I don't know if it is just me, but recently I have been inundated with whacky Facebook advertising for gadgets and tech that I have never seen before. One such stream of advertisem*nts that keeps cropping up is for Nintendo Switch peripherals, which demonstrates how Facebook is cleverly cultivating my data to bombard me with relevant and targeted marketing. The result of which was me spotting a product that looked superb and touted tonnes of features that I could really get on board with and I know that people really want:the NYXI Joy-Pad Controller. Had I not seen their ads, I would never have gotten the opportunity to review their products!
With its split-pad styling and LED laden aesthetic, I was immediately drawn to the NYXI. Having previously reviewed Snakesbyte's underwhelming Multi:Playcons and being an avid owner of Hori'sSplit Pad Pro Daemon X Machina Editionthe NYXI pad definitely looked like it had a lot of potential. In comparison to the Split Pad Pro, the NYXI also has the ability to be charged, operate as one wireless controller, or simply be used as an RGB emblazoned split pad. Given my time using the Hori one I know the nuances involved with owning a Split Pad, and the biggest gripe of all was that these couldn't be charged so they were useless for use in a Flip-Grip or in any other configuration other than in handheld mode. To be fair they were made for this purpose, but they don't reallyembody the ethos of the Switch.
The NYXI is really the next evolutionary step in Split Pads,clearly taking on Hori at their own game and also straddling the third-party wireless pro controller market space of the likes of PowerA that are more commonly available on the high street. The USP here is unquestionably the LED/RGB aspect for enthusiasts, paired up with the built-in gyro and charging options that I will tackle later on. The LEDs around the analogue sticks can be changed at any time by simply holding the M button on the rear of the corresponding pad and clicking the stick. You can cycle through cyan, blue, red, orange, yellow, green, purple, and rainbow, and double-clicking the stick then modifies those to either cycle through colours, gives it a breath effect, or simply turns them off to save power.
The sticks themselves are concave, similar to the Hori Split pad, but are notably smaller in diameter. This isn't a bad thing as they're as grippy as you could possibly want and the divot is deep enough to ensure your thumb never slips off. I successfully replayed a large portion of Super Mario Odyssey using the NYXI in the Switch's portable mode without ever feeling like I was using an inferior controller. Every input was clean, every button press registered perfectly, and every gyro movement worked perfectly.
Pad functionality can also be changed thanks to the turbo mode button, the ability to map a button to each of the rear buttons, and lastly, the rumble level can be changed in increments of 25% from zero to 100% strength. I have to say that the rumble itself is definitely motor driven and not haptic as it felt like a crude, rudimentary rumble rather than the finessed haptics we have become accustomed to on our game and tech devices in recent years. The rumble also shakes the entirety of each side, exposing the cheap plastic sounding open-ness of the controller. It's not to say that this controller is weak or liable to fall apart quickly, it's certainly fraught with light leaks which means it hasn't been made water/airtight when sealed during manufacture.
Ergonomically both halves of this controller are excellent. Not only do they fit in my rugged man-hands perfectly, they also incorporate grippy texture on the rear, a none-too-mushy D-Pad on the left side, and a flat edge on the bottom that actually allows you to stand the controller up and even stand the entire console up instead of needing to use the kickstand. Through they also don't feature the supportive notch of the Hori Split Pad Pro, they fit perfectly into the rails and there was never any looseness or twisting of the connective components, which I was pleasantly surprised by.
You would think that because they charge via the rails, the grip connector would have a USB-C socket that allowed you to charge two with one cable, alas no, but this isn't the biggest oddity in this sentence. Yes, you read it right; they can be charged on the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Con rails! Now, there aren't many, if any, other third-party Joy-Cons that I could find to compare this feature to so I think this is pretty unique and definitely useful for the NYXI to elevate itself above the masses. Sadly, there is no inclusion of NFC for Amiibo and no IR functionality, so this should be considered if using these for games such as Super Mario Party or Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, for example. Though these functions would have been great to see in this product, they are possibly the least utilised and therefore the easiest to trim off to ensure a cheaper product price for NYXI.
I'm personally very impressed with this product. It gives you the larger, grippier feeling of a Split Pad with the added benefits of gyro movement and rechargeability for use as a separate controller.As third-party products go these certainly create a brilliant lasting impression, and work perfectly fine in any game I threw at it. If I had to grumble about it would simply be that the rumble feels horrid, and the pad could do with a slightly more solid look given the light leaks. Other than that I unquestionably adore these, and at just £34 they are an absolute steal!
