Intermittent Pro Controller Issue

[swimmingknife]

I've put over 100 hours into Splatoon 2 over the last few weeks, and I've started noticing an issue when aiming with my Pro Controller. Every so often the motion sensor in it will constantly drag to one side (usually the left, though I think last time was to the right).

It only happens occasionally; I've only noticed it about half-a-dozen or so times in over 100 hours. And it usually doesn't last long when it happens. The longest I ever had it last was about 7-8 minutes or so, through an entire match of Salmon Run and then for a minute or two after. The shortest I've ever had it last was about 1 minute; it messed up for the first third of a Turf War and then fixed itself. All the other times it's lasted for a single Turf War and then been back to normal by the time I exited back to the square.

Since it's so rare, it hasn't impacted my enjoyment of the game that much, but it's still extremely annoying. It makes the game nigh-unplayable when it does happen, because I have to constantly fight against it just to point my weapon in the right direction. Actually aiming is pretty much impossible.

I was wondering if anyone else had experienced any similar issues. I'm starting to suspect that it might be an issue with the controller itself, which I really hope isn't the case because I don't want to have to replace it.

Just for the sake of providing as much detail as I can, here are a few notes:

• I tried playing with the Joy-Cons in the controller grip for some time, and the issue never came up. Though since the issue is fairly rare to begin with, that might not necessarily mean anything.
• I haven't tried re-calibrating the controller when this happens, because the issue has usually fixed itself by the time I have access to that option.
• I can still use the motion controls to adjust my aim while this is happening, it's just constantly dragging to one side at the same time. It isn't a desync issue or anything like that.
• I haven't noticed the issue happen with any other games, but I also haven't played any other games which use the motion controls as extensively as Splatoon 2. It's possible that the issue has been happening, just not in any areas where I'd have noticed.

 

[NBSink]

I had the exact same problem once... It was a ranked match in S or S+ (not sure anymore) and it really messed up like 1-2 minutes. But I only noticed that problem just one single time and after that match I went to to System Settings of my switch and re-calibrated my pro controller. Since that, it never happened again (And I think I have like 120h of Splatoon2 logged).

 

[swimmingknife]

Thanks, I'll definitely give that a shot. I guess I just figured that re-calibrating wouldn't do much when the problem had already "fixed" itself.

 

[Lyn]

There seems to be a few weird issues with the controllers on the Switch, I can't say I've experienced this one, though.

 

[the]

Yeah this has happened to me a few times, both with pro controller and joycons (in handheld tablet configuration). I usually don't notice it since I don't use aim-sensitive weaps like chargers all that often, but if it doesn't go away after a while I just dis/reconnect the controller

 

[swimmingknife]

There seems to be a few weird issues with the controllers on the Switch, I can't say I've experienced this one, though.

Yeah, it's not one I've heard many people talk about either. Which is weird, because I managed to avoid pretty much all the issues that people have been talking about, like desyncing joycons or unstable wi-fi. I guess having to replace a $90 controller isn't as bad as dodgy wi-fi that you can't really fix, but it's still pretty annoying.

Yeah this has happened to me a few times, both with pro controller and joycons (in handheld tablet configuration). I usually don't notice it since I don't use aim-sensitive weaps like chargers all that often, but if it doesn't go away after a while I just dis/reconnect the controller

In the Salmon Run game I had this happen in, part of the reason we lost is because I was assigned a charger. I did okay in the first round because I had a Splattershot, and I was able to make some small contribution even if I had to tie myself in knots to hit anything. But then I got the charger and I was just useless. I could've disconnected completely and I doubt it would've made a difference to my performance. It's a big part of why it's such an annoying issue; any match where it happens is a guaranteed loss. Unless my team can carry me, which doesn't feel much better than losing to be honest.

 

[dishwasher]

Okay weird, I had drifting happening for me, but then I realised that I was just letting my hands dip to one side or the other (usually the left), and straightening out my hands worked.

 

[swimmingknife]

Okay weird, I had drifting happening for me, but then I realised that I was just letting my hands dip to one side or the other (usually the left), and straightening out my hands worked.

I definitely considered that possibility, but even when I reset the camera and held my hands stock-still, my aim was still drifting.


I played some Salmon Run today and the issue happened again. This time it pulled to the right for about a minute or so, then switched directions and started drifting to the left instead. All in all it lasted for around three minutes, through both the first and second waves of the Run. I'm getting better at dealing with it now and I was able to do reasonably okay (having great team-mates helped), but at this rate I'm thinking I might just have to call Nintendo support and see if they can offer any solutions. I'm starting to suspect that I might just have got a dodgy controller.

 

[Ansible]

Heh heh, made a similar thread but it was with the joycons. Thanks for the heads up that I could also experience the problem with my new pro controller one day.

I say go ahead, put in a call, and look into getting your controller serviced!

 

[swimmingknife]

Heh heh, made a similar thread but it was with the joycons. Thanks for the heads up that I could also experience the problem with my new pro controller one day.

I say go ahead, put in a call, and look into getting your controller serviced!

I heard about all the problems people have been having with the joycons, though I was fortunate enough to avoid them myself. I wouldn't worry too much about your pro controller though. From what I'm hearing it seems to be a very rare issue, and even most of the people who did have it ended up finding fixes that just aren't working for me for some reason.

Unfortunately it's Saturday morning where I am right now, so I won't be able to call them until Monday. Though that might not be such a bad thing, because I just realised something I overlooked. I've been assuming up until now that it's the motion controls that have been causing the issue, but it's possible that it's actually an error with the right stick registering when I'm not using it. I just re-calibrated it, so I'll play a bit more over the weekend and see if the issue crops up again. At this point I'm still leaning more towards it being a faulty controller, but you never know.