Normally these Joy-Cons would be about $40 a piece at their full price of $79.99. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
While Nintendo’s Joy-Cons may be the bane of some people’s existence due to their small size and notorious reputation for developing stick drift, they remain the de facto controller for the Nintendo Switch. They also remain a bit expensive, normally costing $79.99 for a pair of them. Yes, you get more value out of them since you can split them up and use them individually for two-player games, but it’s usually at the cost of comfort and limited game compatibility. Thankfully, today, you can pick up a set of the classic neon red and neon blue Joy-Cons for a steeply discounted price of $54.99 at Adorama.
This is one of Adorama’s deals of the day, so it’s set to expire tomorrow at 10:00AM ET — or possibly sooner if the New York-based retailer sells out on its site. The $25 instant discount is applied when you add the Joy-Cons to your cart, and the controllers should also qualify for free shipping when you check out.
For all their lauded issues, Joy-Cons do offer a bit of a jack-of-all-trades input method for the Switch. They’re the main controllers when in handheld mode, and they can be used wirelessly in docked mode with traditional controls or with motion. They’re the key component for an active game like Ring Fit Adventure, and when mounted into a grip, they are fine for deeper games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — even if they pale in comparison to the Switch Pro Controller. This deal is nicely timed, as the most recent Mario Kart 8 Deluxe paid DLC tracks have just launched. It’s a good time to stock up on more controllers for local multiplayer.