So Dang Customizable, You will By no means Want One other Controller

As a lot as I’ll benefit from the trendy PS5 DualSense controller, I’m wondering what may have been if Sony had stored iterating on its older DualShock design. 8BitDo’s Professional 3 tells us there was a lot extra to provide. The peripheral maker’s Professional collection controllers bear a glance that by some means combines the DualShock’s thumbstick structure with an old-school, flat-bodied SNES gamepad. If its squishy begin and choose buttons don’t spark nostalgia, I don’t know what would. The 8BitDo Professional 3 has twin arms that match adult-sized fingers higher than any outdated PlayStation controller. And similar to the 8BitDo Pro 2 from 2021, you may get the gamepad in a Famicon-style off-white, a calming GameCube purple, or a PlayStation grey, however now it comes with an Final 2-style dock, which doubles as a charging mount and simple 2.4GHz connection port for taking part in on PC, Mac, or Steam Deck.

Any controller that desires to name itself “professional” needs a 2.4GHz connection for lower latency. Again buttons and a toggle swap to clicky “haptic” triggers at the moment are so customary it’s laborious to return to a fundamental Xbox controller. However you’re not reaching for a corporation like 8BitDo first if you wish to outperform opponents in Name of Obligation. As a substitute, the 8BitDo Professional 3 operates as a swap hitter between Nintendo’s Switch and Switch 2, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. Actually essential to notice: the Professional 3 doesn’t join with PlayStation or Xbox consoles. The Professional 3’s A, B, X, and Y face buttons are all magnetic. The controller comes with a small rubber doohickey device with a magnet you utilize to swap your buttons round nonetheless you select. This implies you should use the 8BitDo Professional 3 in each Nintendo Swap or Xbox layouts with out having to rely purely on muscle reminiscence. The Professional 3 isn’t practically as modular because the $200 Turtle Beach Victrix Pro BFG, which helps you to utterly reconfigure the controller structure with magnetic modules, however for $70 there are few controllers which can be practically as customizable.

The removing device and additional buttons are discovered within the backside hatch of the charging mount. Eradicating the buttons merely requires you to press the suction cup to every swap, then tug them out one after the other. With the brand new buttons reseated, I wasn’t in a position to pry them out with my fingernails irrespective of how laborious I dug. What’s extra, you can even take away the thumbstick caps. 8BitDo included two ball caps such as you would possibly discover on a Japanese-style arcade stick. You want a good bit of finger energy to launch and fix the thumbstick caps, however as soon as they have been on, I didn’t really feel any quantity of unfastened rocking on both the common or arcade attachments. I might truthfully be amazed if anyone used these for something, not to mention combating video games, however they appear additional cute jutting out of the controller, as if combining three eras of gaming into one enter gadget.

In comparison with the Corridor impact joysticks on the last-gen Professional 2 controller, the Professional 3 makes use of TMR, or tunnelling magnetoresistance sticks. Corridor impact makes use of a magnetic area to detect the stick’s orientation. These sticks are way more proof against the inevitable drift brought on by older designs with extra contact factors. TMR is extra of an evolution of Corridor impact, although so few controllers are making use of the know-how, and guarantees to be extra correct than Corridor impact whereas consuming a lot much less energy. What all this implies in observe is the Professional 3 ought to last more, each when it comes to battery life and long-term use. The controller homes a 1,000mAh battery, which is technically lower than what you’ll discover on controllers just like the PlayStation DualSense. Sony’s PS5 controller usually lasts little greater than three to 4 hours, at finest. The 8BitDo Professional 3 powered by way of a three-hour session of Swap 2 gaming plus a number of extra hours of checks on PC earlier than the battery indicator turned pink. The addition of the charging dock means you shouldn’t have to fret a lot about working out of juice, as long as you retain it plugged in and shut by.

What issues greater than the joystick know-how is how the sticks really really feel in your thumbs. They’re extra stiff than some early, twig-like Corridor impact joysticks. Every snaps again to heart and not using a twinge of unintended enter you get on cheaper controllers, which are inclined to “rubber band” when launched. In video games on Swap 2 like Donkey Kong Bananza, working round feels easy and snappy. If you happen to plan to take this controller into Name of Obligation multiplayer, simply know there are different high-end controllers which will supply extra for actually aggressive gaming.

The D-pad and Corridor-effect triggers are equally exemplary. Each path on the D-pad feels snappy, and I didn’t have any subject with missed inputs relying on the place I hit the buttons. The L2 and R2 buttons embrace a swap to vary from clicky triggers to analog triggers. For the sake of Swap video games, they really feel even higher than the Swap 2 Professional controller. Its six-axis gyro controls are simply as exact as Nintendo’s $90 Professional gadget and the 8BitDo Final 2 gamepad. The dock makes use of USB-C and consists of the USB-C 2.4GHz dongle inside. You don’t even must take away the dongle from the dock for quicker connection speeds, making taking part in on PC seamless. If you happen to plan to make use of a 2.4GHz connection on Swap, you’ll be able to allow the choice in case you maintain the choose and LB buttons for just a few seconds, but it surely makes the expertise worse since doing so disables movement controls and rumble. If you happen to’re utilizing it for Swap, you’ll inevitably go for Bluetooth, and also you’ll nonetheless be capable of use the controller from distant. The acknowledged distance is 10 meters, and I may nonetheless connect with a Swap 2 on the opposite aspect of my house by way of a number of partitions and doorways.

The remainder of the buttons have an oomph and a clickiness which will flip off some individuals who don’t need to annoy their associate studying beside them on the sofa, however I’m a gamer who prefers to really feel each button press. The 8BitDo Professional 3 is each bit the high-end controller it claims to be, aside from its software program. The “8BitDo Final Software program” is rudimentary however helpful for setting useless zones on the sticks or mapping your buttons on as much as three profiles accessible from a button between the 2 thumbsticks. Nonetheless, putting in the software program and getting it linked to the controller on PC or cellular is usually a ache.

Identical to with the Professional 2, it’s once more disappointing there’s no model of the controller appropriate with both Xbox or PlayStation. The Rare 40th Anniversary Ultimate 3 is 8BitDo’s first Xbox wi-fi controller, so there could also be hope for future console-specific variations. If I had any extra choices, this controller may simply be my go-to for each Swap 2 and PC. However till 8BitDo finds a means to assist it wake the Swap 2, it may well’t actually be my one and solely.