When you purchase the Nintendo Switch you’ll have everything you need to start gaming right from the word go, however, it’s recently come to light that you may want to stash some more cash for a Joy-Con Charging Grip if you want to play and charge at the same time. The packed-in Joy-Con Grip you receive in the box doesn’t charge your controllers; it’s only there to ensure your Joy-cons can be used in a more conventional way.
Thankfully Nintendo are offering users an alternative (as you can see below) setting you back £27.99.
Without this peripheral you’ll be charging the controllers by sliding them onto the Switch itself, whilst it’s docked.
It’s available to purchase from Amazon here.
Are you kidding me.
Joy-Con’s have a 20 hour battery life when detached from the Switch. Also, they literally said this during the presentation. They listed what came with the Switch and when they mention the Grip, they said, from what I can remember, something along the lines of: “We’ll be releasing a Grip that charges your Joy-Cons shortly after the system launches.”
Are you not aware that Nintendo is a company whose sole goal is to make as much money as possible?
Remember: the Wii Remotes didn’t come with charging docks, you had to use batteries until you bought a peripheral.
I’m just waiting for one of Reggie’s usual replies: “We did this so we could keep the price point low, so the consumers can use the money to upgrade if they WANT to. That way we save a lot of fans money”…
Yeah. Some savings!
He does have a point, though. Personally, I won’t ever be needing this. When playing at home, I’ll use the Pro Controller, anways. When playing on the go, the Joy-Cons will already be charged via the sytem itself, so I won’t need the charger grip. I mean, realistically, the charger grip probably wouldn’t have affected the price that much, but it’s still a reasonable point to make.
I made it up that statement, though…
I know it wouldn’t cost them THAT much to put battery inside that grip. Shipping is already handled so that cost is the same. Game stores have the same hourly payment with or without that battery in that box, it wouldn’t be so hard for them to do something nice for us, but instead makes people buy accessories for having a user-friendly gaming system… Better than Apple and audio jack though lol.
That’s if the pro controllers ever become available,not sure the ever went up for reserve yet,did you get one?
They are available for preorder on Amazon Germany already, so I preordered one. The only thing I didn’t see yet for preorder was a second Nintendo Switch Dock.
At $300 I’m just plain disappointed that they are trying to make maximum profit by going as cheap as possible. Its just another water bottle poured on my inferno of hype.
In Norway it costs 434 dollar… Yeah, when you know economics like you do, you know things like shipping and store employees wages are already set. Those factors will not be varied if the battery grip is in the Switch box or not, the production cost alone is the only real variable here, and that cost are Nintendo taking straight out of our pockets.
Dang. Feel free to import, Norwegians.
We have a hard import law to stop us from doing that :P
Owch.
Yeah same in Denmark :/
Cannot decide wether i want to go to Germany or buy it online, or have it at day 1….
Glad I live in murica.
That was known from the get go
So the only way to charge them out of the box is attaching them to the Switch itself?
Well, as long as there’s a way to do it at all without having to buy a charger separately (coughcoughNew3DShackcough).
But that means I’ll have to switch to lame ass portable if I want to continue playing Zelda when the battery gets close to dying. This…. This is still bullshit!
The Joycons have a 20 hour battery life. Are you just going to leave them sitting around when you’re not playing or are you going to dock them?
Seriously man use your brain.
I don’t expect someone that probably plays games casually to understand that some of us other gamers can stay up 20+ hours playing video games. But fanboys only see what they want to see. Like the ones defending the shitty 32gb internal data storage.
Dude I’ve had long play sessions but I’ve never stayed up for 20 hours.
Props to you though.
hahah yeah 12-15 hours is my max
I was up for over 30 hours the other day since I got up around 1 or 2 pm Thursday, watched the Switch presentation at 10pm, got very hyped for it & stayed up all night then proceeded to stay up all that day & well into the night of Friday! I did take a 5-10 minute nap but that’s beside the point. So yeah, I can DEFINITELY do 20+ hours straight!
