Tag Archives: Nintendo Switch 2

AKAI MPC for Nintendo Switch? This concept turns a gaming console into a live production rig

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If you can emulate Nintendo devices on laptops, why can’t you emulate laptop software on a Switch? That’s pretty much Alquemy’s train of thought when it came to this concept which merges the worlds of gaming and music in a way that would make Guitar Hero look like child’s play. The Akai MPC Switch are two controller units designed to snap onto the sides of a Switch console, turning your gaming rig into a live music production factory. Unlike your average Guitar Hero controller, this thing is as serious as it gets. MIDI inputs and outputs, a fairly detailed DAW running on the Switch’s screen, and a myriad of controls that let you deejay or produce music on the fly.

To be honest, this concept does give you pause for thought. Why can’t a capable gaming rig also handle other high-intensity software? Music production, 3D modeling, video editing, everything you’d otherwise do on a studio-grade machine. Sure, the Switch isn’t as powerful as an iMac, but that doesn’t mean it can’t handle anything a MacBook Air can. The MPC Switch (albeit conceptual) are a pretty brilliant idea if you think about it – imagine being able to game when you’re bored and produce/perform music when you need to, all on the same machine. Just swap out the Joy-Cons for this MIDI setup and you’re good to go!

Designer: Alquemy

The AKAI MPC, for those who don’t know, holds a special place in the music hall of fame, with artists from Dr. Dre to John Mayer to Mark Ronson to even Kanye West using the hardware to create some of their most legendary work. The MPC (or MIDI Production Center) is, simply put, a sampler and sequencer, allowing you to load audio banks, record music samples/loops, and play them back in a sequence. Think of it as a device that lets you build your track together, brick by brick.

It’s no different from how you’d play games like Street Fighter, mashing together buttons in a variety of combinations to make up your routine. The only difference is here, you record tracks/sounds/effects, and mash buttons to create drum loops, synth patterns, leads, and choruses. Individual sounds can be tweaked too, with the ability to adjust EQ, apply effects, or even modulate live music, thanks to the MIDI inputs and outputs on the device.

This basically means your Switch isn’t just a gaming console anymore, it’s also a live music console. USB-C and SD Card slots on the Switch let you load tracks, sound banks, etc… and the MPC Switch’s hardware give you even more ports, letting you connect your Switch to a more professional setup with anything from electronic instruments to a turntable to even a mixing deck for live recording.

Now this isn’t the kind of idea that would come to your average Nintendo or AKAI exec… you’d need to be slightly eccentric to draw such a brilliant parallel, which designer Phil Rose (who goes by Alquemy online) definitely did. The MPC Switch is incredibly detailed, even down to the software running on the Switch’s display. The only problem is that it’s entirely conceptual, which breaks my heart a bit. If anyone from Nintendo or AKAI is seeing this, you guys are sitting on an absolute goldmine that would not only break the music industry but might also end up creating a new handheld gaming hardware category!

The post AKAI MPC for Nintendo Switch? This concept turns a gaming console into a live production rig first appeared on Yanko Design.

A GameCube Controller on the Nintendo Switch 2? Meet Abxylute’s Deck-style Joy-Con Alternatives

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When the Nintendo Switch 2 arrived in June 2025 at $449.99, it came with a 7.9-inch display, a faster processor, and a Joy-Con that doubles as a mouse. What it didn’t come with was a comfortable way to hold it for long sessions. The handheld form factor has always been a compromise between portability and ergonomics, and for players who log serious hours, that compromise starts showing up as wrist fatigue, awkward thumb angles, and a nagging wish for something with a proper grip. The accessory market has tried to fill that space for years, with results ranging from decent to deeply uninspiring.

Abxylute’s answer comes in two forms: the N6 and the N9C, both deck-style controllers purpose-built for Switch 2 play. The N6 wraps the console in a full-size ergonomic grip with Hall-effect joysticks, native 9-axis motion control, a dedicated C Button for GameChat, and adjustable vibration levels the player can cycle through without leaving a session. The N9C leans into personality, drawing from GameCube design DNA with mechanical buttons, trigger switches, and a capacitive joystick system paired with swappable gates.

