Two more officially licensed D-pad variants featuring The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey themes were later released by Hori in September 2018. This was notably the first officially licensed Joy-Con to be released by a third-party company. The controller lacked features such as HD rumble, SL and SR buttons, gyroscope, and wireless connectivity standard to Nintendo-produced Joy-Con, forcing its users to be restricted to handheld mode. In July 2018, Hori, a video game peripheral company, released a dark blue left Joy-Con featuring a classic D-pad in lieu of directional buttons. It was exclusively available to winners of the Nintendo Labo Creators Contest. An exclusive Nintendo Labo Joy-Con design, light brown in color, was released in 2018. A pair of red Joy-Con were released as part of the Super Mario Odyssey bundle, except in Japan and Europe (My Nintendo Store only) where they are available standalone, which was released in October 2017. In mid-2017, Nintendo introduced neon yellow Joy-Con, released alongside Arms as well as neon green and neon pink Joy-Con which launched alongside Splatoon 2. Black Joy-Con are also issued with Switch development kits. At launch, Joy-Con were available in slate gray, neon red R and neon blue L colors. Joy-Con can be obtained in various colors, either with the purchase of the Switch console or individually, both separately or as a pair.

Nintendo Switch console with blue The Legend of Zelda-themed Joy-Con Nintendo released a Joy-Con AA battery pack attachment on June 16, 2017, which slide onto the Joy-Con similarly to the wrist strap attachments. A separate 'charging grip' accessory allows the controllers to be charged in a gamepad configuration via USB-C. Joy-Con contain non-removable 3.7 volt 525 mAh 1.9 watt hour lithium-ion polymer batteries they are charged when attached to a Switch console that itself is charging. The strap attachments have a rounded shape and raised shoulder buttons to improve the ergonomics of the Joy-Con when used individually. Wrist strap attachments are provided, which are similarly installed by sliding them onto the controllers' rails. When detached from the console, both Joy-Con units operate autonomously of each other, and communicate with the console via Bluetooth. The Joy-Con can be optionally attached to a 'Joy-Con Grip' accessory, with or without charging capabilities, that convert the controllers to a more traditional gamepad-like form factor. Up to 8 Joy-Con can connect to a single Switch console at a time. Joy-Con can be attached to the sides of the Switch console via rails, or detached and used wirelessly-either as a pair (comparable to a Wii Remote and Nunchuk), or divided between two different players.

When measured from the top of the analog stick to the tip of the ZL/ZR trigger it has an extreme depth of 28.4 millimetres (1.12 in). Joy-Con are distributed in pairs, designated as 'Joy-Con L' and 'Joy-Con R' respectively. Illustration of left and right Joy-Con controllers, in neon blue and neon red

Switch joy con controllers