Nintendo Finally Lets You Charge Your Joy-Cons Right Before They May Become Obsolete

The Nintendo Switch is entering its twilight years. Nintendo is aware of this, which is why it made the genius decision to release a way to charge Joy-Con seven years after its launch.

Nintendo announced the Joy-Con Charging Stand (two-way) on the social media platform, X:

The peripheral will launch on October 17, though no price has been given for the U.S. version. This new product enables gamers to power their Joy-Con without attaching them to their Switch console. You can prop it up or lay it flat, depending on your preferences. The charging stand will be available at the My Nintendo Store and other participating retailers once it launches. 

You are probably wondering a couple of things. First, why is this being released so late in the Nintendo Switch’s lifecycle? Second, third parties have already made similar products years ago. And third, the official Joy-Con Charging Grip already performs this function. Why is this peripheral necessary?

There is one thing the Joy-Con Charging Stand does that the Joy-Con Charging Grip does not, however. It charges the Switch Nintendo Entertainment System controllers. Those controllers are being newly featured in the above image, especially with Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition launching today.

There is a silver lining to all this. Perhaps Nintendo is confirming, in a way, that the current Joy-Con will be compatible with its next system. Let’s hope, for all of our wallets’ sakes, that this turns out to be the case.