Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo’s mysterious ‘C’ button is for online game chat — with a camera too

The mysterious “C” button on the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 system is to open online game chat with family or friends.

The game chat uses a built-in mic on the Switch 2 to record your voice, and you can attach an optional camera to the system to insert your face and expressions into the compatible games.

The system can recognize your own voice and filter out background noise if someone else is being loud in the same room.

With the camera, you can insert your video image (with somewhat crude but recognizable imagery) into the game as you play it with friends.

In Super Mario Party Jamboree, up to four people in the same room can join with a single camera.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.