Image credit: Eurogamer

Earlier this year, Pokopia convinced me that the Switch 2's gimmicky mouse controls were a worthwhile addition to the console, after all. Since then, I've been trying out other games with the mouse as my primary method of control. My favourites, before I picked up Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, were Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening and Balatro. There's just something more satisfying about clicking to select units, or dragging and dropping cards, than there is using the D-pad.

So when I got a preview build of Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, I instantly gave the mouse controls a go. The series - which has been going since 1990, making it older than me, by the way - has always been a 'console game'. Even handheld on the Game Boy and so on, its grid-based systems leant themselves to the locked directional inputs enforced by the D-pad. As the series evolved, moved to 3D, and started to become more complex, we started being able to pan around with analogue sticks and float cameras closer towards our units, providing a more 'boots on the ground' view of the eternal skirmishes that have come to define the series.

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So, the way I see it, mouse controls are a natural progression. And they're brilliant. Within about 10 minutes, scrolling through menus, clicking to tab through info panes, and moving the right mouse JoyCon around to pull the camera this way and that felt natural - like it had been in the series for years. It takes a little bit of getting used to, sure (if you're anything like me, the JoyCon feel a bit small for your hands), but after even the tutorial missions in the game, you'll be dragging and clicking freely.

Does it make that much of a difference to how the game works and plays? No, not really. But I think that's a victory for developer Intelligent Systems - it managed to patch in a new feature without it feeling clunky or weird, making it seem like it's been a part of Fire Emblem DNA since the very beginning. My favourite place to use the mouse system is, predictably, in battle - being able to select a unit from the chess-like grid, see where their attacks and movement options can reach to, and simply hover over another unit and check back quickly is more intuitive and better for snap-comparisons and decision-making than having to cycle through all of your deployed units with the shoulder buttons.

The mouse always wins. | Image credit: Eurogamer

That doesn't sound like too big a deal, but let me tell you: it can be transformational. On the Hard difficulty (this game only ships with two, a la Three Houses… maybe we'll get Maddening at a later date?), the AI is pretty canny and brutal. There have been multiple encounters where I need to make absolutely certain I kill a bowman, say, in a turn, otherwise my pegasus-mounted unit is 100% going to die. On pad, I will cycle back and forth between my units calculating odds and figuring out min/max viability for a certain move… but my brain can only hold so much information at one time. Hovering over units and using the mouse to assess and compare makes all the strategising feel far more intuitive, with all the information you're taking in map more reliably onto the battlefield revealing itself before you. It makes me feel smarter to play like this.

The ability to use the mouse controls has also affected the way I play. Don't tell my editor-in-chief (sorry Chris), but when I was researching the game ahead of writing my preview, I had my Switch 2 laid out on my desk, with the two JoyCon mice laid out next to my keyboard. In between writing and waiting for an edit to come in, I could hop over to my Switch 2, click around one of the lengthier story battles, and immediately pivot back to my keyboard after. I fear it's unlocked a worrisome compartmentalisation in my brain: using the Switch 2 mice feels a bit like work… but that means I can pick up/put down the game without interrupting my flow. It's an… interesting development.

Image credit: Eurogamer

Different folks have different strokes, I know that. And I can predict some people will see this headline, read this piece and think "what are you talking about". That's fine. But the more options there are, the better for all - from a freedom of choice and accessibility point-of-view. I have even set up a little side table near my sofa so I can dock my Switch 2 and use the mice when I'm playing on the TV now. Turns out sometimes (forgive me), a new control scheme just clicks.