8BitDo have stepped up and brought their rival to Nintendo's Seminal Pro Controller. With the Ultimate Bluetooth + 2.4g controller and charging dock: we have a £59.99 bundle that should compete for that top spot. Featuring Hall effect joysticks, an RF adaptor for use on Windows/Mac etc, and a charging dock, is the 8BitDo worth a crack?

A Sensory Delight

Picking the controller up out of the box, you can immediately feel the grippy, tactile, embossing on the rear. It reminds me a lot of the DualSense texturing that rumbles across your fingertips and helps you connect to the controller.

On the front, you have your dual analogue sticks, A-symmetrical, and solid feeling, made with magnetic magic that should avoid drift and fatigue. You have your A, B, X and Y buttons, a plus and minus, a star button that acts as a screenshot button, and a glowing home button to take you home. On the top you have the left and right triggers and bumpers, as well as the pairing button, the USB-C socket for wired connectivity, and an LED to indicate charging/pairing modes. Toward the aft, you will find the two programmable paddles and the BT/2.4G switch too. Underneath is simply just the connectors for charging.

Where is the 3.5mm jack for headphones? The answer is that there isn't one, but it's not surprising given that the Official Nintendo Pro controller also doesn't sport a 3.5mm socket either. I would have thought that there would be one in the titularly "Ultimate" controller, but looking around at any competitors' controllers, there are very few that offer wireless connectivity and a headphone jack, it's usually the option of wired with a jack, or wireless without.

The rumble produced by this controller is noteworthy here too. I have experienced many third-party controllers for the switch, and my main bone of contention stems from the weak or jarring rumble effects that always feel like an afterthought: though that is entirely not the case here!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe felt incredible when playing with this controller, I gave the latest wave of courses a blast when testing out this controller and I really appreciated the intensity and smoothness of the vibration feedback. I could definitely get used to using this controller as my daily driver for the Switch, it feels THAT good... but then it came into my mind: where is the NFC support?

No, you cannot scan your Amiibo in with this pad either, it doesn't contain NFC functionality either, but it does have well-refined Gyro capabilities, and can be remapped and adjusted to the nth degree with the companion app, so that's a pretty fair trade-off really.

The Future is Magnetic

The hall effect joysticks are excellent and give you unprecedented levels of control with your thumbs, combined with the peace of mind that these things will never go wonky on you. The magnetic sensors mitigate any wear and tear via contactless technology, which means you can use it 24/7 without fear of drift. I paired the controller to my Switch, went straight into the Settings and Controller Calibration settings and drew perfect circles with them, edge to edge, and really understood just how solid these little sticks are.

Now that Hall Effect Joy-Con replacement analogue sticks exist I can definitely see more companies, such as Nintendo, hopping on the bandwagon and using this style stick going forward, it would surely cost them less in replacements than the initial outlay to bump up the quality at production. If you hadn't gathered already I am entirely impressed with the Hall Effect Joysticks.

A Feature-Packed Peripheral

Firstly, the Dock seats your controller nicely on your desktop or next to/behind your TV allowing you to easily store and tidy it away. It also looks superb when lit up and glowing to indicate charging. Secondly, the dock hides the little stylized 8BitDo RF dongle within it for storing away and keeping it all together. You can stick the dongle in your intended device, pair the pad using the BT/2.4g toggle on the rear of the pad, and play! Lastly, the dock itself actually acts as a USB extender, and this is clever for both allowing you to use it as a USB extender for any other wired peripherals, and secondly with the USB dongle plugged in it gives you more range should you position it in such a fashion that its furthest from your console and closest to your playing position!

Ultimate Compatibility

Compatible with Steam Deck thanks to an update, it's as simple as connecting the device in X-Input mode and bingo, you're up and playing in seconds. I was recently gifted a Steam Deck Dock for Christmas so I could test the Switch and Steam Deck compatibility on my 60" 4K TV with this controller, and I have to say I was incredibly impressed!

Games like Cyberpunk, Trombone Champ and Second Extinction really played smoothly and felt superb with this pad connected to the Deck, and with mapped-out buttons and when connected to the big screen via the dock: it really feels like a super-powered console with an insanely good controller to boot.

You can also use this controller with the dongle on Raspberry Pi, Steam, Windows 10 and above, and with Bluetooth connectivity, you can also use this on Android 9+ and IOS and it's as simple as pairing and mapping/calibrating!

There is also a companion app (which works on IOS/Android and Windows 10+) so you can tweak your stick dead zones for higher precision, dial-in your triggers range for speedier reflexes, customize button layout for emulators and "the sake of it", map buttons to the paddles, and also craft macros to shorten your most complexed inputs to make your games even better!

Highly Recommended

As third-party controllers go, this one is worth a look because it looks fantastic, feels fantastic and works incredibly well. It's a shame there isn't a one-for-all which sees this pad work on the PS4/5/XSX/XSS etc as well, but obviously, the button designations would be wrong, and the cost would probably get driven up too.

I cannot fault 8BitDo's ability to put together a stunning controller, because it ticks all major boxes and is pretty darned deserved of that "ultimate" moniker. At £60, with a dock, and with 2.4G and BT connectivity: this is certainly one to invest in if you happen to own any combination of the compatible devices/OS's as it's nigh on perfect.

Bar the tiny details of the absent 3.5mm jack and no NFC capabilities: the 8BitDo Ultimate Wireless Controller is notably awesome in all other departments including the 15hr battery life!