Summary
One immensely talented Nintendo fan recently went through the effort of creating a pair of customSwitchJoy-Cons themed afterRed Dead Redemption. Their impressive achievement surfaced online shortly afterRockstar portedRed Dead Redemptionto the Switch and PS4, and was likely inspired by that rerelease.
Joy-Con customization has been a popular pastime among crafty Switch owners for as long as Nintendo’s hit hybrid console has been available for purchase. Many such projects that were completed over the years used iconic franchises likeThe Legend of ZeldaandPokemonas inspiration for their custom Switch Joy-Con designs.
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The latest example of that trend comes from Reddit user GameTraderZero_Mods, who recently went through the effort ofcustomizing a pair of Switch Joy-Consin the style ofRed Dead Redemption. Their efforts yielded two distinctive controllers in a matte shade of red that’s just a touch darker than the classic Neon Red color used by Nintendo for its classic right Joy-Cons.
The left Joy-Con features a simple dirt-like pattern combined with several U.S. flag star shapes that’s been taken directly from theRed Dead Redemptionbox cover art. The same artwork inspired the look of the rightSwitchcontroller, which boasts a cleaner design with silhouettes of horse riders surrounding its analog stick. The same two figures can be seen in the upper-right corner of the game’s original box cover. Elaborating on the technique that produced this impressive pair of controllers, GameTraderZero_Mods revealed that they first finalized the design digitally before applying it to regular Joy-Con shells with a flatbed printer.
Flatbed—or UV—printers are specialized machines that use ultraviolet light to cure or polymerize level surfaces. They hence offer an effective method of printing on a wide variety of materials, including paper, plastic, wood, ceramic, and metal. The author of this original pair ofRed Dead Redemption-themed Joy-Cons did not reveal how much this design set them back, though it is plausible that the project was in the $50 ballpark. Namely, replacement Switch controller shells can be purchased for around $20 a pair all over the world, and the price of UV-printing two plastic objects the size of a Joy-Con is about the same.
This impressive customization project was presumably inspired by the Switch port ofRed Dead Redemption, which launched on August 17. The game received a polarizing reception from the fans, many of whom were hoping for a remaster instead of a mere rerelease. Between that and Rockstar’s decision to charge $49.99 for its 13-year-old action adventure, theRed Dead Redemptionports ultimately stirred enough pushback to even get review-bombed.
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