Using the Nintendo Switch JoyCon for Minecraft on MacOS

Lately I have been wanting to play Minecraft again - however currently I only have a MacBook without any external mouse. Playing Minecraft with the trackpad is quite a hassle so I thought that maybe I could just use the JoyCon from the Switch? Turns out I can! Here is the step by step manual on how it can be set up:

Install NeoForge

  1. Go to https://neoforged.net/ and download the latest version of NeoForge
  2. Double click the downloaded jar file - a warning will show, click OK
  3. Go to System Settings → Privacy and Security → scroll down and allow the execution of the downloaded jar file
  4. Follow the steps to install NeoForge

Install Controllable1

  1. Go to https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/controllable/files and download the latest file for NeoForge
  2. Go to https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/framework/files and download the latest file for NeoForge
  3. Open the Minecraft Launcher
  4. Open the installation folder for NeoForge
  5. Create a new folder mods and move the two downloaded jar files there

Connect the Controller

MacOS supports connecting to the JoyCons natively, so simply pair them using Bluetooth.

Done!

Sources and Annotations

Footnotes

  1. とみぞー@Game (2023). マイクラ｜Mac のマイクラ（Java版）でコントローラーを使う方法【M1/M2/Intel PC対応】. note. https://note.com/to3izo_game/n/nf235d07837fc ↩