GuliKit Elves 2 Bluetooth Game Controller

Hardware Type: Controller

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Review:

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

I’ll start this review by saying I’ve seen user reviews of this product that claim the GuliKit Elves 2 is everything it claims to be. And maybe these are honest reviews by people who had a different experience than me, or maybe they’re not honest reviews and for some reason they’re trying to deceive you. I don’t know. I can only speak to my own experiences with this product. And my experience is this: the description of this controller lies about what it is.

The GuliKit Elves 2 is listed as a Nintendo Switch 2 controller with the ability to wake the Nintendo Switch 2 from sleep mode. This is false. Rather, it is a Nintendo Switch controller that is forward-compatible with Nintendo Switch 2, but has no Nintendo Switch 2 features, including the ability to wake the Nintendo Switch 2 from sleep mode.

To be clear, I connected the controller to my PC and downloaded up-to-date drivers to the controller, and I followed the instructions that came with the controller precisely when syncing the controller with Nintendo Switch 2. The result was always the same – the controller was recognized by the Nintendo Switch 2, but only as a pro-style controller for the original Nintendo Switch.

To sum everything up, I went through a lot of hassle just to be absolutely sure that my initial impression of the GuliKit Elves 2 was correct – this is a pro-style controller for the original Nintendo Switch, nothing more.

So with all that said… is it at least a good one?

Unlike many of the Pro-style controllers released for Nintendo Switch, the Elves 2 controller doesn’t just replicate the rough size, shape, and layout of Nintendo’s own Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, instead opting for something smaller and closer in shape to Sega’s Saturn controller. GuliKit claims this is intended to be more comfortable for players with smaller hands, and I’m sorry to say that doesn’t describe me, because the smaller size made my hands feel particularly cramped when holding this controller.

The controller has a pair of symmetrical hall effect analog sticks with a concave top, with a D-pad and face buttons above to either side, and with plus, minus, home, and screenshot buttons all in the usual places, though the plus/minus buttons and home/screenshot buttons seem higher (perhaps due to the lack of grips), causing a lot of mistaken button presses due to muscle memory. Meanwhile, the analog sticks work well, and I have no complaints about them. However, the same can’t be said for the rest of the controller.

The face buttons all feel squishy without much give, making them feel very imprecise to me. However, I found the D-Pad to be even worse – disc-shaped, loose, and so terribly imprecise that I found myself dying miserably in games I’ve been playing effortlessly for decades. This may very well be the worst D-Pad I have ever encountered on a controller, arguably second only to the original Xbox “Duke” controller.

Meanwhile, the L and R shoulder buttons and the ZL and ZR trigger buttons are all extremely clicky, which is just fine for a Nintendo Switch controller, though the lack of analog triggers makes this less-suitable for use on other platforms. However, the problem here is that the L and R shoulder buttons are very small, making the entire top part of the controller feel cramped much like the rest of the controller.

In addition to the standard face buttons, dead-center on the controller is a settings button that allows you to adjust the rumble and other features on the controller, like enabling or disabling the analog stick dead zone mode. This button also doubles as a turbo button, working in conjunction with other buttons on the controller in the way this feature usually functions. Beneath it, between the analog sticks, is a blue sync button, which works fine, but that’s an odd place to put such a button.

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 (but, again, not the Nintendo Switch 2). 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, there’s not much to see here. There’s a tiny off button for those who don’t want to hold the home button for ten seconds to power down the controller, and a slider to change the controller from Nintendo Switch mode to Android mode or to PC mode.

Having said this, let’s talk about cross-compatibility. In addition to Nintendo Switch, the Elves 2 works with PC, Android, and iOS. I wasn’t able to test this with iOS, and with my Android device it worked fine, but it only barely worked on PC, with my inputs often not recognized or severely delayed, at least until I connected the controller directly via USB-C cable.

Also, unlike many third-party controllers on the market right now, the Elves 2 has no macro buttons or macro mode, and is overall pretty slim on extra features.

Finally, I should mention that this controller comes with a plastic clamshell protective case, which… I mean, sure, that’s neat and all, but it doesn’t change my overall impression that this is a terrible controller.

Overall, I found the GuliKit Elves 2 Bluetooth Controller to be an absolute disaster. Even if I can overlook the outright falsehood that this works as a Nintendo Switch 2 controller that can wake that console from sleep mode (again, it isn’t, and it can’t), its terrible D-Pad, sub-par face buttons, lacking features, cramped shoulder buttons, and overall cramped feel make this one of the worst controllers I’ve used in a while. I absolutely do not recommend this.

tl;dr – The GuliKit Elves 2 Bluetooth Controller claims to be a Nintendo Switch 2 controller, but it isn’t. This is a pro-style controller for the original Nintendo Switch, and a pretty miserable one at that, with an absolutely terrible D-pad, pretty poor face buttons, and it’s far too cramped to hold and far too lacking in features. Don’t be fooled into buying this terrible controller.

Grade: D-

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This hardware has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2025 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Worst Hardware

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