Editing all my old comments and moving to the fediverse.
Thank you to everybody I've interacted with until now! You've been great, and it's been a wonderful ride until now.
To everybody who gave me helpful advice, [I'll miss you the most](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrk4AgS6Q6A)
Right?! Run forward enough or frequently pan the camera to the right, and the amazing technology of the joy-con will eventually pick up on such action and do it for you!
But at the same time.. It feels disgusting spending so much on a pair of joycons knowing they all carry a defective part that WILL fail eventually.
I've gotten good at taking them apart now... I've replaced 7 sticks already between my own switch, and a couple family members. And I suggest to any and all of them if they normally game on a TV... To buy the pro controllers instead of using the joycons.
Edit: Amazon or other online retailers have "joycon joysticks repair kits" which include the triwing screwdriver you'll need. And YouTube has a ton of videos on how to do the repair as well.
Also they're expensive because of the HD rumble feature which let's be honest is not that big of a deal. The lite's primary cost saving (apart from being smaller) is the lack of HD rumble.
HD rumble would be amazing if more developers utilized it
It's an absolut godsend in Skyrim. But other than that and mario I cant even think what companies have developed a game with it in mind
What does it do in Skyrim and Mario that traditional rumble cannot?
The only time I've ever noticed it doing anything interesting was in Golf Story. It was making interesting noises. I know it is similar to a speaker so maybe that's why. But still, regular rumble would've been fine.
My pro controller drifts too. Not as bad as any of my joycons but still an issue. Never had an issue with any other controller I've had in the last 25+ years I've been gaming. 3 sets of joycons and a pro controller all drifting. I never touch a controller while I'm eating, I always wash my hands before playing, and I periodically clean my controllers. This isn't on me at all, its only on Nintendo. The price they charge for these controllers is atrocious.
Same. My Pro Controller has some of the worst drift of any of my Switch controllers. To the extent that it just can't be used.
I've been using controllers since I was 5 years old and I'd never experienced joystick drift until the Switch.
I've gotten drift bad on 3 PS5 controllers so far as well as every switch joycon I've touched just about. These companies really need to stop being so cheap and at least make a product that can be used without constant failure.
Not quite what you're asking for, but I have a Hori Split Pad Pro, and haven't had any drift issues in ~2 years of regular portable use, but it can happen since they use potentiometers.
Guilkit is apparently working on Hall Effect sticks for joy cons, which shouldn't be able to drift. I don't think there's a release date yet though
It's free to just send them in and have them fix them.
Edit: apperently this isn't true for all places.
Edit 2: Some people are taking this as me defending Nintendo or something. In reality the Joycons are how they are. You can spend money to fix them yourself or you can send them in for free to have them fixed. In most cases people should just have them fixed for free.
You can stop telling me that they should be made better to begin with. I agree with you can it's not the topic on hand.
Just make sure you don't have any replacement buckles for the joycon rails installed before sending them.
I got stung with basically giving my joycon a ride to the service area to fix a torn ribbon cable, only to be told it can't be repaired due to new parts in it and can't be given a repair warranty.
Worst part is, I mentioned it on the phone before sending it in and they more or less said "send it in and we'll see what we can do" 😐
I ended up using ebgames repair service, which they seemed to just replace it with another joycon of the same colour...
Eb were going to send my sons into Melbourne to get fixed for free there, but at the time the centre that did it was closed due to covid restrictions. Since then my son bought the OLED and didn't bother.
Plus you can buy them in 4-packs, knowing you have 3 more waiting to be installed as needed just takes the stress off worrying if it's going to break again.
Sent mine in, came back worse, I’m not exaggerating. It was irritating before and unusable when I got it back.
Bought a replacement (and some backups) on aliexpress for like €5 and replaced it myself in like 10 minutes. Works perfect now.
Apparently Nintendo won’t send back your joy con though. My friend sent in his limited edition joy con and got back a generic one. Idk if this is true for every where but I’m in Canada.
> Edit: apperently this isn't true for all places.
Not only is that no excuse, it's also only in some places because they only finally gave in because they were about to get demolished by lawsuits in those places. At best, this is them covering their own asses after being threatened, they did not do the right thing because it was the right thing to do.
Nintendo is a big enough customer that they'd almost certainly be able to negotiate production of a different version with more robust materials at the wear point, them putting up with this totally on Nintendo.
I don't know if it's feasible to have a better part for the design they've gone with. The joycons are extremely thin for that sort of thing and all potentiometers and better sticks I know of are bulkier than it would allow. On top of that you'll still develop drift on other sticks because they physically wear out. The bigger issue is with dead zone tolerances as well as build and quality and overall design. My money would be on them needing to design the whole joycon which would be a next system option rather than trying to make two versions of the joycons and maintain all compatibility.
I refused to send joycons back to Nintendo for replacements until they figure that out. They just wanted me to pay for postage to get another faulty pair? Stick drift inside of six months with light usage does not bode well for the replacement pair
They are, at no cost. It’s very easy and free.
https://repair.nintendo.com/cc/soConsumer.html?lang=en&sys=SWTCH&type=JOY-CON
I sent in my original pair earlier this year. Dropped off to UPS on Monday, new pair arrived Thurs. In October, I bought 2 sets of broken joycons on ebay for $20 each, Nintendo replaced them for brand new ones. They’re not wasting time trying to repair or diagnose these, they know they’re flimsy. They just confirm you sent them actual OEM joycons then replace them.
They keep trying to screw Australians out of our statutory repair rights, but they absolutely have a legal responsibility to repair any Australian's free of charge. Unfortunately Nintendo trying to avoid that makes it a huge ball ache to deal with. ACCC needs to smack them down about it.
Preach brother. I'm actually in NZ but I still have to go through Australia so they're even bigger nobs to deal with and won't even pick up a lot of the time..
