Alongside the earth-shattering appearance of the Nintendo Switch 2, there has come a bevy of new peripherals. Nintendo’s submissions have included the new Nintendo Switch 2 Camera, alongside a brand new iteration of their Pro Controller, for those that think sticking two Joy-Con into a hand grip is beneath them. Or maybe, they just want to play multiplayer?
The first thing that hits you about the Switch 2 Pro Controller – henceforth the Pro Controller 2 – is the quality of the soft touch plastics Nintendo have used. The surface feels genuinely lovely, perfectly smooth and supple under your palms and a match for the feel of the Switch 2 and Joy-Con 2 themselves. The downside of that is that there are no textured sections or grips, so there’s a higher chance if your hands are of the sweatier persuasion that they’re going to start sliding about. Personally, I’ve had no problems through a heap of Fast Fusion and Cyberpunk 2077, but, well, you know your own hands.
The Pro Controller 2 is relatively plain, with black used through the main body, with a light grey panel across the top for the shoulder buttons and beneath the sticks. I don’t really like the two-tone look, if I’m honest, but when you’re playing you can’t see the white section at all, so I guess it doesn’t matter all that much.
The Pro Controller 2, like its predecessor, is here to make your Switch 2 gameplay feel a bit more familiar, aping the Xbox controller’s layout and giving you an experience that is closer to the other console manufacturers. Ergonomically, it’s similar to the original Switch Pro Controller, and I still think that’s amongst the most comfortable controllers out there, so we’ll take that as a win.
The Pro Controller 2 is ever-so-slightly less wide, though, and 15g lighter at 235g, making it just that little bit easier to live with through longer gaming sessions. It still has enough weight not to feel like a throwaway toy, but if you like a chunkier feeling controller, this might not be the way you wanted Nintendo to go.
That’s not to say that the new Joy-Con 2 and their included grip don’t feel good – they do – but there’s still the uncanny sense that something is slightly amiss and the dimensions might not meet what your hands want, or a little too cramped for larger hands.. The Pro Controller 2 completely remedies that, purely based on ergonomics, and if you’re planning on spending a lot of time with your Switch 2 docked, it takes a step towards essential.
The major improvements that the Pro Controller 2 has over its predecessor are a 3.5mm audio jack socket for attaching your wired headphones to, enhanced HD Rumble 2 and the addition of two ‘pro’ back buttons underneath each grip, labelled GL and GR. The audio out is a massive boon, and it was a major omission the first time around. The ease of attaching any wired headset shouldn’t be underestimated, and the audio being piped through sounds spot on.
On top of that, the improved rumble is much more powerful than that of the original Pro Controller, which I thought was interesting given the reduced weight. As Welcome Tour teaches you, it’s not all about how much things weigh, with the HD Rumble 2 altering the way the weight moves in order to create both more powerful and more nuanced feedback. I think the DualSense’s haptics are better than those in the Pro Controller 2, but this isn’t too far off.
The GL and GR buttons are also hugely welcome. They’re placed well beneath your fingertips, just out of a position where you would accidentally catch them, but easily pressed when you want them thanks to the generous proportions.
Even better, the programming for them is baked into the Switch 2’s UI, and you can clone pretty much any of the regular inputs. That’s been great for Cyberpunk 2077, moving the reload function to allow my fingers to stay on the analogue sticks. I’m not sure it helped all that nuch with my aim, but I think that’s more the game’s fault than mine.
Those analogue sticks feel great too, with smooth, frictionless motion, and a nicely weighted spring back to centre. Now, it is obviously disappointing that Nintendo haven’t opted for Hall Effect/TMR sticks, especially when they had serious problems with stick drift through the last generation, but only time will tell just how robust Nintendo’s manufacturing is. Right now the sticks feel great with a very smooth feeling action. Two years down the line? It’s hard to say, but when you’re paying £75 for a controller, you want to be certain that it’s going to last and Nintendo haven’t put the question to bed.
The other input buttons are responsive and comfortable in use, membrane buttons through the main face buttons, D-pad, shoulder pads and triggers. The shoulder buttons activate all the way along their length, and the triggers are quick while their wide surface makes them incredibly comfortable to use.
I do get to air my massive gripe here though – why don’t Nintendo like analogue triggers? They’re basically saying that they don’t want serious racing games on their platform, and when you’ve got a system that’s capable of handling realistic ports alongside Xbox and PlayStation, I think it’s a real misstep. Amusingly, they have set themselves up as a great place for FPS though, from the digital triggers on the Pro Controller to the Switch 2’s new mouse functionality, so I guess it’s a one step forward, one step back kind of thing.
Nintendo have tweaked things elsewhere with the Pro Controller 2. The face buttons are slightly larger, so they’re easier to activate, and they’ve raised the + and – buttons to make them easier to find without looking. I do not like how they feel though, as they stand a bit too proud from the controller for my liking, but then they’re better than on the original Pro Controller. Somewhere in between would have been the sweet spot, but I guess that will come with the Switch 3 in 2032.
Other than that, there’s the new Chat button, right in the bottom centre of the faceplate. This is actually a great little innovation from Nintendo, putting chat and communication front and centre for once, and with the added GameShare possibilities that let people easily play multiplayer from one copy of the game, I think that this is quietly the Nintendo Switch 2’s best feature (not including a working eShop).
Nintendo have once again priced the Pro Controller 2 at the top end of what I’d expect to pay for a console’s ‘standard’ controller, now coming in at £75 compared to the last generation’s pricing of £60. That’s going to be pretty rich for a lot of people, but it is definitely a very nice rendition of the Nintendo Pro Controller style, with the added benefit of audio out, onboard Chat button, and the easily remapped grip inputs. However, I really wanted to see Hall Effect sticks – or similar – and when Gamesir are putting out great options like the Super Nova and Cyclone 2, I think Nintendo have missed an opportunity to put their controller at the top of the tier list.
It’s worth noting that the original Pro Controller, and original Joy-Cons for that matter, all work with the Switch 2, and many third party controllers are getting firmware updates for compatibility as well. With Nintendo’s older controllers you’ll be missing out on the new bells and whistles – frankly, the 3.5mm output is enough for me to make the jump – and it’s always a bit fussy pairing third party controllers, but if you’ve spent all your money on a new console, and you’ve got some of the older peripherals lying around, there’s definitely less rush to upgrade than there might have been before.
