This Nintendo Switch & Steam Deck Hybrid Is The Mod That Nobody Asked For
Back when Valve's handheld gaming PC, the Steam Deck, was first announced, the design drew natural comparisons to the Nintendo Switch. Both were handhelds you could play console-quality games on, both had additional input methods like touch and gyroscopic control, and so on. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, the Switch and the Steam Deck are very different consoles with very different audiences, but it seems one Redditor couldn't help but take the comparison to a logical extreme.
A Reddit user by the name of mrblackm123 posted a photo, followed by a video, of an elaborate chop job of a Steam Deck mod, transplanting all of its innards into a homemade case for the express purpose of making it compatible with a pair of Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers. Is this mod greater than the sum of its parts? Not really, but we still have to applaud the absurd spectacle of it, and one modder's drive to tear apart expensive electronics just because they can.
How did they do it?
While a Switch's Joy-Cons connect via a Bluetooth signal and probably could've worked with the Steam Deck on their own with minimal tinkering, the goal of this mod — nicknamed the "Steamjoy" — was to create a Steam Deck case that Joy-Cons could actually connect to in the same way they connect to the Switch.
(WARNING) Steamjoy – MOD- Video
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u/mrblackm123 in
SteamDeck
Mrblackm123 used a third-party plastic shell as a base, gutted the Steam Deck of its components, and placed them all in their new housing. The new housing features a ventilation fan on the back and a small internal speaker, sourced from a smartphone, to play sounds and music. Most importantly, though, the sides of the case feature rails for the Joy-Cons to slide and snap into, just like a Switch. The functionality of the Steam Deck hasn't been impacted; it can still run games as it usually would, though mrblackm123 needed to map the Joy-Cons' plus button to bring up the digital keyboard for desktop mode since there was no longer a dedicated button to call it up.
Mrblackm123 is planning to continue refining their creation, with the next major goal being a proper hard connection between the Joy-Cons and the case. At the moment, though the Joy-Cons are slid in, they're only connected to the case via Bluetooth; the case doesn't have connector pins like a real Switch, so the Joy-Cons can't interface directly with it or charge from it.