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One of the most important accessibility advancements seen across the video game industry over the past decade is, without a doubt, the mass production of accessibility controllers officially licensed to work across PC and all three major home console brands.
From the 2018 release of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, to the 2023 launch of the PlayStation Access Controller, and even the Hori Flex for Nintendo Switch back in late 2020, we’ve in a relatively short period of time managed to see accessibility controller support for home consoles become relatively standardised across the industry.
However, when looking at these three examples, Nintendo stands out a little from its closest competitors. The Switch is a hybrid device, able to be used as both a handheld and as a home console. The Hori Flex, the system’s only officially supported accessibility controller, is made by a third party peripheral manufacturer, and is very much designed exclusively for use when the Switch is docked rather than portable.
The Hori Flex is a wired accessibility controller, designed primarily for use with cabled accessories. Much like the Xbox Adaptive Controller, the Hori Flex features more than 20 3.5mm input ports, as well as a pair of USB ports, for players to be able to plug in external input devices to build an accessibility setup.
Unlike the Xbox Adaptive Controller the Hori Flex does feature most of the inputs required to play games on its surface. It lacks analogue sticks, but for any games playable using a D-Pad and face buttons the controller does work as a straight out of the box solution for playing games, for those in need of either larger and more spread out inputs, or inputs all on one flat controller face.
But, the Hori Flex isn’t really usable with the Switch in portable mode while travelling. Someone taking a lengthy train journey could, in theory, bring their Switch, Hori Flex, and a couple of inputs along for the journey, but wouldn’t be able to connect the accessibility controller directly to the portable handheld.
The Switch handheld only features a single USB-C port, located on the underside of the console. When playing in tabletop mode, resting the handheld on a table rather than holding it, that USB-C port is touching the table, and not available to plug anything into. While you could in theory go out of your way to buy a stand that might hold the Switch raised off the table to access that port, in practice this means that the USB-C port in most cases unusable for people.
In our example scenario, a disabled gamer wouldn’t be able to use the Hori Flex with their handheld Switch unless they held the Switch up off the table, no longer having their hands free to use the accessibility controller.
Around one week ago, Nintendo officially revealed the Switch 2 to the world in a short two minute long trailer. The trailer’s focus was primarily on showcasing the new console’s minor design changes and tweaks, one of which was the presence of a second USB-C port on the top edge of the system.
For a lot of people, this presented a way to charge the system while playing in tabletop mode, and it is that, and that is great. To me however, this represents a possibility for the Hori Flex to be used with the Switch 2 while travelling.
Now, officially, there’s no confirmation at present that the Switch 2 will support the Hori Flex on launch day, but there are some clues that point toward that support being likely, at least in my opinion. We know for example that the vast majority of original Switch games will be playable on the new console, both digitally and with physical cartridges. While not officially confirmed, I would be willing to bet money on the Hori Flex working with the Switch 2 when it launches, and while the top USB-C port on the Switch 2 might only be designed for charging, if it’s able to transfer data I truly hope this opens up the ability to use a USB-C to USB-A converter in the top port and offer Hori Flex accessibility controller support while playing portably.
Now, if we’re talking big picture wishes for the Switch 2, I’d love to see Nintendo launch the system with support for an equivalent to Xbox and PlayStation’s Controller Assist modes, where players can use multiple different controllers registered to a single user at once. This would allow, for example, Hori Flex users to use their existing Switch 2 Joycons for analogue stick access alongside the Hori Flex for the rest of their buttons, rather than needing to bring along additional wired USB analogue sticks.
I’d also love to see Nintendo officially produce their own accessibility controller for Switch 2, or see a third party company produce a wireless accessibility controller that might be easier to use in a portable setup, but those feel like ambitious things to be hoping for at this moment.
While bringing a Hori Flex along isn’t going to be practical for everyone in every use case, I can definitely see the Switch 2’s top USB-C slot opening up the option to use accessories while in tabletop mode, and that making accessibility setups that can be played while travelling considerably more viable than they were on the original generation of Switch consoles.
I know that the Hori Flex isn’t a Nintendo developed product, but I do hope Nintendo understands how impactful it would be for them to officially discuss prior to the system’s launch whether the device will be supported, in which forms, and any additional accessibility features that would support its use for disabled Nintendo gamers.
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