Nintendo finally made a first-party Joy-Con charging station

Nintendo just announced its own first-party Joy-Con controller charging station, which releases on October 17. This is an obvious boon for couch co-op addicts, as you can have two Joy-Cons charging on the dock and another two charging via the console at the same time. Nintendo’s charging station also integrates with the company’s retro wireless NES gamepads, which are primarily used with Nintendo Switch Online games.

The Joy-Con Charging Stand (Two-Way) accessory draws power from the Switch’s dock, via the USB-C port, or any other power adapter. The vertical support can also be removed to make it more portable, another bonus for those couch co-op sleepovers. Nintendo hasn’t released any pricing information yet to go along with the October release date. It’s currently set for a launch in the US, Europe and Japan. October 17 is the same day that Super Mario Party Jamboree launches, so that would make for some good accessory-based synergy.

It’s worth noting that the Nintendo Switch is over seven years old. This accessory will be released 2,785 days after the console originally launched. Heck, the Switch 2 (or whatever it ends up being called) will probably hit store shelves early next year. What I’m saying is that this would have been a lot more useful six or seven years ago. Better late than never?

This is likely to be the Switch’s final holiday season. There’s a new Legend of Zelda game hitting on September 26, along with a themed console. Another big holiday-adjacent title is Mario & Luigi: Brothership, which comes out on November 7.

Update, July 18 2024, 2:57 PM ET: This story has been updated to confirm a US release after speaking to a company rep.