Over the previous few years, I’ve had the pleasure of making an attempt out plenty of the 8BitDo controllers, a few of them had been designed to duplicate the look of the Tremendous Nintendo, others one thing else solely. Now, nonetheless, the group are again with what they consider to be their final controller, a lot in order that it’s referred to as the Final Controller. Having put it by its paces for the previous month, it definitely lives as much as its moniker.
Earlier than diving into the controller’s features, I would like to handle the shape as a result of, as with most {hardware}, in case you can’t maintain it or put on it, then the remainder issues not. By way of the design, in case you have a Swap Professional Controller, all the pieces will really feel fairly acquainted, however a number of issues separate it. Probably the most noticeable one is that the controller is extra box-shaped in comparison with the Swap controller; size-wise, it’s fairly related, but it surely doesn’t have any of these clean curves on the within. As an alternative, it’s extra just like the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller, with its arduous strains. The again of the controller includes a textured grip. Whereas not a rubber grip, it nonetheless gives loads of traction to your arms. Additionally situated on the again are the controller’s programmable rear buttons, which you’ll assign as a macro or one other button, very like the Xbox Elite Controller. Holding onto the controller is fairly cozy. The sharper strains on the entrance will solely be a problem in case you maintain the controller in a non-traditional means.
After all, holding the controller is one factor, however what in regards to the buttons? Are they good to press and simple to succeed in? Fortunately, the structure is identical because the Swap Professional Controller, and whereas the face buttons are a bit nearer, it nonetheless works. The D-Pad on the 8BitDo Final Controller is barely bigger than the Swap’s, making it a lot simpler to make use of for retro video games. The + and – buttons are within the place of the house and seize buttons, with these buttons now going vertical and beneath them is the perform button. These final variations will probably be what takes essentially the most to get used to. It took me a number of goes earlier than I obtained used to it, however as soon as I did, I had no points transferring ahead. The opposite button situated on the entrance of the controller is the profile switching one, which, because it suggests, helps you to swap between any profiles you’ll have arrange.
Now that now we have talked about the way it feels to carry and contact the buttons, it’s time to speak perform, does this truly work as a controller and truthfully, it does all the pieces I may need. One of many first video games that I put the controller by its paces with was Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and there was no points discovered. The subsequent sport that I put some critical time in with it was DOOM Everlasting each on Swap and PC and it labored completely throughout each variations of the sport, fortunately the comparability was in controls and never visuals. I additionally used it for my playtime with Bayonetta 3 and the speedy requirement of button inputs was dealt with with ease. I actually wished to present the sticks an actual check although, so I booted up GRID Autosport on the Swap and located that the sticks had been capable of choose up slight actions, which made for selecting the driving line fairly easy. Even a racing sport like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe felt higher than the Professional Controller and loads of that comes all the way down to the Corridor Impact Sensors which are used within the sticks. The fundamentals about them is that as a substitute of a bodily connection from the stick with the internals, they use magnets, which implies much less transferring components and fewer issues to interrupt. Now I received’t get too technical, however when utilizing the Swap Professional Controller, the PlayStation 5’s DualSense or the Xbox Collection X controller, there’s a slight delay between transferring the stick and it truly transferring, as a consequence of its bodily nature. There’s a little bit of bodily resistance for it as properly, however with the 8BitDo Final Controller, there may be none of that, you pull the stick within the path you need and it goes, with no resistance in any respect.
One of many parts that every one 3rd social gathering controllers miss, even 8BitDo choices, are the distinctive features for the Swap, amiibo scanning, HD Rumble and having the ability to wake the console from sleep. Whereas the primary two of these are nonetheless not current right here, HD Rumble being a Nintendo proprietary factor and amiibo being a licencing challenge, the controller does allow you to wake the Swap up, however its kind of bizarre in the way it does that. Usually with any official Nintendo choice, you simply must press the House button and the controller activates and wakes up the Swap, easy stuff, right here although you press the guts button, the 8BitDo residence button after which you must shake the controller. You don’t have to shake it like you’re dancing with it, only a gentle shake is all it takes, however it’s unquestionably the strangest solution to get up a console ever. The truth that it took me weeks to find that and it was through a random Reddit submit although, simply proves how distinctive that methodology is, however hey no extra having to manually get up the Swap when docked first, with a purpose to use a 3rd social gathering controller.
The rationale why the 8BitDo controllers are so versatile although, is that they work on greater than only one platform, you purchase a Swap Professional Controller and whereas sure, it might probably work on a PC, it’s not designed by Nintendo to try this. On the again of the Final Controller there’s a toggle that goes from Bluetooth to 2.4GHz, but when your pc gives Bluetooth you don’t have to make that change. Prior to now, when you’ve got had controllers that solely work with one connection sort, ala Bluetooth, connecting them to a pc normally requires a wire, fortunately that’s not the case right here, as included with every of them is a USB dongle. The dongle helps you to join the controller wirelessly, but it surely additionally helps you to join your PlayStation or Xbox controller to your Swap. One thing that’s sort of cool is that the dongle lives contained in the charging dock, however you don’t have to take away it to make use of it, if join the dock to your PC for energy to cost the controller, then when you toggle that swap to the two.4GHz mode, it’s going to join and you’re in your means. All the identical features are included, so the expertise is identical and you may have customized profiles on the controller for every mode, letting you actually set issues up the way in which you want.
With all that good although, we have to speak in regards to the few points that I’ve with it the controller, they’re minor points although, which is an efficient factor. The principle one considerations the shoulder buttons, on the Swap Professional Controller they’re lengthy and kind of reside underneath my whole finger, however right here they’re brief. They really remind me extra of the PlayStation type of shoulder button, which isn’t factor in my eyes, however your milage could differ. The opposite challenge is the software program for creating profiles, tweaking sticks and so forth, whereas the software program is on the market in your cell phone, Home windows PC and Xbox console, I may by no means get it to work on something however the cellular. This could possibly be because of the controller not being out but and due to this fact the desktop/xbox software program could not help it, however nonetheless it’s a bizarre factor for it to work on one, however not all.
Total, in case you are seeking to substitute your Professional Controller, or simply get a second controller to your Swap, then that is one controller that’s simply the perfect round. The battery life clocks in round 40 hours or so, so not fairly as a lot because the Professional Controller, however it’s cheaper and sure, whereas it doesn’t provide HD Rumble or amiibo help, given that almost all video games on Swap don’t provide help for both, its not a giant loss. The controller feels barely smaller in my hand than the Professional Controller, so it would simply be higher for these with smaller arms, however it isn’t a micro controller, so it’s going to nonetheless work for these with bigger ones. The flexibility throughout platforms, coupled with the programable nature of the controller implies that it ought to accommodate any state of affairs that you would end up in, gaming clever after all.
The 8BitDo Final Controller is due out later this yr right here in Australia, when it goes on sale we’ll let you realize.
