GameSir Tarantula Pro 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.)

In my search for the perfect Nintendo Switch controller, every controller I’ve tries always seems to have something missing, or something that’s subpar. Either it’s missing Amiibo capabilities, or it’s lacking app support, or connectivity with other platforms is iffy, or the triggers don’t feel right. I’ve found multiple controllers that I consider to be excellent, but haven’t found any to be flawless… until now.

Okay, no, that’s not entirely true. The GameSir Tarantula Pro Wireless Controller is definitely not flawless. But what few complaints I have about this controller are largely minor nitpicks or personal preference issues. And yes, I think there’s still room for improvement, so I won’t be giving this controller an A++ grade or even an A+. However, I’m not burying the lead here, I’m outright telling you – this is as of right now the absolute best Nintendo Switch controller I have ever laid hands on.

To be clear, that isn’t to say that I think this controller is the absolute best value on Nintendo Switch – at a whopping $70 ($80 if you want the “Charging Station”), it is as expensive if not more expensive than Nintendo’s own Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, making it the most expensive Pro-style Nintendo Switch controller I’ve used. If you’re looking for value, I still think it’s hard to beat the ECHTPower Wireless Switch Controller (ES01). However, if money is no object and you’re looking for a controller that has nearly every feature you could want and possibly even a few you never knew you wanted, this is absolutely the controller that should be at the top of your list.

Comparing the Tarantula Pro with Nintendo’s own Pro Controller, there are some noticeable differences even before we start talking about all of the extra buttons and features this controller has. The Tarantula weighs roughly the same, and is about the same width, but is a bit shorter. However, more noticeable is that this controller uses a symmetrical analog stick layout like PlayStation controllers tend to use, as opposed to the asymmetrical layout that first-party Nintendo Switch controllers and most third-party controllers use. I don’t think either style is necessarily better, but if you’re someone who has a preference one way or another, this is worth noting.

Overall, the controller feels quite comfortable in my hands, save for the muscle memory issue of being used to asymmetrical sticks. However, the overall shape of the controller is highly comfortable, and the textured grips, analog sticks, and shoulder buttons all make this controller feel excellent. I still think ECHTPower’s ESO1 is the most comfortable controller in my opinion, but this one is definitely no slouch.

The layout of the primary face buttons seems pretty much standard, and these buttons feel slightly more “clicky” than Nintendo’s Pro controller, but not so much it’s a bad thing. The D-Pad, on the other hand, is quite clicky, something I tend to find works well on a D-Pad. No complaints here.

When it comes to the analog sticks, these days the standard generally seems to be hall effect analog sticks, which avoid the “drift” issue that Nintendo’s controllers have come to be known for (yes, including their Pro controller, which has given me issues with drift in the past). However, GameSir has gone above and beyond here by using Mag-Res TMR sticks, which they claim combine the benefits of both traditional and hall effect sticks, touting superior accuracy, low power consumption, and long-lasting durability. I don’t exactly have the tools or expertise to tear down the controller to test the veracity of these claims, but at least from my use of these sticks they seem to feel and control well. I’ll note that they’re convex sticks, which isn’t generally my preference, but they have a decent-sized textured lip at the edge that seems to work just as well for me, so again, no complaints here.

As for the secondary face buttons, the home button has been moved to the dead-center of the controller, which is my preference if it is being moved at all. Just above it is the new location of the screenshot button, with the plus and minus buttons to either side on the left and right. I’m not a fan of this new placement, or the tiny size of these buttons. However, this issue is mitigated by some of the other features on this controller that I’ll get to in a bit.

When talking about the trigger buttons, I should note that prior to writing this review I wrote the review for the NYXI Master P1 2.4G Wireless PC Controller, which had what I considered to be an absolutely inspired solution for the issue facing Nintendo Switch controllers that are cross-compatible with other platforms – the Nintendo Switch using only digital triggers, while other platforms often use analog triggers, particularly in Racing games. If you use digital triggers, you limit the controller’s use on those other platforms, but if you use analog triggers, you have the issue of having to figure out how much Nintendo Switch players need to press in the triggers before they register an input. NYXI’s ingenious solution to this issue was, I thought, truly original. Only this appears to not be the case, as the Tarantula Pro does the same thing… and then some.

The Tarantula Pro gives players physical switches on either side of the back of the controller that can change the ZL and ZR triggers from analog to digital. Doing so changes the gradual press of these buttons to a simple click in. And just like that, you have a controller with pretty much ideal ZL and ZR triggers, regardless of what platform you use them on. Furthermore, the Tarantula Pro also includes settings that allow players to enable “hair trigger” mode, which combines the two – using analog triggers, but having the trigger go to 100% activation at the slightest touch

Rounding out standard Nintendo Switch controller features, the Tarantula Pro can wake the Nintendo Switch from sleep mode, has excellent gyroscopic motion control, and has an adjustable rumble that GameSir claims is also HD Rumble (Truth be told, I can’t really tell). And unlike the overwhelming majority of third-party Nintendo Switch controllers, the Tarantula Pro can scan Amiibo figurines, by placing them above the word “GameSir” on the front of the controller. This makes the Tarantula Pro a rarity among third-party controllers – it is absolutely feature-complete, doing everything Nintendo’s controllers can do.

As for new features, these are pretty much all controlled using the M button that is dead-center on the back of the controller. Combine it with one of the standard buttons and it acts as a turbo function, letting you go through multiple different speeds of turbo functionality for that button (though unlike many other controllers, there’s no auto-turbo).

