About a week ago I received my new SN30 Pro + controller in the mail. After spending about a week trying it out on various games, I figured I would share my conclusions here. Please note that my impressions are strictly limited to use on the Nintendo Switch. I haven't tested the controller with other applications. I've separated the review into two parts, so if you want to ignore the rambling and jump straight to conclusions, just scroll down to part 2.
Part 1: Impressions.
First, the quality and presentation. The Pro+ comes in a nice, thick cardboard box, just like you'd expect a new phone to come in. Opening the box reveals the controller sitting under a plastic protector, waiting for you to pop it out and play it. Picking it up, the Pro+ is made of a hard textured plastic. The buttons, triggers, and sticks all feel nice and clicky, with just the right amount of resistance. The D-pad, in particular, has a great feel. 8BitDo is known for high-quality D-pads on their controllers, and this one doesn't disappoint. The Pro+ has a nice weight to it as well. If you're used to the awful 3rd party controllers you would get stuck with playing video games at a friend's house, expect to be impressed.
Going through features, the Pro+ includes just about everything you should expect from a quality pro controller. Besides the great feeling buttons and D-pad, it includes analog triggers, vibration feedback, and gyro controls for motion. Another nice touch is the rechargeable battery pack. It can be easily removed and swapped with AA batteries, meaning if the battery runs out, you can just swap some new batteries in to keep playing, and recharge the battery later when you're not using the controller anymore. It also means that when the battery pack eventually fails, it won't stop you from playing.
A key selling point for the Pro+ is 8BitDo's new Ultimate Software. Using a PC or Mac, you can remap button layouts, add macros (a sequence of button inputs that play when pressing a single button), even adjust the sensitivity of the analog triggers or sticks. Certainly a nice option to have in order to get everything just right for you.
So what's it like to use?
Personally, I found the Pro+ to be quite intuitive. Looking from the top, it resembles a Super NES controller, right down to the long horizontal L and R buttons on the front. I'm very used to this layout, and I felt right at home as soon as I picked it up. If you're already used to PlayStation controllers, this setup will also feel quite familiar to you. I also found it fairly comfortable to hold. Not quite as comfortable overall as Nintendo's own Switch Pro Controller, but pretty good nonetheless. A contributing factor here is the distance between the face buttons and analog sticks. No part of it was bad, but the controller really shines when using either the sticks and triggers, or the buttons and D-Pad. It doesn't feel quite as comfortable to me when using a combination of both. A quick look through reviews online find that preferences vary here- some find Nintendo's layout to be more comfortable, others prefer the Pro+.
A comparison should also be made to the PS4 Pro controller, as the two share an almost identical button and stick layout. To my surprise, I actually found the Pro+ to be more comfortable in general than Sony's controller. Again, your mileage may vary here.
Overall though, it's a well made and generally comfortable controller, and in my opinion there's no way to rate comfort higher or lower than others from an objective standpoint.
While I didn't test the battery life of the controller, it's been claimed to run about 20 hours on the included battery pack, and I haven't seen anything to dispute this. With the quarantine keeping me at home, I've had lots of time to test this controller out, and I've never run into low battery during a typical day of gaming.
Some of the features do come with drawbacks for Switch owners, and these are worth mentioning. For one thing, analog triggers, while a premium feature, don't really do anything for the Switch, as the Switch registers all inputs digitally. The longer travel on the triggers can take some getting used to, if you're used to the joy-cons or Switch Pro Controller. If you play fast paced games where timing of trigger presses is essential, this is something to be aware of. Having said that, I got used to it faster than I thought I would, and I barely notice it now.
While turbo is a nice feature to have, I wasn't able to turn it on and off without also taking a screenshot, as the turbo switch is mapped to the screenshot button. This can be disabled using the Pro+ software, but for me it's one of those things that's just enough of an annoyance to complain about, but not enough for me to actually do anything to change it.
One more drawback is the inability to wake the Switch up from sleep mode using the Home button on the Pro+. When I pick up my first party Pro Controller, I can turn the console on and start playing right away. With the Pro+, I have to walk over to the console and turn it on first. Unfortunately, Nintendo seems to have locked this feature to their first-party and licensed products, and there wasn't a way for 8BitDo to include it here.
To try the controller out, I played 3 different games during the week I spent with the Pro+. If you'd like me to test any other games with the controller, let me know and I'll update the review. These are just the games I've already been playing throughout the week.
With Mario Kart 8, I found myself steering using the D-pad instead of the left stick, and found it worked surprisingly well. Conversely, trying to play it using the left stick felt a bit awkward to me.
Playing classic Doom on the Pro+ has pros and cons over Nintendo's Pro Controller. I prefer having symmetrical sticks for a twin-stick shooter, and this one fit the bill nicely. I think the sticks could be placed a bit further apart but that's my only real complaint. The sticks and triggers are pretty sensitive out of the box, but that's a preference thing, and they can always be adjusted using the software.
Animal Crossing also works fine. I slightly prefer the Nintendo pro controller here, as I feel the asymmetric layout suits the game better, but I can't deny that the ability to turbo the buttons when crafting or harvesting is a nice thing to have.
Part 2: Conclusions- Should you buy the SN30 Pro+?
If the Switch is your only gaming platform, and this controller will be your only controller besides the Joy-Cons, you may want to consider spending the extra $20 for an official Nintendo controller, or one of the cheaper wireless controllers from Power A. While the Pro+ is great at specific things, the layout of Nintendo's and Power A's controllers are just more versatile and comfortable for a wide variety of games, and the ability to turn your Switch on using the controller is a great quality of life feature.
If you're looking for a second controller, I recommend the Pro+. It's a unique controller that you'll probably find yourself preferring for certain games. Retro games, in particular, feel great on the Pro+, in large part due to the amazing D-pad, which is superior to anything Nintendo currently offers for the Switch. As mentioned above, you may also prefer to play twin-stick games on the Pro+ if you like symmetrical joysticks and a PlayStation-style controller layout.
If you're looking for a controller to use on multiple devices, again, consider the SN30 Pro+. The Pro+ is fully compatible with Switch, Android, Mac OS, and Windows, and apparently works with some iOS devices as well, when connected via USB cable. The ability to easily switch between multiple devices is great, and obviously PC and Mac games will allow you to take full advantage of the various features, such as the analog triggers. Unfortunately, the Pro+ is not compatible with PS4 or XBox One consoles, presumably due to complexity.
If you're looking for a controller for retro games, the Pro+ really stands out here, as I mentioned earlier. However, you may also want to consider one of 8BitDo's cheaper options, such as the SN30 Pro, which offers most of the same features, minus analog triggers, the removable battery, and access to the Ultimate Software. 8BitDo even offers straightforward wireless SNES, NES, Sega Genesis style controllers that work with Switch, Android, Mac, and PC, so if you're only shopping for a controller for retro and 2D games, these are worth taking a look at as well.
Final Word
I'm happy with my purchase, and I'll continue to use my Pro+ for various games on the Switch. However, I already have Nintendo's first party controller, and I won't be discarding it to use the Pro+ exclusively. While I'm glad I have it, I probably would have been just as satisfied with the standard SN30 Pro, as I won't be taking advantage of the analog triggers, and I don't mind the lack of grips when playing Link to the Past yet again. I'd recommend purchasing either of the two as a second Switch controller, and wholeheartedly recommend the Pro+ if you're planning using it for PC gaming as well.
