Nintendo’s new Bluetooth controller might bring N64 or GameCube games to the Switch

Nintendo may have a new wireless controller in the works based on this FCC listing the company filed Thursday (via Vooks). The new device has received the model number HAC-043, which, if it matters, is one model number higher than Nintendo’s wireless SNES controller from 2019.

Nintendo submitted a 180-day request for confidentiality to the FCC on July 26th that hides more revealing details of the device, like photos and actual schematics. But there are still a few details to share. The device is wireless and uses Bluetooth, and it appears to draw more power at 3.5mW than the Joy-Con’s 2.7mW. FCC label placement, which can sometimes reveal a bit more of how a device actually looks, also suggests whatever it is would be a departure from the single label that Joy-Con use.

Some speculate the new controller could replicate another old console’s controller like the wireless SNES controller did for the SNES. Maybe Nintendo could finally pull the trigger on a wireless N64 or GameCube controller for even more retro gaming?

There’s also the possibility of a new Pro Controller to go with the OLED Nintendo Switch coming in October. Nintendo has been tight-lipped about what Joy-Con revisions will come with that new console — specifically refusing to say if it fixes Joy-Con drift — but maybe there’s something in the works.

Either way, given Nintendo’s track record, it’s safe to expect the unexpected. The company does, and largely gets away with doing, whatever it wants. It randomly added Bluetooth audio support to the Switch via a software update just this week, after years of pleading from gamers. A new controller could be as exciting and odd as Nintendo Labo or as bog-standard as a slightly tweaked version of the Pro Controller.