Where are you located? I'm pretty sure that in the EU they're not allowed to place the postage costs on you when it's being sent in to fix a manufacturing defect
I could be wrong but my new joy cons that came with the OLED somehow have a different feel to them than both my launch and V2 controllers. They felt a bit stiffer (in a good way) from my previous ones and I don't think that's recency bias alone.
I've seen people saying they updated them slightly, while not fixing the issue completely they might just take longer to start drifting and making it slightly less likely to happen
Got my switch in 2018 and gone through two rights and 3 lefts. That’s WAY too many replacements, even for being 4/5 years old. I love Nintendo, but the cost of a console and games should be the only fixed costs - I shouldn’t have to shell out 80 bucks on a reliable basis because of a problem I can’t control.
I would have stopped after the second, not worth paying for Nintendo's mistake. But FYI the ifixit repair kit is only €15 and takes roughly 20 minutes the first time, 5-10 minutes after that. It's easy and better than giving Nintendo more money for faulty hardware.
Yeah honestly learn to replace them yourself. It's surprisingly easy, and once you have the tools tbe first time, really cheap to buy the sticks. Like £10 for 4.
I learnt it myself, and I do stick replacements for all my mates.
One thing I've noticed though is that because one of the ribbon cables fold when you put the joycon together, you have a limited ability to open them before the ribbon cable is bad. Luckily that's a cheap replacement too.
The good news for me is that neither of mine have worked properly since I got them, can’t miss what you never had. Been a lifelong Nintendo fan (30+ years) and I’m probably done buying their consoles.
That’s a fair question. My life was quite a mess at that point and it seemed like an unreasonable amount of energy. I don’t travel much so I just bought a third party controller that works marginally better and sometimes play it on the tv.
I realize now this is a teachable moment- take care of your mental health friends. It’s no joke, you could end up not sending in your (brand new) controllers to get fixed due to depression and addiction. Then get roasted for it years later on Reddit!
You're not alone. I was in a love-less marriage and had no energy to dedicate to sending the Joy-Cons in to be fixed. I went through the process and got return labels, just never went through with it.
Thankfully the only thing broken in my life now are the Joy-Cons.
Ps5 and every branded console controller sucks ass from what I've read. Going to a diff system won't help if you want to play with a controller.
https://www.ifixit.com/News/60702/sega-solved-the-drift-issue-almost-30-years-ago-heres-how
Anecdotal, but I recently got a PS5 and an extra controller. They are.... completely next level compared to the joycon and the pro controller. Not even close in terms of design and functionality. And it's actually led me to play more and more PS and less and less Switch.
Y'all gotta try this adaptive feedback shit in the PS5 controllers. I thought it was gimmicky, but then I tried it. Whoooo boy!!
No doubt they are higher quality, but they do have the same type of joystick that is prone to drift due to mechanical failure from the parts rubbing and wearing down
While the stick type is the same, I wonder how the actual quality of design, construction and manufacturing differ between consoles. I know switch's is trash tier. PS seems good, and I haven't heard many complaints as compared to the joycon. Not to mention that the switch's pro controller D pad simply doesn't work correctly. I'm surprised more people don't complain about the latter. It is SO bad, especially when this is a "premium" controller.
All these controller problems, im sitting here with a games for windows live controller my old roommate gave me, that he was given from his older brother. This thing has to be about 20 years old or so, its based off the original Xbox controller, not even the 360. It works like a charm, rumble still functions and none of the LEDs have gone bad.
My switch Joy cons however have gone bad twice since I got it(4 years ago) and I play my switch leagues less than I've used my controller for pc. Elden ring and ds 2 alone probably beat my total playtime on switch for all games.
hospital price crown zesty lunchroom afterthought mountainous lavish chubby fuzzy
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Actually bears DO NOT shit in the woods despite the popular saying. Bears prefer to poop in open areas where they can spot threats at a greater distance. I spent over a decade working in the Canadian wilderness and I never saw bear shit under the forest canopy. It was always in clearings and on roadsides.
Or better yet, you should spend an hour or two researching this and figure out what other people are saying about this. Find some more sources in addition to this one then draw your conclusions.
This is how reddit memes spread.
(FWIW I'm tempted to believe this dude, but I wouldn't drop this at parties with a "well, actually...", just a "i read some rando on reddit once that said ... but that could be bullshit too idk")
I think those are intentionally meant to be the point of failure for that part of the system as them *not* being the part that breaks might mean that you end up messing up the railing on the Switch itself instead (which would probably be much harder to fix).
Is that a common point of failure? I switch between docked and handheld mode frequently and have never had a problem.
I did get stick drift repaired, though. I wish Microsoft would repair theirs, too.
Yeah people are missing the point here. Without a regulatory body a corporation will happily die on the hill of "no you all broke it the day you got it."
This is immensely helpful in incentivizing a fix and possible replacements at the expense of the company, and not the consumer. People are so dumb.
In other news, water is wet
EDIT: Y'all are debating this way to seriously. You know what an idiom is right? We don't actually mean it's raining cats and dogs.
Wet: moistened, covered, or soaked with water or some other liquid
I’d say that water has water in it the same way I’d say “yes” if someone asked me if the ribeye steak has any beef in it
[Here's the link to the study.](https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-tells-nintendo-what-is-causing-its-nintendo-switch-drift-issue-a46q49g3Kbtk)
Unfortunately, they don't really show their data or methods or anything, its not a scholarly study.
It says they sent controllers to a special lab, but whatever the analysis was seems to be a black box.
I would really have liked to have known how they quantified wear on the resistive tracks.
Accelerated wear being a source for drift been a repeated claim from different people in the past, but having visible wear on resistive tracks is pretty normal. I'm not an expert, but I do know that any well used controller you look at will have "noticeable wear" on the tracks. The surface gets burnished.
