There’s a lot of striking first impressions about Switch 2 but mine was surprisingly the new Pro Controller.

I know, there’s a lot of coverage to get through and there’s a lot of cool things to talk about, but I wanted to get my thoughts out into the world about this controller. Because I love it.

So, low-key, the Switch 1 Pro Controller has been one of my main, go-to controllers for a long time. It’s hard to beat the DualSense, admittedly, but there’s something about the base Pro Controller that feels nicely weighted, responsive, with good button placement and comfortable hand-holding.

And you cannot underestimate the D-Pad. It clicks satisfyingly but also doesn’t feel like a pain to use, as it does on the Xbox Series controller. And doesn’t feel as buried into the controller as it does on the DualSense.

It’s easily been one of Nintendo’s better controllers, so much so I’ve even used the controller on my PC at times. But with the announcement of Switch 2 and an updated Pro Controller. Got to admit, I was intrigued.

Of course, the whopping omission from the last gen model was the lack of a headphone jack. It did a lot of great things, but that was a big miss. I quite often have a pair of headphones plugged into my Series X/DualSense controllers, one ear in to listen to my game while watching TV. And while I did eventually invest in some Bluetooth earphones to play on Switch, my set weren’t great.

So yeah, adding it in to Pro Controller 2 felt like a must. And I’m already very glad it’s in there, cruising around on Mario Kart World and swept up in its tunes while taking in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Bliss.

But to just call this the headphone jack Pro Controller is a huge, massive disservice. Because somehow, I think Nintendo low-key might have done it again with this controller, making a great quality product, so much better.

Let’s dig in a bit. I’ll also spread some comparison shots throughout…

On the surface, the controllers will seem largely the same. Don’t get me wrong, I kind of miss that PC2 doesn’t let you peer below the surface and see into the controller as the OG did as it’s now been resurfaced to be more smooth. But as I spent more time with PC2, I appreciated it more.

Maybe I didn’t quite realise it or notice before, but the different surfacing and material feel across PC1 from the grips to the body and the bumpers is so much more noticeable now I’ve been using PC2. I get why it was done in the first place, making sure the controller felt more sturdy in your hands and more balanced, whereas PC2 kind of just glides and falls into your palms.

The smooth feel just feels more naturally comfortable, though perhaps it’s more setup to drop, whereas PC1, to me, it sort of felt like you’d have to really make an effort to lose your grip. But this time, the controller feels like all one kind of surface and grip as opposed to PC1 which does feel a bit at odds with itself.

That’s when you’ll notice the next big change, the under GL/GR buttons. Now these are quite game-changing in another way. Essentially, on each game, by holding in the Home button, you can remap them to…whatever you want them to be.

Again, using the Mario Kart World example, I actually remapped my accelerate button on A to GL as I was finding holding in A to be a bit painful long term for my hand, particularly on the endurance races. And my instinct was immediately, why can’t I map it to ZR, the lovely bouncy bumper on my right hand which feels a lot more comfortable? That’s one for the review..

But popping it on GL? Absolutely worked a trick. It immediately felt easier to hold, especially as my hand is already right there and just means I need to keep my finger in and pressed and it free’d up my other hand so much more to relieve some of that tension.

Or maybe, as Nintendo Life suggest, you could map them as your capture buttons to make those in-game shots a whole lot easier! Very smart.

Button remapping isn’t a new thing by any means, but the ease and convenience of swapping that in on any game at any point, for a button that feels largely convenient and is really going to suit games with long button presses like Mario Kart World, it’s very nice to have!

The grips still feel nicely weighted to my hands too, so I also feel in good control of the action at any point.

As for the body itself, the buttons feel mostly the same. Which is absolutely no bad thing. The analogs, for me, are some of the most flexible and responsive. Even on my 7 year Pro, the sticks still feel as agile as the day I got them, so much so it was very hard for me to go back to the JoyCons after using it.

And I imagine it will be a similar story here as the analogs somehow feel like they have an even better rotation, but are also weighted enough for precision. The D-Pad is also as protruded as before which is perfect for the Nintendo Classic range and is unlike most other controllers on the market right now where the D-Pad is slowly but surely becoming more of an afterthought.

It’s great for fighters, too. With the likes of Street Fighter VI being a launch title, having the option for a strong D-Pad really helps you have more control over your movements, if you lean a bit old school in your approach, that is.

Design wise, the controller isn’t all black anymore either, with a white underneath and covering at the top. It’s nothing more than aesthetics, but it does give the controller a newer feel and adds that little bit extra to the presentation with the greyish white really complimenting the black of the controller. It’ll be interesting to see what other design options come later in the Switch 2’s lifecycle, as we had everything from Splatoon controllers to Zelda.

What else? The + and – buttons are less sunken, making them more bouncy and responsive, plus balanced that you’d need to press them for a purpose rather than easily glancing across from the A B buttons. You’ll also notice the Home and Capture buttons are more close together, as is the base analog and D-Pad. It just centralises the pad more and keeps everything close together where you need it.

The shoulders themselves and the base buttons feel as good as ever, with the L and ZL / R and ZR still given just the right amount of seperation and depth and feel to really differentiate them.

And a note on the vibration and gyro – the use of full haptics reverberates just lovely through the Pro. They’re not at the level of the DualSense by any means but feeling the rumble of the tires on the tracks on Mario Kart or your striking in Yakuza and placing of blocks in Puyo Puyo, these are marked improvements on the OG Pro and also sound less tinny as a result. Very very nice indeed.

The gyro too, works and glides like a treat. The JoyCons in general have always better supported movement  – as you’ll also see with the mouse controls as well – but I think it’s safe to say the gyro in the Pro 2 is more than adequate for most games. Again, particularly Mario Kart World.

Turns out that was a great game to launch with to test out a controller like this. Who knew?

The final addition, of course is the GameChat button. Now that sort of feels like a good point to jump off here as I’ve yet to really dive too deeply into that and it feels like that’ll come more with my eventual Switch 2 review. But the placement of it is nice and easy to hop onto provided you’ve done the initial setup.

And yes, before you ask, you don’t have to rely on the mic on your Switch 2. With the headphone jack in the Pro 2, you can plug in a headset or set of earphones with a mic – I use a set of wired Turtle Beach with a mic – and it works just fine!

But I hope this helps paint a bit of a picture. There’s definitely some big differences here and if you’ve been looking at the price tag and feeling your eyes water, I’d argue there’s justification here to pick it up.

Of course, you can still use your existing Pro on Switch 2 – though there’s apparently some issues in using it to wake up the console – but if you don’t own a Pro or you want to feel the new haptics, gyro and buttons and really take advantage of the new gamechat functionality to the full – this is a must.

Especially with Switch 2, you’ll likely want to play this one more docked than you did Switch 1 due to the 4K output, and the best way to benefit from that is a Pro. No question!

A Pro Controller 2 and Switch 2 console were provided by Nintendo for review purposes.

Images taken by the reviewer