Designer: Abxylute

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Joy-Cons were engineered for flexibility: detachable, shareable, usable solo or in pairs, functional as individual controllers for two-player sessions on a single console. That versatility comes at the cost of ergonomics, because a controller small enough to slide into a rail and function independently will never offer the grip depth, trigger travel, or palm support of something purpose-built for extended solo play. The N6 and N9C abandon that modularity entirely in favor of doing one thing exceptionally well, which is making handheld Switch 2 sessions feel like you’re holding a full-size controller instead of a tablet with thumbsticks glued to the sides. The tactile feedback is immediate and familiar, the kind of responsiveness you get from hardware designed around sustained single-player sessions rather than multi-function compromise. Both controllers connect via wired USB-C, skipping wireless pairing lag entirely, because when the target is solo handheld performance, eliminating variables takes priority over flexibility.

The N6’s open-top design is the first thing people will argue about online, and they’ll mostly be wrong. The Switch 2 stands over 11 cm tall, and a fully enclosed grip pushes that height further, putting your palms in the kind of awkward hover position that builds exactly the fatigue you were trying to avoid. Abxylute held the grip height at 8.5 cm, matching full-size controller proportions, so your palms have something to rest against rather than squeeze. The 7-inch grip width sits narrower than the console body deliberately, keeping your hands at a natural, relaxed spread instead of forcing them wide across a bulky frame. The physics of holding something for two hours straight are pretty straightforward, and this design reads those physics correctly.

Hall-effect joysticks solve a specific, measurable problem that standard potentiometer sticks fundamentally cannot. Potentiometer sticks use resistive contact that physically degrades over repeated use, which is why drift rates climb after a year or two of regular play. Hall-effect reads joystick position magnetically, with zero physical contact between moving components, and the N6 bumps the stick travel angle to 23 degrees compared to 18 degrees on Joy-Con, giving your thumbs more range for fine-grained inputs. A POM anti-wear ring around each stick handles mechanical stability without adding stiffness or noise to the movement. It’s a small detail, but the kind that separates purpose-built hardware from a generic controller with a different shell. On a device you use daily, that engineering choice compounds in your favor in a way that contact-based sticks simply never will.

Inputs across the N6 break down by material type, and the distinctions matter. ABXY buttons use conductive rubber for cushioned presses that reduce finger fatigue; the D-pad uses tactile switches for sharper directional accuracy; shoulder buttons deliver tactile clicks for faster responses in action-heavy play; and the linear digital triggers provide a genuine 0-100% input range rather than binary on/off clicks. That trigger range matters considerably in racing games and anything relying on gradual pressure inputs. Vibration adjusts at four levels, 0%, 40%, 70%, and 100%, switchable via button combo directly on the controller, bypassing the game-by-game settings adjustment that the Pro Controller requires. The grip’s internal structure forms a resonance chamber that redirects the Switch 2’s speakers forward and reinforces bass by around 10%, which you’ll register in a quiet room as fuller, punchier audio than bare Joy-Cons produce.

The N9C is doing something more niche and, honestly, more interesting. Where the N6 chases Pro Controller parity, the N9C chases the GameCube controller’s specific feel, complete with a centered A button and asymmetric face layout, rebuilt for a modern console using mechanical micro-switches and ALPS tactile shoulder buttons. Capacitive joysticks sidestep magnetic interference entirely, and the swappable 8-way and circular gate rings mean you can dial in a tight directional gate for fighters and swap to a smooth circular gate for platformers. A built-in battery hatch holds two replaceable batteries that reverse-charge the Switch 2 directly during play. Most grips on the market ignore battery life almost entirely, and a reverse charge system that powers the Switch 2 directly from the controller is a differentiator almost nothing else in this category offers.

