Just like the Swap 1 earlier than it, the Swap 2 will little question play host to dozens of third-party controllers over the course of its (hopefully) lengthy lifespan. First out of the gate is PowerA with its Benefit Wired Controller, which I obtained in a slightly jovial Mario Time theme. It’s also possible to get a Mushroom Kingdom themed variant together with a normal black design – y’know, in case you’re boring (joking!).
Boasting an analogous format to Nintendo’s official Professional Controller, the Benefit pad options offset analogue sticks, two mappable ‘AGL’ and ‘AGR’ buttons on the bottom, and a useful headphone jack on the underside. Actually, the one main change when it comes to format is the location of the beginning, choose, dwelling, GameChat, and seize buttons, that are all housed beneath the d-pad and proper analogue stick.
To be trustworthy, this alone was sufficient to throw me off my sport; I’d typically go to succeed in towards the centre of the pad to hit the house button, miss, and as an alternative give the picture of Mario a very good ol’ fondle (Sorry, Mario) earlier than realising the house button is definitely down towards the underside.
Having all of those buttons gathered collectively in a single place is handy in a manner, and it does permit the art work to actually shine in case you go for one of many themed variants, nevertheless it undoubtedly performs havoc with about thirty years’ value of muscle reminiscence during which controllers at the least housed the beginning and choose buttons within the centre. Why repair what isn’t damaged, y’know?
As for these mappable buttons on the again, these don’t perform just like the ‘GL’ and ‘GR’ buttons on the Professional Controller. Nicely, they do, however you possibly can’t assign inputs to them fairly as simply. With Nintendo’s personal providing, you possibly can merely maintain down the house button and assign inputs by way of the fast settings menu, however that isn’t out there for PowerA’s controller.
As a substitute, it is advisable to maintain down the extra ‘PRGM’ button on the again till the LED gentle on the underside turns darkish blue. Then, you hit the button you wish to remap after which assign it to both ‘AGL’ or ‘AGR’. It’s fairly manageable in observe and gained’t take lengthy to determine after your first couple of goes, however it could’ve been good if it supported fast remaps by way of the settings menu just like the Professional Controller.
When it comes to construct high quality, that is very a lot a price range controller, so it’s extremely gentle at simply 143g. For comparability, the Professional Controller is 235g, the GameCube controller is 210g, and 8bitdo’s Final 2C Controller can be 235g. Mixed with the necessary wired setup, the light-weight design makes prolonged gaming periods an absolute breeze – no want to fret about discomfort or lack of battery life in any respect.
On the flip facet, it’s… effectively, too gentle; to the purpose the place it comes off as being fairly low cost. It appears like there’s barely something contained in the gadget, and you’ll inform by simply tapping on the outside together with your finger: it sounds very hole. That is exacerbated by the buttons, all of which give off very loud ‘clicks’ when pressed.
The worst of those are these aforementioned again buttons, which when pressed, sound like they’re reverberating all through the inside of the controller.
Wanting on the analogue sticks in a bit extra element, I don’t have an important deal to complain about right here. They’re completely clean and purposeful, with first rate journey and good grip. Once more, they sound fairly loud when hitting the casing on the skin, which you’ll undoubtedly discover in case you’ve been utilizing the Swap 2’s official Professional Controller, however in any other case, they’re good.
I can’t say the identical for the d-pad, although. It’s barely thicker and extra rounded than Nintendo’s personal providing, and it feels weirdly spongy when pressed. For sure, this makes extra exact inputs a bit tricker on some retro video games, and I wouldn’t even think about using it on Avenue Fighter 6.
All in all, this isn’t a controller I’d suggest in case you’re after a day by day driver for the Swap 2. Your greatest choices for the time being are Nintendo’s personal Pleasure-Con 2 or Professional Controller. That mentioned, in case you’re after one thing low cost and cheerful for the participant two in your life, it is a completely ample choice for you. Sure, it might really feel a bit too gentle for some, the dearth of rumble and movement management assist is irritating, and the wired setup certain is not for everyone, nevertheless it’ll turn out to be useful in a pinch in case you’re in search of some native multiplayer enjoyable.
The pattern used on this assessment was equipped by PowerA.
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