Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Remains Tough to Beat Across Every Generation

Nintendo shipped the Switch Pro, priced at $55.97 (was $80), a while back, the same day the original Switch arrived, and the shape has barely needed defending since. You get a one-piece gamepad measuring 106 millimeters tall, 152 millimeters wide, and 60 millimeters thick, weighing about 246 grams. Offset analog sticks sit in the familiar Xbox arrangement, with a plus-shaped direction pad under the left stick and the four face buttons above the right. Both sticks click. Capture, Home, Plus, and Minus land where muscle memory already lives. Plastic feels dense without turning heavy, and the grips stay comfortable through long docked sessions that split Joy-Cons never quite manage.

Nintendo estimates forty hours from its 1300mAh cell, and most people seem to take it at face value. It takes roughly 6 hours to charge it using a USB-C port and the accompanying USB-C cable, which also works with a dock if you prefer to play wired. With the accompanying USB-A adaptor, you have a great deal of freedom. Pairing continues to use the little Sync button on the top edge, as it has for quite some time. Meanwhile, the player lights have been located on the bottom edge. Several of these controllers can be connected to a single console at once.

The HD rumble in these handles continues to impress in the games that actually use it, as game designers appear to prefer showing off rains, footsteps, as well as engine noise as textures rather than a generic rumble. Motion sensing is important in games like Splatoon; it is also used in Zelda for bow aiming, and there are numerous other games that make use of it. Simply tap an amiibo near the Nintendo logo, and the NFC reader will take care of the rest. The fact that so many third-party controllers still fall short of this experience, even if their sticks appear to be fantastic on paper, speaks volumes about Nintendo’s design.

Of course, compatibility is the key to this controller’s lasting appeal. It works with the original Switch, the OLED, the Lite, and even the upcoming Switch 2, both wirelessly and via dock cable. The entire range of first-party Nintendo features are then carried over, including amiibo reading, gyro aiming, and the gorgeous HD Rumble. One minor exception remains: on a sleeping Switch 2, you cannot wake it up using the home button on this controller; instead, hit the main console button to get it starting. Steam Input on PC and official iOS 16 and later support from Nintendo itself will push the potential of this technology much further.

The analog sticks employ Alps potentiometers, which are similar to those seen in older controllers, so if you use this device regularly, you may notice some drift after a few years. The triggers are digital instead than analog. This one lacks a headphone jack, back paddles, and secret extra buttons; if those are important to you, you should look elsewhere. For the rest of us, the layout, battery life, and first-party features continue to make this an excellent pick for docked gaming with any switch model.