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Nintendo, Please Let Me Buy the Splatoon 3 Joy-Cons Separately

They're too pretty to be behind a $300 paywall.

I’ve never played Splatoon. I’m not sure if I’ll play Splatoon 3 when it launches in Switch on September 9. But damn, the joy-con controllers coming with the new Splatoon 3 OLED Switch console are gorgeous, and I hope Nintendo sells them separate from the device when it’s in stores on August 26.

The controllers have Splatoon iconography on them, but my favorite part of them is the vibrant mix of colors fading into each other. I bought an OLED Switch last year, and while I really love the white controllers and dock it came with, I’ve started to experience some inconsistent but still prevalent joy-con drift, which is when the controllers register movement of the analog sticks even if you’re not exerting any force on them.

According to Nintendo, this is an inevitable thing all joy-cons will go through one day. The company is fixing these controllers if they’re sent in, which I could do with my white joy-cons, but I will still need an extra set to play my Switch in the meantime. But Nintendo doesn’t have a habit of releasing these special edition joy-cons separately. Although there have been exceptions, such as the Splatoon 2 controllers released in 2018. I wanted the Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee controllers, but the only way to get them was to buy the system they came with, and I was in no position to buy a new Switch in 2018. While I could probably afford another Switch now, there’s no sense in it, even for these dope controllers.

In other news:

Honestly, I should hold off on any impulsive Switch purchases in case Nintendo releases a Pokemon Scarlet & Violet system as we near their November release date.

About the Author

Kenneth Shepard

Kenneth is a Staff Writer at Fanbyte. He still periodically cries about the Mass Effect trilogy years after it concluded.