Joy-Con

The Joy-Con are a pair of two controllers used for and packaged with every Nintendo Switch (not including the Nintendo Switch Lite remodels). The two Joy-Cons attach to the left and right rails of a Nintendo Switch, and can be detached from them. The left and right Joy-Cons are indicated by an (L) and an (R) in their title, respectively. While detached from a Nintendo Switch, the Joy-Con (L) and (R) can be held in the left and right hand each or be slid into a Joy-Con Grip.

Both Joy-Cons have an accelerometer and gyro sensor. The Joy-Con (R) has an IR motion camera that can sense and measure the real-time shape, motion, and distance of objects. Two and shoulder buttons are on each Joy-Con. Much like the Wii Remote, each Joy-Con has a gray wrist strap with a slide lock.

The Joy-Con launched with two color sets: the standard gray, along with neon blue and neon red. Neon yellow Joy-Con were released on June 16, 2017, and neon pink and neon green Joy-Con were released on January 5, 2018.^[1] There are wrist strap colors aside from gray, although they are sold separately. Neon purple and neon orange Joy-Con were released on October 4, 2019.^[2] Aside from just neon colors and gray, Joy-Con are available in standard blue, Mario-themed red, and Luigi-themed green colors.^[2]

An "HD Rumble" feature for high definition haptic feedback is included in the Joy-Con, which can convey realistic effects. For example, a demo for the January 2017 presentation showed that shaking the Joy-Con can give the illusion of ice cubes being shaken within a glass cup. The HD Rumble also helps move certain Nintendo Labo Toy-Con cardboard builds, such as a race car acting much like a toy remote controlled car when connected to the Joy-Con. The minigame-based game 1-2-Switch, which was released as a launch title, and the wrestling game ARMS, released on June 16, 2017, are two games that heavily utilize the Joy-Con HD Rumble and motion control features.

The Joy-Con (L) has a capture button that can take a screenshot of gameplay, which can be saved onto the system's Album, and can later be edited and uploaded to social media. On October 19, 2017, a Nintendo Switch update (version 4.0.0) added the capacity to record real-time gameplay of up to 30 seconds as well as upload it to social media. While it has been officially mentioned that another update in the near future allows for longer recording times,^{[citation needed]} this has yet to occur. The Joy-Con (R) contains a built-in camera for taking pictures and recording video. Both Joy-Con have Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, and each has a charging time of 3.5 hours and a battery life of up to 20 hours.^[3]