Nintendo Switch Joy Con Alternative!

– We've talked about a lot of third party Pro controllers for the Nintendo Switch and there are a lot of them out there but something we haven't talked about yet is third party controller alternatives for Joy Cons (techno music) This is the wireless retractable game controller from I have no idea how to pronounce this IPAGA, IPEGA, I'm not sure

But the point is this is a retractable controller kind of similar in design to the Gamevice which was definitely originally primarily meant for phones and tablets but it's been readapted to also work as a bluetooth controller for the Switch Now setting this guy up looks pretty easy so lets go ahead and give it a shot right now First before you actually put the Switch inside of the controller vice thing you need to add these little rubber stoppers to actually make it fit comfortably without, you know, messing up the sides of the Switch So you're supposed just kind of lay them in there Yeah, that feels pretty good

And then like a lot of these other kind of vice controllers all you gotta do is kinda just rest it in there and then you should be able to just pull it and there we go You can see like how the rubbers kind of just filling that spot It's kind of a cheap solution but it's a really smart cheap solution, if that makes sense It's just don't lose those please Okay so now that we've got this at least set up physically let's go ahead and get into a game and try to actually make it run

Okay go to controller set up and then on the controller I'm supposed to hit and hold the home button for a while and that will put it into syncing mode Oh wait I've got to put it in Switch mode too So on the side here there's the different modes you can put this guy in and it's not words it's just logo's for all the popular stuff so there's even a little Switch logo right here Just gotta put it like that Okay now let's try and we sit here and wait a while until something happens

Oh there it is, okay Actually works perfectly fine so far, that's kind of cool That wasn't that difficult to set up Something I'm noticing right away though is that on the controls for this it's actually the Xbox One configuration where the A and the B and the X and Y are flipped versus how they are on the Switch and it looks like the Switch is actually reading those buttons as what they say they are so it's not the kind of thing where B is now A and A is now B it's actually just that the positions are different but the buttons are right So if you're really used to not looking at the buttons and just kinda feeling it like oh yeah the bottom button does this top one does this it won't work for this

You need to actually flip in your head what does what That probably sounded more confusing than it meant to be I will say too that while there is certainly is a cheaper element to this thing in general just the feel of the plastic and button quality and everything the grip design is definitely more comfortable than using the actual Switch I mean it is kind of one of the big down sides to using the Switch in handheld mode is that it's definitely not designed to be comfortable for most people 'cause it doesn't really have any grip shape its just a thin Joycon design which doesn't work well over time This is a lot more comfortable right out of the gate which I do like I'm curious about something too so let's see

So we got it synced up What happens if I put the switch to sleep? Is this guy gonna stay on, is it gonna stay connected? Okay so it turned off And then can I use it to turn the Switch back on? Okay so I put the Switch to sleep and it looks like the controller just completely shut off so I can't turn the Switch back on using it Let's turn this back on manually and see if it at least re-syncs right away Nope I think I have to manually sync this guy every single time I turn the Switch on which depending on how you use your Switch may or may not be super annoying because at least for me personally when I'm using my Switch in handheld mode I am constantly putting it to sleep for just little bits of time

Like every time I'm taking a break from a game I don't even use the games pause screen I just put it to sleep immediately Something like this where it disconnects every time you do that you're gonna notice that You're gonna realize how much you put your Switch to sleep because you have to deal with this every time That wasn't too bad though 'cause at least games will auto prompt you with the control screen Something else that I noticed and the instructions do cover like how to handle this

This has almost just as many buttons as a pair of Joy Cons I mean there's a couple things that are replaced like you don't have a plus and minus button but you do have start and select that do the same thing But the one button you're short on is you don't have a button that would do screen capture and the way they solve that on this is the home button on it pressing it really quickly does screen capture, holding it for like a split second will do the actually home maneuver But that's also weird because the Switch also has controls for holding to home button so you have to time it to where you don't hold it super long or else you'll just have the overlay options come up But you need to hold it longer than just a simple press because otherwise it's just gonna take a screen capture every time you use it It's a little annoying I kind of wish they just didn't support screen capture at all and the home button worked like a home button because at the end of the day if there's any button you can be missing on Joy Con it's screen capture

– I never – I mean everything else about this thing works pretty well so far in practice I mean it's comfortable The buttons aren't the best but it's getting the job done just fine and I can definitely see that as far as just the grip design alone goes I could actually probably play this a lot longer than using Joy Con There's a lot of other benefits I get from using Joy Cons but this is definitely a lot more comfortable By the way if you're wondering how we got our hands on a white Switch, this is actually a skin that was made by today's sponsor dbrand

They made a whole bunch of Switch skins that don't damage your system They can work on the Switch itself on Joy Cons and they have dock designs as well You can get them in a bunch of different colors or just a nice clean crisp white which looks awesome Make sure to check out the link down below You know after spending some time with this thing I gotta say this is actually a lot better than I first thought it was going to be, I mean its still not a great controller, the sticks are very loose, the buttons aren't that great, the placement could be a little better but there are some merits to this design because while it does certainly bulk up the overall size and shape of the Switch this is a much more comfortable controller than using the Joy Cons

I even switched back afterwards and I have to say that while the Joy Cons defiantly had better buttons and everything I immediately noticed the difference in just how much more uncomfortable those small controllers are on the side because it's just a thin piece of plastic compared to this where you have an actual proper grip This is a lot more comfortable The fact that it disconnects whenever you shut off the Switch is a little annoying but it's actually not as big of a deal as I first thought it was going to be because as long as you don't have any other controllers connected to the Switch every time you start it back up it's going to prompt you to connect to controller where all you have to do is once again sync this guy to it So it's a little annoying but nearly as bad as you might think at first So yeah it's actually a pretty good controller overall

I don't think I would recommend it still for anybody that wants to do any kind of intense serious gaming 'cause once again the buttons and sticks and everything are just not great but it's such an improvement for comfort that if you just want to be able to kind of play some more laid back games for real long periods of time this is gonna be much better on your hands and it really kind of starts provoking the thought of what Nintendo could learn from this There's been rumor before that Nintendo has thought about doing other Joy Con designs aside from the ones we already have and if that's true this should be one of the first things they attempt because yeah the larger size impacts the portability a little bit but that's why it's an alternative option not the one the system comes with But having a larger more comfortable controller and having all the benefits of an actual first party Nintendo design where you have the better buttons and all the extra functionalities and you know buttons here that aren't flipped would just be awesome It would make the portable of the Switch even better

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