The N9C carries four programmable rear buttons, two per side compared to the N6’s one per side, and each supports the same macro-recording system that chains directional inputs and actions into a single trigger. Switch 2 system-level button remapping works natively, requiring no third-party software, so a custom layout travels across every game without reconfiguring anything. An integrated rear stand sets the N9C apart from virtually every grip in this category, giving the Switch 2 a propped tabletop angle without relying on the console’s own kickstand. The primary connection is wired USB-C for ultra-low latency, with BLE available for configuration only, keeping the input chain clean during actual play. Every N9C ships with both C-stick and ring-style joystick caps in the box, so players can dial in the stick feel before the packaging hits the trash.

Mass production kicked off in March 2026, with shipping expected between April and June. Super Early Bird pricing runs $79 for the N6 (retail $110) and $89 for the N9C (retail $120), with a bundle sitting at $159. Nintendo’s own Pro Controller for Switch 2 retails at $79.99 and carries none of the Hall-effect sticks, programmable back buttons, or turbo functionality. Abxylute has shipped over 120,000 units across more than 20 projects to 100,000-plus customers, so the production infrastructure exists. What they’re solving for is specific: handheld Switch 2 play that performs at Pro Controller level without forcing players to accept the Joy-Con’s ergonomic ceiling as permanent.

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The post A GameCube Controller on the Nintendo Switch 2? Meet Abxylute’s Deck-style Joy-Con Alternatives first appeared on Yanko Design.

This $130 Mario Kart Racing Wheel for the Switch 2 Has Seven Sensitivity Levels for Throwing Banana Peels

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Nobody sits down to play Mario Kart and thinks “what this experience needs is a force feedback wheel, a pedal set, and a clamp-mounted desk rig.” And yet here we are, with Hori releasing two officially licensed racing wheels for the Switch 2, timed to launch alongside Mario Kart World on March 23. The Deluxe has an 11-inch wheel, a full pedal set, seven sensitivity levels, an adjustable dead zone, and a Quick Handling Mode that toggles steering output between 270 and 180 degrees. That last feature exists so you can more precisely navigate a rainbow-colored highway while a cartoon turtle throws a shell at you.

To be fair, the wheels look genuinely good. The Deluxe goes for a dark, almost aggressive red-and-black motorsport aesthetic, while the Mini leans fully into Mario’s red-blue-white color scheme with the Mario Kart World logo stamped on the base. Both add a C button for Switch 2’s GameChat, connect via a 9.8-foot USB-A cable, and work with the original Switch and OLED too. The Deluxe is $129.99, the Mini is $79.99, and both are available for pre-order now.

Designer: Hori

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The two wheels are closer in spec than the price gap suggests. Both have textured rubber grips, ZL and ZR buttons, racing paddles, programmable buttons, and the same ZL hold function that lets you drag items behind your kart in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. That hold function is disabled in Mario Kart World, which handles item use differently, so if World is the primary reason you’re buying one of these, that particular feature is decorative. The Mini’s 8.6-inch wheel is smaller but not dramatically so, and for a game where precision steering matters about as much as knowing when to deploy a star, the size difference probably won’t register mid-race. Both also carry the Nintendo/PC toggle on the back, which is new to the Switch 2 versions and means you can run either wheel through a PC racing title if the Mario Kart novelty wears off.

The Mini, with its Fischer-Price aesthetic, attaches via suction cups only, which works fine on a smooth desk but becomes a liability if you’re the type to slam the wheel hard into a corner. The Deluxe, on the other hand, adds a physical clamp mount, a meaningful upgrade for anyone who takes their banana peel delivery system seriously. The dead zone adjustment and the 180/270 degree toggle are also Deluxe-only, and those matter more than they sound: dialing in the dead zone tightens center response considerably, and 180-degree mode makes the wheel feel snappier in arcadey conditions where full-rotation sim behavior would actively work against you.

