One Of The WORST Controllers We've Tested for Nintendo Switch!
34In this episode, we unbox and test out a controller with a ton of potential, but in the end, we feel the KidMoments Nintendo Switch Puppy Controller is one of the worst controllers we've ever tested for any platform.
Sometimes ideas for our episodes can take a while to develop, other times we get requests from channel members and Patreon supporters to cover certain items. That's the case with this episode. Thanks, or perhaps no thanks, to Eugene Myers, we recently picked up a kid-centric controller for the Nintendo Switch off of Amazon. There are a number of these different types of controllers around, some look like kitties, some look like owls, this one is shaped after a puppy. For only $15, how bad could it really be? Let me tell you, bad. Really bad.
Let's start off with some of the good things about this controller because it actually has a lot of really good features that more expensive controllers don't have. It features built-in rumble, Wake from sleep, built-in turbo, and even Amiibo support! I know $50 controllers that don't support Amiibo! It also utilizes USB-C for charging, works with gyro controls, and even more. So with all this going for it, how is this a bad controller? Oh my friends, let me tell you the ways.
So the face of the controller has a traditional Pro Controller style layout. Analog sticks, d-pads, face buttons are all here. The A, B ,X, Y face buttons seem to be really small to me, they're really spaced out. So while a small button may be better for a kid, having him this far apart, probably not. The d-pad, oh my goodness, the d-pad would have to improve to be trash. It has no center support to it, so when you press down on a direction it just pushes the whole thing in. The D-Pad is completely un-usable, seriously, it is the worst I have ever used. The giant nose of the controller, which I thought at first was the home key, was actually for the Turbo functionality, but this just isn't as intuitive as a giant black button in the face of the controller.
But even with all these things against it, at least it works decently as a controller, right? No. No, it doesn't. The d-pad is unusable. I know that this is designed for kids and fighting games are not something you would generally have a younger kid play, but when testing it out on Street Fighter 2, it was absolutely impossible to roll the d-pad to pull off the Hadouken or the dragon uppercut. Okay, you might be thinking, just use the analog stick, and I did. But the face buttons would often not respond to being depressed, which was rather depressing in and of itself. Even with the NES and Super NES online games, I tend to use the analog stick, but the unresponsiveness of the face buttons consistently just made this impossible for me to use.
Why it RoX:
- Super cute design!
- Amiibo support
- Rumble
- Wake from sleep
- USB-C for charging
- Gyro controls
- Inexpensive
What could be improved:
- D-pad is unusable
- Face buttons are unresponsive
- Shoulder buttons are digital, not analog
- Poor build quality
- Turbo and the home buttons should be swapped
Should you buy one?
Listen, I've been slowly introducing video games into my 3 year old's life, she watches me play Mario, she kn==knows who Yoshi (although she calls him "Oshi!) is, absolutely loves it. I don't want her to get her Jammy Sammy covered fingers on my Pro Controller, so something like this would theoretically be ideal. It wasn't. While an interesting concept and packed with a lot of amazing features, the KidMoments controller fails to deliver in one crucial area, it is a bad controller. I could overlook the d-pad if the face buttons were at least responsive, but there are too many times where it missed button presses. You can't have this, especially for a kid that is just going to get frustrated. It's really not. I will end up removing the battery and letting my daughter play with this as a toy.
#NintendoSwitch #Controller #ProController #KidsController #ControllerReview #SwitchOLED #CuteKidsController #CheapSwitchController
The footage used in this review are used under the Fair Use laws, referenced below:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
(Pub. L. 94–553, title I, § 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2546; Pub. L. 101–650, title VI, § 607, Dec. 1, 1990, 104 Stat. 5132; Pub. L. 102–492, Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 3145.)