Nintendo Joy-Con Grip

Hardware Type: Grip

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Review:

With the Nintendo Switch 2 releasing soon, I thought it would be a good idea to go back and review a few of the basic pieces of hardware associated with the original Nintendo Switch, eight years after the console first launched. How have they held up?

When Nintendo first showed off the functionality of the Nintendo Switch, one of the key features they showed off was being able to detach your Joy-Con controllers from the hybrid console and slide them into a Joy-Con Grip to function as a standard controller. This was a clever idea, a way to create continuity between handheld and docked play (or tabletop mode, I suppose), and a way to give players something vaguely resembling a Pro-style controller without needing to include an extra controller in the box. In practice, well….

The Joy-Con Grip was released alongside the Nintendo Switch in 2017, with one of these grips included in the box with the Nintendo Switch itself. It contains two slots on either side to slide the left and right Joy-Con controllers into, with hand grips on either side for added comfort. The center features passthrough windows for the LED lights of the Joy-Con that indicate which controller port the Joy-Cons are synced up with, and on the backside of the grip there’s a small plastic loop that Nintendo calls a “strap attachment”, I assume for dangling Joy-Con straps from (something I have never seen anyone do, ever).

To its credit, the Joy-Con grip does what it’s intended to, functionally joining the two Joy-Con controllers into one combined controller, where players can hold both with one hand if they prefer. And while I have used third-party grips that were awkward to slide the Joy-Con controllers into and out of, here they move fairly smoothly.

However, that’s about all the positive stuff I have to say about the Joy-Con Grip. Simply put, this thing is not at all comfortable, and it is an absolutely poor replacement for an actual Pro controller. The Joy-Cons, when attached to this grip, create a square-like shape that is anything but comfortable in the hands, and the grip adds absolutely zero additional functionality. Even Nintendo themselves would later update this design in the Joy-Con Charging Grip, which adds a USB-C port to allow players to plug in the grip with Joy-Cons attached to charge the Joy-Cons. Not so here.

And once again, any players looking to buy an additional Joy-Con Grip for some reason will find that this piece of plastic is being sold for the absurd price of $20. While this may have seemed preferable to the $80 price of a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller in 2017, now in 2025 we have some pretty good Pro-style controller options in this price range that are going to be far more comfortable and far more functional than this grip, yet the price of this grip has remained the same.

As an extra to include with the Nintendo Switch to add functionality to the Joy-Con controllers that come with the hybrid console, the Joy-Con Grip is nice to have, and functions as a decent makeshift solution for players who want to play the Nintendo Switch with something vaguely like a Pro-style controller but who cannot afford to buy an additional controller. But I would never recommend that anyone buy this grip on its own – you’re far better off just getting a Pro-style controller, or if you really want a Joy-Con grip, you can find others from third-parties that offer far more than what Nintendo’s grip gives you.

tl;dr – The Joy-Con Grip delivers on the promise of giving players a way to turn a pair of Joy-Cons into something vaguely resembling a Pro-style controller, but it does little more than that, and the shape that results from this is uncomfortable compared to an actual Pro-style controller. On top of that, for the $20 price, you can get a third-party pro-style controller, some of which are genuinely great now, or at least get a couple of decent third-party Joy-Con grips. Do not waste your money buying this.

Grade: D+

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