The Deluxe reads like a peripheral that wants to be taken seriously, with perforated black leather-look grip material, metallic red spokes, and a fairly restrained button cluster around the center M logo. The Mini abandons that restraint completely: solid red rim, blue and white spokes, yellow accent buttons, Mario Kart World branding on the base. They’re aimed at different buyers within the same audience, and the visual split is deliberate enough that you wouldn’t mistake one for the other in a product lineup.

Both wheels connect over USB-A, which is worth flagging because the Switch 2 uses USB-C natively. You will need an adapter or a hub, and Hori ships neither in the box. The 9.8-foot cable is generous in length, but the connector mismatch is a friction point on a product designed specifically for a new console, and it’s the kind of thing that should have been sorted at the design stage rather than left to the buyer.

Hori has been the default answer for Switch racing wheels since the original console launched, and these Switch 2 versions do not reinvent that position. The older Switch wheels already work on the Switch 2, so this is really a product for new Switch 2 buyers rather than existing Hori customers looking to upgrade. For that audience, $79.99 for the Mini is a reasonable ask, $129.99 for the Deluxe is justified by the clamp mount and calibration options alone, and both are about as good as a wired USB wheel built around Mario Kart is ever going to get. Whether you need one is a separate question, but if you’re going to sit down with a dedicated racing rig to hurl banana peels at a go-kart driven by a plumber, at least Hori has given you two good ways to do it.

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The post This $130 Mario Kart Racing Wheel for the Switch 2 Has Seven Sensitivity Levels for Throwing Banana Peels first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nintendo Patented a Dual-Screen Switch and Never Made It. Here’s What It Looked Like.

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Nintendo had a choice when designing the Switch 2. They could iterate on the formula that made the original a cultural phenomenon, refining the single-screen hybrid into a faster, sharper, better version of itself. Or they could reach back into their own history, pull out the design philosophy that once made the DS family the best-selling handheld hardware line of all time, and merge two eras of thinking into something genuinely new. They picked the first path. Designer Juan Manuel Guerrero just sketched out the second.

The concept arrives as a series of beautifully lit 3D renders: a folding Nintendo Switch with dual screens, a hinge running through the center of the body, and Joy-Cons in the familiar blue-red split attached to either end. The renders carry the finish of product photography, which makes it genuinely easy to forget this never shipped. Closed, it looks like a sleek, pocket-ready device with a tighter footprint than the original Switch. Open, it recalls something older and warmer, the quiet satisfaction of flipping a DS open on a long car ride, except now the screens are large, the controllers are proper, and the whole thing feels built for today. The proportions are deliberate, the design choices are considered, and the whole thing wears its Nintendo identity without apology.

Designer: Juan Manuel Guerrero

The Nintendo DS sat at 154.02 million lifetime units for years, the gold standard for Nintendo hardware, until the Switch finally crept past it in early 2026 with 155.37 million. Two hardware generations, both cultural touchstones, separated by fewer than two million units across a combined history of roughly three decades. The closeness of that race matters. The DS built those numbers on a genuine design idea, a spatial logic where two screens gave developers room for two distinct kinds of information at once, and players responded to that for fifteen years. Guerrero’s concept asks whether the Switch era ever had to leave that behind.

Phantom Hourglass let you draw on the bottom screen to annotate your own maps and solve puzzles, an idea original enough to win awards at the time. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl split the party menu from the battlefield, giving battles a spatial clarity the GBA never had room for. GTA: Chinatown Wars ran the full city map on the lower display and handed the top panel entirely to the action. These were designs built entirely around the format, dependent on the split in a way that made them fall apart on a single screen. That vocabulary has been sitting idle for the better part of a decade.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 runs a 7.6-inch interior display and represents the sixth generation of the company working foldable hardware into something genuinely reliable. Motorola, OnePlus, Google, and Huawei all have competitive entries in the space. Display durability and hinge reliability have been largely solved through successive product generations and real commercial pressure. A dual-screen Switch in 2025 wouldn’t be asking anyone to invent something new; the foldable category has already done the hard engineering work. Guerrero’s concept asks someone to point that already-mature technology at a gaming audience.

