#3 – Weird New Joy-Con
No, not the main controllers that come with the console – even with the rumoured magnets and extra buttons, we imagine Joy-Con for Switch 2 will be more or less in line with the current ones, feature-wise.
No, we’re talking about a series of entirely different controllers that snap onto the console. A Playdate-style Crank-Con on the right for reeling in fish. Bongo-Con for Jungle Beat DX. Clutch and Throttle-Con for the next round of TT Isle of Man games.
We know what you’re thinking: This could get bloody expensive. We agree, but imagine for a moment that you don’t need to buy four pairs of Joy-Con next generation because they don’t drift…
Yes, it’s hard to envision, but the huge piles of disposable income you’d save if your launch day Joy-Con lasted for more than six months could be spent on more exciting things! Like Keytar-Con or Panpipe-Con or Hand-Massager-Con.
#4 – Cameras & Mics
Okay, these aren’t the ‘wackiest’ ideas here, especially given that Nintendo consoles had these things since the DS era (and beyond if we get peripherals involved).
There are far easier ways to video chat with pals than through your console – that’s not what we’re interested in, but rather the cool interactions and gameplay possibilities these tools enable.
Obviously, built-in voice chat and some picture-in-picture of your friends’ faces as you play online would be great! But let’s not be crazy. Let’s stick to things that Nintendo might actually do…
#5 – A Solar Panel
Why not? For when you’re caught short between charges, what better way to stave off a dead battery than using the power of our local star? Maybe it could charge the e-ink screen on the back.
Combine this with the brightness sensor already in the current Switch and we’ve got designs on a long-awaited new entry in the Boktai series.
#6 – Another USB-C Port On Top, For, erm, Stuff
If the leaks turn out to be true, Switch 2 will have a USB-C port not just on the bottom (for charging and docking) but also on the top.
Now, as well as presumably offering upside-down docking (maybe… okay, probably not), all manner of peripherals could slot into an additional port, from cameras to mics to little electric fans. This would open up a world of peripheral possibilities, but it could also make it easier to connect Switches together. Maybe you could even attach a current Switch to the Switch 2 for some classic dual-screen gaming.
Even if bolting another Switch to your new one is too cumbersome, the ability to link consoles physically might be cool… although there’s probably not much that couldn’t be accomplished with a local wireless connection. Early last year, Jim spoke about the Switch-linking novelty of Toad’s Rec Room in Super Mario Party, and that’s still a very cool concept.
We just like the idea of Switch 2 expanding on the social aspects of a portable device. We also enjoy the image of a hundred Switches all linked together to accomplish some grand task. If a cluster of Cell-powered PS3s can cure cancer and unravel the human genome*, just think of what a rack of daisy-chained Switch 2s could do!
*Okay, PS3s did not cure cancer or do the genome thing, but their computational power was used to help solve some tricky problems and the US Air Force built the 33rd largest supercomputer in the world (at the time) using over 1,700 of them.
