A staple in Nintendo’s products including touch screens—such as the Nintendo DS and Wii U—has been the stylus, a small, digital pen compatible with games that have touch screen elements. Typically, the stylus comes as part of the system, small enough to be stored within the system itself, until the Nintendo Switch. That is, until now.
Eurogamer has found a listing for an official Nintendo Switch stylus on Nintendo’s online UK store. Nintendo previously sold stylus for the Switch but exclusively bundled it with pre-orders of Super Mario Maker 2, making this new stylus the first widely accessible one. It will officially come out on Friday, February 3 of this year. The design is simple, just a dark gray pen with Nintendo’s logo on the side, thicker and longer than previous Nintendo devices’ styluses. Surprisingly, it only costs £6.99, which is about $9 USD.
The stylus only works with the Switch when it’s undocked. Players can use it for a few games released so far, such as Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training, which includes puzzles and other handwritten problems to solve, or Super Mario Maker 2’s level customization features. Players can even make use of the stylus for Splatoon 2’s doodling mode, in which players can upload their artwork to the game, just like the old Miiverse feature. If the stylus is released worldwide and incorporated into Switch gameplay, Nintendo could consider making more games with touch screen elements for the Switch.
Unfortunately, however, there is no word yet on when—or even if—the stylus will be released elsewhere. According to CNET, a representative from Nintendo of America said that the company has no information on whether the stylus will release in the US. Nintendo hasn’t released any official information or announcements on the stylus aside from this UK online store listing, so the future of the stylus outside of the UK is very unclear.