When the Nintendo Switch first launched back in March 2017, people were disappointed that the Joy-Con controller lacked a proper D-pad in order for you to play fighting games or 2D platform games.
As reported by Kotaku, Hori is to release a Joy-Con controller with a d-pad. However, the new controller has to sacrifice some features from the original controller in order for this to be possible. The left side of the Joy-Con will have the d-pad but you won’t have “acceleration, gyro sensor or vibration features.”
It’s reported that the controller will be released this July in Japan for a price of around USD $32.98. Sadly. Hori has yet to announce if the controller will be making its way to countries outside of Japan. It’s likely it should be released sooner than later since other Hori products have been shipped worldwide.
A d-pad is essential if you want to play 2D platformers and some fighting games like Street Fighter. The original Joy-con had separate face buttons making it hard to do diagonals and things like that. This controller will rectify this if you want to play games of those aforementioned genres.
The only other main limitation of the new controller is the fact that you can only play it via handheld state. If you want to play on the dock, it’s best to just invest in the pro controller which looks like an Xbox controller.