If you’re that hardcore enough to play video games for 20+ hours, then you should be hardcore enough to spend $30 on a charging grip, js lol
I can buy one eventually, sure, but the problem is I might want to spend that 30 on something that could go to something they COULDN’T have included with the console. Just remove the regular grip that does nothing & put the charging grip into the box instead.
Honestly? If you have long sessions of over 20 hours, then I think it is a very good thing if the controller forces you to take a break. :P
Probably so. I guess it could give me an excuse to finally stop playing video games & go to bed. Then again, if I’m able to stay up another 10 hours, I could always play the PS4 instead. *shrug* At this point, it’s just fun to see some of the people here squirm.
okey, so if you’re that special person who can game for 20+ hours, does that mean that Nintendo should make the controllers last longer just for you and maybe few others maniacs? majority of gamers do not play longer than 15 hour straight, and if you do, consider a healthier lifestyle… I can also say that I have large hands and demand Nintendo do make a larger Switch, but this is not how the life works
No. They can include the charging grip in the Switch packaging. That’s good enough. And healthier lifestyle? I’ll have a healthier lifestyle when I’m dead. *crosses fingers*
I just really don’t think it’s necessary. Charging grip only works when you connect it through a cable, and when I think about it, I would never really found a use for that wit 20-hour battery life, and I think pretty much everyone too. You just play for the couple of hours, then have a break and connect them to the Switch, it’s that simple. Why give us something that would be used by almost no one? I think that’s an OK move.
I would take that $30 and add another $40 to it and just invest in a pro controller, that’s what I plan to do eventually
I’m starting to think you’re actually Nicholas Cage going crazy, lol.
Why thank you! That’s one of the nicest comments to me in here! Unlike the others whining about my complaining. And I’m the one that needs to get a life!? xD
Depending on the game, and depending on the company I have if it’s a multiplayer game, I can go long stretches like that too lol.
Don’t know why that showed up as anonymous
That is me posting, shouldn’t have shown up as anonymous.
Lulz.
And same- I once had an overnight TF2 session with three other friends in college. We set up in my dorm’s lounge at 10pm and didn’t stop until 6am.
Great times…
Haha yea nothing like a good marathon with good friends. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good one.
To be honest, if you play 20h+ wouldn’t you prefer a procontroller anyway? ;)
20+ hours playing videogames?
This imbecile really needs a life, lol.
Yes because staying up 20+ hours playing video games every now & then totally means I have no life! You fanboys will do anything to defend & damage control your precious masters.
And besides, you’re just a sad, chicken shit anon with no balls to use a name. Your opinion of me is irrelevant. But thanks for sharing none the less! I need a good laugh.
Irrelevant yet you replied!
Irrelevant because it’s not going to change my opinion or my own life one way or another. And using my own words against me? Classic sign of someone that can’t come up with anything original to say.
“Like the ones defending the shitty 32gb internal data storage.”
They’re cartridge games. What do you need the hard drive space for? The biggest selling point of cartridges is that their data transmission is dramatically faster, so you don’t need the 20-50 gig install involved with every ps4 game.
“I don’t expect someone that probably plays games casually to understand that some of us other gamers can stay up 20+ hours playing video games. ”
I don’t expect a kid who has no responsibilities to understand this, but the VAST majority of people in general don’t have that kind of time to play video games, regardless of what they WANT to do. Yes, I’ve done the marathon play sessions before…..when I was 9 years old. The 20 hour joycon battery life of course won’t be adequate for someone, somewhere, but we’re talking .0001% of potential customers.
When I was a kid I played the original Pokemon Blue on an original gameboy that ate through 4 AA batteries every couple hours. You are seriously spoiled.
He’s is like 28-31 years old, married, and has at least one kid. So yea. And I’m 32 and although I have hardly gamed much the last two years, if the right game came along I would have no problem having a 20+ hour session here and there. And I have a full time job. And plenty of friends and go to music festivals and plenty of stuff besides game. I think I will be ok with 20 hours of charge, but I am still a shocked and a little upset to find out that it doesn’t come with the charge grip. They spent the money to make the ones that don’t charge to go with the console, so they could and should have just put the ones that charge. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s an obvious cash grab, and a pricier one than amiibo.