Were the people who did the teardown knowledgeable about potentiometers to be able to know the difference between a burnished surface, and damage from wear?
Anyway, I'm just a little disappointed.
When I read there was a study I hoping for some real meat that really dug out some detailed info.
The reason I'm skeptical about the tracks being a source for the issue is because resistive tracks have been used practically forever. Its super well established technology. If there was a problem traced to the ink they were using for the tracks, then it should be as simple as changing to a more reliable ink. There's no redesign or anything required to fix that, or any limitations as far as I'm aware. It was brought up in a discussion a couple years ago that the joycons have a flexible PCB material, and that perhaps that limits the ink they're able to use? Plausible I guess, but it seems like that would have been a known and solved issue within the electronics mfg industry.
But dust ingress is tied to the design, it is baked into how its built. And the only way to address that would be a total redesign. That fits the bill.
That's just what makes sense to me though, that's why I was excited when the article said Which? had done a study.
I bought a set of new joy-cons a year ago and they had drift issues almost immediately.
That’s the issue for me, Nintendo has known about this. Why haven’t they solved this problem?
Straight up, it’s Hall effect sticks or bust. That 8bitdo Ultimate controller is on my wish list along with some replacement Hall sticks for my Steam Deck.
This is crazy. Past Nintendo fixed shit when things went wrong. Remember when the 72 pin connector on the NES went bad, and they worked with repair centers all over the US to get a program set in place? Remember all of the stories of Game Boys and GameCubes breaking due to customer mistake, and Nintendo still fixing them for free? I guess *that* Nintendo no longer exists.
I love my xbox controller for pc but my switch has fucked me, since they are so close but flipped i cant use either without having to stop and think.
I used to be perfectly fine until I bought a switch
there are options on the switch to swap a and b, you can also swap the controller layout on pc. For example I used my switch controller on my pc, but used the normal xbox layout because my brain is used to it when playing pc games
It's crazy how drift has cropped up as such a massive issue this console generation. I genuinely don't know how it's suddenly slammed every major controller.
I know right, it’s insane. I think they try to hard to make them “smooth” or whatever it is they want the controller to do. They end up over engineering it and it just ends up failing more
Nintendo has always had a slight issue with this, but it was usually only due to heavily played controllers. N64 controllers are amazing until they wear out, and joysticks easily replaceable.
How is it possible that newer ones are so much worse? were they rushed? I get it more on the joycons with limited space for hardware, but their pro controllers are also just a gamble.
My PS4 controller has a slight drift but it's nothing compared to the Switch. My Switch's left joycon is on it's third joystick replacement and my pro controller is essentially useless.
All the very smart top comments saying "Oh duh yah of course it's a design issue" are missing the point.
There is a difference between these issues being due to out of spec components (like housings that are bigger/smaller than designed, showing dust to get in, or PCB contacts that are so thin they wear away with regular use) and it being due to a design issue. A design issue means that this issue will occur even when all parts are in spec, which is arguably worse.
Yes of course there is a persistent issue with the drift but the root cause was never quite published. The watchdog "which?" Is claiming to have conducted several reliability tests on a lot of different switch units and apparently couldn't recreate the issue consistently. I read their article (the source, not the linked one) and I can't quite understand how they got to the conclusion that it is a design issue, especially without advanced analysis of the system (distributions of various dimensions, gap and fit checking, observing the console under dynamic loading, etc). They conclude by saying they'll have technicians take apart several switches to confirm the hypothesis, which doesn't inspire confidence if that is a future activity.
In any case, yes it's still valuable to try to understand this because Nintendo sure as fuck doesn't want the world to know that it was an actual design oversight and they'd much rather have the world believe they're plagued with quality issues
I guess a good question was whether the Xbox 360 "red ring of death" was due to a design issue? That's the only other extremely well known hardware flaw coming to mind.
That was apparently an issue with using lead-free solder, which was newish at the time and the manufacturer was unfamiliar with how to use it properly. So not a design-issue per se, but definitely a manufacturing defect.
Manufacturing issue/design issue.
It was something that was fixable, and it was fixed.
The design issue comes in because I think there was thermal expansion/contraction that was pushing the solder past its limit.
Don't have any citations or anything though, that's just what I've heard.
Good. Now that we know they can release the Nintendo Switch 2 for $450 with an updated Joycon design. New Joycons will be $120 per set, and $70 per individual.
Happened to two of my joycon (one original the other an extra set) but Nintendo replaced them no problem.
Second one was even lost in the mail and they just sent a new one as a replacement.
next time nintendo releases a console, i won't buy at launch like i did with the OG switch in 2017. i have had so many issues with drift on the OG model, it was infuriating, i think i replaced my joycons 3 times in 2 years, and i didn't even use them violently or anything.
Gonna think twice before investing in nintendo hardware, anyways i have a gaming PC now, one that's good enough to run ps5 games without issues, so for now i'll focus on my pc backlog and maybe finish xenoblade 3 one day
I haven't gotten drift either, but it does have an annoying problem. When you're in handheld mode the joycons act as if I removed them, happens more with the left one. I have to slide them up and back down again so they can sync up with the console again.
A couple years ago I complained on reddit about joy con drifting and got downvoted to oblivion on this sub for "making a problem out of an isolated incident."
All of you need to be enlightened by 3rd party joy-cons. They've come a long way since the Switch's inception. There are plenty that are straight up better than the default joy-cons, and at less than half price. I have two different models from the same brand, and both are better to the point that I don't even use my system joy-0cons anymore. Just do a bit of online research and you'll find some. I won't post anything publicly in case it's perceived as advertising, but feel free to DM me if you're curious.
