It seems Nintendo is once again delving into the stylus-driven touch controls that made the Nintendo DS and its successors so popular. A new patent found on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website shows off a new attachment for the Joy-Con. Replacing the grips and straps that come with each Nintendo Switch is an incredibly similar-looking attachment with one major difference: a stylus nub at the top.
The attachment is meant to be used while the Switch is in its propped-up, detached mode, and seems to make full use of the controller it is attached to. The patent goes on to showcase the various capabilities of this stylus add-on, such as drawing a line on the Switch’s touchscreen and having it appear different thicknesses based on whether a button is held down on the Joy-Con, as well as indicating that touching certain objects on the screen could result in different vibrations and haptic feedback from the Joy-Con.
Considering that many of Nintendo’s popular DS-era franchises are getting new life on the Switch, it isn’t surprising that the company would want to cater to those franchises by providing them with a familiar control set-up. Series like Brain Age, Art Academy, and the Professor Layton games all benefit greatly from having a stylus, and with this patent filing it isn’t hard to get caught up in wondering what DS franchises will make the leap to the Switch in the coming years.
