I had the 8bitduo Ultimate and I loved it, though it was a little awkward to hold at first as I was more used to the slanted handle design of an Xbox controller. Unfortunately, I think I must have left it somewhere in public leading to it being stolen, as I haven’t seen it in a few months in spite of constantly looking for it. (Fucking ADHD, man) I was also already in the market for a second one as I have a younger sibling who enjoys playing with me, and her current controller isn’t winning any awards (powerA). I also wouldn’t mind something more comfortable to use in handheld mode. I had a Hori Split Pad pro, but I did not like it at all. The controllers felt cheap and hollow, they drained the switch’s already poor battery life even faster, and one half quit working after like a month.
With that out of the way, I’ve looked at a few options:
I could get another 8bitduo Ultimate, and I definitely might, but I’m curious if there are other, more comfortable options available.
I’ve looked at the Gulikit King Kong 2 (and 2 pro) controllers, and they seem great on paper, but I’ve read a lot of reviews claiming they’re prone to hardware failure in some form or another.
Lastly, I’ve seen a lot on the Nyxi Wizard. It’s newer, so I don’t know that there’s any long-term reviews available, and I don’t know how comfortable the GameCube layout is for most games, but I’ve read that in terms of quality it seems great, plus it has the benefit of being a joycon substitute.
Last lastly: Another thing I want to consider is whether I should get a joycon substitute, or get a console mount for a pro controller. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Fixture S2 (i have an OLED) but I’ve also read that it tends to break with extended use.
Out of curiosity, why not go with ProController? I have my share of issues with JoyCon, but I love Pro Controller.
It’s also on my list of considerations, I just completely forgot to include it lol
In that case, I vote for Pro Controller, but I haven’t used any 3rd party controllers, so I might be biased.
For the Switch, it has to be either their own Pro Controller, or IMO that very 8bitdo Ultimate. The latter has the upside that you can also use it on PCs, on the downside its vibration is significantly worse than the Nintendo one.
Everything else I’ve tried, Hori, Gulikit, they’ve all been disappointing by comparison to those two.
You can use the switch pro controller on PC
I have a friend who has the 8bitdo classic and the ultimate and I own the official nintendo pro controller. So I had the chance to try all 3. I might be biased because it was a big purchase for me but the official pro controller is my preferred controller out of all controllers I could try. I rank it higher than:
- Xbox one
- 360
- dualshock 1 2 3 4
- PowerA
- 8bitdo classic (the one that looks like a NES pad)
(I tried all of the above)
I thought the Hori were terrible on a bunch of levels. They felt cheap everywhere, were stupid loose on the rails, the sticks were barely better than the joycons, the buttons were worse. Free would have been overpriced.
I use and like Binbok’s bigger one that’s a similar shape though. It’s still not the quality of a PS/Xbox controller, but it’s a lot less bad than the joycon or Hori.
I’m chiming in with another vote for Nintendo’s own Pro controller; I find it very comfortable
I actually really like the PowerA one. Cheap by comparison and feels really good. (To me at least)
Sorry for the long post, it’s 5am and I can’t sleep
Consider the KK3pro max (which I left feedback on in another comment), or the Flydigi Vader 3 Pro, but be careful of quality control issues (you’ll have to carefully test third party controllers during the return period to make sure everything works no matter what).
