Mouse Mode on Nintendo Switch 2 Already Needs an Overhaul

The advent of mouse controls on the Nintendo Switch 2 has been a veritable saga. Despite being long rumored, the feature didn't get so much as a mention when Nintendo officially announced the new console in January 2025, only being confirmed in April's full reveal.

With a sensor built into both the left and right Joy-Con 2 controllers, either can be rotated 90 degrees on its Y axis to use as a mouse, while retaining gyroscopic, motion-sensing, and haptic capabilities. It's a smart addition on Nintendo's part, opening up the new hardware for more diverse gaming experiences than consoles typically offer. There's only one problem: They hurt.

Attending the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience in London, I was excited to get my hands on the new console in all its forms, and I was left impressed. In handheld mode, the bigger 7.9-inch screen looks gorgeous thanks to its higher 1080p resolution and use of HDR, almost good enough to forgive the shift back to LCD from OLED.

Played in docked mode, output to 4K TVs, Mario Kart World dazzled, showcasing a richly detailed cartoon world with astonishing verticality—race off the edge of the track in its open world, fall what feels like miles, and there’s simply more world to continue karting around.

I was most interested in those new mouse controls, though, so I zeroed in on any games where WIRED could try them out. What I found was a host of titles that positively sparkled with Nintendo's trademark charm. In particular, futuristic wheelchair basketball outing Drag X Drive feels like the new-gen console's answer to ARMS, being a game designed around showing off the underlying tech.

It does a pretty solid job on that front, using both Joy-Con 2s in mouse mode to play. Push one Joy-Con 2 forward and you'll rotate that side’s wheel in-game to turn; thrust both forward and you'll race forward. Grab the ball and raise a Joy-Con into the air, and you physically throw the ball to attempt to score. It's intuitive, and the speedy 3-on-3 match format makes this a fun multiplayer outing that's sure to find a niche, but wildly sliding two makeshift mice around a desk also left both my forearms noticeably aching.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond wasn't as intense, but controls took a little getting used to. The long-awaited sequel to the Wii trilogy uses console-style thumbstick movement controls on the left-hand Joy-Con 2, while the right-hand one can be used more like a PC mouse to govern aiming, firing, and protagonist Samus' Morph Ball transformations. It's a halfway house between joypad and mouse-and-keyboard controls that felt odd, but it gelled pretty quickly, and I took down the demo's boss first time. Again, though, I felt uncomfortable twinges afterward, especially in my right arm.

Other titles including Super Mario Party Jamboree and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour give some smart demos of the mouse tech—the latter combines the Joy-Con 2’s gyroscopic and rumble features with the mouse sensor to test players' sense of where vibration feels strongest along a line, for example—but one of the best uses I discovered was on Square Enix's Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster.

The upgraded RPG packs in two chunky side games dedicated to mouse controls, “Luxencheer Rhythm Catch” and “Ringabel's Panic Cruise!” The former is a beat-matching music game, using both Joy-Con 2s in mouse mode to catch notes as they appear, while the latter sees you piloting a steampunk airship, using the mice to steer, pull levers, and conduct repairs in real time. Both make exceptional uses of the tech, almost feeling like full games in their own right.

Such original approaches to mouse controls could be Nintendo's secret weapon on the Switch 2, and developers are already coming up with more inventive uses for the tech than simply bringing a cursor to console gaming.

Make no mistake, everything I played beautifully captured Nintendo's “play comes first” ethos. The problem was the physical toll that came afterward. Drag X Drive might be the main culprit, but after almost four hours of testing various Switch 2 games with these newfangled mouse controls, my wrists were practically screaming.

I lay the blame solely on the design. When paired with a frame as a single joypad or used as individual, motion-sensing grips, the Joy-Con 2s are as comfortable as their predecessors were on the Switch 1—possibly a little more so, thanks to slightly larger, more substantial thumbsticks. Use them as mice, though, and you're suddenly trying to guide a pair of plastic daggers around, holding the knife's edge.

