Vertical Switch Grip That Lets You Play Ikaruga the Right Way is Now on Kickstarter

Disclosure: Jeremy Parish is the former Editor-in-Chief of USgamer and current host of the Retronauts podcast. You can review USgamer's Code of Conduct here.

There are a couple games out now on the Nintendo Switch that can be played by flipping your screen into the vertical position. Games like Punch-out, Donkey Kong, and Ikaruga can all be best enjoyed this way. The only problem is the Switch doesn't really stand on its own in that position. Until that is Fangamer and Jeremy Parish designed this custom vertical grip for the Switch.

The vertical Switch grip, officially called the Flip Grip, was designed by Fangamer in collaboration with the Retronauts podcast. The grip is meant to accommodate the growing number of games on the Switch that support vertical orientation like Ikaruga and dozens of other games.

Designed by Fangamer engineer Mike Choi, the final design of the Flip Grip is a simple, injection-molded grip that holds the Switch screen securely. A release tab on the back will help you remove the Switch screen from the grip.

In a press release, Parish says that the project was inspired by Namco Museum on Switch. The games in that collection originally featured vertical screen orientations, and playing the game in portrait mode minimized "wasted screen space and pixel information."

The project is live on Kickstarter now. As more games support traditional, arcade-like orientations on the Switch's unique screen perhaps even more games will become compatible with this grip.