Gadgetory

(upbeat music) - Today we got somethin' really special to look at. I ordered these a while ago, and they have finally arrived. Fake Joycons, now when I say fake, I don't just mean that these look like Joycons and aren't, but actually these are controllers that are wireless that will work for the switch, and they just happen to look like Joycons, but like, something's not quite right. Now these cost us just a little under $30, so a good fit under half the price of an actual set of Joycons. But to be honest, you could find these for even cheaper depending where you buy 'em from. We just wanted to get the fastest shipping possible so we could get our hands on them, and check it out. So we're gonna put these side by side with real Joycons to see what exactly is different about them, what is probably worse? And maybe, what is surprisingly the same, or even better. First I just wanna take a look at how these Joycons actually line up with the real thing. So we've got the fake left Joycon, with a real right Joycon, and some differences are pretty immediately noticeable. I think one of the first big things is that the fakes ones are a lot bigger, they're noticeably wider than real Joycons. And something that might make that even stand out moreso is that when you're actually holding these, they are really, really light. It almost feels like there's - Nothing at all! - inside of the Joycon itself which worries me a little bit 'cause we actually haven't tried connecting this to the switch yet, but assuming that there's functional stuff in here, it is surprisingly light. Now aside from the general difference in shape, and how all the buttons and everything are just a little off different alignment. There are some differences to just how everything is designed. The plus and minus buttons are these big old squares instead of being the actual shapes. There's a D-pad on the left one which is actually something I kind of appreciate. The sticks actually look like the same style of stick which surprises me, and then again with the capture and Home buttons, it does look similar. The right home button does look different on the other Joycon, we'll pull that up separately. So yeah, there's a lot of pretty noticeable differences right here. I think that with these fake ones, if you just had them by themselves, you might have a moment where you have to double take and be like wait, that's not right. But side by side, yeah, you can really see it. Also one little thing I appreciate, there's just a random oval at the bottom of the left Joycon, I think that's supposed to be kind of the Nintendo logo. They can't actually put the word Nintendo in there, so you just get an oval. There are also a couple of the differences on the inside of these Joycons. So it has a rail that looks very similar, and you do still have the shoulder buttons right here, but in addition, there's also actually a USBC port. The reason being is that these don't actually charge the way regular Joycons charge, you can't just put in on the switch and leave it be. You have to charge them individually, they also have a significantly lower battery life of four hours. So let's actually sync these to the switch, and it takes a couple more steps than it normally would with traditional Joycons. First you actually have to turn these on for them to start searching for a switch to connect to. And the way you do that is by holding left on the D-pad, and the screenshot button to turn on the left Joycon. You can see the light going on right now, and then for the right Joycon, you hold Y and the Home button. Once they're both on, wait for the lights to solidify. One of them did it, come on. Come on other guy, you can do it. Thinking, thinking, there it is. And then to actually do the normal pairing as per usual, just hit the shoulder buttons, and there we go. And it even reads them as Joycons that are paired, it doesn't read them as some other kind of controller, I like that it displays two gray Joycons. So now that we're all connected, let's go ahead and test that with some actual games, and we'll start with a good old classic, Zelda. Now one of the things I do notice right away while playing is that the sticks actually do feel pretty good. I almost wonder if these are actually like either overstock, or really high quality sticks they just found that, it feels like the switch sticks. It has the right amount of resistance, the stick heads feel the same. That part's pretty much the exact same experience which is cool. What I don't know is the same experience though is every other button on here. The front facing buttons right now just feel really stiff. Like it's not a very, all the buttons on a real Joycon are very clicky. There's not a lot of distance to travel, there's very immediate tactile feel. These though, you're pressing down a lot further, and it just feels hollow, if that makes sense. Now the same isn't exactly true for everything else though. Like the shoulder buttons, and the plus and minus buttons, these do have a little bit more of a click in this that feels like an actual Joycon, but it's almost too small than they are actually. Like it doesn't really press down much, and the triggers themselves are probably the worst part. It doesn't really feel like an actual small lever pole like you get with the Joycons. You're just kinda pressing it down, and it feels like you're kinda pressing it. It doesn't have a very good push back. Something that's also really distracting with using these Joycons in handheld mode is that they don't actually connect to the switch directly. Like even when you're using them in handheld mode like this, they're still connecting wirelessly. And so you can actually see the lights on for syncing to it at all times. And that can be very distracting mid game, it's not a great look. The grip in these are also a little different too actually I'm noticing more and more now. So if you can actually see here, there's this like lip going on on the inside, whereas on the actual Joycons, it's just one smooth surface. I guess it's not super uncomfortable, it's not a big loss, it just feels strange by comparison. So, so far in handheld mode I'm not really a big fan, but let's try these in a wireless setup, and see if maybe the larger size, and the rearranging of the buttons makes it a little more comfortable. By the way, if you're wondering about this blue switch that we're using in today's video, this is actually a skin that's made by today's sponsor, D Brand, they make a whole line of switch skins that are totally safe to use on the switch itself, the dock, and even the Joycons. The real Joycons, not the fake ones in today's video. If you're interested in checking out the different colors and designs they have, check out the link down below. Playing some Smash Brothers, I gotta say that still the buttons on these are not good really by any measure. The sticks still surprise me, they feel just like a regular switch. But something that is a little more in their favor, I do think they're more comfortable because of the larger sizing. It fits in the grip of my hand a little nicer. It's not like, I'm not having as tightened of a grip, so it is working out a little better in that sense. I don't know if it's worth the trade off of everything else, but it does make me kind of want bigger Joycons from Nintendo now. Oh also, these do have rumble by the way, so that surprises me a lot 'cause considering how light they are, I did not expect rumble motors in here. They're not particularly good, it's a very light, and rapid shake. It's like giving you the same kind of thing as the HD rumble in Joycons. But if you just wanna make sure you have rumble, these do have those which I appreciate. Still, none of the other special functions of Joycons though, like scanning amiibos, or motor controls. I'm actually gonna reset these up, 'cause now I wanna try just a single Joycon sideways, and see how that works out for this redone shape. And yeah again, the larger size on this actually does come in handy. I think this is more comfortable than using a regular Joycon sideways. I mean don't get me wrong, I would still prefer some kind of actual grip to put it in, but if it's the choice between a Joycon by itself, or this by itself sideways, this is comfier. And actually another one in this mode too, let's see how these shoulder buttons work out. Yeah okay, that's actually not, that's not bad, that's about on par with what you get on the normal Joycons, they're still very tiny, and it's just that little, just tiny snap of a button push. So about the same as a real Joycon. After playing with these a while, I gotta say it feels like the purest form of that whole meme of what the second player controller was like growing up as a kid where yeah, all the right buttons are here and it works, it's just weird, not particularly great. I think a lot of third party controllers have come a long way in actually being good options that are competitive, and this just goes right back to that old feeling. Are they cheap? Yes, do they work? Yes, are they worth grabbing? Eh..