The DS touchscreen read as a toy gimmick in 2004. The Wii’s motion controls got laughed at before that console sold 101 million units. The Switch itself looked like a confused category play until it climbed past 155 million units and became Nintendo’s best-selling platform ever. That history of moves that look sideways before they land is the context Guerrero’s concept actually lives in. The foldable technology exists, the Joy-Con design language holds across both halves of the fold, and the IP is coherent. Someone drew it. Now it’s genuinely difficult to look at the Switch 2 without wondering what the other path could have looked like.

The post Nintendo Patented a Dual-Screen Switch and Never Made It. Here’s What It Looked Like. first appeared on Yanko Design.

NYXI Hyperion 3 Finally Gives the Switch 2 a Grown-Up Controller

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Playing the Switch 2 for more than an hour in handheld mode means the flat Joy-Cons and small buttons start to feel like a compromise. Your hands end up clawed around the rails, drift anxiety creeps in, and you start shifting your grip to avoid cramping. NYXI’s Hyperion 3 is built for people who treat the Switch 2 like a main console, not a travel toy used in short bursts.

NYXI’s Hyperion 3 is a wireless JoyPad that snaps onto the Switch 2 for handheld play and works as a standalone pad when docked. It adds real grips, larger sticks, and more spaced-out buttons, swapping the usual potentiometer sticks for hall-effect joysticks designed to be drift-free over the long haul. It is pitched as the world’s first ergonomic JoyPad for Switch 2, treating comfort and reliability as primary goals.

Designer: NYXI

Settling into a long RPG or racing game in handheld mode, the full-size grips let your hands relax instead of pinching edges. The hall-effect sticks feel smooth and precise, and you are not waiting for the first sign of drift that ruined your last controller. The strong magnetic lock keeps everything solid, so the console feels like one piece rather than a screen with two wobbly handles threatening to flex apart.

The larger micro-switch face buttons and D-pad click with a clear, mechanical feel, making fast inputs and diagonals more reliable in fighters or platformers. The 9-axis gyro gives you fine motion aiming in shooters or steering in racers, so you can lean on tilt controls without fighting laggy sensors or imprecise calibration that drifts halfway through a match.

The programmable back buttons let you move key actions off the face buttons, so your thumbs can stay on the sticks more often. Mapping jump, reload, or item use to the back means fewer awkward stretches, especially in games designed around a traditional pad. Over time, that small shift in where your fingers land makes the controller feel tailored to your habits instead of forcing you into Nintendo’s layout.

Hyperion 3 is not as slim or neutral as Nintendo’s own Joy-Cons. The full-size grips and gaming-centric styling make the Switch 2 less pocketable and more like a small console with a screen. That is exactly the point, though, a handheld that finally feels built for adult hands, even if it means giving up a bit of throw-in-a-bag convenience.

Hyperion 3 shows what happens when a third-party accessory takes the Joy-Con format seriously as a starting point, not a template to clone. By fixing drift, upgrading buttons, adding back paddles, and leaning into ergonomics, it treats the Switch 2 like a platform deserving of pro-level hardware. Playing on Nintendo’s hybrid for hours makes that kind of overkill feel pretty reasonable.

The post NYXI Hyperion 3 Finally Gives the Switch 2 a Grown-Up Controller first appeared on Yanko Design.

Belkin’s New Switch 2 Docking Case Has a 10,000mAh Battery That Lets You Charge While Shut

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The best gaming accessories solve problems you didn’t know you had. Before you use them, the old way seems fine. After you use them, going back feels like torture. Belkin’s new Charging Case Pro for Nintendo Switch 2 falls squarely into this category.

