The best third-party Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controllers on sale right noow

In all seriousness, 8BitDo doesn’t disappoint, even with budget hardware, and there’s rumble included — albeit not to the extent you’d get on Nintendo’s own pad. It’s so affordable, it’s probably worth grabbing a couple for those heated Super Smash Bros. matches.

Amiibo fans need not apply, though: There’s no NFC support, sadly.

Buy from Amazon (29.99)

2

8BitDo Ultimate 2

Image: 8BitDo

OK, yes, it’s another 8BitDo pad, but this one earns its $70 price tag with some neat upgrades on the model above. Most obvious is that the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 includes a charging cradle, making it ready to go whenever you are, connecting to your console as you pick it up from the dock.

Not only do you get the additional triggers, but you can find more remappable buttons on the backs of the grips. The D-Pad is very comfortable, the triggers spring nicely, and dare we say it, but it looks pretty slick, too.

Buy from Amazon ($56.99)

3

PowerA Advantage Wireless

Image: PowerA

The PowerA Advantage Wireless has a unique look because it pulls the traditionally central buttons from the controller and redistributes them at the bottom, branding its officially licensed chops in their place. That’ll undoubtedly take a few sessions to get used to, but the real draw here are Hall Effect sticks, the GameChat-activating C button, and up to 30 hours of battery life on a single charge. You can remap the rear buttons to specific inputs without using additional hardware.

Buy from Amazon ($64.87)