For Nintendo Switch owners, there are few problems bigger than the dreaded Joy-Con drift, also known as “phantom input.” The Japanese gaming giant has sold more than 114 million Switch handhelds over the past six years and is fighting several class action lawsuits over a problem that’s plaguing pretty much all modern gaming controllers. Despite the resounding success of the Switch gamble, Nintendo only made a minor revision to the device in the form of the Switch OLED and a more portable version called the Switch Lite. The company insists that it made many “invisible” improvements to the Joy-Con that should make them more durable, but the issue is still lingering after all these years. As spotted by Gizmodo, a company called GuliKit wanted to solve the problem of Joy-Con stick drift using an old idea — sticks that use Hall effect sensors. Standard analog joysticks use potentiometers to translate your input into measurable changes in electrical resistance, but that involves friction between certain components and is susceptible to debris buildup inside the mechanism. By comparison, Hall effect joysticks use magnets and an array of sensors to translate input into small changes in the voltage across a conductor. There’s no friction involved between those parts, which makes the overall mechanism less prone to wear and tear over time.
If you’re looking for guidance, iFixit has an excellent video on how to replace Joy-Con sticks here. It’s also worth noting that since this is a DIY procedure, you’ll likely void the warranty on your Nintendo device. If you’re wondering why electromagnetic sticks aren’t more common, Sega did explore the idea in the 90s with its Saturn 3D and Dreamcast consoles. One potential reason is the slightly lower cost of making analog sticks with potentiometers. Companies like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and Valve may also have difficulties securing enough sensors and magnets to meet the growing demand for gaming controllers. Then there’s the possibility of patent disputes, the source of many corporate headaches. For now, it looks like our options are limited. You can either try to compensate for stick drift through software calibration, replace the aging parts with identical units, or buy some Hall sticks from relatively obscure companies like GuliKit and hope they live up to the promise of much better reliability.
