually), which presumably includes a healthier if not new battery. This is not a Red-ring-of-death scenario here.

I'm impatiently waiting for Joycons to transition to optical parts rather than analogue, which would solve drift overnight.

Didn't have Joy-Con drift in over 2 years.

In my house, we own three Switches. We've had issues with 3 pairs of Joy-Cons drifting. All three were the contact inside the controllers failing. On all 3 pairs with drift, it was both left and right. None of our drift problems were related to dirt, dust, or foreign object getting inside the controller. In my experiences, these are the worst controllers ever, as far as durability is concerned. I love the Switch, but the durability of it is one of the worst systems I've ever owned. My left speaker is blown on my Switch too.

I hope the whole industry moves towards Hall-Effect sticks the upcoming console generation. Not only to resolve the drift, which is not an Nintendo-exclusive problem, but also so we can finally get rid of or at least greatly reduce the dead zones for aiming.

With that in mind, I have personally only had drift on one single joy-con since 2017, which I fixed myself. So it has not been a mayor problem for me personally.

I had drift on my day 1 Switch along with multiple hardware failures on a brand new product (cracked casing, SD reader that didn't work).
Sent them and my Switch back to Nintendo (since there were no Switch consoles left to replace it with from the retailer) which they repaired.
All the hardware failures were fixed (after 2 months without my new Switch) but the drift wasn't and now after 2 more repairs from Nintendo they still aren't fixed.
Sure Nintendo might fix them for free which is great but when they come back and still don't work what is the point of sending them in the first place.
I've gotten to the stage I've given up and refuse to buy more Joy-cons and play docked only.
Don't get me wrong, I now love my Switch but man has it tested my patience.
Switch is the most fragile Nintendo product ever.

1000's of hours on my joy cons with no drift. What I do have happening though is weird lag with input while docked. It only happens on my oldest set of joycons. In handheld they work perfectly fine.

eventually we're gonna be in a world where everything is called the ProPRO™ pro PRO2 Pro Max

rumormongers, speculators and YouTube hype machines have no shred of imagination

@Ploppy If you play enough you're bound to encounter some sort of drift eventually.

I would say a "Super Joycon" would be perfect. Have a better analog stick with a Switch Lite style d-pad built in and some rubber grips on the back or something.. Should be perfect.

Drift is really a bad issue. It's amazing Nintendo released such a shoddy product and, worse, remained stubborn for so long it was ever a problem. We shouldn't need to dismantle them or send them to Nintendo after a few months. As someone that still has highly functional sticks on my N64 controllers from 1997, it just shows the regression in quality over the years. It's not enough to say PS4 controllers drift too. Mine don't, for one. Second, we expect much more from Nintendo. The only salvation to this disastrous situation is I've been using the Hori Split-Pad Pro for years now, and yes, no drift.

@solidox pretty much everyone I know who has a switch has had to get their joycons repaired, or buy new ones. I’ve been playing for decades and never experienced it with any other controller. I think it’s a huge issue and really terrible that nintendo hasn’t fixed it. My two cents

@KayFiOS JoyPrawns.

It's somewhat amusing, not in a condescending way, that the future of analog sticks is hall-effect sensors, the same approach Sega used back in the day. As Saturn was my primary system, that type of controller was my first analog stick back in 1996. I remember that being a point of pride as a Sega fan back in the day when I learned of that design. I was surprised when I heard the industry moved away from that. So I do understand why people are calling for it now, and why some were not aware of it.

I've not had drift but my switch is secondary console mostly as handheld and hasn't had too much of use over the years, but still do play on it from time to time

I've never been a fan of how they feel on my thumbs, very small and finicky things

Not tried third party ones yet but I wish nintendo could do a dpad on l-joycon, I tried that tabletop mode like twice and never again

@Tandy255
That isn't a very fair comparison because it was the first time Nintendo used analog sticks. It wasn't until the GameCube when we got a more modern rendition of the analog sticks, and those have aged surprisingly well.

@ModdedInkling GC controllers are my favorites. 😊

I don’t think we should overlook the N64, but your point stands. The joycons are a step backwards compared to the GC, Wii nunchucks, and Wii U gamepad.

