The Nintendo Switch showed us we deserve more from joysticks

Image of Joy-Cons in a grip on a light green background, surrounded by an N64 and GameCube controller.

The Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons, in a grip, flanked by their N64 and GameCube predecessors. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Every evening, my kids beg for “Mario,” and I know what that means — watching their old man wrestle with a pair of Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers while hopefully saving a princess. It’s not always easy timing tricky jumps in Super Mario 64 and _Super Mario Sunshine,_especially not when the controls are fighting you.

That’s not a lame dad excuse: We beat both games and we’re on to Super Mario Galaxy now. But I can’t count how many times Joy-Con drift sent my mustachioed plumber plunging to his doom. When my left Joy-Con died, Mario started walking off edges all by himself. Now, my right Joy-Con is a distracted boyfriend meme, its erroneous joystick signals always aiming me the wrong direction. This’ll be my third set of Joy-Cons in...