Joy-Cons and The Importance of Proving a Gimmick

The right way to do it

Nintendo sure loves to think outside the box

Nintendo loves gimmicks. NES Zappers. DK Bongos. Motion control. Dual screen gaming. Glasses-free 3D. Those are just a few examples in Nintendo’s catalog of zany ideas. However, many of these “innovations” are either peripherals or additive features. The DK Bongos could be completely ignored. The 3D slider could be turned down. However, there was no escaping the Wii’s motion controls. This was a radically new way to play. On the car ride to Best Buy to purchase my Wii, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to navigate using the IR pointer. All of that changed when I played Wii Sports. Swinging the Wii Remote like a tennis racket or a golf club was revolutionary. It felt like second nature. Sure, the game lost its edge when I discovered I could waggle my arm any way I wanted and the game would register it as a swing. However, I was already sold. I knew what the Wii Remote was capable of, and it wouldn’t be many years until I fell out of love with it. For the Wii’s commercial lifespan though, I didn’t think twice about using motion control. Nintendo had proved the worth of this control option. Enter the Wii U. This time, Nintendo had an even odder gimmick. Dual screens worked out quite well for the handhelds, but we’d never seen a home console try the same concept. The whole thing seemed a bit nebulous, what was the point? Much like my experience with the Wii, it wasn’t until I played Nintendo Land that I got it.

These attractions are fully fleshed-out adventures

Nintendo Land is actually one of my favorite Wii U titles. It is both a celebration of Nintendo’s IP, and a fantastic multiplayer game. Centered around a Nintendo theme park, Nintendo Land features twelve attractions. Each is themed around one Nintendo IP, from Mario, to Zelda, to Animal Crossing, to Metroid, and even F-Zero. There are so many worlds represented. Some games stand taller than others, but when the attractions work, they’re great. Metroid Blast, The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest, and Pikmin Adventure are all fleshed out co-op experiences. Head-to-head attractions such as Mario Chase and Luigi’s Ghost Mansion are great fun as well. Past that, Nintendo Land expertly demonstrates the potential of the Gamepad, and much like Wii Sports, makes it feel intuitive.

Isometric gameplay is where the Gamepad excels

Nintendo Land centers around isometric gameplay, where one person plays exclusively on the Gamepad. A game like Mario Chase wouldn’t be possible without the second screen. Essentially, it’s one big game of hide-and-seek tag. The player with the Gamepad, dressed as Mario, attempts to stay hidden and one step ahead of the other players. The catch is that Mario can see the other players on the Gamepad screen, but the other players can’t see Mario on the TV. Isometric gameplay extends through to the other attractions as well. In The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest, the Gamepad player is an archer who uses the built in gyroscope to aim the arrows while the players on the TV use swords. Past the isometric nature of these games, other features of the Gamepad are displayed as well. Some use the motion controls, others use the camera or the gyroscope. These implementations feel natural and augment the gameplay experience. With a few rare exceptions, I never felt like the Gamepad impeded the experience. On the whole, Nintendo Land serves as a great proving ground for the Gamepad’s utility.

Nintendo Land really got the ball rolling. I’ll never like the form factor of the Gamepad, but it has fantastic potential. Nintendo illustrated its functionality perfectly. From the Zelda remakes, to Splatoon, to Super Mario Maker, these games are fundamentally improved by the Gamepad. Nintendo did their best, but it never really took off, not for lack of trying. On the other side of the coin, are the Joy-Cons.

The Joy-Con is an impressive piece of technology
that is going to waste

The Nintendo Switch is in an interesting position. It’s central gimmick, its hybrid design, is fantastic. As soon as I put my Switch into, and then out of, the dock, I was sold. I think that everyone’s infatuation with the Switch’s portability has turned a blind eye to the system’s other gimmick: the Joy-Cons. There’s just about everything but the kitchen sink in these controllers. IR sensors, gyroscopes, accelerometers, NFC readers, and the coveted HD Rumble. The actual form factor of the Joy-Cons is quite nice, but what’s under the hood isn’t so great. It’s not that these are bad features, it’s just that they’re unproven. Unlike the Gamepad or the Wii Remote, there isn’t any justification for these features. Many people would point towards 1-2 Switch as being that proving ground, but I’d disagree. The problem with 1-2 Switch is two-fold.

Looking at this promotional picture for 1-2 Switch is more
fun than actually playing the game

Firstly, the gameplay is very shallow, some might even call it non-existent. While I had fun with 1-2 Switch early on, the game had very little staying power. Now, when I’m looking for a multiplayer game on Switch, 1-2 Switch isn’t even in the conversation. Secondly, and perhaps more damning, is the fact that 1-2 Switch doesn’t even demonstrate why I should care about these features. In the cleverly titled “Ball Count” mini-game, HD Rumble is on full display. While it is novel just how laser precise HD Rumble is, I ended up not caring. That’s my general feeling towards the game, it didn’t make any element of this controller feel integral to my gaming experience the way Wii Sports or Nintendo Land did. And it certainly didn’t justify the 80$ price tag on these Joy-Cons. As it stands, the tech inside the controllers feels like dead weight. No one is utilizing these features, but they’re holding up the price.

The back touch is a superfluous feature that cannot be
removed since a handful of games utilize it

The Joy-Con situation feels a lot like the PS Vita back touch. For those who don’t know, the PS Vita has a touch screen on the back of the device. It has very few practical applications, but a few games do take advantage of it. This causes a significant problem for Sony. As tech gets older, manufacturers release new iterations at a lower price. A newer, cheaper model of the PS Vita cannot remove the back touch, even though it is simply dead weight. The few games that do utilize it would become unplayable by its absence. The same goes for the Joy-Cons. Their price can’t be lowered because each of the features is used by some game. Nintendo really only has two options moving forwards. Either they push the tech in the Joy-Cons, and make them integral parts of the gameplay experience, or they deal with the price.

I don't think that the Joy-Cons will get their 3D Land

At this point, it almost feels too late to steer the ship back on track. With both the Wii and Wii U, Nintendo demonstrated the potential of their technology right away. With the 3DS, Nintendo didn’t release a game that truly utilized the 3D in a creative way until Super Mario 3D Land, nearly nine months into the handheld’s life. At that point, most people had simply given up the ghost on 3D. After the initial novelty of seeing games in 3D, I like many others, just turned it off. We’re nearing that same point in the Switch’s lifetime, and I don’t see any games on the horizon that look to be using the Joy-Cons effectively. It’s a shame. I think that HD Rumble is truly revolutionary and could be cleverly integrated into future games. Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t seem to believe in the tech, so why should I believe in it either.