A humble request for more weird Nintendo Switch controllers
Enlarge / Nyxi's GameCube-style button layout shows how much more we could be doing with Joy-Cons. (credit: Nyxi Gaming)
In 2018, when Nintendo released its official wireless NES controllers for the Switch, we talked about how nice it would be to see "Joy-Con options that offer a split-handed version of the GameCube control scheme, for instance." Just over four years later, peripheral maker Nyxi Gaming is doing what Nintendon't with the Nyxi Wizard, a set of two Joy-Cons that takes obvious inspiration from the GameCube's iconic controller. And the release got us thinking about what other unique Switch Joy-Con designs deserve to see the light of day.
Nyxi's product page makes a lot out of the Wizard's special features, including "adjustable turbo and mapping functions," light-up face buttons, and Hall Effect joysticks that they promise will "never develop drift in a lifetime." But it's the unique GameCube-style button layout that caught our eye, complete with a huge, central green A button orbited by weird, bean-shaped X and Y buttons and a tiny auxiliary B button.
This isn't the first GameCube-style controller released for the Switch, of course. Nintendo released an official GameCube controller adapter years ago and even sells new wired GameCube controllers to go with them. On the third-party side, PowerA offers a wireless "GameCube Style" option for players who trained their muscle memory on Super Smash Bros. Melee.