You guys always have some excuse to take up for Nintendo. Even if I did mention the problem has more to do with the fact I have to pay extra for a battery charging grip that’s not in the box on the day I get my Switch, you’d fanboys bring up the excuse that it’s just 30 bucks & if you’re hardcore enough to play 20+ then you’re hardcore enough to buy the extra tech. Then I’d bring up the fact the prices of that charging grip & other accessories adds up & then you’d guys bring up the “you can just save money” excuse. Etc, etc. But that’s fanboys. They always have an answer for something. Same thing applies to the shitty internal storage. Got excuses for that, too, apparently. I could probably bring up the issue that 32gb is shitty for those of us that buy digital or buy DLC & you’d suckers use the Micro SD Card excuse, ignoring the fact buying the best ones would end up costing more than the Switch itself. Fanboys. They always have some defense, more like weak, pathetic excuse, for Nintendo. *shrug* No matter. My opinion won’t change no matter how much you fanbitches whine about my complaints.
I mean I ended up buying a new internal hard drive for my PS4 because I was tired of deleting games to make room for new ones. I also ended up buying a second dualshock4 so I could make sure to have uninterrupted play cycles and for the rare chance of local multiplayer. same bullshit, different console. I just don’t see the point in complaining about these things because in the end all it really does is make you sound like a little bitch. ^__^
Better to be a little bitch upset with what you aren’t getting than be a little bitch that is happy with being treated like crap.
I’m just happy I’m finally getting a new bomberman tbh
Are you going to be playing 20 hours straight, without any breaks? I highly doubt it. When you’re taking a bathroom break pop them back on the system so they charge while you’re gone. When you’re taking a food break pop them on the system to charge while you’re gone.
Do you know what the Switch is? You can take it anywhere- THERE ARE NO BREAKS!
Unless the thing can charge 5-8 hours of battery life in under 30 minutes, a bathroom break won’t do much. As for food, do you even game? Many of us can eat while playing a video game. It’s called multitasking, fellas.
No you cant even do that. You need to dock the tablet to charge the Joy-Cons.
I thought if the tablet was fully charged it would charge the joycons even in on the go mode?
It is written in this article that Joy-Cons charge whilst it’s docked.
Yeah but I thought I heard somewhere else that the console will charge the joycons as you’re playing in handheld mode as well. I just can’t wait for March 3rd so I can figure all this stuff out on my own lol
Usually the best way of finding out things, yeah.
Yeah, but we shouldn’t have to go “all-in” to get this info. Surly we will continue to get more concrete details soonish!
yeah we seem to be slowly getting info leaked to us every couple of days lol
SHIT!!! I forgot that! I hope I don’t get too attached to my Joy-Cons then so I can switch to the pro controller to continue playing. *tries to remember if a Switch pro controller comes inside the Switch packaging*
Where can you preoder the pro controllers? I don’t see it anywhere.
It does not. I heard its $80, but i swear that sounds like a rediculously stupid price for a controller.
It’s $69.99, on Nintendo’s own website.
http://i64.tinypic.com/mryfte.png
Ok thats a better price. I can live with that. I just hope it doesnt feel cheap like the Wii U pro controller.
300 for the Switch, 70 for the Pro Controller, 30 for the Charging Grip… At this rate, they’ll have to sell a Nintendo Switch Accessories Bundle Pack to go alongside the Switch which will probably cost an additional 300 bucks. Not to mention all of the Micro SD Cards we’ll have to buy if Nintendo refuses to turn on the ability to use external HDDs. That will be 300 more bucks. No. For the best Micro SD Cards, that’s probably gonna cost more than 300 bucks if you end up needing over 2tb for all of your digital stuff. Bleh…
Yea, I think the controllers are pretty overpriced. Don’t think I’ll buy a pro controller, because 70€ is above the budget I’m willing to spend on any controller. Didn’t have a pro controller for the WiiU either anyway. And I always felt like even 60€ was already too much for controllers, which is what I had to pay for extra PS3/PS4/Wii controllers. I never had any of the two controllers I have for each of my consoles to break on me, thankfully, other than the WiiU gamepad. Never replaced it btw.
