We’re the lucky ones on the Switch. Just Dance allows us to get straight into the groove of things by letting us use our Joy-Cons. To play the 2022 version on either Xbox Series X, Series S, or PlayStation 5, however, you need to download an app on your phone.
Alright, that’s not really a lot of extra hassle, is it? But there’s something about motion controls and the Joy-Cons that make it way more fun to play with compared to just downloading an app. You can’t even use the Kinect sensor or anything to play it on your shiny new Xbox (you can on the Xbox One, though).
Luckily, Reddit used redphx has created a tool that lets dancers use their Joy-Cons on whatever console they want. Thanks to our sister site Pure Xbox for discovering this!
Called JoyDance, this is a pretty technical piece of kit that takes a bit of reading to get set up. Essentially, the tool pretends to be the Just Dance Controller app and it senses your Joy-Cons movements and sends them to the game console.
To ensure it works perfectly, redphx’s code requires:
- PC/Mac/Linux with bluetooth support.
- Python 3.7+ and pip installed.
- 1 to 6 Joy-Cons.
- It’s RECOMMENDED to:
- Use a Bluetooth dongle, because built-in Bluetooth sucks (or you will get disconnected constantly while playing). Make sure you buy a dongle with game controller support, not just for audio devices. Not all dongles support Mac/Linux, so remember to check compatibility before buying.
- Use a Nintendo Switch to update Joy-Con to the latest firmware & calibrate its motion sensors. Ask your friends or bring it to the game shop if you don’t have one.
The tool has only been tested on an Xbox Series S and Switch (just in case you want to have fun) in the last few years, but users have reported that it’s extremely accurate with no latency issues.
You can check out the detailed code and instructions, and download the tool yourself on GitHub. And even if you don’t have Just Dance, it’s just amazing to see the amount of time and effort fans make in order to create interesting gimmicks for the games they play. Perhaps someone could get a camera to work with the Switch, now?
Let us know what you think of this in the comments.