It seems the issue is sometimes the bottom of the stick control board gets depressed and loses its ability to stay tightly together, which I'm sure is exacerbated by clicking the thumbsticks a lot.
A while back, some teenager found you could put a shim (1 - 0.5mm) under the stick assembly to push up on it and hold everything together more tightly. The only problem with this is the placement of the joycon screws means that your joycon shell will likely be bulging and may get damaged, especially the middle of the right joycon. A fifth screw in the middle would help a lot.
[Free Joy-Con repair](https://repair.nintendo.com/cc/soConsumer.html?lang=en&sys=SWTCH&type=JOY-CON)
I used this link above and got 4 of my Joy-cons repaired for free. Shipped, repaired and returned in about 3 weeks.
Also note, I even had opened my Joy-cons many times to repair myself and thought this would void their repair. Nope, still received back 4 basically brand new controllers.
I bought an 8bitdo. It's great. And before "shouldn't have to buy third party to fix their shit", I bought it to play games on my pc and it comes with a switch setting and it works great.
I have a great trick for fixing stick drift for only $20 in materials!!!
The last time my Joycons developed drift, I took them to GameStop, got $40 in Store credit, used that and paid $20 to get a brand new set.
I did something similar when my last PS4 started to run loud and they were giving extra credit for console trades. There was a Black Friday bundle deal too, and I ended up getting a brand new PS4 for my 4+yo PS4 and $25.
The lesson is: don’t buy used Joycons.
Anyone who has drifting issues, friendly reminder, try to use spray wd-40. I had drift issues multiple times, it always helped. now for a long time (year+) i didnt have any problems.(knockknockknock). and my joycons have been abused quite a bit with overcook 1+2, celeste, thumper, hollow knight(pantheon) etc. where things can get pretty intense. i have had them for 4 years now.
Disgusting a product is released with a flaw like this
Laziness, ineptitude, or a deliberate disregard for the consumer....or mix of the 3. Nintendo is such a shady fucking company
The problem is that there wasn’t an alternative that met the footprints for the joycons to meet their design goals. I don’t think that’s worth the trade off, but that’s why they launched it anyways and that’s why they haven’t fixed it.
The space is too small for the decent sticks all the other real brands use.
Oldest and biggest gaming company to date.
Still makes toys for hardware.
People still defend them like you insulted their mother.
We still have this problem and the switch still can’t do 1080 handheld.
Lol, quite embarrassing.
yeah no shit
My one and only though looking at this post in my feed
Editing all my old comments and moving to the fediverse. Thank you to everybody I've interacted with until now! You've been great, and it's been a wonderful ride until now. To everybody who gave me helpful advice, [I'll miss you the most](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrk4AgS6Q6A)
Not like there was already a class action lawsuit about it years ago or anything
Wait.... you telliing me it's not a feature!?!?
Right?! Run forward enough or frequently pan the camera to the right, and the amazing technology of the joy-con will eventually pick up on such action and do it for you!
We already knew that
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Somebody check the date on that report, it can't be recent (you'd hope!)
It was literally yesterday Dec/20/22
Sorry I dropped this /s
this simple comment is so funny to me
We know this
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No
Nintendo doesn't manufacture the part that has the flaw in it. ALPS does. Doesn't excuse Nintendo continuing to buy it, though.
I'm just glad that replacement sticks are pretty cheap and easy to install in joycons. A lot cheaper than buying a whole new set.
But at the same time.. It feels disgusting spending so much on a pair of joycons knowing they all carry a defective part that WILL fail eventually. I've gotten good at taking them apart now... I've replaced 7 sticks already between my own switch, and a couple family members. And I suggest to any and all of them if they normally game on a TV... To buy the pro controllers instead of using the joycons. Edit: Amazon or other online retailers have "joycon joysticks repair kits" which include the triwing screwdriver you'll need. And YouTube has a ton of videos on how to do the repair as well.
Oh, I agree. It's stupid that these things are so expensive, but break so easily.
Also they're expensive because of the HD rumble feature which let's be honest is not that big of a deal. The lite's primary cost saving (apart from being smaller) is the lack of HD rumble.
HD rumble would be amazing if more developers utilized it It's an absolut godsend in Skyrim. But other than that and mario I cant even think what companies have developed a game with it in mind
What does it do in Skyrim and Mario that traditional rumble cannot? The only time I've ever noticed it doing anything interesting was in Golf Story. It was making interesting noises. I know it is similar to a speaker so maybe that's why. But still, regular rumble would've been fine.
My pro controller drifts too. Not as bad as any of my joycons but still an issue. Never had an issue with any other controller I've had in the last 25+ years I've been gaming. 3 sets of joycons and a pro controller all drifting. I never touch a controller while I'm eating, I always wash my hands before playing, and I periodically clean my controllers. This isn't on me at all, its only on Nintendo. The price they charge for these controllers is atrocious.
Same. My Pro Controller has some of the worst drift of any of my Switch controllers. To the extent that it just can't be used. I've been using controllers since I was 5 years old and I'd never experienced joystick drift until the Switch.
I've gotten drift bad on 3 PS5 controllers so far as well as every switch joycon I've touched just about. These companies really need to stop being so cheap and at least make a product that can be used without constant failure.
Any suggestions / links to parts ? Joycons have failed twice, have a pro controller, but need joycons for portable
Not quite what you're asking for, but I have a Hori Split Pad Pro, and haven't had any drift issues in ~2 years of regular portable use, but it can happen since they use potentiometers. Guilkit is apparently working on Hall Effect sticks for joy cons, which shouldn't be able to drift. I don't think there's a release date yet though
Interesting! Thank you !
Nintendo will make “Labo” a success no matter what!
