The C button sticks out like a sore thumb on Switch 2 controllers if you rarely touch the social gaming features it’s tied to. That’s why I was quick to remap it to something more useful, and you can, too.
Why I Remapped the C Button
The intended functionality of the C button is to openGameChat, the Switch 2’s Discord-like voice chat service. If you’re on a call, it’s a great way to manage the room or toggle settings like the camera and screen sharing. You’d otherwise need to exit your game and select GameChat from the home menu to access these features.
At the time of writing, GameChat iscurrently in a free trial periodfor all Switch 2 owners until March 31st, 2026.
As someone who rarely games socially, I was pleased to discover that Nintendo lets users remap the C button to mimic any other input on the controller. Its placement on the bottom of the Joy-Con 2 makes it a poor fit for action-based commands, but perfect for opening menus or as an alternative to a joystick click. It can also become a second home button or turned off entirely to counteract mis-presses. Also, if you use a Switch 2 Pro Controller, there’s a lot of potential for remapping it for games that heavily use the D-pad given that it’s positioned next to it.
Since you may set up to five remap profiles—which can be accessed via the quick settings sidebar—you can easily swap between functions based on a game’s needs. You can also easily revert its function back to opening GameChat with this method.
How to Remap the C Button
Remapping the C button is easy once you know where to look. Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough to get you set up, including a toggle you must ensure to turn on.
From the Switch’s home menu, navigate to the gear icon on the bottom bar to access the System Settings menu. Next, scroll down on the left panel until the Accessibility tab is highlighted. This should bring up a menu in the right panel where the “Button Mapping” feature resides (currently, it’s the top option).
Click “Button Mapping” to bring up a new menu. Any linked controllers will appear in the left panel of this menu, with an image of the controller in the right panel visualizing any existing remaps. For the purposes of remapping the C button, navigate to a controller that has one (such as the orange-accented right Joy-Con 2) and click the “Edit Controller Mapping” option in the right panel. This is where you’ll remap the C button.
Click the bubble next to the C button and choose your desired function from the scrolling list. Once you’ve chosen a new function for the C button, back out to the previous menu and scroll down to “Save as a Preset.” You can have up to five button layouts saved at any time, making it easy to swap between them while preventing the minor headache of needing to go through the mapping process again.
There’s one thing left to do, and it’s an important one. Back out to the Accessibility tab in the System Settings menu once more and toggle on the “Button Mapping in Quick Settings” switch. This will add a shortcut to remapping to the quick access sidebar that appears when you hold down the home button. Now, you can swap between profiles or create new ones without having to leave your game.
If you’ve performed this correctly, not only will the C button now mirror your input of choice, but you’ll also see a wrench icon next to the controller on the bottom left of the home screen. Now go enjoy your GameChat-free gaming!
I Hope Nintendo Takes Customization Further
I’m impressed with how easy and convenient the button remapping functionality is, so kudos to Nintendo there. There’s still room to make this feature more robust, though.
For one, I’d love to be able to set simple macros that would give the C button a unique function. This would be great for opening menus that require a combination of button presses, or for pressing both triggers to bring up the settings menu within Nintendo Switch Online emulators.
I’d also love the option to have the console automatically swap between profiles depending on what game is running. This functionality is already present withback paddle mapping, so it would likely be easy to implement. If Nintendo really wanted to go all the way, the C button could be listed alongside the back paddles in the quick access sidebar as a per-game re-mappable button.
The more customization that Nintendo can offer, the better. However, I’m already quite pleased that I’m now able to use a button that was otherwise dead to me. This clears upone of my greatest fears about the C button.
