Nintendo has had a long-running project seeking the “pinnacle of all controllers”

A neat little Nintendo development tidbit was tucked away inside the company’s Switch 2 interview published this week, which concerns controllers.

Technical director Tetsuya Sasaki was speaking about the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller and how it was designed from scratch. The team put in a lot of work to make sure that “the left and right control sticks are quieter and don’t make noise, even when they’re moved quickly to the edge.” Also mentioned that given how smooth they glide, Nintendo calls them “smooth-gliding sticks.”

It was pointed out by the interview that there’s no drag when they’re moved. That eventually prompted Sasaki to bring up a project within Nintendo with the goal of creating the “pinnacle of all controllers”.

He said the following in the interview:

“As they’re calling them ‘smooth-gliding sticks,’ we made efforts to reduce the feeling of bumping when you tilt them. In fact, there’s been a long-running project at Nintendo with the grand ambition of developing the ‘pinnacle of all controllers,’ and we’ve been researching it hard for a long time now.”

The the Joy-Con 2 controllers for Switch 2 have also received an overhaul with a bigger design, control sticks that are larger and more durable, L and R buttons that have been lengthened, the ability to attach to the console with magnets, and support for a mouse setup. HD Rumble 2 is included as well – read about that here.