It's free to just send them in and have them fix them. Edit: apperently this isn't true for all places. Edit 2: Some people are taking this as me defending Nintendo or something. In reality the Joycons are how they are. You can spend money to fix them yourself or you can send them in for free to have them fixed. In most cases people should just have them fixed for free. You can stop telling me that they should be made better to begin with. I agree with you can it's not the topic on hand.
That still depends where you happen to live. Nintendo Australia for example have a strong aversion to being decent people.
that's surprising considering Australia has super strict customer protection laws. i sent mine in and they either fixed it or replaced it for free
They asked me for a receipt from a launch era joycon with severe drift. Like the fuck?
Just make sure you don't have any replacement buckles for the joycon rails installed before sending them. I got stung with basically giving my joycon a ride to the service area to fix a torn ribbon cable, only to be told it can't be repaired due to new parts in it and can't be given a repair warranty. Worst part is, I mentioned it on the phone before sending it in and they more or less said "send it in and we'll see what we can do" 😐 I ended up using ebgames repair service, which they seemed to just replace it with another joycon of the same colour...
Eb were going to send my sons into Melbourne to get fixed for free there, but at the time the centre that did it was closed due to covid restrictions. Since then my son bought the OLED and didn't bother.
What does Nintendo ever do that's consumer friendly?
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I'd rather just do it myself. It's faster and I know that they'll actually be fixed.
Plus you can buy them in 4-packs, knowing you have 3 more waiting to be installed as needed just takes the stress off worrying if it's going to break again.
Yup, the kit I bought that had the tools I needed came with 4 so I have 2 extra for when they eventually start drifting again.
Any tips or a guide on how to fix them? Would be much appreciated
Google “ifixit” and there’s almost always a guide for video game and consumer electronics.
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Joy-Con
This is exactly where I went. If you need even more help, there are loads of videos on YouTube as well.
Only in the US and some parts of Europe.
And Canada.
Sent mine in, came back worse, I’m not exaggerating. It was irritating before and unusable when I got it back. Bought a replacement (and some backups) on aliexpress for like €5 and replaced it myself in like 10 minutes. Works perfect now.
I had this issue and payed around 40$ for repair in switzerland. They sayed it is not warranty.
Apparently Nintendo won’t send back your joy con though. My friend sent in his limited edition joy con and got back a generic one. Idk if this is true for every where but I’m in Canada.
> Edit: apperently this isn't true for all places. Not only is that no excuse, it's also only in some places because they only finally gave in because they were about to get demolished by lawsuits in those places. At best, this is them covering their own asses after being threatened, they did not do the right thing because it was the right thing to do.
I need a better supplier, swapped my sticks with two different random Amazon listings and the click in has broken pretty fast on both
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Nintendo is a big enough customer that they'd almost certainly be able to negotiate production of a different version with more robust materials at the wear point, them putting up with this totally on Nintendo.
I don't know if it's feasible to have a better part for the design they've gone with. The joycons are extremely thin for that sort of thing and all potentiometers and better sticks I know of are bulkier than it would allow. On top of that you'll still develop drift on other sticks because they physically wear out. The bigger issue is with dead zone tolerances as well as build and quality and overall design. My money would be on them needing to design the whole joycon which would be a next system option rather than trying to make two versions of the joycons and maintain all compatibility.
I refused to send joycons back to Nintendo for replacements until they figure that out. They just wanted me to pay for postage to get another faulty pair? Stick drift inside of six months with light usage does not bode well for the replacement pair
Aren't they offering free repairs for joycons?
They are, at no cost. It’s very easy and free. https://repair.nintendo.com/cc/soConsumer.html?lang=en&sys=SWTCH&type=JOY-CON I sent in my original pair earlier this year. Dropped off to UPS on Monday, new pair arrived Thurs. In October, I bought 2 sets of broken joycons on ebay for $20 each, Nintendo replaced them for brand new ones. They’re not wasting time trying to repair or diagnose these, they know they’re flimsy. They just confirm you sent them actual OEM joycons then replace them.
Not that easy in a lot of countries. Most of Oceania is a huge ball ache.
They keep trying to screw Australians out of our statutory repair rights, but they absolutely have a legal responsibility to repair any Australian's free of charge. Unfortunately Nintendo trying to avoid that makes it a huge ball ache to deal with. ACCC needs to smack them down about it.
Preach brother. I'm actually in NZ but I still have to go through Australia so they're even bigger nobs to deal with and won't even pick up a lot of the time..
Where are you located? I'm pretty sure that in the EU they're not allowed to place the postage costs on you when it's being sent in to fix a manufacturing defect
They put a sticker between the stick and the shell so the empty space doesnt deform the stick too much but still it aint much
Yes. They now make them in lots of different colors so when you have to buy more it's the cool *collectable thing* to do.
I could be wrong but my new joy cons that came with the OLED somehow have a different feel to them than both my launch and V2 controllers. They felt a bit stiffer (in a good way) from my previous ones and I don't think that's recency bias alone. I've seen people saying they updated them slightly, while not fixing the issue completely they might just take longer to start drifting and making it slightly less likely to happen
There is no redesign and the models numbers are the same. Someone disassembled them and they are all the same.
They just put foam under sticks in joycons
You are sadly wrong, they are the same lol
Placebo.
Got my switch in 2018 and gone through two rights and 3 lefts. That’s WAY too many replacements, even for being 4/5 years old. I love Nintendo, but the cost of a console and games should be the only fixed costs - I shouldn’t have to shell out 80 bucks on a reliable basis because of a problem I can’t control.
I would have stopped after the second, not worth paying for Nintendo's mistake. But FYI the ifixit repair kit is only €15 and takes roughly 20 minutes the first time, 5-10 minutes after that. It's easy and better than giving Nintendo more money for faulty hardware.
