\nThe PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller For Nintendo Switch is no dud, though, and you\u2019ll often be able to find a few of the many design variations of this pad selling way below the original price online.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That breadth of designs may be part of the appeal too, particularly if you\u2019re buying for someone a little younger who loses their mind at the sight of a pad that looks like a Pok\u00e9ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PowerA sent us the Apex Legends version of the Enhanced Wireless Controller to try out. Highlights include solid-enough build quality, a respectable D-pad and comfortable extra buttons that can be mapped to act like any of the main buttons.\u00a0<\/p>\n\nThis offers a hint of the functionality of a much more expensive pad, although you can\u2019t swap around the primary button mappings as you might with a Joy-Con or Switch Pro Controller.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You have to use AA batteries, there\u2019s no rumble. And while latency is fine on Switch, the PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller does not work well if you try to use it with your phone instead, in our experience.<\/p>\n
8BitDo makes some pretty compelling alternatives to the PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller. But you can do much worse, and this pad is a solid fit for those who tend to mostly use their Switch in handheld mode, but need a pad for occasional docked sessions. And one that doesn\u2019t cost an uncomfortably large chunk of the money you initially spent on the console.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Design: the pad of a thousand faces<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
<\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller\u2019s marketing relies heavily on tie-ins. Sure, you can get plain color pads, but the branded ones get more attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This Apex Legends version is one of the less eye-catching PowerA makes. There are stacks of Pokemon Enhanced Wireless controllers, Animal Crossing designs, Mario ones and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These front plates are not hot-swappable, and the colors of buttons and fonts vary between models too. The Cuphead Enhanced Wireless Controller uses a lot of orange plastic, for example, so wouldn\u2019t look quite right with another fascia on top anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Build quality: mixed results<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLow weight is one of the first things you\u2019ll notice after picking up the PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller. It weighs 159g without batteries, almost 100g less than the Switch Pro Controller and Xbox Series X pad (without batteries).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Your initial assumption may be this is because PowerA uses cheap, thin plastics. But it is largely thanks to the PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller’s lack of rumble motors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These sit in the pad handgrips in other controllers of this shape. Those grips are empty here, so while the PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller feels a lot like an Xbox pad, the weighting is different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Low weight is good for kids, and fatigue-free play, but here a significant amount of the weight makes the pad seem to want to tip away from your grip, not into it.\u00a0This is because the batteries sit at the back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHowever, that there is an obvious reason for the pad\u2019s low weight is reassuring. The PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller\u2019s plastics are not actually flimsy, and there\u2019s no creaking from torsion as you wrench the pad around in your hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This does not mean the PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller\u2019s build is perfect. The two analog sticks have rubberized surfaces, and feel eerily similar to the Xbox Series consoles’ sticks, but all of the other buttons and controls use simple plastics. First-party pads tend to use slightly different materials for the A\/B\/X\/Y buttons, because the feel of them is so important.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller\u2019s face buttons feel slightly basic, and have more hollow feedback than those of a top-price pad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, the D-Pad is solid and should seem a big upgrade if you love 1-on-1 fighters, but hate playing them on Joy-Cons.\u00a0<\/p>\n