When you look at some of the best gaming mice around, a common factor tends to be a focus on ergonomics. Some might offer better support than others or have a more natural resting spot for thumbs, but to greater or lesser extents, a good mouse is sculpted to fit the arch of the typical human hand.

In contrast, the Joy-Con 2s in mouse mode offer a thin, flat wedge, simultaneously not giving enough purchase where you need it and digging into your palm where you don't want it. The thinness also means that fingers are cramped too closely together, hovering over each Joy-Con's shoulder buttons and triggers as ersatz left and right mouse buttons but lacking enough clearance to use either properly. I often felt like I was forcing my hand into a raised-claw-like grip, too high and arched, and nowhere to put my ring and little fingers. Ouch.

While the versatility of the Joy-Con 2s is amazing, it's just not comfortable to use them as mice for longer periods of play. So, if Nintendo wants mouse controls on the Switch 2 to be anything more than a gimmick in the long term, it needs to do one thing: release a "Mouse Pro.”

I don't mean a way to use a regular mouse on Switch 2, either by connecting one to the Switch 2's upper USB-C port or pairing one wirelessly. That might just work for something like Metroid Prime 4, but it would still lack the hardware-specific inputs of the Switch 2, like the new C button that activates in-game chat features. No, for anything using both Joy-Con 2s as mice at once, like those wonderful Bravely Default mini-games, a retail standard mouse—or even two—wouldn't work at all.

Instead, Nintendo needs to cram all the impressive bits of the Joy-Cons—the motion sensing gyroscopes, the satisfying haptic motors, and of course the sensors that enable mouse functions—into actual mouse-shaped mice. Mice that fit into your hands and offer spaced-out, reachable buttons. Mice that don't physically hurt to hold after half an hour of gaming.

Any hypothetical Mouse Pro would need to be two to maintain compatibility with games using both at once. Release a paired bundle—Joy-Mouse L and Joy-Mouse R, anyone?—and Drag X Drive is suddenly viable as a competitive esport.

It's not that far-fetched an idea either—Nintendo has already released a mouse for its consoles before, with the SNES Mouse from 33 years ago. While never a must-have, it was a sleeper hit, with almost 100 games supporting it to varying degrees. That was a basic point-and-click tool, too. A modern update retaining all the features of the Joy-Con 2s, but in a dedicated mouse form, could be even more successful.

There are problems with the idea, though. Specific mice might have limited utility—we still don't know how many Switch 2 games will adopt dual-mouse controls, or how fully. Some games may require shifting between different control styles, with the likes of (the lengthily-titled) Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV putting the Joy-Con 2s through their paces in just about every use-case scenario they're capable of. A "Mouse Pro" simply wouldn't be viable for anything that only briefly swaps to mouse controls.

However, a potentially high price might be the toughest hurdle to overcome. The $450 (£389) MSRP for the base Switch 2 console has already been controversial, as have game prices of up to $80 or £75. Some accessories have already jumped in price slightly due to Trump's tariffs, like the Switch 2 Pro Controller jumping from $80 to $85.

The Joy Con 2s themselves now cost $95 (previously $90) a pair, so we'd have to assume a dual pack of ergonomic mice built around the same proprietary technology would likely be even more expensive. If mouse features prove to have minimal presence on Switch 2 games, then a pricey peripheral built around them is a nonstarter.

If that turns out to be the case, I'd settle for some sort of outer brace to clip onto the Joy-Con 2s—a mouse-shaped shell that would make using the controllers as mice more viable. Third-party accessory companies could even step up here.

Whatever happens, if Nintendo wants mouse controls on Switch 2 to ever be more than a curiosity, it needs to do something to take the almost literal sting out of using them. If it doesn't, the feature is likely to go the way of the IR sensor on the original Switch—an interesting idea, soon abandoned.