The battery inside the Nintendo Switch lasts only a handful of hours at best between charges. If Nintendo released an official battery pack for the tablet, it would probably fly off the shelves. I have good news and bad news on that front. The good news is, Nintendo is launching an extended battery pack. The bad news is, it's for the Joy-Cons, not the main Switch battery.
The Joy-Con extended battery accessory appeared on the Nintendo Japan website. As the image above shows, it takes the form of a case a Joy-Con slides into just like they slide into the Switch. On the back is a battery compartment where you can insert two AA batteries, which will then recharge the battery inside the Joy-Con.
This has to class as a convenience rather than an essential Switch accessory. The battery life of the Joy-Cons is pretty good, and we already have a few ways to recharge them including inserting them into the Switch tablet or using the Charging Grip. Now we have an AA battery option, with the added bonus that it may make the Joy-Cons more comfortable to hold when used independent of the Switch.
The connectivity may not allow for it, but extended battery packs mounted on the back of the Joy-Cons that are able to charge the main Switch battery sounds like a good idea. However, as the third-party SwitchCharge battery case demonstrated, it seems more likely any battery pack is restricted to providing juice through the USB port on the base of the tablet.
There is one other bit of Joy-Con-related news today. We're also getting a new color option. According to Kotaku, that color is classed as bright Neon Yellow. These Joy-Cons are expected to launch on June 16 in Japan and should appear elsewhere eventually, which is good news for anyone prone to misplacing their controllers as how could you fail to see these!
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