Ever get tired of spinning your JoyCon thumbstick endlessly to evolve Milcery into Alcremie in Pokémon Sword and Shield? Or get bored riding your Rotom bike in circles to speed up egg hatching? You can create a special Pokéball that is a programmable macro controller for your Nintendo Switch that'll do it for you!

Anything from a simple turbo button mode to a complex macro with multiple buttons and precise timing is possible, thanks to a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 microcontroller (or our own KB2040 Kee Boar) and the excellent GP2040-CE firmware.

You'll create your specific macro with the simple web-based editor, and trigger the action just by plugging the Pokéball into the Switch!

Not a Pokémon shiny hunter? No problem, you can also use these techniques to assist with difficult button combos in Street Fighter or tricky timing of hat jumps in Mario Odyssey and beyond.

Parts

Angled shot of a skinny green microcontroller with headers.
The Raspberry Pi foundation changed single-board computing when they released the Raspberry Pi computer, now they're...
$5.00
In Stock

or a KB2040

Angled shot of short black microcontroller.
A wild Kee Boar appears! It’s a shiny KB2040! An Arduino Pro Micro-shaped board for Keebs with RP2040. (#keeblife 4 evah) A lot of folks like using Adafruit...
$8.95
In Stock
Angled shot of Premium Female/Female Jumper Wires - 20 x 3 (75mm)
These female-female premium jumper wires are handy for making wire harnesses or jumpering between headers on PCB's. They're 3" (75mm) long and come in a...
$1.95
In Stock
Scattered pile of Jumper Shunts with Handles
Are you looking to jumper two neighboring male headers (2.54mm apart) without the hassle of maneuvering and re-maneuvering wires? Well then you've jumped to the right...
$0.95
In Stock
USB C to Micro B Cable. 1ft 0.3 meters.
As technology changes and adapts, so does Adafruit! Rather than the regular USB A, this cable has USB C to Micro B plugs!USB C is the latest...
$2.95
In Stock

Alternatively, you can use a switched cable and a USB-A socket to USB-C plug adapter so that you can enable the Pokéball macro at the flip of a switch.

USB Type C Cable with Data/Charge Switch
Perhaps your smart phone, tablet, or even your Raspberry Pi 4, charges off of USB, but can you really trust that charging station at the airport? Now you can control when to allow...
$4.95
In Stock
Angled shot of single back keycap with Adafruit logo plugged via a USB adapter into a laptop. Blue light glows through the keycap.
If you've got a computer or laptop with a USB C port, but you're itching to use one of our fancy new...
$0.95
In Stock

Pokéball

You'll need a Pokéball of about 3" diameter that can be opened to house the microcontroller. The one shown was one my son got me at shop in Little Tokyo. Another option is to 3D print one of the many models available on Thingiverse or other model sharing sites.

This guide was first published on Nov 06, 2023. It was last updated on Nov 07, 2023.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Nov 07, 2023.

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