NBCP Wireless Gaming Controller Pro

Hardware Type: Controller

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Review:

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

I’m always on the lookout for controllers that offer new features or better value, and Nintendo Switch has by now gotten quite a few solid budget controllers that are gonna’ be difficult to beat. Coming in to that arena is the NBCP Wireless Gaming Controller Pro, which is alternately referred to in its packaging as the Wolf V-1 and on its instruction manual as the Wolf V-8.

Well, a controller with an identity crisis is not a great start, but one can always hope that this controller makes up for that in quality and features.

Like many of the Pro-style controllers released for Nintendo Switch, the NBCP Wireless Gaming Controller Pro replicates the general size, shape, and layout of Nintendo’s own Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, with asymmetrical analog sticks with a convex rimmed top, along with standard face buttons and D-Pad in the usual places. The backside of the grips are very lightly textured. Overall I felt this controller was fairly comfortable to hold, apart from the macro paddles on the back, but more on this later. Otherwise, this felt very much like holding Nintendo’s own Pro controller.

Both the D-Pad and face buttons are more on the “squishy” side of the “squishy/clicky” spectrum, but feel pretty responsive and control well in-game. NBCP’s Amazon listing and accompanying material don’t seem to specify what sort of analog sticks are used here, so my guess is that these are not hall effect sticks, meaning that they might be prone to drifting over time.

Moving on to the rest of the standard features, on the top of the controller, we have a pair of clicky L and R bumper buttons, as well as a pair of digital ZL and ZR triggers. While this is ideal for use on Nintendo Switch, which cannot recognize analog triggers, it does mean that this will be less useful on other platforms that make use of that feature, particularly in Racing games.

Getting back to the controller’s face, the secondary face buttons are all present, though the home button has been shifted to the center to make room for a new turbo button, which works in much the same way as other buttons like this.

When it comes to the other standard features of Nintendo Switch controllers, this controller includes the ability to wirelessly wake the Nintendo Switch from sleep mode. The gyroscopic motion control works fine, too. It has adjustable rumble in place of HD rumble, which I tend to find a decent trade-off. And while it has no Amiibo functionality, this is rare in third-party Nintendo Switch controllers so I don’t hold that against it.

Flipping the controller over to look at its underside, we have a pair of macro paddles that can be set using the turbo button to assign each to a button or a sequence of commands, like a Street Fighter-style “hadouken”. These paddles work well, but I personally feel they’re uncomfortable, and I kept finding myself accidentally pressing them.

In addition to this, there’s a slider to remove the back panel of the controller, which doesn’t seem to have any use other than to swap out the battery or press an internal factory reset button, something I expect most players won’t need to do after installing the battery, but I suppose it’s nice that there’s easy access just in case.

In addition to Nintendo Switch, the NBCP Wireless Gaming Controller Pro works with PC, Android, and iOS. I wasn’t able to test this with iOS, but the controller worked fine on Android, and I was surprised to find it also worked fine on PC via Bluetooth connection, something that usually makes for a poor connection in controllers that necessitates the use of a USB dongle, but this wasn’t necessary here.

There is one other issue I have here, and it’s with an advertised feature that doesn’t seem to be present. The NBCP Wireless Gaming Controller Pro is supposed to include a mobile app for custom-tuning the controller’s features and button assignments, but I could find no link or mention of any such app, save for one on the iOS platform. Taking a look at this, I couldn’t even tell the name of the app, since it was only listed with what appear to be Chinese characters. It’s really a shame that this app seems to be available only to those with iOS, because app support is a feature rarely found in controllers in this price range.

Despite this, I don’t have too many complaints about the NBCP Wireless Gaming Controller Pro. Nearly everything it does, it does well, and it has some decent features for a low-end Nintendo Switch controller. That said, the uncomfortable macro paddles on the back, along with the apparent lack of hall effect analog sticks, makes this come up just a bit short compared to my favorite controllers in this price range on Nintendo Switch. Still, if you’re considering whether or not to get this controller, I do not think you’ll be disappointed – at this price, this is a surprisingly well-made controller.

tl;dr – The NBCP Wireless Gaming Controller Pro is a low-end Pro-style Nintendo Switch controller that’s all-around well-made with some good features. I’m not fond of the paddle-style macro buttons, and the apparent lack of hall effect sticks is disappointing, as is the iOS-only mobile app. However, despite these issues, this is still overall a very good controller for the price.

Grade: B+

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