The original Charging Case launched last June with a solid concept: protect your Switch 2 and keep it powered during long trips. But Belkin’s designers clearly listened to user feedback and spotted the pain points. The Pro version addresses nearly every frustration from the first generation. You can charge the battery without unzipping the case. You get a proper integrated stand instead of relying on the console’s kickstand. There’s even a battery level display so you’re never guessing how much juice remains. These aren’t revolutionary features individually, but together they transform a good accessory into an essential one.

Designer: Belkin

Having to unzip your case, fish out the battery pack, plug it in separately, then put everything back together just to charge overnight is the kind of stupid friction that kills products. The external USB-C port fixes this entirely. Leave your Switch 2 inside, plug one cable into the front, done. The little OLED display shows precise battery percentage, which actually matters when you’re deciding whether to top up before a three-hour flight or risk it.

The 10,000mAh battery doubles as an adjustable stand with a built-in USB-C connector. The Switch 2 slots onto it like the official dock and starts charging immediately at whatever viewing angle works. The original version forced users to balance the console on its mediocre kickstand while a cable dangled between device and battery. One approach solves the problem. The other creates new ones.

Belkin claims 1.5 full charges from the 10,000mAh capacity, translating to 12 to 15 extra hours depending on what’s running. Graphically intensive games like Zelda sequels will drain faster than pixel art indie platformers, but either way that’s enough power to cross the Atlantic twice before needing an outlet. For a case this compact, the capacity-to-size ratio makes sense. A bigger battery would mean carrying a brick.

Twelve individual game cartridge slots sit under a flip-down cover, each one molded to prevent rattling. A mesh pocket handles cables and microfiber cloths. Belkin included a hidden compartment sized exactly for an AirTag or Tile tracker. Considering a fully loaded case with console represents about $500 of hardware, location tracking becomes a practical feature rather than a gimmick. People lose things. Expensive things get stolen. Planning for that shows sensible product design.

Three colorways: sage green, black, sandy beige. The green matches Nintendo’s brand aesthetic. Black hides wear better over time. The beige photographs well but might show dirt faster than the darker options.

Charging $99.99 means a $30 jump from the original’s $69.99 price. That’s a 43% increase, which sounds aggressive until you itemize the changes. External charging port. Battery display. Integrated stand with direct connection. Better storage. Refined build quality throughout. Spread $30 across those improvements and the math works. Belkin could have pushed $120 easily and still moved units. They left money on the table, frankly.

This reads like version 2.0 engineering instead of the lazy incremental updates most companies ship. Belkin rebuilt the internal layout, redesigned the battery for dual purpose use, and solved actual user complaints instead of adding RGB lighting or whatever. Most “Pro” accessories just mean “black version, higher price.” This one actually earns the name.

Own the original and it works fine? Skip this. Shopping for your first Switch 2 charging solution or fed up with your current setup? Start here. It’s up on Belkin’s site now, probably hitting Amazon within a week because that’s how 2026 works.

The post Belkin’s New Switch 2 Docking Case Has a 10,000mAh Battery That Lets You Charge While Shut first appeared on Yanko Design.

Console Wars Are Dead: This Chinese Modder Fused a PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch 2 Into One Console

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The console wars are dead. And what killed them wasn’t rising RAM prices, GPU scarcity, tariffs, or any sort of monopolistic practices. It was one modder who was tired of the multi-ecosystem approach. Chinese hardware enthusiast 小宁子 XNZ (or XNZ for short) looked at her collection of gaming consoles, realized she was constantly swapping cables and power supplies just to access different game libraries, and decided to do something about it. The result is the Ningtendo PXBOX 5, a custom-built system that combines PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2 hardware into a single triangular chassis that switches between all three platforms with a button press. One console to rule them all…

XNZ stripped each console down to its motherboard and mounted them on three sides of a custom aluminum cooling block, inspired by the old trash can Mac Pro design. A single 250-watt power supply feeds everything, while a Phanteks fan at the bottom pushes air through the shared heatsink. Press the button on top and an Arduino board handles the switching logic, cycling through the three systems in about three seconds. A front-mounted LED strip glows blue for PlayStation, green for Xbox, or red for Switch 2, so you always know what’s active. The catch is you need to close your game before switching to avoid overloading the power supply, but that’s a small price to pay for having Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo living peacefully under one roof. Both the PS5 and Xbox are digital-only versions, so no disc drives made it into the final build.

