The Nintendo Switch 2's mouse mode opens amazing doors for devsThe Nintendo Switch 2's mouse mode opens amazing doors for devs

The age of the Nintendo Switch 2 is nigh. After a fast and furious Nintendo Direct on April 2, the Kyoto publisher ushered an assembly of press and influencers into an event space in midtown Manhattan, all eager for a chance to learn the ins and outs of the mysterious new console.

The company's fierce secrecy about the new console has left not just players, but developers wondering what new major advancement the company wants to put front-and-center. The Nintendo Switch was a massive hit for Nintendo not just because of the detachable Joy-Con controllers, but also because of the portability. The Switch 2, it turns out, trades hardware innovation for online social multiplayer features built right into the device.

But with talk of tariffs and online functionality and $80 games dominating the cycle, it's fair if developers are left wondering what unique opportunities there are for the device beyond its porting potential. Is it worth dedicating time to the Joy-Con's new mouse function when making new games?

The answer—based on time with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Sid Meier's Civilization VII—is "yes."

The Joy-Con "mouse" mode can bring more PC games to console

Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto explained in an "Ask a Dev" blog post posted by Nintendo that Joy-Con mouse control mode came about after he was playing games on PC and mused that the Joy-Con itself might work well as a control device rarely used on consoles. "Switch 2 was originally designed to support a wider range of games by improving the system's processing speed, so with that in mind, I thought it'd be better to be able to play interesting games that require a mouse," he said.

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He also credited a theory from former Nintendo R&D general manager Gunpei Yokoi called "lateral thinking of withered technology," which states that that new products can be created by using widely-used technology no longer seen as "cutting edge" for new and unusual functions.

In a group Q&A held at Nintendo's New York preview event, La Tercera writer Axel Frederick asked Kawamoto about the fact that most places players use the Nintendo Switch like the couch, a comfy chair, or the bed, aren't ideal environments for mouse control. "We have made adjustments so that you can control the mouse on your pants," Kawamoto responded.

There weren't any chances to drag the Switch 2 Joy-Con across my trousers, but there was time to experiment with the click-based controls. Maybe it was my lowered expectations, but it was surprising that flipping a Joy-Con on its side and using the R/L buttons as a "left click" and the ZR/ZL buttons as a "right click" felt satisfying. I endeavored to keep my expectations in check—this feature isn't earth-shattering. It is, at the end of the day, a humble computer mouse.

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That said, Metroid Prime 4 and Civilization VII showed surprising ways that "humble" can form an intoxicating brew. Prime 4's base controls are similar to those seen in Metroid Prime Remastered, updating the original GameCube twin-stick scheme for one that supports motion controls centered on the "lock on" feature initiated by pushing the left trigger button. In a quick back-and-forth test, using the mouse to aim Samus' Power Cannon felt smoother than switching to traditional Joy-Con motion aiming.

It's the "back-and-forth" where some of the magic happens. In Metroid Prime 4, players can switch control schemes just by turning the Joy-Con from one position to another. In literal seconds, they can swap from mouse, to twin-stick with motion controls, to mouse again.

Switch 2 director Takuhiro Dohta explained to Game Developer that developers who don't want players to accidentally switch control modes can turn off this feature and make it a more menu-driven choice. He danced away from explaining precisely how it worked, but alluded to the gyroscope and accelerometer sensors being other "unique" features developers can take advantage of.

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Image via Nintendo.

If the Joy-Cons are capable of such subtle switches (possibly with the help of the gyroscope and accelerometer, if we're trying to pick apart Dohta's answer), it might open the door to designers who can think of reasons to make players switch between conventional Joy-Con usage and "mouse mode" on a regular basis.

Kawamoto said he was delighted to hear that we were "surprised" by the feature during play, so if nothing else, Nintendo thinks that surprising players with the capabilities of the Joy-Con is fertile territory for games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Next let's talk about Civilization VII. At first this is an obvious no-brainer. Turn-based strategy games on PC (and already on consoles) can now have proper mouse controls on the Nintendo Switch 2. In 2006 this would have been revolutionary, in 2025 it'd be fine to ask "is that it?"

But. Checking out the game and chatting with Firaxis Games executive producer Dennis Shirk, I was struck by two surprising facts: first, the aforementioned positive clicking sensation really sings in a turn-based environment. Many players will find the physical sensation of clicking a Nintendo Switch 2 mouse to be more favorable than your average PC mouse.

