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Super-juicy new Switch Patents!
News reported by 
(Editor)
December 16, 2016, 06:46
 
Have you guys seen the very, very specific Switch Patents which were recently revealed?

They basically give away every single detail about the Switch. Lots and lots of details about the Joycons, the Joycon Grip, the Dock, and the Switch itself. Check it out!

Some highlights - At least four Joycons can communicate with one Switch (hello, pickup games of Smash Bros.), the touchscreen is confirmed, the Joycons have shoulder buttons, rumble, motion, etc., the right Joycon has extra functionality, including Wiimote-esque IR pointing capability, and all of the equipment seems to register quickly and seamlessly, which will make it easy to swap controllers/systems/docks/whatevers. They even showed a VR mockup! Very interesting stuff. The Switch really is an amazing little piece of engineering.

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12/16/16, 06:46   Edited:  12/17/16, 00:09
 
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Yup. Posted this in the Switch thread

Posted by 
 on: 12/16/16, 07:02
@Anand, all very awesome stuff. Gives me great hope. Those patents didn't specify if the triggers were analog or not like the Gamecube?

Posted by 
 on: 12/16/16, 13:21
@DrFinkelstein
I don't recall them specifying whether they were analog or digital, but I would seriously doubt them being analog. Nintendo doesn't seem eager to go back to that design choice, and I can understand why. While they are nice to have for certain uses, they're actually worse when you're using them as digital buttons, and it's not like Nintendo makes driving sims.

Pedal to the metal! Kirby Air Ride!!

@cooliocuneo
Oops!

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 00:09
Yup. Very interesting stuff.

I want more SCD patents though! Release the Switch Pro for people like me Nintendo! LET ME PAY YOU ALL THE MONEYS!

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 07:01
@Anand

I liked it personally, but isn't Super Mario Sunshine coming to Switch VC or something like that? It required it kinda didn't it? Maybe not...

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 14:53
@DrFinkelstein
Oh, good point. Hmmmmm.

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 15:29
@DrFinkelstein

It "required" it in the sense of it being a cool feature, but no, you could just as easily have it be "on/off" and change the angle of your stream. I always just jammed the triggers down until they clicked, and it worked fine. Pressure sensitivity and I don't get alone well (DARN YOU CLICKY STICKS!).

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 16:24
@DrFinkelstein
Games used them, yeah. Melee being the most high profile, probably. But are there any games that wouldn't be playable without them? If they mapped the click to a stick click, or something?

Regardless, they could always sell an alternate Gamecube Joycon!

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 16:36   Edited:  12/17/16, 16:37
@J.K. Riki
I loved running around with the water spraying, so the game wouldn't feel "right" to me without the analog buttons.

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 18:30
That's what I'm trying to recall… were there any mechanisms in games that heavily relied on the variance of that feature or was it really not as important as I feel like it was?

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 18:31
Patents don't always come to fruition as written, but I hope this stuff does, the IR pointer part in particular. That was my fave feature of the Wii.

@DrFinkelstein Luigi's Mansion might be tough to do without the analogue buttons. When using the elements like fire, water, or ice, pressing down on the L button would spray it, and clicking the button would shoot a projectile blast. If they tried to map this to just a digital button, would it make you shoot every time you just wanted to spray? You'd use up the element fast that way.

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 20:01
@Mop it up
They could map the triggers and clicks to different buttons (or motions).

Posted by 
 on: 12/17/16, 23:10
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