Nintendo patents analog stick containing ‘magnetic fluid’

The end of the obnoxious Joy-con drive?

A few days ago, a patent application from Nintendo was published describing a new type of analog stick, which hopefully means we’ll get rid of the problematic sticks they used in their Joy-cons for the Nintendo Switch. The problem with these is that they tended to develop “Joy-con Drift”, meaning that they registered movement in a certain direction even when the lever was not being moved.

The one now Patent pending The design features a “magnetic fluid resistance section”. This fluid can be made more viscous using a magnetic field, thus providing more resistance when moving the “actuating element” (which should be the analog stick itself).

So, for starters, it looks like fluid could be used to center the analog stick when you let go, and perhaps game developers will use it to introduce certain inertia or feedback into the analog stick as part of the game mechanics. It is also hoped to eliminate the risk of “drift”, as the design has a close resemblance to the Hall sensor, which does not suffer from this problem.

However, the patent that has been applied for does not necessarily mean that it will be used, and it is not impossible that Nintendo has other plans for consoles in the Switch sequel.