The Nintendo Switch’s announced price seemed a little too good to be true, and it was. Nintendo has drawn inspiration from budget airline pricing models, showing one fee upfront and then charging extra for using the bathrooms. And by bathrooms, I actually mean $29.99 for a Joy-Con Charging Grip.
As Eurogamer noticed, listings have started to pop up for a Joy-Con Charging Grip, which confirms what we already thought: the Joy-Con Grip included in the box is a fairly useless piece of plastic that holds the Joy-Con together. If you want to charge the Joy-Con out of the box, you’ll need to connect them to the Switch itself, which is difficult to do if it’s also attached to your TV.
To solve this problem, Nintendo made a Joy-Con Charging Grip, which has a USB port so you can connect it to power, connect your Joy-Con to the grip, and keep playing Mario Kart for as long as your thumbs don’t fall off.
Yes, the Joy-Con controllers should last for around 20 hours of gametime without needing to be recharged, so you can theoretically do without the Charging Grip. But a scientific examination of the USB cables that seem permanently attached to my PS3 controllers prove that people are bad at remembering to plug things in, and at some point your Joy-Con will die, and you won’t be able to play games.
The Charging Grip is listed for $29.99, so it’s not going to break the bank. But it’s still a blow for anyone who was still thinking that the Switch is going to be the cheap, multi-purpose gaming console for the masses.