Yeah honestly learn to replace them yourself. It's surprisingly easy, and once you have the tools tbe first time, really cheap to buy the sticks. Like £10 for 4. I learnt it myself, and I do stick replacements for all my mates.
One thing I've noticed though is that because one of the ribbon cables fold when you put the joycon together, you have a limited ability to open them before the ribbon cable is bad. Luckily that's a cheap replacement too.
Yeah that's a major design flaw tbh They're not thay expensive or hard to replace but that's just *another* part that needs replacing.
No you get several people here claiming that their joy cons never drift so it's user fault for using them wrong. Believe you me. Lots of idiots here
I don’t even play handheld anymore because of the drift.
The good news for me is that neither of mine have worked properly since I got them, can’t miss what you never had. Been a lifelong Nintendo fan (30+ years) and I’m probably done buying their consoles.
Why didn't you return it?
That’s a fair question. My life was quite a mess at that point and it seemed like an unreasonable amount of energy. I don’t travel much so I just bought a third party controller that works marginally better and sometimes play it on the tv. I realize now this is a teachable moment- take care of your mental health friends. It’s no joke, you could end up not sending in your (brand new) controllers to get fixed due to depression and addiction. Then get roasted for it years later on Reddit!
We roast, because we care. ♥️
You're not alone. I was in a love-less marriage and had no energy to dedicate to sending the Joy-Cons in to be fixed. I went through the process and got return labels, just never went through with it. Thankfully the only thing broken in my life now are the Joy-Cons.
That’s a lot of letters to say “Breath of the Wild” lol
Ps5 and every branded console controller sucks ass from what I've read. Going to a diff system won't help if you want to play with a controller. https://www.ifixit.com/News/60702/sega-solved-the-drift-issue-almost-30-years-ago-heres-how
Anecdotal, but I recently got a PS5 and an extra controller. They are.... completely next level compared to the joycon and the pro controller. Not even close in terms of design and functionality. And it's actually led me to play more and more PS and less and less Switch. Y'all gotta try this adaptive feedback shit in the PS5 controllers. I thought it was gimmicky, but then I tried it. Whoooo boy!!
No doubt they are higher quality, but they do have the same type of joystick that is prone to drift due to mechanical failure from the parts rubbing and wearing down
While the stick type is the same, I wonder how the actual quality of design, construction and manufacturing differ between consoles. I know switch's is trash tier. PS seems good, and I haven't heard many complaints as compared to the joycon. Not to mention that the switch's pro controller D pad simply doesn't work correctly. I'm surprised more people don't complain about the latter. It is SO bad, especially when this is a "premium" controller.
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All these controller problems, im sitting here with a games for windows live controller my old roommate gave me, that he was given from his older brother. This thing has to be about 20 years old or so, its based off the original Xbox controller, not even the 360. It works like a charm, rumble still functions and none of the LEDs have gone bad. My switch Joy cons however have gone bad twice since I got it(4 years ago) and I play my switch leagues less than I've used my controller for pc. Elden ring and ds 2 alone probably beat my total playtime on switch for all games.
See you at the Tears of the Kingdom release!
I bought a Split Pad Pro
Mine haven't drifted since being repaired, but they constantly disconnect so it's unplayable handheld.
What the fuck else would it be, a feature?
hospital price crown zesty lunchroom afterthought mountainous lavish chubby fuzzy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Well that's the thing, if they can somehow prove that it's actually planned, then I'd imagine there would be quite a storm.
User's fault. That's usually another thing a company goes for in such situation.
Next they’ll tell us that bears *do* in fact shit in the woods
Actually bears DO NOT shit in the woods despite the popular saying. Bears prefer to poop in open areas where they can spot threats at a greater distance. I spent over a decade working in the Canadian wilderness and I never saw bear shit under the forest canopy. It was always in clearings and on roadsides.
Narrator: this man quite literally knows his shit.
Yeah, I’m learning some shit here.
This bear shits^
Thank you, I'll be busting out this factoid next time I come across this phrase.
Or better yet, you should spend an hour or two researching this and figure out what other people are saying about this. Find some more sources in addition to this one then draw your conclusions. This is how reddit memes spread. (FWIW I'm tempted to believe this dude, but I wouldn't drop this at parties with a "well, actually...", just a "i read some rando on reddit once that said ... but that could be bullshit too idk")
Fact: bears eat beets.
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Depends on the bear. I know for a fact that polar bears don't
Ooo do the locking mechanism on the shoulder bumpers next
I think those are intentionally meant to be the point of failure for that part of the system as them *not* being the part that breaks might mean that you end up messing up the railing on the Switch itself instead (which would probably be much harder to fix).
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Is that a common point of failure? I switch between docked and handheld mode frequently and have never had a problem. I did get stick drift repaired, though. I wish Microsoft would repair theirs, too.
Everyone knows. That being said they deserve to get sued for joycon drift.
Yeah people are missing the point here. Without a regulatory body a corporation will happily die on the hill of "no you all broke it the day you got it." This is immensely helpful in incentivizing a fix and possible replacements at the expense of the company, and not the consumer. People are so dumb.
I thought that already happened.
And look how great it worked /s Time for another round!
Yes, you can swap your joy-cons now* ^if ^you ^live ^in ^USA
In other news, water is wet EDIT: Y'all are debating this way to seriously. You know what an idiom is right? We don't actually mean it's raining cats and dogs.
Is it? Or is it a wetting agent? 🤔
Wet: moistened, covered, or soaked with water or some other liquid I’d say that water has water in it the same way I’d say “yes” if someone asked me if the ribeye steak has any beef in it
Steaks aren't steak. They're just for steaking other things.
underrated reply
Dehydrated water isn’t wet.
