The Forgotten Nintendo Switch Joy-Con IR Feature Is Made For Select Games
Now and again, a post surfaces on social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter that asks a strange question: does the Nintendo Switch have a hidden camera, and if so, why is it on the Joy-Con? The answer, of course, is no; the Switch doesn't have a camera, at least not in the way you'd think. What users are spotting on the Joy-Con does look somewhat like a notch that would hide a webcam, and there is a camera behind the black rectangle, but it exists in the form of an infrared sensor.
The IR sensor is not designed to capture selfies or record videos, so don't get your hopes up; it's not the modern incarnation of the Nintendo 3DS camera. Instead, the little hardware module is a very nifty feature that can expand how players control their characters in games, but only if developers take advantage of it — and, unfortunately, few have cared about doing so. That's not to say that Switch owners are entirely without options.
Some games and apps use the Switch controller's IR motion camera
The "IR motion camera," as Nintendo calls it, is pretty obscure. Fans barely even noticed it, and it seems as if Nintendo forgot about it, too — the company says the Switch can't even verify whether the IR motion camera is functioning, meaning you have to buy a title that supports it and then hope the sensor works as expected. Some games take advantage of the tech, and a night vision camera app can use the tiny sensor as an actual (though subpar) camera.
The IR motion camera was used for the "1-2-Switch" game that launched in 2017 alongside the console, though it's little known today. Around a year later, "Nintendo Labo" utilized the IR sensor to make cardboard-based accessories work with the Joy-Cons. "Labo" is now defunct, and the IR sensor struggles for relevancy.
Despite Nintendo abandoning the few titles that use the sensor, some games take advantage of it — it's just difficult to figure out which ones, as the eShop doesn't offer the ability to filter for games with support for it. Instead, players have crowdsourced lists of titles, including "Surgeon Simulator," "Resident Evil Revelations," "Super Mario Odyssey," "Ring Fit Adventure," and "Mario Kart 8: Deluxe." Keep in mind that the last game — and select others — require the player to manually opt into using the motion control for it to work (via Nintendo).