Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Review - Rerez

We just finished our Nintendo Switch console review and let me tell you that was a tough console to review because it’s just so unlike any other system we've looked at in the past. But that console has one additional accessory that I decided to make an entire video on by itself because I think it's worth your time especially if you bought a Nintendo Switch. Let's take a look at the Nintendo Switch Pro controller. Now before we begin let's address the elephant in the room. This controller is pretty expensive. It costs more than a regular Xbox One controller or regular PlayStation 4 controller. In fact it even costs more than most of the games released on the Nintendo Switch which is pretty remarkable but let's keep this in mind. I think that this controller is important to buy especially if you've bought a Nintendo Switch because I think the Nintendo Switch Pro controller is better than the left and right Joy-Con. And though it isn't perfect it does offer something that the left and right Joy-Con simply don't offer, the directional pad. A mainstay feature of every Nintendo console since the original NES and to see it not get included with the Switch at least with the stock controllers of the left and right Joy-Con well that was pretty shocking to me.

Now I know a lot of people out there are probably going to say something like the left and right Joy-Con need the same layout otherwise people couldn't use them as individual controllers. Well yeah that's true but that's only true because Nintendo designed it that way. If the Nintendo Switch was just a portable system with the controllers actually built into the unit itself well we could have had a system that was sold to us bundled with this amazing Switch Pro controller. But we didn't get that because we needed two individual motion controllers instead which I think was a mistake. When you use the left and right Joy-Con in the Joy-Con grip one problem I've had is the way that the buttons are laid out. Everything is laid out completely vertically on the left and right side of the controller and for me that just isn't a great way to hold a controller because naturally that's not where your thumbs want to go. Your thumbs have to be elevated up and then down in order to hit all the buttons you need to hit. But with the Pro controller the buttons are kind of fanned out in a way that's like a quarter circle and that's exactly the kind of direction that you would move your thumb and it's far more comfortable to hold a controller and use buttons that are in this layout. And personally I think it completely surpasses the way that the left and right Joy-Con are laid out. Although I will say this just in case Nintendo wants to invent a new grip for the Joy-Con just make sure that the next time you make one of these things make sure the Joy-Con both left and right come into the controller more in a V-shape. That way you'll get that exact same fanned out design and it's a lot more comfortable to use. I played a ton of Nintendo Switch games utilizing a whole bunch of different setups with the Joy-Con and no matter what game it was that I played that game always felt better with the Switch Pro controller as long as the game actually utilized the Switch Pro controller. There's certain games out there that don't have controller support which are pretty surprising. Why certain games use it and certain games don't is kind of confusing to me. Even games you might assume would actually utilize it. For some reason if you are playing a game with the Pro controller then you switch to a game that doesn't actually have this controller support it will hard power off the controller and you simply can't turn it back on. Meaning that if you accidentally start a game that you weren't prepared to start or a game you just assumed had Pro controller support well the controller turns off and you have to stand up, go to your Switch, take out the Joy-Con, connect them and then turn the game off and go play another game that utilizes the Pro controller. I really didn't like when that happened.

Now unfortunately despite the fact I really do like D-pads this one here is the worst D-pad that Nintendo has ever utilized and I don't really understand why that happened. Over the years Nintendo has made some of the best D-pads in any controller ever made but one of the things that they've always done is there's a little pivot or something in the center of the D-pad that prevents you from pushing the entire D-pad in like it's a button. Because if you did that you’re basically pushing up, down, left and right at the exact same time. That's what this controller has. This isn't just a D-pad it's one full button that doesn't have the pivot in the center meaning that if you were to push left and right really quick there is a chance that the controller doesn't register that movement properly. I'm not quite certain why that happened but there it is and this is the final design. I didn't get this sent in to me I went to the store and bought this. So if you've got one of these at home you may well have the exact same problem I've got with this one. Now if you're afraid about the Pro controller losing a couple features like let's say NFC reader support well you don't have to worry about that. There's one built-in right here just underneath the logo. All you have to do is take an Amiibo place it right on there and it reads pretty fast. It works just like you're using one of the left or right Joy-Con although I think it's just the left Joy-Con that has the actual NFC reader and the right one has that motion sensing thing so you can eat an invisible sandwich. Because we needed a game that did that apparently. Now yes you do lose that IR motion camera on the bottom of the right joy con and sure fine look I guess at some point maybe some game developers are actually going to use that but I just don't see that happening. But the controller does include a gyroscope for motion control games, basic ones where you tilt the controller around and stuff like that. Once again I don't know how many game developers are actually going to be utilizing this thing because the PlayStation 4 has the exact same tech in it and I've rarely seen any game developer actually make use of it. But when it is used it's kind of a nice little gimmick. But a gimmick is exactly what it is and I know there's a bunch of Splatoon fans out there that completely stand by the motion controls in that game. Although I've never been a fan of them personally I have played Splatoon 2 at an event with this exact same controller and yes it works really well in that game with motion controls. So for those people that want this kind of controller for Splatoon 2 well I think it might be the controller to own.

The first thing I thought about when I saw this controller was cool now I can play GameCube games on the Switch. When GameCube games eventually get released on the Switch with Virtual Console. But then while looking at the controller a little bit closer I realized that probably isn't going to happen or at least if it does they're going to have to modify the game slightly. One of the things you'll have on a GameCube controller are triggers that actually register how much input you're putting in by a little bit and at the very end there's a little snap that tells you you've pushed the button in all the way. But with this well that's just a button. So games like Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes which actually utilize that pressure sensitivity well without it the game can't work. You would just quickly jump and fire and with a controller like that you can't replicate this kind of stuff so unfortunately I think they're going to have to modify games on the GameCube to work on the Switch. If they're going to even release them at all. The battery on this thing lasts for a really, really long time. I've waited about two or three days of intense gaming and I still haven't had to charge it and I think I can go for a couple days more. Obviously you're not going to be sitting there for the whole 40 hour battery life and just playing games the entire way through but it's really nice to have a battery in the controller that just lasts for as long as it does. The Pro controller definitely weighs a lot more than the left and right Joy-Con but one of the reasons why I think that might be a bad thing really isn't because I think it weighs too much. In fact I kind of prefer a controller that has a little bit more weight to it. I feel that the way that they actually did the vibration technology in this controller kind of harms it because of the weight. See there's a lot more mechanics in here, a lot more pieces, and because of that a vibrating motor of some sort has to work a lot harder to shake the controller. That's something you don't really have a problem with using the left and right Joy-Con because they're just so light the vibration that comes out of them is far more pronounced. In fact whenever I played Fast RMX in handheld mode the entire system just shook really well in my hands. But when you play that exact same game with the Pro controller the vibrations are far less impactful and that's kind of an issue especially if you want those really hard vibrations coming out of your controller. Personally though I just didn't care enough. Yes the vibrations aren't as strong as they are on the left and right Joy-Con but because this controller just feels so much better than left and right Joy-Con by themselves well I just preferred it this way. Yes HD vibration is really cool when done right but to be honest I care more about the way the games actually controlled than the way that the controller shakes.

So should you buy a Nintendo Switch Pro controller? Well if you don't have a Nintendo Switch no you don't need one but if you do this is a controller to get. It's really good and far superior to the left and right Joy-Con and the Joy-Con in the Joy-Con grip. This controller here feels better in the hands, the batteries lasted way longer and if you were to play Zelda utilizing this controller and not the ones that actually came with the system you're going to get a far better and honestly a far more enjoyable Zelda experience. And if you bought a Nintendo Switch I imagine Zelda is one of the big reasons why you bought the console in the first place.

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