The patent was discovered and posted by a NeoGAF user and as you can see, this does not look like your typical controller. In fact according to Nintendo’s patent, they are referring to it as a “Training Implement, Training System, and Input Device”, although from how we interpret the design, we reckon it could pass off as a steering wheel gaming controller.
Some users have likened this design to an Xbox 360 steering wheel controller from a few years ago so we guess we can see some resemblance. It also looks like there might be sensors built into the hardware which makes sense if they do plan to use it as a steering wheel, which we reckon would be great for games like Mario Kart.
In any case it is just a patent and as we all know, not every patent becomes an actual product, and given that we have seen other controller patents from Nintendo in the past, it is not necessarily an indication of what’s to come.