Your left Joy-Con 2 could become a pretty darn good fishing rod controller, based on a recently published patent application from Nintendo. That patent, spotted by Nintendo Patents Watch, shows a crank-style attachment that could be used to expand the Nintendo Switch 2’s detachable controllers — a solution that would certainly make fishing in the next Animal Crossing more realistic.
Nintendo Switch enthusiasts will know that the company has already experimented with turning Joy-Cons into fishing controllers. Nintendo’s line of cardboard-based accessories, Labo, included the Toy-Con Fishing Rod, released in 2018 for the original Switch. (Labo isn’t officially compatible with Switch 2, though.)
But the patent filed by Nintendo proposes a more elegant solution compared to Labo, one that employs the Joy-Con 2’s mouse sensors to detect wheel movement. The add-on looks like a dedicated mechanism made of plastic and/or metal — not something made of cardboard.
Nintendo fans have already noted that this patent would allow for Switch 2 ports for existing Playdate games, many of which utilize that system’s (still currently) unique crank feature. Or it could support any number of existing games that use similar control schemes; the Sega Dreamcast and original PlayStation had fishing controllers of their own, and a Joy-Con 2 crank controller could let Switch 2 owners “Get bass!” in a new Sega Bass Fishing game.
But a crank add-on for Switch 2 opens up a world of possibilities. I can easily see Nintendo’s R&D1 team giving us a new WarioWare game, possibly under the name WarioWare: Crankin’ It. That’s just an idea, and up for grabs, Nintendo.
Nintendo’s patent application for the Joy-Con 2 crank add-on was published on Thursday, but it was filed back in February 2024, implying that Nintendo’s been thinking about fishing/cranking on Switch 2 for quite some time. The patent application includes a number of other Joy-Con 2 ideas and features, including a clickable wheel — like, a mouse wheel — that could offer another new control scheme for Switch 2. Naturally, not all of these ideas will become reality; but Nintendo clearly wants to lock this idea down before someone else does.
