Is This Mouse Grip the First Switch 2 Accessibility Peripheral? – Access-Ability

A couple of months ago in January 2025, Nintendo finally revealed the Switch 2 to the world. After months of hardware leaks ranging from photos of the motherboard to images of dev kit controllers, the new handheld hybrid system was finally showcased to the world in a brief hardware focused two minute trailer, with promises of a more in depth reveal coming in April.

That more in depth reveal is around 24 hours away at the time I’m working on this video.

Much of the initial reveal trailer detailed incremental upgrades to the system’s design – New magnetically attaching Joycons, a larger screen, a new U shaped kickstand, a second USB-C port on the top of the system for tabletop mode charging, and a mysterious new button on the right Joycon not labelled in the trailer, but with a letter C present on it in leaked versions of the device, and promotional images that have surfaced in the last day or so officially from Nintendo.

However, there is one aspect of the Switch 2 hinted at in the initial reveal trailer, and further confirmed in a post on the Nintendo Today app, that I want to talk about in greater depth ahead of the system’s formal reveal tomorrow.

It sure seems like the Switch 2 Joy-Cons are going to be usable as mouse inputs, and I’ve worked with someone to help make an accessibility peripheral available to help with that console hardware configuration.

This might be the first accessibility peripheral designed for and compatible with the Switch 2, and I hope it will be the start of many.

So, at times during the January Switch 2 reveal video, you can see that on both the left and right JoyCon, there appears to be a pair of optical sensors in a small housing along the rail edge of the new controllers. These appear, as best we can tell, to be short range optical sensors similar to the kind seen in most modern PC mice.

Now we don’t have official confirmation of this, but speculation is high that these will be used for their most obvious possible purpose, to allow Switch 2 JoyCons to be placed on their side, rail touching a table or other flat surface, to function as a mouse and control a pointer on screen.

This theory seems to be supported by the initial reveal trailer which, while not definitively confirming the feature, showcases both Joycon placed on their sides on a flat surface, gliding around as though being used as mice.

This is further supported by the fact that this sequence of the trailer begins with a super quick shot of the Joycon being connected to their new wrist strap peripherals. Now, why would you want to attach a wrist strap connector during a segment of the trailer about placing your JoyCon on a flat surface to glide around? Well, the new wrist strap connectors raise your JoyCon rail slightly up off of the table or other surface, and feature a flat raised side seemingly designed to improve the ability to glide the Joycon around, and slightly lift the optical sensor slightly away from the surface it’s detecting, offering a small hole where the sensor lies.

Further solidifying my faith that this feature is real, on the recently released Nintendo Today app, users are reporting seeing a “1 day Until Nintendo Direct” video showcasing the console in its three core configurations. On the left we see the console in handheld mode, in the centre we see it docked, and on the right we see it in tabletop mode. Most importantly for this video, the tabletop mode configuration shows one JoyCon naturally placed on the table, and the other placed on its side, balanced on the JoyCon rail.

Again, not formal confirmation, but it feels like there’s very little else this image could be trying to convey. This is a product configuration image, and you don’t accidentally show one JoyCon on its side in renders designed to market the ways your hardware is going to be used.

So, while not formally confirmed, I’m going to for the time being assume that this is what Nintendo is hinting at with this part of their reveal trailer and the Nintendo Today video teaser – The Switch 2 Joycons can be placed on their side and used as an optical mouse as part of optional controller setups for games on their new hardware.

So, what does that mean in practice? Well, there’s a few obvious genres that this kind of control scheme might make more comfortable to play on a console. Metroid Prime 4 launching on Switch 2 could perhaps offer mouse controls for first person shooter aiming. A new Mario Maker could use mouse controls to allow for more comfortable level design while docked. Animal Crossing could use mouse controls to more efficiently manage landscaping and home design tasks. Future Real Time Strategy games on the system could be made more playable, alongside point and click adventure titles.

When rumours of mouse mode orientation for JoyCon were first teased and hinted at, I was a little sceptical. The thing that turned my opinion around was grabbing a Switch 1 JoyCon, turning it on its side, and giving it a try. The result was surprisingly functional, with my index and middle fingers easily resting on the trigger and bumper buttons like a left and right mouse click, and my thumb able to reach the analogue stick with relative ease.

In the weeks that followed, I came into possession of a 3D printed model of the Switch 2, allowing me to confirm that the new larger JoyCon felt even more suited to use in a mouse orientation, with changes to size and shape better suiting this new potential control scheme.

While it was surprisingly comfortable, at least in short experimental bursts, I was very aware that both the Switch 1 and Switch 2 JoyCons are pretty narrow, and sit in a far more narrow part of the palm than a traditional mouse would when in use. I feel like this wouldn’t be comfortable for extended play sessions, and notably for some disabled users would likely not be accessible, either due to chronic pain, coordination disabilities, or physical limb differences to name a few examples.

So, I hatched a plan. I reached out to ThePrintBed on BlueSky, who agreed to help me with a little project. I provided them with 3D model files for the Switch 2, which to my knowledge match accurate dimensions of the final retail system. They then got to work designing a 3D model and 3D printer file for a hand rest that the Switch 2 JoyCon can be docked into. The JoyCon fits comfortably into the grip, and allows a little extra support for the user’s hand, so that they’re not reliant on gripping a thin JoyCon or resting their hand on a thin pressure point, when using the JoyCon in mouse mode orientation.

Now, I’ve not tested this 3D printed Joycon Mouse Dock with final retail JoyCon for the Switch 2, so this 3D printer file may need slightly tweaking closer to the console’s launch to ensure it 100% fits the final retail hardware correctly, but in theory I believe this current model should work with the Switch 2 on launch day, allowing those who need additional support to more comfortably use the Switch 2 in mouse mode at the system’s release.

To my knowledge, this is the first Switch 2 accessibility peripheral available for the console’s launch day.

Now, I’m hoping to expand this project further in the weeks between now and the launch of the Switch 2, working on additional accessibility peripherals for the upcoming console which can be freely 3D printed. I’m in talks with other 3D artists who are donating their time to help produce items such as one handed controller grip designs, with the intention of releasing them online for free, to try and ensure that the Switch 2 has a degree of accessibility hardware available to download and 3D print at home when the console launches.

I’m not ready to showcase any additional accessibility peripherals at this time, but I am looking for others to collaborate with, and advice on what peripherals would be most useful to offer.

If you’re someone with 3D modelling experience who would be willing to donate some time to helping produce simple accessibility tools, or a disabled gamer with an accessibility tool that you would find useful to see available as launch approaches, please drop me an email at LauraKBuzzOfficial@Gmail.Com

My dream scenario is to have a small collection of accessibility peripherals for the Switch 2 available for free community access in time for the system’s launch day. Hopefully the mouse dock is going to be the first of many.

Additionally, I must be clear that these are in no way officially endorsed Nintendo sanctioned products. These are fan made compatible products that are being made available for free to the disabled community, and not sold at a profit, or using any Nintendo branding.

You can find a link here to download the 3D print files needed to produce your own JoyCon Compatible Mouse Dock today.

I will reiterate that at present I have not tested it with final Switch 2 hardware, and it may need slight tweaks to match final retail dimensions. I believe the dimensions I have are accurate, but I will do what I can to verify the accuracy of those dimensions within the next 14 days.