Speaking of two controllers for each console, I usually get another controller in addition to the one that’s bundled with the console I’m buying when purchasing the system, for the sake of local multiplayer, but honestly, I probably won’t even get any extra joycons because of the ridiculous price. 80€ for the pair, more like go fuck yourself.
So yea, the pro controller + an additional pair of joycons are already 150€, now if you add a 256GB SD card on top, you are already close to 300€ indeed, which seems ridiculous.
Yikes… I didn’t think of that. X.x
Do remember the joy cons last 20 hours on a charge, so as long as you attach the joy cons at the end of the day you will be fine.
Not necessarily- if you have the Switch Pro controller you could probably just “switch” (get it?) to playing with that while the Joy-Cons charge.
That is, if you want to splurge on one.
Unless I end up utterly hating the Joy-Cons, I probably won’t use the pro controller much. If I even get one at all.
Phew! I was getting worried there for a second. I think I can live with that (until I get more money).
Considering the joycon battery lasts 20 hours Im not too worried about charging when I’m playing just charge em while I’m not.
That’s fine, with 20 hours of battery life I’ll just charge them attached to the Switch.
What if your switch is low on power and needs charged also… I think we need more info, because this feels like the Exhaust port in the Death Star. Not noticeable until the wrong set of events take place, then your SOL.
What has it to do with the Joy-Cons if the Switch is low on power? But if your question is, what to do when the battery in the Nintendo Switch runs low: You have to charge it!
That is hands-down the best/funniest way to describe it. You win the day, sir.
Then you (since in portable i guess) use the miniusb cable you probably have lying around for your phone or other stuff to charge it while playing portable ;)
(Or even a powerbank! I love them for that feature!)
Why is it that they’re revealing such tiny important details NOW..? Couldn’t they answer all of these during the presentation instead of … ya know, demonstrating ice cubes in a glass?
because you need to chill out
Its what these companies normally do. They show you all the glitter and glam in these events and then release all the BS through blogs and interviews. Same thing happened with Sony and MS. Thats how we found out that Mattick said that if you wanted an offline console, you could just buy the 360 lol. That man is a fucking clown. Thats also how we foumd out all the fuckery that Sony does. A few E3’s ago, they brought sega to announces Yakuza to the stage and had them announce that it would only be possible through a Kickstarter. After the event, when the kickstarter was crowd funded they came out and said that THEY would NOW publish the game.
These companies are pretty shitty, but they are trying to sell you a console.
I never even thought of getting one… the thing has a 20 hour battery life.
So this mean if I want to play on my TV non-stop, I can’t do that with the bundled Switch package? I either need to buy Pro Controller or Charging Grip? I planned to the Pro controller anyway, but for those who didn’t this is BS.
Joy Con battery life is 20 hours
If you’re gaming for 20 hours straight you need to take a break.
But you can share consoles with brothers and sisters and just forget to plug them inn for the night. It’s not very userfriendly to come to a console you can’t play because you need to charge it first. But buy another controller and it’s solved. Just too bad for those who can’t afford at launch.
I never forgot to make sure my wii u gamepad was charging before went to bed, just become a creature of habit
But that wouldn’t be a problem. If you forgot the Wii U Gamepad, you could just plug it in the AC directly and then start playing. As I understand it, if you’re empty for juice, you have to wait. But if a separate charger in the Switch will charge the Joy-cons at the same time that would help ofc. Still can’t play it on TV at once though.
