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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Motion Controls on Switch, what was your favorite use?

TheMisterManGuy on 14 October 2023
In addition to its console-on-the-go nature, one of the Nintendo Switch's key features is its Joy-Con controllers. Not only do they make the hybrid premise of the platform possible, but Nintendo has marketed them as defacto successors to the Wii Remote when the Switch was being revealed with improved motion senors and the HD Rumble feature. Unlike the Wii though, where the Remote's limited button layout necessitated motion for many of its games, for better and worse. The Joy-Con have all the inputs of a standard game controller as well, so developers can more easily ignore motion controls entirely if they so chose.

That said, there are plenty of Switch games that incorporate motion based features into their games, either in subtle or big ways. Motion Controls on Switch come in many flavors

  • Gyro aim/steering for shooters or games with Shooting elements (BotW/TotK, Splatoon, Fortnite, etc.) or racers (Mario Kart), perhaps the most used and subtle implementation, most accessible for handheld mode and the Pro Controller.
  • Gyro-based pointing meant to adapt touch-screen focused games to the TV (World of Goo, Shadow Bug)
  • Games with gesture based motion controls as an alternative control scheme to the default button-based controls (Neir Autonoma, Skyrim, Mario Tennis/Golf) best played with the detached Joy-Con.
  • Games with alternate game modes specifically designed for motion controls separate from the main game (Clubhouse Games, Project DIVA MegaMix)
  • Games designed with detached Joy-Con motion controls as the default, but also support button alternatives (ARMS, Mario Odyssey, NMH III, Skyward Sword HD)
  • Games that exclusively use Motion Controls, no button controls supported (Nintendo Switch Sports, Ring-Fit Adventure, WarioWare Move It!)
Seeing as the Switch is supposed to be in its twilight phase, what has been your favorite implementation of Motion Controls on the system? Assuming you're playing with its intended detached Joy-Con method, Mario Odyssey has some of the best implementation of motion controls on the Switch IMO. Flicking the controller to throw Cappy feels very satisfying and the degree of control you have over your throws feels really intuitive and entertaining.

I also think Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Switch is the definitive version if you use motion controls. The Hand-slap feels far more satisfying with waggle and unlike DKC Returns on Wii, you're not forced to use it for rolling as a basic roll is still mapped to the Y button.
 
Last edited by TheMisterManGuy - on 14 October 2023

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curl-6 on 14 October 2023

Sniper Elite 4 is honestly the best in my experience.

Zeroing in your shot with the gyro and holding it steady as you carefully took the shot was so immersive and satisfying.

It also felt great for the game's more run-and-gun sections, where it made aiming snappy and intuitive.



KLXVER on 14 October 2023

None of them. I just use the pro controller and turn off gyro if possible.

Last edited by KLXVER - on 14 October 2023

GoOnKid on 14 October 2023

I like a lot of your examples. Gyro aiming is fantastic in every game and I wouldn't want to miss it. Ring Fit Adventure shows what good motion controls are. I also enjoyed Arms a lot.



BasilZero on 14 October 2023
KLXVER said:

None of them. I just use the pro controller and turn of gyro if possible.

This is what I do.





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IcaroRibeiro on 14 October 2023

The same as any motion control: Leave it off



forest-spirit on 14 October 2023

Gyro-aiming is by far my favourite type of motion-controls and an amazing feature. I've always found dual-stick aiming to be a bit clunky and gyro-aiming fixes that by adding an extra layer of precision, making console shooters way more enjoyable. The only downside is that games without it now feel even more archaic.



Vodacixi on 14 October 2023

Although I really appreciate gyro aiming for FPS and TPS, (DOOM 2016 was a delight to play thanks to that) the Switch made me realize how convinient Wii's pointing controls were. Thanks to its sensor bar, you could aim in games like Metroid Prime, Goldeneye or The Conduit in an extremely precise and comfortable way. On Switch however, there is no point of reference, so the pointer gets decentered pretty often and you have to recenter all the time. Which is... painful. It's a shame that despite being an incredible remastering effort on the graphical side, I can't call Metroid Prime Remastered the definitive version of MP because it literally plays worse than the Trilogy version (not bad by any means, but still inferior).BECAUSE of those gimmicks.



curl-6 on 14 October 2023
forest-spirit said:

Gyro-aiming is by far my favourite type of motion-controls and an amazing feature. I've always found dual-stick aiming to be a bit clunky and gyro-aiming fixes that by adding an extra layer of precision, making console shooters way more enjoyable. The only downside is that games without it now feel even more archaic.

Yeah I'm in the same boat, aiming with analog alone feels obsolete compared to gyro.

I have a PS5 now, but I'd still rather buy a game like Sniper Elite or Zombie Army on Switch just cos aiming feels ten times better.



Jumpin on 15 October 2023

My favourite implementation is the full use games like Switch Sports, WarioWare, and Ring Fit. I think my favourite thing right now is the golf swing on Switch Sports, they really nailed it - the only thing missing is the weight of the clubs which (for obvious reasons) you don’t want to accessorize in front of a television screen.

I don’t have much experience with gyroscopic aiming games, but I enjoy the hell out of Wii IR aiming games. So, in theory, I should find this fun as well.

I’m generally not a fan of games that basically have you do the same goal over and over and over again (like fighting games, battle royales, sports games, RTS games - and feel like I got over those games back in the 1990s-2001 (or something like that) with Street Fighter 2, Soul Calibur, Goldeneye, NHL, NBA Jam, Smash Bros (the N64 one), Warcraft 2 and StarCraft, and so on, and generally don’t find sequels or derivatives of these games very interesting unless motion controls are involved. I’m an active person, and I do like to see the video game experience as a more active experience unless it’s something I want to experience like a book - as is the case with an adventure game, grand or 4X strategy, sandbox simulation, or RPG.

My problem with motion control games are devs either don’t take it seriously enough and underserved the genre. Games like Switch Sports and Ring Fit Adventure should have improved drastically since the Wii era, but because the iteration has been so slow, they feel like 2010-2013 games coming out around 2020 - the demand is there, Switch Sports sold nearly 10 million in like 10 months, Ring Fit is over 15 million. This is one of those market failures where the demand is there but the producers are failing to serve it.

I’m not blaming Nintendo either, I think these games they’ve released are showing what consumers are available on their platform, and the scramble to capitalize hasn’t filled the void in the way that companies like Ubisoft, Activision, and 505 Games managed to do in the Wii era. Maybe in the next generation they can hit with better products in the launch window. Ring Fit 2 and Switch Sports (insert title) would be a good start.

In short: I wish motion gaming had advanced more on the game design front over the last decade, and also that there was greater availability to serve the hungry market.



I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.