Steam Deck meets Joy-Con in wild Valve x Nintendo mashup mod

One modder on Reddit just gave new life to a broken Steam Deck (curr. $640 on Amazon for the OLED variant), and the result looks like something straight out of a Valve x Nintendo crossover. Dubbed the Steam Switch 2, the custom handheld uses a pair of real Joy-Cons in place of the original Steam Deck controls, wrapped in a 3D-printed body and powered by a repurposed motherboard.

The creator, u/Kanjo19, shared photos of the finished project on Reddit, showing the Steam Switch 2 side by side with an OLED Steam Deck for size comparison. According to the post, this build started as a workaround after u/Kanjo19 picked up a damaged Steam Deck and decided to turn it into something new following the Switch 2 announcement. Six or seven prototype prints later, they landed on this current version.

The Joy-Cons pair over Bluetooth, so no soldering or firmware tweaks are needed. It’s "surprisingly easy to connect," the modder says, though charging is still being figured out. They have already removed the connector chip from a third-party Joy-Con grip and are working on routing 5V power from the Deck’s motherboard to create a proper internal charging solution.

Functionally, it’s closer to a Steam-powered Switch than a Frankenstein. Joy-Cons can reportedly be synced as a single controller through the Deck’s settings, and there's a plan to upgrade the sticks with Hall effect sensors to avoid drift.

It’s not the slimmest handheld around, but that’s not the point. For something that started with a cracked screen and a dead controller board, the Steam Switch 2 is a clever and pretty polished build. u/Kanjo19 does plan to refine the design further and might even share the files later, so others can try it too.