My Nintendo Switch went largely unplayed during the pandemic. I bought it from the Before Times thinking it would make a great subway companion. But between the short battery life and the awkwardness of holding it for long periods, I didn’t want to play with it much. But there might finally be some light on my Switch’s horizon. For the past few weeks I’ve been testing Hori’s new Split Pad Compact controller. While it has some great unique features, the best part might be the way it’s encouraged me to spend more time with my Switch.
Hori’s Split Pad Compact is the successor to its previous Split Pad Pro. Taking the place of Nintendo’s traditional Joy-Cons, its two halves slot into the usual slots for handheld gaming on a standard Switch. The Compact’s colors, shape, and overall playability won me over, but it comes with some important caveats: no noise, no wires, and no motion-sensing features.
This is an unfortunate trend among many third-party Switch controllers given the variety of proprietary technology Nintendo uses in the console. This could completely rule out the Split Pad Compact for some games, or for gamers who (justifiably) find these features essential for the Switch. But if you’ve been wanting to check out an alternative to the standard Joy-Con that makes for, in my opinion, a much more comfortable handheld experience, the $US50 ($69) MSRP isn’t too bad for such a thing.
The buttons and layout also feel right at home on the Switch. These don’t look like Xbox or PlayStation buttons. They sit a little higher than on a regular Joy-Con, but the trade-off is that I find them a little more tactile. The analog thumbsticks are much closer to the full-sized ones (thank goodness) and generally have a nice “Nintendo-y” feel to them.
The Split Pad Compact is far from the only ergonomically shaped switch controller (or grip) out there. What really sets it apart in terms of function is the back buttons. These buttons won’t rival the paddles on an Xbox Elite controller, as there are only two, but I like it that way. There is also a turbo function that allows you to quickly activate a button of your choice. In the games I played, I found little use with this; turbo will appeal more to older style action games or RPGs where you have to search through a million text boxes.
Photo: Kotaku
Assigning a face button to either of the two rear inputs is a simple three-button combination. Hold down “Assign”, along with the button you want to assign (capture and start buttons are not allowed), then click the next button you want to assign; the light will stay on as a solid red to indicate that you did it right. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries, but eventually you get the feel of it. There are no profiles for different games, which is a shame. Changing the button remappings is easy, though, once you get the hang of it, and there’s only a maximum of two back buttons to worry about anyway. But there is another critical limitation here.
Each back button can only be mapped to the buttons on the individual “Joy-Con”. Basically the right back button can only be assigned to A, B, X, Y as they are on the right side unit. The left button can only activate the buttons on the left side.
Hor Split Pad Compact
While I initially grimaced because the later entries were limited, I ended up finding great use in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. After playing this game with Hori, I’ve realized that, okay, breaking weapons isn’t that bad; what was more annoying was actually having to move my thumb from the stick to the d-pad for a mid-battle swap, which slows the pace down. Assigning the weapon menu to a back button solves this perfectly. Much nicer.
I also revisited the remastered version of Final Fantasy VIII, you know, the one with the damn digital motion controls that completely ruin the experience, which I will never shut up about. It barely requires any quick button mashing (outside of a few sequences) or really needs a back button; but the Split Pad Compact’s shape fits my hands so much better that reading its endless gray text boxes is just a more physically enjoyable way to play.
Photo: Kotaku
A few smaller indie games have come and gone during my time with the Split Pad Compact. I also spent more time with Metroid Dread. The extra real estate of the slightly larger Hori controller made it nicer. My Switch now feels like a mini Steam Deck, as opposed to the more horizontal phablet experience that the Joy-Cons offer.
I don’t always use the Hori’s advanced features like turbo and back buttons, but what I am doing is playing on my damn Switch. Regularly even!
And that simplicity, the feeling of those things getting out of your way so you can have a more comfortable experience on the Switch is the best part of this new controller. (Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, according to Hori, they work on both the original Switch and OLED models.) The inherent limitations of zero noise support, no wireless functionality and no motion detection will be clear deal breakers in many cases. But if, like me, you found the Switch to be an ergonomic horror show, you might find the Hori Split Pad Compact a pretty great excuse to start playing it again, even if you just want to catch up on the many successes of this console. enjoyed in your absence.