Gadgetory

- One of the awesome things about the Switch is it's modular nature. There's a lot of different things you can do to change how exactly it works based on the kind of controllers or different other accessories you're plugging into it, and one really common option that people have been trying to make for it is ways to turn it into an arcade system. (upbeat music) Now we've worked with a couple of different options like this in the past, there is of course the option of just buying a regular fight stick to plug into your switch while it's docked, and that gets the job done and is the most functional route, but there's a certain degree of fun that's missing when you do that, and so one of the other options we've done that was interesting was making a little cardboard cutout arcade cabinet, which was super cool looking, you set up the two Joy-Cons as little wireless controllers. It works, but wasn't actually that truly functional. It makes a great little piece to show off, but you're not really gonna play any games that way. Well today, hopefully we found a strong midpoint with the iPEGA Gladiator Game Joystick for the Nintendo Switch. And iPEGA, again, is a company that we've looked at couple products from in the past, they are not one of the ones that is officially licensed for Nintendo, so this is not like a normal thing you're gonna find in most stores, but you can order it online and they do work, it's just not something that Nintendo necessarily fully condones, which, by the way, one thing I want to throw out real quick, I love the fact that the box for this heavily advertises playing Street Fighter V, which isn't on the Switch. It's a fighting game, and that would be cool, but yeah, that's not a thing. Anyways, so the way this works is it acts as a little docking station for your Switch, it plugs in to the bottom of your Switch in handheld mode, and it's basically just like plugging in a controller, there's not any kind of cable or anything, instead it just uses this USB-C cable as the way to plug this controller in, and it reads as just having a plugged-in controller. Now, on here you are missing a couple of different buttons, you do not have a capture button, but oh well, if you just have the Switch set up there, you can still hit it on the Joy-Con itself, you also do not have a right stick which, for the vast majority of fighting games, doesn't really matter, it has a role in some titles, like with Smash Brothers, it's an easier shortcut for doing smash attacks, but not a thing you have to have, and you don't have a D-pad, which depending on the game might be a loss for some auxiliary functions like taunts, but generally, as long as the game supports doing left stick controls for, you know, actual fighting game maneuvers, you're fine. Aside from that, it does also have the addition of a turbo button which is pretty much customary in every single third-party controller out there. This does use the six-button arcade style setup where you have L and R setup alongside the four front-facing buttons. ZL and ZR are up top, so depending on the game you're playing, you might have to mess with the controls a little bit because, for instance, in something like Smash Brothers, you have two grab buttons and shield is up here and not super comfortable to reach for. So, with all that said, let's go ahead, set this up, and play some games. So, we're all setup and good to go, and it was pretty easy to do, I just started up Smash Brothers and put it on the dock and immediately I could use the controller fine, so that's awesome. One thing I am noticing right away that is a good thing is I was a little worried by the weight of the stick, it feels very light when you're holding it on its own so I was worried that while using it, if I would just gotten really into a fighting game and tried moving the left or right really hard with the stick that I might just send the whole thing flying, and that's really not the case. It's got these little rubber feet at the bottom which add just enough traction to the surface that it's gonna stay where it is. I mean, if I really wanted to just shove this thing and send it flying, I could, but it's giving enough traction that, just for regular gameplay at least, and you know, hitting buttons and moving around with the stick, it's not gonna shift around. Now I will say, something that is a bit of a downside is it's a little smaller than I would like, I mean it's definitely an improvement over using those Joy-Cons that we had in that tiny arcade setup, but compared to using like a full-sized stick, or even a smaller six-button stick, it's just a little too cramped. I want a little more room, I just feel like I'm really bunched in here, and it's not the most comfortable position. I can still use it fine, I can play games fine, but for something I want use for long period of time, something a little bigger would be really nice. And that's really my only huge complaint, and obviously, if you want to talk about button and stick quality and comparing it to a real fight stick, yeah, there are definitely way better options out there, but considering how cheap this was, and the main goal is just to create this little kind of arcade setup, it gets the job done pretty well, but it definitely gets me wondering what would the nicer, more expensive version of this controller would look like. Honestly, I think this is really neat idea, and it fulfills a niche that I think some people would find really useful, but I also think that there's a premium version of this that could exist that would be something truly cool. First off, let's address the fact that this is a dock but not a Switch dock, it's a place that you can dock the Switch on to get the controls, but that's it, and it seems like this would be the perfect situation to make something that has a pass through involved so that way it could double as a proper Switch dock, either so you could plug it into wall power so you're charging the Switch while using it with this style of controller, or even also including an HDMI out so you could use it to hook it up to a TV as well if you'd like. And then there is again, the issue of the size like I was saying earlier. This is perfectly usable, but I think if it was something closer to maybe the Hori Mini Pad size, it would work out a lot better. Something that's not gonna be a huge fight stick where it kinda gets rid of the portability factor of it, but something that's just a little bit bigger so it's gonna give more comfort and feel a bit more natural to use as opposed to how cramped up this one can be. Not to mention that, at this small of a size, it's something that you can kind of put on a desktop comfortably, but if you wanted to use it like, on your lap, forget about it, it's not really gonna work, whereas something closer to this size, is designed to fit more in a lap properly and that way you could play in a more portable fashion, instead of always needing a tabletop on hand. Of course there's also that concept of adding arcade quality sticks and buttons, adding some of the buttons back in that are currently missing. I understand some of them being gone, like the right sitck, but if there was some kind of substitute for the D-pad buttons and also having the capture button, having all that with that arcade quality would make this something super awesome. I think for how much this runs for, it gets the job done fine, and I don't have any regrets picking it up, but I just can't help but imagine after using it, what a really premium nice version of it could do, 'cause I'm imagining this portable arcade setup that I can use on my lap, or on a desk, or other places, and not only have it for fighting games but the numerous arcade ports that exist on the Switch, and even for things like beat-'em-up games, which it would be beautiful for. This is still cool, but it just makes me want more.