Personally, I don’t think $30 is a bad investment to solve this problem. But at that point I think I’d rather just put up the extra cash for the Pro controller lol
maybe even also get an extra set of joycons as well. can’t take your money with you when you’re dead, right? loloolollolol
It’s not a big deal breaking problem, I agree. It’s just a little cheap of Nintendo not just including it from the beginning
seems like the same business model from Nintendo for many years now tbh
On a side note, has anyone ever sat down and calculated how much money you’ve spent on Nintendo accessories including amiibos? I’d rather not share my price tag because frankly it’s a little embarrassing hahaha
I get a lot of crap from people about my amiibo collection too lol, even though several of them were gifts. Hell, my late friend started my collection for me with Luigi, Captain Falcon and Link. My collection’s not going anywhere now.
Don’t make me depressed, dude xP
I always forget. I only game like an hour or two a week, but always do it after a full day so I play and just leave the controllers on my sofa when I fall asleep. Wake up and theyre always on low battery lol. Its sucks not having enough time so I often forget to charge them.
Or maybe buy another set of controllers for all the brothers and sisters (although I know that was npt you point…)
That’s a solution ofc. I’ve stated many places in this comment section that buying controllers will solve the problem :)
I’ll be alright without that feature. Feels more like a money seeker. Good think Grunty is a real thinker.
The fanboys like batman are damage controlling like usual.
The term damage control implies damage. Almost nobody will care about this. In order for this to matter to you, you need to A) already be planning on buying the switch. B) Play games for more than 20 hours at a time without a break. C) also not use the pro controller for any amount of that time. and D) Find $30 for a charging upgrade to be completely unacceptable, in spite of the fact that nobody’s minded buying aftermarket chargers for every other kind of controller for the last 11 years.
I mean really, this is a super reach to find a problem to complain about.
They better pray I don’t manage to go a full 20 hours playing Zelda or I’m gonna end up very pissed.
Who dares to interrupt my 20 hours game session?!
There will be blood… If anyone dare interrupt my 20+ hour gaming session of Zelda: BotW.
As awesome as BotW will no doubt be, I don’t think I could manage a 20+ hour session of it lol.
Splatoon 2, on the other hand…
Yes! … 20+ sessions would be nice. I need to find a babysitter until my son is old enough to play (/watch play) himself… ;)
..
Actually the problem is solved if you play straight out, because you charged them as portable when you go for toilet or kitchen breaks :P
Go portable! Than once the joy cons are charged, use tv mode!
Wasn’t planning on buying additional grip, but I guess I’ll buy it when I buy another set of joy-cons for ARMS.
Leaving something constantly charging while not playing is not good for the battery but you know, fanboys will continue to damage control corporate greed.
If connecting them to the Switch at all starts charging them even in portable mode I’m sure they put in a way to protect the batteries. It’s easy to think people would leave them connected when not in use.
I think that’s just a wives tale, I’ve always done that with every device I’ve ever had and I’ve never had a problem. It may have held true in like 2004 or something lol
You should come from the nineties to the new millennium! We had quite a bit advanced in battery tech!
You astound me. On fairly irrelevant topics you come to attack nintendo and those of us who are exited for the switch. I’m not gonna lie, this is straight up cheap on nintendo to do, but its not going to kill anyone’s hype.
20 hours is plenty enough, no?
You’d think…
Well, yeah it’s enough. Too bad if you have a lot of brothers and sisters to share it with or forget to charge it over night, and then have to wait for it to charge first :P Not extremely user-friendly, but no deal breaker ofc. Just need to buy a grip or Pro controller and you will always have back-up.
In the commercial, they show people playing with a pro controller, and hooking up to switch for mobile. So if you leave your Joycons on the controller, and don’t think to take them off the controller, and plug them into the switch, then you pick up to play and your Joycons die an hour later because you didn’t remember to take them off and take them to the switch, then you have to go mobile and hope the Joycons charge fast enough to use before your switch dies….
Problems for the absent minded or occasionally forgetful!
Not to the internet! PANIC AND RIOT!!!
http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/a3/a3334c8ba8d247da7dc231a62578074d50987a7d32a61dbe6387e010bf7e7cb9.jpg
Does a usb charging cable come with the pro controller? Prolly not. All this greed started when kimishima took over. No way this much bs would be happening if iwata was still here.
