How do you play the Nintendo Switch? Perpetually docked and linked to a TV like a house console, or extra ceaselessly in handheld mode as you roam the home or take potty breaks (don’t fake you don’t)? If you’re in that latter group, the brand new Hori Split Pad Fit ought to make your handheld expertise really feel a little more comfy and slightly safer.

Nintendo clearly needed to make just a few compromises to create the multi-purpose Switch, and if you happen to requested most house owners what they dislike most in regards to the console, the very first thing they’ll most likely point out is the Joy-Cons. They’re high-quality in a pinch, however are actually too small for use as standalone gamepads (which Nintendo acknowledged when it launched the Switch Pro Controller) and so they don’t really feel like an particularly safe strategy to hold a agency grip on the Switch when utilizing it as a handheld.

Other transportable consoles, like Valve’s Steam Deck, characteristic extra pronounced grips on both aspect, giving gamers’ arms extra to carry on to. It was a design shortcoming that third-party alternate options just like the Hori Switch Split Pad Pro solved, placing beefier controllers on both aspect of the Switch that sacrificed some portability for a lot improved grip.

Hori went again to the drafting board with this accent, and the brand new Split Pad Fit, which is able to launch first in Japan subsequent month after which get a wider rollout afterwards, contains a slimmer design that appears extra just like the official Joy-Cons. Even so, they nonetheless retain a thicker physique that’s simpler to carry.

One of the explanations the unique Hori Split Pad Pro bought for $50 (a pair of Joy-Cons will set you again $80) is that they skipped the rumbling power suggestions, the NFC capabilities, and so they aren’t even wi-fi—they solely work when hooked up to the Switch itself. The new Split Pad Fit comes with the identical limitations, however does carry over the unique’s further programmable buttons on the again, which might replicate the performance of any of the face or shoulder buttons, in addition to the Turbo buttons, which might automate a number of button presses.