Yes, this is my 8bitdo SN30 Pro+ controller review, and I'm gonna talk about it more in length but here's a quick spoiler - the 8bitdo SN30 Pro+ is one of the best third-party controllers for the Nintendo Switch I've ever, ever used. It's probably the only third party controller I'd recommend for all classic genres - fighting, driving, shooting, adventure, RPG, action - all of it, it works.
There are probably 5 things I find wrong with it and that's being nitpicky. The pros outweigh the cons by a country mile. Let's go over the negatives first because there's very few of them.
Negatives
Buttons are not equidistant
The distance between A and Y, and X and B are not the same. Usually, buttons form something like a diamond on the face of the controller, but on the SN30 Pro+, it's more like a rhomboid. It's quite offputting at first but it'll take you only a few minutes to get used to it.
No specific button to sync up to devices
You'd need to either keep your manual handy, check the guide inside the compartment of the battery, or look at the 8bitdo support page to find out what button combination you'll need to press to pair to a specific device. I tried to come up with a mnemonic but it was too difficult.
Start + X to pair to Windows PC
Start + B for Android
Start + A for Mac OS
Start + Y for Nintendo Switch
Does not wake up Nintendo Switch from sleep
You're still going to need your Joycons or Nintendo Pro Controllers to wake up the Switch, unfortunately. Then once it's up and about, you'll need pair the device up in the Change Grip Order menu.
Start and Select buttons are not centered
This is totally not a big deal, but if you like things symmetrical, you're going to get triggered by the Start and Select button placements.
Battery replacements don't seem to be readily available
Despite the fact that the battery is removable, I can't seem to find the battery for sale on Lazada, Shopee, Amazon or the 8bitdo website.
Positives
Okay, now let's get to why this thing is GOD tier.
The packaging is super premium
It might not be a big deal to some, but I do appreciate some well thought out premium packaging. It feels great to touch, made with high-quality materials, is sturdy, and it's very easy to open and re-use. It's everything good packaging should be.
It comes with an outer dust cover that has all the branding and an image of the product. Inside is a sturdy box. Lifting up the lid of the box, you find the controller in all its glory protected by a little bit of plastic that fits flush on top of the controller. Inside, you get a manual, a card about the software, and a USB-C cable. Unfortunately, it doesn't come with a mobile phone handle - you'll need to get that separately.
It uses USB-C
These days, it's pretty standard, especially for Nintendo Switch controllers, but it's still much appreciated.
No Bluetooth dongle, all wireless
This should've been standard five years ago, but for some reason, a lot of peripherals still come with dongles. You can't lose what you don't have.
Amazing build quality
8bitdo spared no expense with the materials for the SN30 Pro+. It feels solid through and through. I actually dropped it from a height of 5 feet and it survived completely! The battery came flying out but it still worked perfectly after that.
Super comfy
Personally, I prefer symmetrical sticks - like the Dualshock 4. Probably because that's what I've gotten used to over the years - but even with that bias in mind, I do objectively find the SN30 Pro + to be a highly comfortable controller. The handles are perfectly shaped for your hands to grasp when playing.
Button quality
The height. shape, and travel distance of all the face buttons are just right, and they feel really responsive to press. Each bumper actuates fast and gives a nice, satisfying "click." The triggers have a nice feel to them, as well - the shape, the resistance, and travel distance are just right. Analog sticks feel very similar to the Dualshock 4, down to the L3 and R3 buttons.
However, the pièce de résistance is the directional pad. The way it looks, it doesn't seem like it would be as responsive and as accurate as it is. It is a single piece of plastic, after all, not separated by spaces or smaller pieces of plastic bridging each direction together. By all means, it has no right to be as good as it is. But lo and behold - it is good enough to be used for fighting games and hardcore platformers, in my opinion.
And if the dead zones and sensitivity of the sticks are triggers aren't to your liking, you can adjust it via the downloadable software.
The software
You can download the software by going to the support page of 8bitdo.com. To launch the software, you need to connect your SN30 Pro+ via USB-C cable. Once the controller is detected, you can make your adjustments.
With the software, you can adjust button mapping, stick dead zones and acceleration, trigger sensitivity, vibration strength, and your macros.
Through button mapping, you can, on a hardware level, swap functions between your buttons. Make sure not to override a crucial button, though.
To make dead zones bigger, adjust the inner circle of the sticks. To make the sticks accelerate faster, make the outer circle smaller - that way, you go from 0 to 100% faster with shorter travel on the stick.
With the trigger adjustment, you can make it so that your triggers actuate at 100% at the slightest touch. You can literally turn them into hair triggers.
Changing vibration strength is probably only useful if you want to save up on batteries.
The macros are interesting - you can save multiple actions on your controller and trigger them with a single press of a button. Problem is - there are no extra buttons to assign macros to. I guess if there's a specific game that doesn't use R3 and L3, you can slap a macro or two on them. The "Home" and "Star" buttons aren't really used for PC gaming, though, so you can probably utilize them. For example, you can make it so that the "Home" button does a perfect EWGF every time on one side, and the "Star" button does it on the other. Make sure to switch it back to the default if you plan to use it on a Switch because the Home button is crucial for going back into the menu.
The best thing about that software is it saves onto the hardware so you can take your personalized changes with you.
Some bells and whistles
Turbo - You can set a button to repeatedly trigger when you hold it down. This is great for QTEs.
Gyro Aim Assist - For Switch games that support it, you can tilt the controller to make fine adjustments to your aim.
Price
It goes for Php 2,400 ($47-$48) on Lazada. Click here to buy yours!