Nintendo’s recent innovation hints at upgraded controllers for Switch 1. If that happens, the old console could stick around for another eight years.

When Nintendo first unveiled the Switch 2 last month, we (and everyone else) noticed something peculiar about the new Joy-Con controllers. Now, some recently unearthed patent filings more or less confirm all the theories.

Interestingly, the patent also seems to conceive of a mouse mode for a more traditional controller. While the design of the device is rudimentary and still split in two like a Joy-Con, it is clearly one-half of a traditional gamepad with an optical sensor on the inside surface.