Second, as Shirk pointed out in our conversation, the Switch 2 mouse has more buttons than your average PC mouse. Shirk explained that at Firaxis and among hardcore Civilization players, it's generally understood that the the most devoted players use custom mice with mappable macro commands on the side for more efficient empire-building.

The Switch 2 mice aren't as modular or precisely designed as an Asus ROG Spatha X, but Firaxis is staring down a funnel of new Civilization VII console players who will learn how to play the game on a more complex device. "We're actually pleasantly surprised how absolutely versatile it was," he said. "The flexibility that offers our traditional PC players to play on the go is an instant win."

It's a neat opportunity for developers porting mouse-friendly games to console to see what new tools they can offer players that they couldn't before. I can imagine that a game like The Roottrees are Dead now has a far more natural home on console than it would have before.

Shirk said Firaxis developers working on the Switch 2 port were surprised by how many kinds of surfaces the mouse controls worked on (including the aforementioned pants). In Dohta's response to Frederick during the group Q&A, he said that playing multiplayer wheelchair basketball game Drag X Drive by rubbing the controllers on their laps was the "preferred" way of playing the game.

On the topic of Drag X Drive—I can't recommend it as a good case study for using both Joy-cons in mouse mode. Dohta explained that the demo stations set up for the preview weren't an ideal play scenario because both mice were situated on a table in front of the player. The game is meant to mimic operating a wheelchair, and moving the mice forward and backward on your lap is a more natural motion than on a full table.

When I tried the demo tables for myself, it was awkward and unpleasant, leaving the game feeling like a hollow successor to Arms as a multiplayer tech demo that didn't necessarily birth a genre or franchise. It made me wish Nintendo had opted for a single-player puzzle game of some sort with this mechanic, because a multiplayer game that isn't exceptionally unique will fade fast, and players will be less likely to experiment with "dual-mouse" layout.

Other journalists I spoke with agreed with Dohta that the table setup may have made for a less favorable impression. But even with proper seating, I'm worried dual mice design is a dead-end. It should be a major opportunity for some new kind of gameplay, but the history of the Nintendo Switch shows that for third-party developers, games on Switch need to be portable to other platforms. And you can't port a "dual mice" game anywhere, not even a PC.

It does make one wonder what kinds of games Kawamoto was thinking of playing when he pitched the mouse control functions to the hardware team. If the best ideas for mouse controls came out of Western companies like Firaxis Games and Retro Studios, does Nintendo have any bigger plans of its own that will actually "click?"

Can the Switch 2's mouse mode be for more than PC ports?

In my heart of hearts, I hope the Joy-Con mouse function ushers in a quiet revolution of exceptional strategy games for the Nintendo Switch 2. At minimum I expect to see companies like Microsoft and its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment porting real-time strategy games from their back catalogues like Age of Empires II and Starcraft II as fast as possible. Developers making mouse-and-keyboard games on PC can expect a new potential audience to tap into without requiring heavy reworks for controller.

But can the Joy-Con mouse function sustain wholly unique games meant exclusively for the Switch 2? I'm not sure. Coming into the preview, I confess I was worried that Nintendo couldn't free itself from the Nintendo Switch's groundbreaking asset: the portability. I feared the already-teased mouse function be pressured to carry the console's entire lineup.

It seemed like a bad strategy. The unique features of the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers have faded in relevance over the last eight years, with motion controls and gyroscopes not driving widely-used game mechanics. The bestselling Switch games of the last year include titles ranging from Balatro to Hogwarts Legacy to Hello Kitty Island Adventure. (With free-to-play mainstays like Fortnite regularly on the most-downloaded list).

Depending on the day, the eShop top charts might not look so different from the Steam Top Selling list. Now the two may blur even closer with mouse-friendly games able to find a home on both storefronts.

Nintendo's emphasis on GameChat as "the next big thing" for the Switch 2 thankfully takes the aforementioned pressure off the Joy-Con mouse function, which no longer has to lift a console's worth of unique game genres. Instead it can serve as a bridge for bringing more PC games to the console audience, and possibly drive innovation with fresh audience interest in mouse controls.

Of all the Switch 2's new features, it's the one that makes me daydream of what kinds of new and unique games developers can cook up.