Be Excellent To Each Other

Nah, its just not easy regardless of hand size, i nearly gave up and just bought a new one, but then I found it much easier when I used tweezers.

Regarding just buying a new one, if the joycons were cheaper I suspect thousands of people would just go "eh, ok I'll get a new set" and they are a massive sales boost.

They can't be selling them at cost already at that price, surely?

They are stupidly expensive, but then the same applies to pretty much any modern game controller and I don't get it.

Thanks for all the advice on this, folks. I used the kit that TheVision linked to and the guide that DBSnappa mentioned and changed both of the joycons. It didn’t take long, about 10-15 minutes for the pair and was less complicated and less fiddly than I’d expected, and now they work perfectly again. I’m so happy with them.

We don’t use them often (or at all, for about 2 years), but I’m glad to have the option at least for the sake of £10.

They do seem expensive and I wish they were cheaper but then.... I genuinely don't know how much components cost, and seems to a simple soul like me that there's a lot of tech stuff inside the controller. I don't know how much of all this stuff can be on one circuit board, nor how complex the thingybobs are. I suppose I could watch a teardown video to learn about this but I hate the word 'teardown' and don't feel like watching a 30 minute youtube video unless the presenter is charismatic and entertaining.

Rumbly bits
batteries and charging connectors
accelerometer bits
sound things (headphone connector / speaker / mic)
Lots o'buttons, triggers too
thumbsticks
connectivity things (bluetooth or whatever)
other weird things (IR sensor in the joycon, touchpad for PS4)

All inside some plastic rigid enough to take a bit of rough handling

Speaking of the cost of joycons, has anyone tried any of the third party ones? I've got four proper ones, but minor surgery appears to have killed one, and another appears to have developed a deadzone when moving the stick exactly to the right.
It's a rare occasion we need more than 2, so I'm a bit reluctant to fork out £60, but would like to have 4 (working) ones for when the need arises.

I got one unwittingly from onbuy. It does the job but is very much inferior. Sticky + and - buttons, more noticeable buzzing from the motors. Works well enough, but you get what you pay for.

We have sticky buttons, thanks to one of the kids playing Switch with food covered hands (I suspect chocolate). I'm considering taking the joycon apart to see if I can clean it out but I am a little reluctant (as it still works, it just heeds pressing hard a few times at the start of each play session to free it up, and then after that it's mostly OK for the rest of the sesh).

Do you think this is salvageable? Anyone got any particularly good tips or guides?

We have sticky buttons, thanks to one of the kids playing Switch with food covered hands (I suspect chocolate). I'm considering taking the joycon apart to see if I can clean it out but I am a little reluctant (as it still works, it just heeds pressing hard a few times at the start of each play session to free it up, and then after that it's mostly OK for the rest of the sesh).

Do you think this is salvageable? Anyone got any particularly good tips or guides?

It's the Y button that's worst affected. X is a tine bit sticky, all others are fine.

You could try a little bit of isopropyl alcohol dripped into the buttons. Might be enough to dissolve the creamy muck muck. Failing that, some window cleaner might work

That's a good idea - I'll give that a little try

When I first got the Switch, I also bought some minecraft themed 3rd party controllers. You couldn't charge them on the switch, they had to be connected via bluetooth and they were generally a bit shit. I took them back and stumped up the extra for a set of proper joycons.

Edit: Gioteck JC-20 if you want to avoid

The Madcatz controller I had for the N64 was mad bad enough that still to this day I am really wary of any 3rd party controller.

It is here

I was pleased to see Gamboy stuff turn up on the Online Expansion pak thing. A bit of Mario Land 2 (6 golden coins) took me right back to being a young lad again.

An most importantly for me, finally I will get round to finishing Link's Awakening. It's been bugging me since the 90s, but never enough to actually go back and finish it properly, but now with the convenience of the Switch I will finally knock it over.

Then, if I can be bothered, I'll finish off Majora's Mask and Banjo Kazooie

I've been playing Wario Ware all over the weekend and it's great. I have managed to unlock everything on the original apart from one extra mini game but now I have save states, I'm going to do it all again.

My first Wario Ware experience was on the wii and it was really wild.

Going back to a game like Links Awakening is interesting, it's still a lot of fun but some of the jarring things stand out, like unskippable dialog, constant item switching (OK, the GB only had 2 buttons but still), being told for the hundreth time when I accidentally brush against a rock without the power bracelet equipped that "you can't lift that with your bare hands" - all things that are much better designed in games now. Despite those grumbles and the annoyance of backtracking I still really like it. The island really is a lot smaller than I remember it being

It's surprising the bits I still remember, and how much I forgot too.

I spent a very enjoyable hour playing OG Gameboy Tetris last night. Worth the price of admission on it's own

liked playing Tetris with my son with two switches last week... really felt like the hallways of my Highschool for a moment

I thought I'd seen someone asking for recommendations gentle but fun little games, but perhaps I imagined it.

Anyway, Pikuniku is a charming little platformer with puzzle elements, with a sense of humour and style. My 6 year old loved it, and the coop was fun too. It's not a long game, but it's a good quick blast and a think we paid a fiver or a tenner for it and it's definitely worth that.

