Nintendo may have originated the concept of the cross D-Pad, but the company has practically abandoned this control method on both the Switch and Switch 2 (although thankfully not on the Switch Lite and Pro Controller), leaving some old-school players feeling a little left out.
One of those people is legendary game designer Hideki Kamiya, who has been speaking to 4Gamer about his gaming impressions of 2025 (thanks, Stealth).
Kamiya spoke about picking up a Switch 2 this year before discussing the fact that it lacks a traditional D-Pad:
"For some reason, in this age of diversity, the manufacturer itself has stubbornly refused to offer the option of a "Joy-Con with a D-pad" since the Switch 1. This just didn't fit into my gaming lifestyle, where I usually play while lying down, so I have no choice but to use the Joy-Con when playing games."
The man behind Devil May Cry, Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta reveals that he actually reverted back to the original Switch as a result, because he could use peripherals which add a proper D-Pad (like Hori's special Joy-Con, we assume):
"Somehow I was able to get by. I was able to continue my daily routine of "one Tetris 99 a day," but even so, as someone who continues to post shady things on social media every day in the shadows at the very edge of the games industry, I decided that I should gradually make the Switch 2 my regular hardware, and as I was writing this, I purchased a new Cyber Gadget "mini grip with D-pad," which I use with the Switch 1, and after some sanding and modifying it so that it could be attached to the Switch 2, where the button layout is slightly different, I was able to make my own "D-pad Joy-Con 2," which finally allowed me to play titles from "Arcade Archives 2."
Were you hoping to see some more variety in the Joy-Con 2 options by now? Or do you prefer using the analogue stick? Let us know with a comment.