Gulikit King Kong 2 Pro Controller For Nintendo Switch Review
265In this episode, we unbox and test out, & Review the King Kong 2 Pro Controller for the Nintendo Switch from Gulikit.
Joy-Con drift. Imagine, 5 years ago nobody knew what that term was, and now it is ubiquitous in the gaming world. Heck, even the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox can suffer from Joy-Con Drift even though they don't have Joy-Cons! While I joke, analog stick drift on any controller can range anywhere from slightly annoying to unusable. The team over at Gulikit is trying to tackle stick drift head-on with their latest release, the King Kong 2 Pro Controller for the Nintendo Switch, Windows, iOS, and Android.
Why do controller analog sticks drift? Well, is due to the technology they utilize. There are two potentiometers, one that registers up and down movement, and one that registers left and right movement. They have a small wire inside them that drags along a wiper, and depending on the resistance measured, determines the position of your sticks. While simple in its design, it can also lead to premature failure and other issues which can cause your controller sticks to drift.
The King Kong 2 Pro Controller uses a New Patented Electromagnetic Stick magnetic system for determining the position of the sticks. It still uses one sensor for up-down movements and one for left and right, but it eliminates the wire and wiper design which can so easily and quickly wear out and fail. This promise is to deliver not only a smoother experience initially but overall superior life.
The King Kong 2 Controller incorporates a number of interesting features. First of all, yes Martha, it works with Amiibo. A lot of third-party controllers do not. It also features a 6 axis gyro for motion control, USB-C for charging, adjustable rapid and auto fire, programmable macros, and analog triggers. Your wireless range should be about 10 meters, and the 1000mAh battery pack should last you many hours of playtime.
Pairing to my Switch OLED took mere seconds, something I am extremely pleased with. Many third-party controllers have convoluted button presses to enter the pairing mode, this did not. Once I was paired to my system, I grabbed an Amiibo to test & it did indeed work. Within just a few seconds it completely registered my Amiibo to the sensor area on the controller. My next test was to check and see if it would wake the system from sleep as many third-party controllers do not. It did, however, I could not readily utilize the controller. I had to grab another controller to exit out of the menu that you get when you first start up a switch, and once I did that I was able to change grip order and play as normal. If I simply powered on the Switch and then the controller it worked normally.
In the hands, the King Kong 2 Pro Controller is super comfortable, although it felt a little bit slippery to me. They've applied a coating to the back of the controller, similar to what the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller has, but with more of a rubber texture. The analog sticks are super smooth, a joy to use, no pun intended. I was looking forward to using of the analog triggers for racing games, but this left me slightly disappointed. The range of motion was not as precise as I would have liked, not nearly as precise as the DualSense controller. So while the throw of the triggers had an analog feel, the performance was more digital.
Why it RoX:
- Excellent performance
- Very well balanced
- Programmable, turbo, and autofire
- Adjustable rumble strength
- Macros
- Compatible with Windows, iOS, Android, and Switch
- Super smooth analog sticks
- USB-C for charging
- Supports Amiibo
What could be improved:
- Rubber coating is a bit slippery
- L&R triggers feel analog but perform digitally
- Wake from sleep does not work as it should
Should you buy one?
From a pure performance standpoint, the Gulikit King Kong 2 controller is awesome. It's smooth, it's precise, it's programmable, it's exceptional. It does have a few issues that I would like to see addressed via a firmware update. Give me an analog performance on those triggers, they have the motion, give me that performance. Wake from sleep does not precisely work as it should, and was more annoying than helpful. Beyond this, this is perhaps one of the best third-party controllers for the Switch I have ever tested. Then again, it is approaching the same price territory as the OEM pro controller, so as such it really needs to have those couple of issues addressed to justify the expense. And if it doesn't have stick drift as other controllers can, this should definitely last longer as well.
#NintendoSwitch #Gulikit #KingKong2Controller #SwitchOLED
The footage used in this review are used under the Fair Use laws, referenced below:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107