Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Controllers Work with Android, Windows, and Mac

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Published 6 Mar 2017

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Nintendo Joy Con

Nintendo’s unique and highly praised Joy-Con controllers have been discovered to work with more than just the Switch console. The controllers can also work with Android devices as well as Windows and Mac PCs. Considering that the PS4 and Xbox One controllers can also be paired to Windows and Macs, this should not be surprising.

Since the controllers use Bluetooth, they are fairly straightforward to connect to any Android device or PC with Bluetooth. On the Mac, the controllers work without requiring any additional software as well. On Windows, you will have to map the keys on the controller to make sure they work properly in games.

https://youtu.be/MEP2JxozdPQ

The only problem, however, is that the Joy-Con controllers are identified as individual controllers so one player is restricted to using only one controller. This remains true even if you dock the controller into one. It is possible that some third-party software will get around to fixing this issue in a future update.

In addition to the Joy-Con controllers, Nintendo’s Switch Pro controller has been confirmed to work with Android devices and PCs running Windows or Mac.

It will be interesting to see if indie game developers will take advantage of the Joy-Con controllers to offer a better experience. Perhaps Nintendo itself will use the Joy-Con controllers to offer a unique gaming experience in Super Mario Run when the game launches on Android later this month.