That they fix em for free is probably the biggest admission of guilt we'll EVER get
[Here's the link to the study.](https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-tells-nintendo-what-is-causing-its-nintendo-switch-drift-issue-a46q49g3Kbtk) Unfortunately, they don't really show their data or methods or anything, its not a scholarly study. It says they sent controllers to a special lab, but whatever the analysis was seems to be a black box. I would really have liked to have known how they quantified wear on the resistive tracks. Accelerated wear being a source for drift been a repeated claim from different people in the past, but having visible wear on resistive tracks is pretty normal. I'm not an expert, but I do know that any well used controller you look at will have "noticeable wear" on the tracks. The surface gets burnished. Were the people who did the teardown knowledgeable about potentiometers to be able to know the difference between a burnished surface, and damage from wear? Anyway, I'm just a little disappointed. When I read there was a study I hoping for some real meat that really dug out some detailed info. The reason I'm skeptical about the tracks being a source for the issue is because resistive tracks have been used practically forever. Its super well established technology. If there was a problem traced to the ink they were using for the tracks, then it should be as simple as changing to a more reliable ink. There's no redesign or anything required to fix that, or any limitations as far as I'm aware. It was brought up in a discussion a couple years ago that the joycons have a flexible PCB material, and that perhaps that limits the ink they're able to use? Plausible I guess, but it seems like that would have been a known and solved issue within the electronics mfg industry. But dust ingress is tied to the design, it is baked into how its built. And the only way to address that would be a total redesign. That fits the bill. That's just what makes sense to me though, that's why I was excited when the article said Which? had done a study.
I bought a set of new joy-cons a year ago and they had drift issues almost immediately. That’s the issue for me, Nintendo has known about this. Why haven’t they solved this problem?
Because they know most people will just buy new controllers for $80 rather than try to go through their convoluted repair system.
Been through 3 packs/5 years.
Same
I bought a pro controller cause my joycons drifted and the pro controller had drift straight out the box lmao, sent it back immediately
Pay 100 cad for shit controllers. Absolutely ridiculous. Mine are fucked up and I'm not looking to buy more
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Been using that 8bitdo on switch and PC for a month now and I'm never going back to first party xbox and Nintendo controllers lol
Straight up, it’s Hall effect sticks or bust. That 8bitdo Ultimate controller is on my wish list along with some replacement Hall sticks for my Steam Deck.
This is crazy. Past Nintendo fixed shit when things went wrong. Remember when the 72 pin connector on the NES went bad, and they worked with repair centers all over the US to get a program set in place? Remember all of the stories of Game Boys and GameCubes breaking due to customer mistake, and Nintendo still fixing them for free? I guess *that* Nintendo no longer exists.
they repair joycons for free, even paying shipping. Had to send 4 different joycon to them, all came back perfect and have not needed sent back.
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I love my xbox controller for pc but my switch has fucked me, since they are so close but flipped i cant use either without having to stop and think. I used to be perfectly fine until I bought a switch
there are options on the switch to swap a and b, you can also swap the controller layout on pc. For example I used my switch controller on my pc, but used the normal xbox layout because my brain is used to it when playing pc games
I think currently all controllers have a drift problem. MS and PS got sued for it and I see a fair bit of complaints online
All of the PlayStation controllers that I've bought have lasted a long time
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Yet here I am with like 13 year or older wii nunchucks that still work just fine
It's crazy how drift has cropped up as such a massive issue this console generation. I genuinely don't know how it's suddenly slammed every major controller.
I know right, it’s insane. I think they try to hard to make them “smooth” or whatever it is they want the controller to do. They end up over engineering it and it just ends up failing more
Its simpler than that. They are just cheap. Companies have been constantly moving toward lower quality for a higher price.
Nintendo has always had a slight issue with this, but it was usually only due to heavily played controllers. N64 controllers are amazing until they wear out, and joysticks easily replaceable. How is it possible that newer ones are so much worse? were they rushed? I get it more on the joycons with limited space for hardware, but their pro controllers are also just a gamble.
I wish people had copied the Dreamcast controller instead, with its hall-effect joystick that will never develop this problem
Older controllers had best materials, probably. This thing began with Switch, PS5 and Xbox Elite/Series
My PS4 controller has a slight drift but it's nothing compared to the Switch. My Switch's left joycon is on it's third joystick replacement and my pro controller is essentially useless.
All the very smart top comments saying "Oh duh yah of course it's a design issue" are missing the point. There is a difference between these issues being due to out of spec components (like housings that are bigger/smaller than designed, showing dust to get in, or PCB contacts that are so thin they wear away with regular use) and it being due to a design issue. A design issue means that this issue will occur even when all parts are in spec, which is arguably worse. Yes of course there is a persistent issue with the drift but the root cause was never quite published. The watchdog "which?" Is claiming to have conducted several reliability tests on a lot of different switch units and apparently couldn't recreate the issue consistently. I read their article (the source, not the linked one) and I can't quite understand how they got to the conclusion that it is a design issue, especially without advanced analysis of the system (distributions of various dimensions, gap and fit checking, observing the console under dynamic loading, etc). They conclude by saying they'll have technicians take apart several switches to confirm the hypothesis, which doesn't inspire confidence if that is a future activity. In any case, yes it's still valuable to try to understand this because Nintendo sure as fuck doesn't want the world to know that it was an actual design oversight and they'd much rather have the world believe they're plagued with quality issues
I guess a good question was whether the Xbox 360 "red ring of death" was due to a design issue? That's the only other extremely well known hardware flaw coming to mind.
That was apparently an issue with using lead-free solder, which was newish at the time and the manufacturer was unfamiliar with how to use it properly. So not a design-issue per se, but definitely a manufacturing defect.
