Picture: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo LifeMy first impression of the Gulikit Elves 2 Professional wasn’t notably constructive. Now, once I say ‘first impression’, I’m speaking in regards to the second I laid eyes on the factor in a couple of press pictures on-line. I believe that a few of you testing the pictures on this evaluation could be pondering the identical factor. Sure, the apparent throwback to the Sega Saturn is nice, however does a controller of this design actually maintain any weight within the fashionable age?
Properly, fortunately, the reply to that query is a hearty “Sure.” When the controllers arrived and I unboxed them from their translucent instances (a pleasant contact so as to add additional safety when travelling), I instantly fell in love. The colored ‘Retro’ mannequin particularly, based mostly on the ‘Mannequin 2’ Japanese Saturn, is completely beautiful and a stunning homage to Sega’s Mega Drive successor.
The black variant is very nice, too, with the one trace of color being the blue sync button in between the 2 analogue sticks. This, once more, is a nod to the ‘Mannequin 1’ Japanese Saturn, although the jet black casing is probably extra akin to the Western design. Consider it like a mix of the 2, then. The one draw back with the black model is that mud is of course extra noticeable on darker surfaces, so it exhibits up much more than the ‘Retro’ model.
Pictures: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo Life
Holding the controller reveals simply how well-made it’s. It’s acquired a hefty weight to it: 190g to be actual. That is lighter than the Swap 2 Professional Controller and the 8BitDo Final 2C controller — each of which weigh in at 235g — however the Elves 2 Professional is rather a lot smaller than each, so the burden/measurement ratio balances out properly. It doesn’t really feel low-cost, let’s put it that approach.
As for the form, sure, it’s a bit of unorthodox by fashionable requirements and also you’re missing the longer grips essential to ‘hug’ it together with your palms, however the curved design feels nice. It’s simple sufficient to maneuver from the face buttons and D-pad to the 2 analogue sticks within the center due to the offset positioning, although the previous setup does really feel barely extra pure.
Certainly, you need to use this controller for nearly any recreation on Swap or Swap 2, although to say that it’s finest suited to retro titles or preventing video games wouldn’t be inaccurate. The form, the colors, the D-pad design: all of it feels completely suited to retro gaming. For preventing video games particularly, purists may lament the dearth of the six-button setup on the Saturn’s controller, however I felt no concern when testing it out with the likes of Road Fighter 6 and Marvel Vs. Capcom Preventing Assortment: Arcade Classics. The D-pad particularly feels nice, however extra on that shortly.
Wanting on the analogue sticks, they utilise Corridor Impact know-how, so that you’re theoretically a protracted lifespan for the Elves. You can even simply take away the caps for alternative if obligatory; I say ‘simply,’ however they do take a little bit of effort to take away, and it is a good factor – you don’t need them coming off throughout common play. They’re barely smaller than your common analogue stick – possibly a fraction smaller than these discovered on the Swap 2 Pleasure-Con – and the textured grip across the edge is simply begging to choose up grime out of your thumbs over time, however general, they’re very nice.
Pictures: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo Life
The identical goes for the ‘floating’ D-pad, too. In actual fact, I’d say the sensitivity for that is fairly spot on: holding down and rocking the D-pad back and forth yielded completely zero unintended inputs when testing it within the Swap settings, and the identical could be mentioned in retro titles like Streets of Rage 2 and Contra. It really works precisely as meant and as you’d count on. If you wish to go one step additional, you may truly change the D-pad setup between four-directional and eight-directional, relying on the sport you’re taking part in.
The face buttons and shoulder buttons all really feel good: pleasingly ‘clicky’ with out producing a complete lot of noise. Once more, an enormous shoutout goes to the ‘Retro’ mannequin right here: the gray, inexperienced, blue, and yellow ABXY buttons look beautiful, and I’ve grown actually fairly keen on the cranberry-coloured shoulder buttons and sync button. Very like the D-pad, you may fiddle with the settings to reassign inputs – fairly good if you happen to’re not fussed about doing it on the Swap itself.
In actual fact, there are a number of totally different settings you may mess around with. You may regulate vibration depth, analogue stick sensitivity, useless zone modes, movement purpose assists, turbo mode, APG recording (which principally permits you to document particular enter combos and repeat them at will), and extra.
That is all finished through the ‘settings’ button situated within the centre of the system (other than APG recording, which has its personal button just under). Holding the button down and urgent a corresponding button modifications a selected setting. So, for instance, ‘settings’ + ‘R3’ or ‘L3’ modifications the sensitivity of the chosen analogue stick. There’s rather a lot to be taught, so it’s price studying and memorising every setting mixture listed within the guide, nevertheless it’s good that there’s no separate app to fret about.
Pictures: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo Life
You’ve additionally acquired gyro help, three totally different rumble modes (together with its personal ‘HD Rumble’, which feels nice), wired help with the included USB-C cable, and a seize button. However what’s lacking?
Properly, there’s no ‘C’ button for GameChat, no headphone jack, no NFC help, and no capacity to wake the Swap 2 from sleep mode. These are all arguably ‘good to have’ features, and to be sincere you’re by no means going to get a third-party pad that does completely every part. When you’re notably involved in regards to the lack of ‘wake-up’ help, nevertheless, Gulikit has confirmed that it’ll quickly be the primary third-party producer to supply such help, although how and when this happens has but to be revealed.
Lastly, though the controller does flip off by itself after quarter-hour of inactivity, there’s a teeny, tiny button on the again to show it off manually. This can be a good little contact that a number of producers don’t actually think about. After all, whether or not it’s going to truly be of use to you could be very a lot dependent by yourself circumstances, however hey, it’s a great factor to have. The pad will also be used with PC and iOS, with a three-way toggle situated simply above the off button to modify between the three modes.
Picture: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo Life
All in all, although, I would say the Elves 2 Professional might be finest fitted to retro video games and preventing video games fairly than your go-to controller for on a regular basis use. It is an exceptionally well-made pad, and a superb different to Nintendo’s personal SNES and Mega Drive NSO controllers. When you’ve acquired an affection for the Sega Saturn, the ‘Retro’ variant particularly is an excellent throwback; simply do not be stunned if you happen to begin glancing right down to admire it while you actually must be holding your eyes on the display screen.
A beautiful throwback to the Saturn
Properly-made with a pleasant weight to it
D-pad works as meant, with no unintended inputs
Corridor Impact analogue sticks with detachable caps
Plenty of helpful settings to mess around with…
…however there are a number of ‘settings’ inputs to be taught
NFC help, headphone jack, GameChat button, and Swap 2 ‘wake-up’ help lacking
These analogue sticks will certainly decide up grime over time
Nice 8/10
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The pattern used on this evaluation was equipped by Gulikit.
Nintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a great horror guide whereas nursing a stunning cup of tea. He additionally enjoys lengthy walks and listens to every part from TOOL to Chuck Berry.
