With about a week left for the launch of the Nintendo Switch, reports have surfaced about the devilishly tricky Joy-Con controller wrist straps. If you’re getting a sense of déjà vu, hark back to 2006 when Nintendo said it would replace 3.2 million Wii remote straps for being so fragile, people were accidentally letting it fly into their TV sets.
Now the Switch accessory in question is not facing that exact same problem. But there may be reason for Nintendo to be nervous about the launch of its latest gaming unit. The attachable straps (comes in-the-box as well as at $7.99 per piece) for the Joy-Cons are apparently so tough to pull off, gamers could be in danger of slicing their fingers or worse still, breaking the controllers.
GamesRadar and CNET have noted the same issue while playing around with pre-release units of the Nintendo Switch. The strap for the Joy-Con slides in and clicks into place easily enough. It’s meant to serve as a safety feature to prevent enthusiastic gamers from inadvertently flinging the controller at the TV. The trouble arises when it’s time to take it off.
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According to the aforementioned reports, even after disengaging the lock and pushing the release button, it’s very hard to detach the wrist strap from the Joy-Con. It might get easier to do so after some wear and tear; or Nintendo may do something about this after the first batches are rolled out. Either way, it’s not great news for the company.
The Nintendo Switch will be out on March 3. Even what is seemingly a small glitch such as a tight wrist strap could mar the launch of the device.