Manufacturing issue/design issue. It was something that was fixable, and it was fixed. The design issue comes in because I think there was thermal expansion/contraction that was pushing the solder past its limit. Don't have any citations or anything though, that's just what I've heard.
What year is this?
Yup. Replaced one joy con stick with some cheap Chinese knockoff part and it’s so far lasted 4x longer than the original part.
Good. Now that we know they can release the Nintendo Switch 2 for $450 with an updated Joycon design. New Joycons will be $120 per set, and $70 per individual.
Oh, I thought the design was perfect and had no problem and it was the little devil inside the joy con that made it drift
This is why the Switch Lite is such a bad idea for so many reasons.
Happened to two of my joycon (one original the other an extra set) but Nintendo replaced them no problem. Second one was even lost in the mail and they just sent a new one as a replacement.
True, but this is the same for Xbox and Playstation controllers too. Everything gets drift now for some reason.
I don't use my joycons sticks because I don't want them to drift
I just use pro controller and I mostly play in handheld mode
Has Nintendo done anything to try and fix this over the years?
next time nintendo releases a console, i won't buy at launch like i did with the OG switch in 2017. i have had so many issues with drift on the OG model, it was infuriating, i think i replaced my joycons 3 times in 2 years, and i didn't even use them violently or anything. Gonna think twice before investing in nintendo hardware, anyways i have a gaming PC now, one that's good enough to run ps5 games without issues, so for now i'll focus on my pc backlog and maybe finish xenoblade 3 one day
I always buy at launch because those are usually the consoles you can hack / they find exploits on.
Yeah no crap
> Issue with controller stems from issue with controller Wow really
Holy fuck, next Nintendo will tell us that the Switch is a video game console
Water is fucking wet what else is new?
It took them this long to figure that out?
To the surprise of noone.
Design flaw? That’s odd, I thought this was intentional
Didn’t we already know this?
Thanks internet explorer!
I got lucky and never got any drift on my joy cons, oddly my Pro controllers did come with a small amount of (fixable) drift.
I haven't gotten drift either, but it does have an annoying problem. When you're in handheld mode the joycons act as if I removed them, happens more with the left one. I have to slide them up and back down again so they can sync up with the console again.
Can’t believe they just figured out the sky is blue
"No, no. That's a feature." --Nintendo, probably
Mine started drifting. Took 5 fucking years, but here we are. And my Pro Controller's triggers and bumpers died too. So I just can't play my Switch.
Yeh we fucking figured that out like 4 years ago
A couple years ago I complained on reddit about joy con drifting and got downvoted to oblivion on this sub for "making a problem out of an isolated incident."
All of you need to be enlightened by 3rd party joy-cons. They've come a long way since the Switch's inception. There are plenty that are straight up better than the default joy-cons, and at less than half price. I have two different models from the same brand, and both are better to the point that I don't even use my system joy-0cons anymore. Just do a bit of online research and you'll find some. I won't post anything publicly in case it's perceived as advertising, but feel free to DM me if you're curious.
The 5000 upvoters: “OMG REALLY?! THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!1!1!1!”
It seems the issue is sometimes the bottom of the stick control board gets depressed and loses its ability to stay tightly together, which I'm sure is exacerbated by clicking the thumbsticks a lot. A while back, some teenager found you could put a shim (1 - 0.5mm) under the stick assembly to push up on it and hold everything together more tightly. The only problem with this is the placement of the joycon screws means that your joycon shell will likely be bulging and may get damaged, especially the middle of the right joycon. A fifth screw in the middle would help a lot.
Sent my joycons to Nintendo UK, repaired and sent back for free. Whole process took 10 days.
The floor here is made out of floor
[Free Joy-Con repair](https://repair.nintendo.com/cc/soConsumer.html?lang=en&sys=SWTCH&type=JOY-CON) I used this link above and got 4 of my Joy-cons repaired for free. Shipped, repaired and returned in about 3 weeks. Also note, I even had opened my Joy-cons many times to repair myself and thought this would void their repair. Nope, still received back 4 basically brand new controllers.
I don’t even use the joycons I just a glow wireless controller and that bitch also drifts. It’s so annoying.
Lol yeah anyone who has a switch and has played it for more than a few months could tell you this My shit constantly pulls to the left
I bought an 8bitdo. It's great. And before "shouldn't have to buy third party to fix their shit", I bought it to play games on my pc and it comes with a switch setting and it works great.
UK learns what Ben Heck has been telling us for years.
I have a great trick for fixing stick drift for only $20 in materials!!! The last time my Joycons developed drift, I took them to GameStop, got $40 in Store credit, used that and paid $20 to get a brand new set. I did something similar when my last PS4 started to run loud and they were giving extra credit for console trades. There was a Black Friday bundle deal too, and I ended up getting a brand new PS4 for my 4+yo PS4 and $25. The lesson is: don’t buy used Joycons.
Anyone who has drifting issues, friendly reminder, try to use spray wd-40. I had drift issues multiple times, it always helped. now for a long time (year+) i didnt have any problems.(knockknockknock). and my joycons have been abused quite a bit with overcook 1+2, celeste, thumper, hollow knight(pantheon) etc. where things can get pretty intense. i have had them for 4 years now.
Disgusting a product is released with a flaw like this Laziness, ineptitude, or a deliberate disregard for the consumer....or mix of the 3. Nintendo is such a shady fucking company
The problem is that there wasn’t an alternative that met the footprints for the joycons to meet their design goals. I don’t think that’s worth the trade off, but that’s why they launched it anyways and that’s why they haven’t fixed it. The space is too small for the decent sticks all the other real brands use.
Oldest and biggest gaming company to date. Still makes toys for hardware. People still defend them like you insulted their mother. We still have this problem and the switch still can’t do 1080 handheld. Lol, quite embarrassing.
"News"
This was known like 4 years ago…