Combine the M button with different directions on the analog sticks or D-Pad to adjust the rumble strength, the lighting, and other functions. Or you can combine it with the two macro buttons on the back of the controller at the base of the handles to have these buttons either copy another button on the controller or memorize a series of commands to play out on a single button press (such as a Street Fighter “hadouken”). Players not wanting to accidentally press one of these macro buttons can also shut them off with switches to either side of the center on the back.

However, that’s just those two macro buttons, and players who really want to push this controller to its full use have a total of nine macro buttons. There’s the two on the back, two above the D-Pad, two above the standard AXBY face buttons, and then three underneath the GameSir plate at the top of the front of the controller – one if you press in on the front, one if you press down near the left shoulder, and one if you press down near the right shoulder.

This is why I said the terrible plus, minus, and screenshot buttons weren’t so major an issue, because you can basically relocate them to wherever you want out of all these buttons. In fact, by default, the macro buttons above the D-Pad double as extra minus buttons, those above the AXBY face buttons double as extra plus buttons, and the macro button behind the GameSir plate doubles as an extra screenshot button. Any of these can be reworked as you please, or made into another multiple-button combination.

However, a few minor complaints here – first, for some reason, the macro buttons behind the GameSir plate are absolutely terrible at reliably replicating a multi-button input (it only works right about half the time), so you’re better off just making these into extra mirrored buttons. Also, if you want to make one of these an extra turbo-specific button you’re out of luck, as the turbo function doesn’t work on the macro buttons as far as I can tell.

As mentioned before, this controller works not only with Nintendo Switch, but also with PC, Android, and iOS platforms. The Nintendo Switch and Android functionality works just fine, however PC connectivity via bluetooth doesn’t seem to work at all for me. Of course, you could connect the controller via USB-C cable and simply play on PC wired, but the included USB dongle this problem – pop it into your PC and you can connect with no problem, and no latency issues. Unlike the NYXI Master P1 2.4G Wireless PC Controller, there’s no convenient toggle switch to quickly go back and forth between platforms, but you can still do so using one of a few button combinations on the controller.

This actually gets to another one of my gripes with the Tarantula Pro – it comes with a massive one-page instruction manual that is a pain to parse through, and many of its commands require button combinations. Thankfully, at least some of this headache can be circumvented by making use of the GameSir app on PC or mobile platforms. Downloading this app allows you to directly control the many features the controller offers, customize the lighting, adjust the dead zones on the analog sticks, and numerous other customizations.

As if all these features weren’t enough, I have to mention the face layout gear mechanism, something that seems like it’s unique and exclusive to this controller. When you change the game platform the Tarantula Pro is synced to, an internal gear mechanism actually rotates the internal mechanisms behind the AXBY buttons to reflect the platform the controller is being used with, swapping the A/B and X/Y buttons. Furthermore, if you want, you can swap these manually yourself at any time, either using a button combination or the app. This is yet one more clever little feature making it easier to use this controller on different platforms.

Of course I should talk about the charging stand as well, which lets you simply drop the controller down onto the stand to get it charging, rather than having to plug in the USB-C cable. It’s a minor convenience, but it’s appreciated all the same. It might be debatable whether it’s worth the extra ten bucks, except it solves one of the problems the Tarantula Pro has – it uses a recessed USB-C port that doesn’t fit all USB-C cables, making it so you’re kinda’ forced to use the one that comes with the controller.

There’s another frustration I have with this controller that I should mention before wrapping things up here. Whenever this controller powers on, the gear mechanism behind the face buttons activates, making a loud noise like an RC car. Leaving this controller plugged into my Nintendo Switch to charge, it turned on multiple times throughout the night, making noises each time. It also makes this noise whenever it turns on or off, such as when it’s left alone for a few minutes and shuts off to conserve power. Pretty annoying.

So yeah, like I said above, the Tarantula Pro isn’t perfect. The gear noises are annoying, the default placement of the plus, minus, and screenshot buttons is pretty poor, the three macro buttons behind the faceplate don’t work consistently, the bluetooth connection to PC without the dongle doesn’t work right, the USB-C port being recessed means this won’t work with all USB-C cables, the instruction manual is absurd, and the way many of this controller’s functions are activated via button combinations can be a bit confusing.

Yet all of these complaints end up being minor nitpicks, because this controller fixes most of the problems it creates. The buttons aren’t to your liking? Assign these functions to one of the nine macro buttons. The function commands are confusing? Just change the settings how you want via the app. Wireless PC connectivity isn’t working right? Use the included USB dongle. The USB-C port is frustrating you? Use the cradle charger.

And while there’s clearly room for improvement here, the Tarantula Pro gets so much so right. It has full functionality with all of Nintendo’s standard controller features, it feels great in your hands, its buttons feel great, it uses Mag-Res TMR sticks, it has triggers that can swap between analog and digital modes or even combine the two with its “hair trigger” mode, it has a whopping nine macro buttons, it has full app support, it comes with a dongle for flawless wireless play on PC in addition to Nintendo Switch and Android, and it can even swap the buttons around for you when you change platforms. It’s a bit pricey for a Nintendo Switch controller, but you absolutely get what you pay for – no other controller I’ve used has been so absolutely loaded with features and overall high quality. If you’re looking for the best controller on Nintendo Switch, this is it.

tl;dr – The GameSir Tarantula Pro Wireless Controller is a Pro-style controller that is the priciest Nintendo Switch controller I’ve gotten my hands on, but you absolutely get what you pay for. It is so loaded with features it would take too long to list them all here, with an absolutely fantastic overall quality. It has a few issues here and there, but most of these are minor nitpicks and problems that other features on the controller largely resolve. In the end, this is simply the best controller I’ve encountered on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: A

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2024 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Hardware

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