The one thing that almost everyone a Nintendo Switch owner will tell you, is to get yourself a pro controller, you will not regret it, but they come in at £54.99. They are not cheap and not everyone can afford them when living costs are so much nowadays, food and keeping a roof over their heads come as a priority. But gaming is not a necessity its a privilege and sometimes cost should not be questioned.
So instead we go for third party controllers that come in somewhat cheaper, mainly because they don’t have the core branding on them (Nintendo), this means they do not have to pay for the IP rights. So for this review, I am taking a look at the new Snakebyte Game:Pad S Pro Wireless Controller which comes in at £34.99, £20 cheaper than purchasing the official controller. The question on my mind, is the controller worth it? let us find out.
I have actually seen these in my local electrical store, spoke to the staff as well regarding Nintendo Switch controllers, they never once mentioned anything when it came to third party controllers only upselling the Pro Controller. Based on what know, when I was working in GAME sometime ago, what salespeople recommend is normally what moms and dads purchase. I myself ignore sales patter and waffle and go for what I know, trust and plenty of reading online from the official sites.
This is why I chose to get myself this one, just from the front packaging its offers a wireless connection, Precision analogue sticks and dual vibration. On the back, there is nothing new to learn about the controller, same info with pictures this time.
The packaging is all good and the controller will arrive safe and sound if you are purchasing online to save money. Within the box you will get a note, telling you to update the controller, you do this through your PC/Laptop it is simple so nothing to really worry about. The instruction manual is basic and simple, and you will be reading it to learn how to access one of the controllers features, along with connection instructions.
For you, the viewer here is a nifty video on how to connect.
Once connected the controller will auto-connect just by clicking the home button, exactly like the official pro controller from Nintendo.
So now we get to the nitty-gritty, how does the controller perform, well rather well, analogue sticks work great, buttons all work as expected, but you want to know more right, I know I would so let us go deep and discuss some of the elements.
Design – Comparing the Snakebyte Game:Pad S Pro Wireless Controller with the official Nintendo Pro Controller
- The casing is more contoured compared to the pro controller, so you are able to feel every curve, but saying that it still feels good in the hand.
- Because of the design choices made by snakebyte, the ZL and ZR triggers do not feel great as they do not curve around with the controller, they have a tendency to stick out instead, on the other hand, both L & R buttons feel great.
- A, B, X and Y buttons offer a tactile bump when depressed, the pro controller offers a more subtle depress, smoother. you could say.
- The analogue sticks are placed like a PlayStation controller, so if you are a PlayStation gamer you will love the positioning. On the other hand, if you are like me and use the Joy-Cons with the supplied controller adapter, or an Xbox gamer you might not be that fussed.
- The controller offers dual vibration this is not the same as HDRumble, a turbo feature, so when your poor fingers get tired, you can let turbo do all the work for you. Turbo is easy to set up, just press the turbo button along with any other button apart from ZR and ZL.
As you now know the controller is missing HDRumble, there is also another missing feature motion control, which a lot of Switch owners enjoy for many of there games including me. Saying that I have mostly used the feature in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild it just makes aiming more intuitive and fun.
I would have like to have seen some sort of grip texture around where your hands grip the controller like the pro controller, why? well without them your hands slip and slide, it is worse when you get sweaty or greasy during those hot days of extreme gaming.
Design is done, how does it perform?
The snakebyte Game:Pad S Pro Wireless Controller connects up easily and stays connected. It works with every game, but you might find an issue when games require HDRumble or the more precise controls that come when using Motion Control, as an example 1 2 Switch. Games like Ni No Kuni, Dragon Quest XI, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Astral Chain and many many more games work well with the controller. I even found myself playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for a while and did not really miss the motion control feature.
So final thoughts, price vs design vs features, for £34.99. You lose HDRumble and Motion control, you do gain turbo mode when you want to be lazy, a nifty feature, but I never used. ZL and ZR feel out of place but you do get used to it. The lack of a grip texture is somewhat upsetting and should be added for a future update. The tactile buttons feel great to depress, much better than the pro controller ones, for me personally that is. The positioning of the analogue sticks did take some time getting used too, as I am NOT a PlayStation gamer, but if I had a choice I would 100% prefer the Xbox controller layout or the original joy-con layout.
If you want to purchase the controller head to amazon here
For more products from snakebyte head here
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