The Nintendo Switch 2’s release is upon us, and people areall about its new features. We are all very excited about a new console arriving, along with innovative ways to play existing games. Mouse controls are something pretty much unheard of for a Nintendo mainline home console.
There are a bunch of games that would benefit from the addition of mouse control, be them games already on Switch, confirmed to be coming to Switch 2, or games that aren’t confirmed but could hypothetically arrive at Nintendo’s brand-new console, thanks to its power and capabilities.
Of course, Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t on Switch, and we don’t know if it will ever come to Switch 2, but given that games like Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake are coming, it wouldn’t be a long shot to ask for Larian’s 2023 role-playing hit game.
Anyone who has played Baldur’s Gate 3 both on console and PC knows how much easier and intuitive it is to navigate the countless menus and text boxes using a mouse. The game even changes its UI for the console versions, so a Switch 2 version with mouse controls would be a perfect middle point.
This is an obvious choice. Stardew Valley is a game made mainly for PC, but it felt right at home on the Switch,like most indie games did. Being able to control the game with a mouse, dragging and dropping items would make things much easier.
As has been confirmed in games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, the switch between regular Joy-Con mode and mouse mode is completely seamless, so in Stardew, you could use mouse mode to drag and drop items, and normal Joy-Con mode for everything else, or something along those lines.
We currently have Diablo 2: Resurrected and Diablo 3 on Switch, but not Diablo IV, and no word on whether we’ll ever see a Switch 2 port. It’s a similar case to Baldur’s Gate 3, with the previous entries already on Switch, and both games being RPGs originally made for PC.
Now, Diablo isn’t as awkward to play on a console as Baldur’s Gate 3, mainly because its UI is much simpler, so we don’t have as much of a need for mouse controls. In spite of that, being a classic CRPG series, a potential Diablo 4 on Switch 2 with mouse controls would be awesome.
Another obvious choice. Now,Nintendo’s take on online shooters, Splatoon, isn’t as competitive and doesn’t require aiming as precisely as other online shooters, but better and sharper aiming in Splatoon would improve the game in many ways.
Now, of course, there’s no Splatoon 4 confirmed or announced, but given that all DLC and expansions for Splatoon 3 are finished, it’s not hard to imagine that Nintendo will, of course, make another entry in their successful saga series. This would give players a barrage of options to choose from: regular aiming, gyro and mouse.
Another type of shooter that would greatly benefit from mouse controls. Of course, Doom is mainly a single-player game, but it’s brutal and relentless as it is fast-paced, so a more precise form of aiming would go miles to improve Doom’s gameplay, especially in higher difficulties.
As in previous cases, Doom Eternal is on Switch, being one of the few console versions with available gyro aiming, so here’s hoping that the new, even faster and more hectic, Doom: The Dark Ages, arrives at Switch 2 as well, although we don’t know anything about that yet.
Remember the Super Mario Maker DSand Wii U versions? How easy was it to just draw, drag and drop things with the stylus? Well, our guess is that mouse controls would work even better. In Super Mario Maker’s case, this would change everything, even the UI.
In Mario Maker 2, we had the not-so-intuitive wheel menus that served their purpose but weren’t the most optimal choice. Now, in a hypothetical Super Mario Maker 3 that uses mouse controls, the UI could be structured differently, some more like computer software, much easier to navigate.
Construction, management, and real-time strategy games with survival mechanics and mouse controls just sound like a match made in heaven.Anyone who has played Factoriowith an actual mouse knows how much easier and intuitive it is than using a controller, and since the game’s only console port is the Switch one, it would fit perfectly on the Switch 2.
Imagine zooming in or out with the joy-stick using your thumb, while you obviously click the shoulder button or bumper with your index finger like a regular mouse. It really makes you think how this feature could potentially make the Switch 2 the definitive console.
Point-and-click games, right? It’s right there in the genre’s name:pointandclick. These types of games were obviously made for PC with a mouse in mind, otherwise, they would be called something like “move joy-stick and press A”, which is clearly not as appealing or marketable.
Having said that, it is pretty logical that games like Return To Monkey Island, or any possible future entries in the series, would benefit tremendously from this feature, and it would make them feel right at home on the Switch 2, once again bridging that gap between console and PC.
You could make the argument that most rogue-lights could also improve with the option to use mouse controls if wanted, but the single rogue-light that comes to mind that would benefit the most, is the poker indie gem from 2024, Balatro.
Countless people have made run-ending mistakes just because of the game’s arbitrary button mapping on the console’s controllers. Not that it’s the game’s fault, mind you. They’re just working with what they’ve got. Now, adding mouse controls would potentially diminish these mistakes and make for more fluent runs.
