iFixit

Fix Your Own Drifting Joy-Con While Nintendo’s Repairs are Closed

What a horrible time to have a Joy-Con curse.

I refer, of course, to the curse of having the analog controller on your Nintendo Switch suddenly start drifting, at such a time as this. Link can’t hit anything with his bow, your Animal Crossing character starts running in circles, and your Overcooked ratings are just trash. Do you need one more unreliable and frustrating thing right now?

Normally, Nintendo would fix this issue for free, after your complaint gets approved and you mail in your faulty stick. Except Nintendo’s repair services and centers are closed until further notice. In fact, if you try to mail Nintendo your drifting Joy-Con right now, their site states it may be returned to you—or, against all that is good and merciful, it will be sent to a warehouse “for temporary storage until repair services resume.”

Having a console you can play on the couch feels more like a need than a want right now. That’s why we’re glad to say we are stocked up on our Joy-Con Joystick Replacement Kits, and keeping up with demand so far. We have Fix Kits that include all the parts you need to get in and replace your Joy-Con stick, or just the joystick itself, if you’ve already got one of our Pro Tech Toolkits or an Essential Electronics Kit.

Replacing the left Joy-Con Joystick isn’t too tough a repair, even if you’re relatively new to electronic fixes. Some of the parts are small, but you’re not dealing with the glue and hidden cables of other repairs. You’re popping open a plastic enclosure after removing its screws, then disconnecting a number of ZIF connectors: poke, flip, and gently pull. For those rare cases where it’s the right Joy-Con joystick drifting, we have you covered there, too (it’s the same part, just a different guide).

If other parts of your suddenly-crucial Switch are acting up—like the battery, SD or Game Card reader, or headphone jack—we’ve got you covered there, too.  
Bonus achievement: if you do replace your drifting Joy-Con joystick while Nintendo’s shops are shut down, tag a social post about it with #FixAtHome. Tag us, too, while you’re at it. We’re watching posts and highlighting the good stories. Seeing people get past their broken stuff while trapped at home is something worth celebrating. Believe us, we know.