The touch pen would be an attachment used in tabletop or docked mode. It reportedly slides onto the Joy-Con rails in the spot where the wrist strap usually goes when the controllers are detached from the system. That means Switch Lite-only users would have to buy an extra pair of Joy-Con to use the pen.
From there, the accessory would do a number of things.
There’s planned haptic feedback, where the pen vibrates when it comes into contact with digital objects. There are also multiple levels of interaction it would be capable of. Performing an action, such as drawing a line, is accomplished by pointing the pen at the screen and drawing a line. Hold down the “X” button, though, and the line gets heavier and thicker.
Whether this is all the pen attachment would be capable of isn’t clear, and it’s also not certain it will ever make it into production. Patents are frequently filed and re-filed for products that might remain in the planning phase, though some do often point to new products just over the horizon.
You can see the full patent filing here. While we can think of a number of ways such a pen attachment might be useful in games like Super Mario Maker 2, we’ll just have to wait and see how it pans out. Be sure to stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Nintendo Switch news as it’s drawn up.