Designer: 小宁子 XNZ

XNZ pulled inspiration from Apple’s 2013 trash can Mac Pro, which remains one of the most divisive desktop designs Apple ever shipped. That machine had a triangular prism cooling system sitting dead center, with each of its three sides pressed tight against a separate component board. A fan at the top pulled hot air straight up through the whole assembly in one clean thermal column. Apple bet wrong on dual-GPU workstation builds and killed the product line, but the core thermal design was actually brilliant. For this project, it turned out to be the perfect blueprint. Three consoles, three motherboards, three sides of a triangle. The geometry practically solved itself.

Building that triangular heatsink presented a different problem entirely. XNZ needed dense fins capable of dissipating heat from three different APUs, but CNC machining quotes came back at around $700. Metal 3D printing wasn’t much better, and both options involved waiting in manufacturing queues that would kill any chance of rapid iteration. So she went old school. Really old school. We’re talking 1,500 years old.

Lost-wax casting has been around since ancient China, traditionally used for intricate bronze artifacts like the Yunwen Bronze Vessel. The principle is simple: carve a detailed model in wax, coat it in clay, melt out the wax, and pour molten metal into the cavity left behind. XNZ modernized the process by replacing wax with PLA filament from her 3D printer. She designed the heatsink in CAD software, printed it with support structures and cooling channels built right in, then encased the whole thing in high-temperature gypsum. The gypsum can withstand 700 degrees Celsius while PLA starts melting at 100 degrees and burns completely by the time you hit 700. Stick it in an electric kiln, run it through four heating stages over 12 hours, and you’re left with a clean ceramic mold ready for aluminum.

The first casting attempt failed halfway through when the molten aluminum cooled too fast and solidified before filling the entire mold. The fins were also too dense, causing the thin gypsum walls between them to crack. XNZ adjusted the fin thickness, changed their orientation to shorten the flow path, and recalibrated both the mold temperature and the aluminum pour temperature. Second attempt came out perfect. The surface captured fine details from the 3D print, including the layer lines from the support structures on the bottom. After sawing off the pouring gate and polishing the contact surfaces, she had a functional aluminum heatsink that cost maybe 50 bucks in materials instead of several hundred in machining fees.

Copper plates bolt onto two sides of the aluminum block where the PS5 and Xbox motherboards make contact. The third side, reserved for the Switch 2, doesn’t get a copper plate because Nintendo’s handheld apparently doesn’t need active cooling when docked. Thermal paste replaces the PS5’s stock liquid metal since the copper and aluminum combo provides enough thermal mass. During testing, the whole system ran Elden Ring for 30 minutes without overheating warnings, topping out at 60 degrees Celsius measured across the heatsink surface. That’s impressive considering you’ve got three separate APUs sharing one cooling solution and one 12-centimeter fan doing all the work.

The Switch 2 integration required a custom dock since the handheld needed to remain removable. XNZ gutted Nintendo’s official dock, pulled out the USB-C daughterboard and relevant electronics, and stuffed everything into a 3D-printed housing that attaches to the cooler’s third face. She wanted a spring-loaded ejection mechanism like a toaster, but metal springs couldn’t provide enough force to overcome USB-C port friction. The solution came from Bambu Lab’s MakerWorld, where she found a parametric spring generator that lets you customize dimensions through simple value inputs. She printed the entire dock assembly using dual-extrude printing with PLA for the rigid case and PETG for the flexible spring components. The two materials bond during printing so the spring stays permanently embedded in the structure but remains fully functional right off the print bed.

