IINE Candy Pop Mini Wireless Controller

Hardware Type: Controller

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Review:

(Note: This product was received at no cost for review via the Amazon Vine program.)

When a gamepad comes in only two colors, and one is pink and the other is purple, and it features face buttons colored to make them look almost like Smarties candies, you might be tempted to think that this is a controller that is aiming to attract players purely based on its “cute” factor. However, the IINE Candy Pop Mini Wireless Controller manages to surprise by having a surprisingly good feature set for a low price, albeit not without a few issues.

Released in 2024, IINE Candy Pop Mini Wireless Controller has a few features that are extremely uncommon among third-party Nintendo Switch controllers, namely the ability to wake the Nintendo Switch from sleep with a single button press, as well as the ability to scan Amiibo figurines. Arguably, the only feature it lacks from Nintendo’s own Nintendo Switch Pro Controller is HD Rumble, and in place of that feature, the Candy Pop Mini has an adjustable rumble, which some players may prefer. However, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The IINE Candy Pop Mini Wireless Controller is somewhat smaller than The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, lacking the grips on the lower part of the controller. This makes the controller more ideal for players with smaller hands, although the controller’s shape and contouring don’t necessarily make this a terrible choice for bigger hands – my larger hands barely touched at the back.

Having said that, I felt the overall shape of the controller wasn’t quite as comfortable as some of the better Nintendo Switch controllers on the market, mainly due to how the controller felt in my palms. Also, this controller lacks the nice texturing you can find in some of the better controllers as well. These may be a somewhat minor complaints, but I felt they were worth mention.

The placement of the main face buttons, the secondary face buttons (Plus, Minus, Home, and Screenshot) and the analog sticks are all fairly similar to Nintendo’s controller, including the asymmetrical analog stick placement. The controller’s build feels fairly sturdy, the buttons feel like the right mix of “clicky” and “squishy” about on par with Nintendo’s controller, the D-Pad and sticks feel good too.

The shoulder buttons also mostly feel pretty good, though the ZL and ZR buttons are a bit too slim for my tastes, making the top of the controller feel a bit cramped. Also, for players looking to use this controller on non-Nintendo platforms, know that the ZL and ZR buttons are not analog, making this less than ideal for some games on those platforms, particularly Racing games (if you’re sticking with Nintendo Switch, this won’t matter, as Nintendo Switch doesn’t support this feature anyway).

On the back of the controller, we see one pair of “programmable” M-buttons to the left and right, as well as a Turbo button in the dead-center of the controller. This is a somewhat unorthodox placement for a Turbo button, and it takes some getting used to, but once you do I think you’ll find it to be an interesting choice, keeping this button from cluttering the face of the controller. The Turbo button acts as you expect it would, combining with face buttons to make those buttons into “turbo” versions of the button, or using the combo twice to make this automatic, and combining with the analog sticks to adjust the turbo speed.

As for the programmable buttons, these buttons can indeed be used for multiple-button sequences of up to 21 buttons, meaning that if you so desire you can use these buttons to automatically set up “hadouken” sequences or other complex button combinations, or you can simply set them up as an extra copy of a face button.

The IINE Candy Pop Mini Wireless Controller’s wake function works flawlessly on Nintendo Switch, as does the gyroscopic motion control. The Amiibo scanning function less so. At times it worked fine, but at other times, the game I was using wouldn’t recognize my Amiibo as an Amiibo. I’m not sure what the issue was here, but eventually after trying it over and over I got it to work. A little frustrating, but I suppose it’s still more than most third-party Nintendo Switch controllers offer.

Testing this out with other platforms, the IINE Candy Pop Mini Wireless Controller connected effortlessly to my Android device via Bluetooth and worked without a hitch. On my PC, however, I had some real troubles with lag when connecting via Bluetooth that rendered the controller virtually unusable, and had to use a wired connection via the included USB-C cable to make it work properly. Having had a similar problem with the arVin Wireless Gamepad Controller, I did some looking around online to find this is apparently a common issue with Bluetooth controllers on PC that don’t use their own dongle, but this was nevertheless disappointing.

I should also mention that the controller has multiple selectable light modes for the rims around its two analog sticks, allowing players to cycle between the different options or shut them off completely. I found this feature, while superfluous, to nevertheless be pretty classy, and really did a good job enhancing the look of the controller.

Finally, I’m adding to this review late a feature that I’m only learning after the fact: this controller has full app support on IINE’s Android app, for players who want to fine-tune its performance and features. This sort of app support on a controller this inexpensive is really uncommon, and absolutely a welcome addition.

In the end, I think the IINE Candy Pop Mini Wireless Controller manages to be a pretty solid all-around controller despite its whimsical and diminutive appearance, and at its middle-of-the-road price of $34 it offers a pretty good selection of features, but it also stumbles in a few places, with its Amiibo-scanning feature being a bit spotty, its wireless PC connectivity being virtually unusable, and the lack of analog triggers limiting this gamepad’s use outside of the Nintendo Switch platform. However, if you’re mainly looking at this as a Nintendo Switch controller and can overlook the unreliability of the Amiibo scanning, this is a pretty great all-around controller, especially at this price.

tl;dr – The IINE Candy Pop Mini Wireless Controller is a Pro-Style Controller for Nintendo Switch looks cute, but nevertheless manages to be a pretty well-made controller with a good selection of features for those looking for something mid-range. There are a few places where it could do with improvement, but overall this is definitely a controller that punches above its weight.

Grade: B+

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