Not a big deal, you can just charge them over night, not like your going to play 20 straight hours
You’d be surprised.
Then this doesn’t really matter to you then because that means you’d be buying the switch anyways.
It matters more BECAUSE I’ll be having the Switch. That’s a silly thing to say, really. That’s like saying the shitty internal storage of the Switch doesn’t matter because I’m gonna own the Switch anyway.
Get a life!
Just because someone can play a game for 20+ hours & is not as weak as some of you people are with needing so much sleep doesn’t mean they have no life. I’d be more concerned about your own if you have so little of a life that you have to come online to tell someone else to get one. But that’s not my problem.
Nah because to you its not a deal breaker shitty internal storage might be an issue for me because im on the fence.
You’re still bending over while shit talking… We all know that shit aint serious.
If you say so.
I can cancel my preorder at any time of my choosing and the Switch already has 2 strikes, so I don’t know what you are even talking about with that second line. So yes. These things still matter even if I do have it preordered. Like I said, it’s silly to say it doesn’t matter.
Why count the lack of Miiverse and Streetpass as a strike though? Last I knew, you hated Miiverse because of its Dystopian/bureaucratic policies (and I agree- the service is a withering shell of its former self). Streetpass I think makes sense though because of the console-first, handheld-second mentality they seem to be going with it.
Because I was hoping they’d at least try to improve Miiverse on Switch. Or maybe even give us a second version of Miiverse for those of us 17 & over.
Of course you can do whatever you want, but playing for more than 20 hours straight without any break is really, really crazy!
||With each playing hour they make themselves more Nintendo’s servants…||
Unless you forget and leave them hooked to your controller.
As others have said this would be a bigger problem if the batteries weren’t 20 hours. Let’s focus on the actual problems like how little we still know about the online shall we?
That’s a good price for Nintendo to give us. How generous Nintendo.
Not an issue for me personally, but people gotta find things to complain about, so…
Not a big deal for me. I never really game for more than 5 hours in a day (the JoyCons last 20 hours), and it’s not too difficult to just get up and slide them back on the system (at least as far as I know).
As long as I can charge the Joy-Cons on the Nintendo Switch itself in stand-by mode, I have absolutly no problem with this.
This is just a jab at forgetful, absent minded folks. I bet we get a lot less absent minded the first couple times we go to game, realize our Joycons are sitting dead on the controller, and have to game in mobile mode while the Joycons charge. D; (They do charge while gaming in mobile mode, right? The switch does not have to be docked to charge them, yeah?)
Lol at the people complaining about this
lol at the people so upset that others are complaining about this. Oh my god! I hope I’m not ruining anyone’s life complaining! /s
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/4a/92/1d/4a921da1aca55c373cf75f457da2f5e2.jpg
As someone who’s incredibly baked, I have no issue with this.
…Oooooohhh! You sneeky monkeys…
What the Hell? 300 for a system with only 32GB, no way to save on cartridges so you need to buy your own card, an online service which lets you rent for free 1 whole game for a month, and now you need a separate charger if you want to charge and play? Why is Nintendo trying to ruin themselves? Why not just shut down completely?
you haven’t done any research, have you?
To be honest, That sucks
https://youtu.be/ssnxkJx0wrI
False advertising? Nintendo treehouse team saying ” A charging pad that will also come” What extra? In the box? – Does not mention additional purchase.
Think ninty may have to sort this one.
It’s at 10 mins in the video.
Hoo boy, this comment section is a mess.
People complaining, people complaining about others complaining, and comments like mine that offer no insight into anything at all.
||Cattle…||
^ Lol
Hi, my 2 cents here: if the Switch had; more storage; chargeable joycon grip; an integrated coffee maker; the price would creep up and the naysaying critics would freak out. My advice is, buy a Switch for the games, live with it for a while and then decide if you need more storage, joycon charging etc. Think of it as buying a new car; you don’t ask the dealer to throw in a plastic seat cover incase you crap yourself going round corners.