Power management turned out simpler than expected. The PS5 pulls 225 watts under full gaming load but drops to 4 watts in standby. The Xbox Series X shows similar behavior. A gallium nitride 250-watt power supply handles both consoles running in parallel as long as you’re only actively gaming on one at a time. The Switch 2 gets its juice through a transformer and USB-C PD trigger that converts the main rail voltage. An Arduino board sits inside the case managing power distribution and HDMI switching, triggered by that single button on top. Press it once and the LED bar changes color while the Arduino routes both power and video output to the next console in the sequence. Takes three seconds to complete the switch, which is faster than most people can close their game and navigate back to the home screen anyway.

The whole thing weighs less than having three separate consoles on your shelf and uses one HDMI cable, one power cord, and zero mental energy deciding which box to turn on. Sure, you lose disc drive functionality since both the PlayStation and Xbox are digital editions. And yes, the 250-watt ceiling means no running multiple games simultaneously or the power supply trips. But XNZ built a working proof of concept that platform exclusivity is a solvable engineering problem, not some immutable law of physics. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have spent decades convincing people their ecosystems need to stay separate. One person with a 3D printer, some molten aluminum, and a weekend said otherwise.

The post Console Wars Are Dead: This Chinese Modder Fused a PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch 2 Into One Console first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nitro Deck 2 Controller Fits Switch 2, OG, and OLED in One Shell

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The first Nitro Deck and similar shells made the Nintendo Switch feel more like a proper controller, but they were still mostly one-trick grips that lived in handheld mode. With the Switch 2 looming, there is a chance to rethink what a deck shell should be, not just for Nintendo’s next handheld but for PC, mobile, and TV play. Nitro Deck 2 is CRKD’s answer, expanding the idea from grip to multi-platform controller.

CRKD frames it as a completely new product engineered for the Nintendo Switch 2 and fully backward compatible with the Switch and the Switch OLED, with redesigned ergonomics and expanded versatility across PC, mobile, and smart TVs via Bluetooth and USB. It holds your console for handheld play, but the removable centerpiece lets it convert into a standalone pro-style controller when the console is docked, which is the big conceptual shift from shell to system.

Designer: CRKD

CaptiStick is a capacitor-based, zero-contact sensor design meant to eliminate stick drift and deliver long-lasting precision with no electromagnetic interference. That is CRKD’s alternative to traditional potentiometer sticks that wear out, and Hall Effect sticks that rely on magnets. Nitro Deck 2 also adds adjustable thumbstick resistance and deadzone, tunable through the CRKD Companion App, so you can dial in how loose or tight the sticks feel depending on the game.

The new retractable locking dial mechanism secures the console and keeps the shell compatible with the original Switch and OLED models, with a legacy adapter included. This is a direct response to fit issues from the first Nitro Deck, and it means Nitro Deck 2 survives console generations. The dial gives you a way to adjust clamping force and fit without swapping the whole shell when Nintendo changes dimensions.

The expanded control set includes extra bumper buttons (L2 and R2), remappable back buttons, smooth tactile digital triggers, and toggle buttons for plus, minus, record, and macro. Nitro Deck 2 supports motion controls and adjustable vibration feedback for supported games, plus Turbo Mode for rapid inputs. The idea is to give you more inputs and a better feel than Joy-Cons or a stock Pro Controller, especially for long sessions.

Nitro Deck 2 connects over Bluetooth or wired USB to PC, mobile, and select smart TVs when the console is not installed, acting as an extra pro-style controller. The CRKD app includes its True Collection System for tapping and registering your hardware and CTRL for customizing sticks, vibration, and firmware. It is part collectible, part tuning tool, making the hardware feel like it lives in a broader ecosystem.

Nitro Deck 2 moves the idea of a Switch shell from a simple grip to a long-term controller investment that survives console generations. It is still a pre-order product with questions around weight and battery life, but the combination of CaptiStick, a retractable locking dial, and a removable centerpiece suggests a different kind of accessory, one that grows with your setup instead of getting replaced every time Nintendo ships new hardware.

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