Even without drift, I am not a fan of couch co-op where everyone is using a tiny single joycon. They just don’t feel sturdy.

More expensive parts in the joycons would probably bump up the price point of the Switch, but it would have been worth it.

@KayFiOS Pro-cons?

I'm still baffled that so many people (and websites like this one) get joycon drift so wrong.
Drift is not a fact of life. I'm a lifetime heavy gamer and I've put dozens of analogue sticks through their paces, from N64 onwards with every stop in between. Never Ever have I experienced drift on any controller except for Joy Cons. I destroyed my N64 sticks with Mario Party and it just made it super hard to push them 100% in any given direction. I wore the rubber tops off of my PS2 sticks playing Katamari and it just meant that I had to use the bare plastic underneath. Maybe some people out there are dunking their controllers in cheetos or something but for me, drift just doesn't happen.
Except for Joy Cons. Multiple times I have bought them brand new, unboxed them and they immediately start drifting. It's an absolute scourge without a pro controller. This is a fundamental design flaw of this one particular product. And I am convinced that it is 100% due to a weak bluetooth component. Perhaps these things are just too small to house a strong enough radio? It just gets mixed up in the signal. There is certainly no way to "clean" or "fix" a brand new joy con which is drifting. Aside from connecting them back onto the machine and playing handheld, which usually works.
The fact is that there is no mystery to how Nintendo could fix this problem. Everyone else knows how to make sticks which don't drift like this. Nintendo themselves also know, as attested by the pro controller and every other controller they've ever made. Just... Use better components! Make the joy cons bigger if necessary. Maybe that's why they haven't been able to address this and are (hopefully) just waiting for the Switch 2.

@Ploppy ive had two joycons drift out of eight total pairs (16) over 5 years. it's a real issue. newer joycons have some small changes that make drifting less likely to occur soon, but still possible. it's really a question of WHEN, not if they will drift, because potentiometers all have this issue as a physical contact pad will wear out eventually and spread bits of itself around

Get rid of the dust covers on analogs , buy some WD40 , spray into the analogs without opening the joycons and voila . And don`t be such a crybabies !

@SonOfDracula Maybe 1000hrs is a stretch on my OG switch, but on my lite it's probably more. The lite is the goat handheld.

Here's goin hoping Switch 2 addresses this apparently non-issue according to Nintendo...

@solidox Drift is a non issue? I guess you were lucky enough to never experience drift during covid lockdowns. Nintendo shutdown the repair center and I literally just had to go out and buy new joycons because the wait for a repair was unknown, but estimated at many months. So it was an $80 out of my pocket "non issue".

@Dan420 This be the same lockdown due to a global pandemic where millions died? The timing of needing a repair was inconvenient but the was not the fault of Nintendo. Did you send your original joycons for repair?

@Drb with at least 228 million joycons world wide I suspect a recall is out the question. They do fix for free and once returned covered by a year warranty. I just keep sending them back and have a spare set. Not perfect I agree. I suspect better solutions are covered by patents which Nintendo won’t pay licensing for. Drift also affects other analogue inputs. Few I imagine have close to 0.25 billion devices in the wild

@solidox I sent the originals in and now have two sets of joycons, and never need all 4 at once. That doesn't change the fact that due to joycon drift my choices were, have no Switch for an indefinite period of time (probably several months I was told) or spend $80 on a "non issue". Even under the best case scenario with a repair, a 2 week turnaround is a while to go without your Switch and not what I would consider a non issue.

Nintendo has said in interviews that they upgrade the physical sticks all of the time without mentioning it. I got an Animal Crossing Switch with Animal Crossing joycon and they seem just fine and I play all of the time. I wonder if this is mostly an early adopter problem or people playing a certain kind of game or what, overuse maybe. I had to retire my SNES Switch controller recently because the d-pad wasn't accurate anymore, it's hard to blame anyone too much since I definitely gave it a good workout every day, could be the same thing here.

My Wii U and PS4 controller have issues from overuse as well. Wii U obviously, but I'd think about what's wrong with PS4 controller since I don't use it much then I remember OnRush and reminisce about jumping on top of another car or grinding it against the railing until it popped, I could have played that game forever.

@solidox I wouldn’t expect a recall necessarily I just think they should make new joycons that work properly 😂