I think that was me a while ago

And tbankhank you, I’ll take a look!

Barry finished Pikuniku after about 4 or 5 days of playing, he needed a little bit of help with a few of the boss battles. He's now replaying it from the beginning, so clearly he likes it.

We also downloaded Runner Bandits, which looked like fun in the videos, but is not actually all that good. The characters control poorly and it's more 'annoying chaos' than 'fun chaos'.

Death Squared is a fun co-op puzzler, we got some mileage out of that one too.

Apparently I only like playing Mario Kart.

LOL

I am not sure mine is accurate.

That is over an hour a day, and yes there are days where I have played for 2 hours, but there are also weeks where I have not played at all.

I think its got to be where I have not shut the switch off properly, (I play 99% docked) so I recon you can probably half my time.

Do your kids play on your switch Malc?

I've got Mario Kart on my stats and it's not something I play.

My daughter does, but she has her own account.

My fortnite time is down as less than an hour, if it was counting her, then it would be a lot greater than that.

Mine were more varied

Fae farm update is due today but I can’t find what time it will be available to download.

Where do you find these?

I bought an original Switch and ended up getting that hardware mod that lets you pirate games and all that and weirdly it was entirely unsatisfying. Ended up selling all of that and instead I bought a Switch Lite, specifically for like three games, and now it's my favourite thing.


Vampire Survivors - is perfect for the Switch. I played it on Android (my phone has a stylus which was great for it, see also: Grim's excellent new game) but the Switch Lite's analog stick is better. I've played through all the challenges and DLCs and am currently working on the new Contra-themed DLC. It's great.

Brotato - but in the genre, Brotato is better. I sunk 230 hours onto this one. It's Vampire Survivors but much more tactical and challenging. The Switch struggles to keep up in Endless Mode, but is fine for everything that you need to really do in the game.

Loop Hero - a weird automatic rogue-like game that was quite original and again had me addicted for so many hours. It's a shame I can't really come up with a good description because it's basically one the best games ever made.

Into The Breach - tactical turn-based strategy game with mechs and kaijus. Feels perfectly suited to the Switch. Wasn't as enjoyable on PC for me. The number 1 reason why I bought a Switch Lite.

Donkey Kong - the original 1981 arcade game. I tried getting good at it after that whole King of Kong thing and it truly is a brilliant game.


That selection there makes it pretty much the best handheld ever. Have also got a few shoot 'em ups, a game called Islanders (which I liked on PS4 but haven't started on Switch) and Dorfromantik (which isn't as good as Islanders). Been trying to like Shotgun King (chess based turn-based strategy shooter thing) but still not fully sold. And bought Balatro also, but not started it yet.

Pro-tip. The game's never been lower that £19.99 on the eShop. But I picked it up for about a tenner as a printed code in an actual Switch game box from Smyths. So keep an eye out for that if you're looking to play it.

Aye, the Switch Lites (we got the kids a lite each at Christmas) are really nice. And they are just so... light. Nice and easy to hold and play, be it sat up on the sofa, laying down, at a table, whatever.

Can you plug switch lites into the TV? I only play my switch on the TV because I’m long sighted, and playing games close up is uncomfortable.

I was wondering today if you could buy second docks for the Switch, so I could use it on the upstairs TV too without having to set the dock up each time.

No, you can't run the Lite through the TV.

Second docks are available

Yeah, I had a look after posting. Probably a bit too spendy to be worth the flexibility. I’ll just keep using it downstairs. I just thought it would be handy when illness truck or whatever.

We got my daughter this for Christmas

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09YV67MJ5

So that she can use our Switch in her bedroom, it does the job

Two hour train journey so I did a mix of Vampire Survivors and started Crimzon Clover which is a ridiculously good shoot em up that feels like Cave could have made it.

That’s still quite spendy, though. I wonder if anywhere does one just in the form of a lead?

I’ve bought and have been playing Dredge. I love a fishing game. It’s one of my top criteria for a good game, and Dredge is excellent.

Love that you can turn off the monsters and the anxiety effects (I did) if you want just a bit of cosy fishing and mystery solving (I do).

You might like Dave the Diver, Mimi although there's no way to turn off e.g. being chased by sharks, heh

I think I might have that, or at least I’ve played it recently. I think when we looked yesterday there was a Dredge content pack for Dave The Diver, or it may have been the other way around

Yeah, I think I've seen a Dredge pack mentioned in the Dave subreddit

I just the usb-c extension I have for my MacBook (usb c.to usb a,c,hdmi)

i have played of fishy games this year, just finished endless ocean 3 (bit shallow but relaxing) and yesterday did the dredge dlc (1 her)

played 100 hrs of Dave the diver in jan/feb to complete everything and just downloaded the dlc... when I hacked my WiiU recently I also played endless ocean 2 (more mission based, 100_= hrs)

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I've had to uninstall Brotato. Despite me finishing the whole thing to death, whenever I pick up my Switch, it's all I play. And I've got other games that need attention, so that's it. 260 hours done now, time to move on to something else.

I picked it up in steamdexk on your recommendation, but I'm in the midst of vampire survivors at the mo. I'd imagine they're too similar to play concurrently