Photo credit: Matteo Pisani
Matteo Pisani was lucky enough to not experience the dreaded Joy-Con drift issue with his Nintendo Switch, but still wanted to figure out a clever fix. So, he removed the Joy-Con entirely and replaced it with a touchpad. That’s right, Matteo started with a transparent green Joy-Con housing and then upgraded the electronics with a digital potentiometer, a capacitive touchpad nestled in a custom 3D-printed enclosure, and an Arduino Pro Mini to translate the digital signals from the touchpad to analog joystick signals the Switch is expecting.
While the finished project isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as Nintendo’s OEM hardware, but the touchpad’s circular design does provide tactile limits so you can actually feel when your finger has reached the edge. This means it won’t accidentally moving out of range unlike when you’re using virtual on-screen controls.
- Limited-edition design featuring elements inspired by Mario. Available while supplies last!
- Local co-op*, local wireless*, and online multiplayer**
- Detachable Joy-Con controllers
Doing things more seriously: in my plans there’s the idea to miniaturize the whole circuitry in order to create a smaller PCB that could suit directly inside the Joy-Con controller in place of the Analog Joystick small box that’s approximately 19 x 16 x 4 mm in size,” said Matteo.
