8Bitdo Ultimate 2 Bluetooth Controller for Switch/Switch 2 & Windows PC, Switch Pro Controller with TMR Joysticks, Switchable Hall Effect/Tactile Triggers, Vibration and Motion… by 8Bitdo

I have a lot of controllers… and I’m on a mission of reviewing every controller I own. Today, we’ll review my first 8BitDo Ultimate – The Bluetooth version.

The main reason I bought this controller was as an option to replace a Switch Pro Controller. I bought it a little bit after the GuliKit KingKong 2 Pro and it was between those for which I would use for Switch… ultimately the KingKong 2 ended up being used for Switch (at least until it lost my trust… I probably won’t review that controller since it’s no longer available, but long story short it went haywire on me while playing, twice) and I adopted this as my new main PC controller after the right bumper went bad on my Elite 2. I even bought the buttons from 8BitDo in order to convert it to Xbox layout ABXY.

Features:

Face buttons are standard membrane.
dpad is old school feeling membrane with center pivot.
Profile switch and home buttons are tactile.
Triggers are hall effect and have good resistance to me (subjective).

Special Features:

The standout features that attracted me to this controller were….

– Hall Effect Joysticks
– Multiple Game Profiles
– Mappable Back Buttons
– Wakes switch (was the first 8BitDo to do so!)

In general, all of these features work as advertised, though compared to some other options, I would say the mappable back buttons are not as capable as other controller options today. 8BitDo software kind of has a macro builder where you build your macro, rather than other options that let you just record the inputs. This makes it such that there’s no way to create macros which rely on buttons being held while others are being pressed, one button must end before the next begins. This unfortunately limited it’s functionality for me in games like FFXIV, in which the trigger buttons must be held down to execute skills.

By the time I switched to this controller though I was no longer raiding, so that limitation didn’t end up being a deal breaker for me and it was still better than needing to buy a third party application to make macros at all, so I’ll give it a pass.

Shake to wake with Switch is a bit hilarious, but it works.

QC / Durability Concerns:

I haven’t had any issues with this controller at all. There is wear from the plastic to plastic rub of the joystick with the controller face, but otherwise it generally looks fine. Maybe get black if you are concerned with grime and don’t clean your controllers often.

Functionality:

In general, I have nothing to complain about as far as functionality. Everything works solidly, though the resolution of the hall effect sticks is certainly lower than the resolution of the Xbox Elite 2. You can tell this when you do operations such as changing the time of day in Genshin Impact – you can easily get it to register minute by minute with the Elite 2, but usually the 8BitDo Ultimate skips a few minutes when you rotate it. My my case, this does not affect game play, but perhaps if you need the ultimate level of precision this controller may not be suitable for you.

A staple of my controller reviews… the Tetris dpad test. I play games on Tetris at as fast of a pace as I can (I’m roughly a 1 minute sprinter in modern Tetris games) and see how many false hard drops I get. Generally, 8BitDo controllers do well in this test for me, but I seem to be more prone to make accidental hard drops on this controller than I do on the Pro 2. In general though, this controller would fall somewhere below Xbox Elite 2 with cross dpad installed, other options with tactile / clicky dpads, and the 8BitDo Pro 2 (my current go to)… probably a little worse than the IINE Candy Pop controller I recently reviewed, but certainly not embarrassing like the Switch Pro controller.

In Conclusion:

For the price of this controller I think you get a lot from it, but if you are looking for a PC controller today I’d probably go with another option. If you are looking for a Switch Pro alternative though, I think this is still a pretty good option. It’s very responsive on Switch and I still use a limited edition variant of this controller on Switch today. For PC though, I think there are better options for not a lot more of your hard earned money.

Still though if this is your only option, I can recommend it as a solid reliable option. If PC is your intent though and you won’t play on Switch ever, you can save $10 by getting the 2.4G version of the controller and you’ll have the Xbox layout by default. Back when I bought this one, that variant didn’t have hall effect joysticks, but now it does so you don’t really lose any functionality except Switch connectivity.

El mando tiene muy buena ergonomía. Se nota robusto, tiene el peso idóneo y tiene muy buen acabado. Los botones se sienten perfectos y los gatillos son geniales. El D-Pad no es lo mejor del mundo pero hace click lo cual te proporciona feedback al pulsar. Una pega importante para mi es que la distribución de los botones + – cuadrado y estrella no son mis preferidos. Me gustaría poder reasignar cuadrado y estrella… (cambiarlos por + y -) pero estos botones no se pueden cambiar en el software. También poder cambiar el resultado de pulsar el botón estrella, ya que hace ciclo entre cuatro perfiles rgb, dos perfiles por defecto, el mío, y apagado. Me gustaría que solo fuese on y off.
Respecto a las pegas que pone la gente sobre tener que actualizar… Este mando salió al mercado antes que la switch 2. Es normal que sea necesario.

works as it should and for a better price that a switch pro, connects easy to switch and pc with no problem and software to program it is easy to understand

Before getting this, I had the wired Xbox version. My particular model had somewhat sticky shoulder buttons, though I was able to fix that with some plastic lube, and that model generally doesn’t have the hall effect joysticks. Otherwise, it is a fantastic controller. I thought it would be nice to have the hall effect sticks and wireless functionality, so I bought this.

There’s not much to be said about this that wasn’t already said about that, so I’ll start with what’s different. Obviously this one is wireless, both 2.4G and bluetooth. When in 2.4G mode, it reads as an x-input controller, so the buttons, by default, will be swapped around. That is, your PC will read the B button as A and so on, just like an Xbox controller. You can change the buttons using the Ultimate Software if you want, but you get used to it (or you can buy replacement buttons from 8bitdo if you really care). You also get around a 250 Hz polling rate. In bluetooth mode, it will read as a Switch controller, so the buttons will actually match up and you can use the gyro functionality. However, you’ll be limited to 125 Hz polling rate (or thereabouts).

It has hall effect joysticks, which feel identical to regular sticks, really. But they shouldn’t develop drift over time, so it’s more of a future-proofing thing than anything else. I’ve seen where someone stated that in 2.5G/x-input mode, the sticks were not properly calibrated, but in Bluetooth mode, they are. They based this on a circularity test. The thing is, 8bitdo controllers intentionally read as non-circular because it makes certain games with axial deadzones work better. You can lower the outer deadzone to 99% if you’d rather it have perfect circularity and it’s possible they did that with the Switch mode for better compatibility or something. At any rate, every 8bitdo controller I have does this, so it is intentional and should actually be beneficial in some games (while not hindering others).

The buttons and triggers all feel great. Unlike the Xbox version, the shoulder buttons do not have any issues on this controller. If that changes over time, at least I know how to fix it now. The left trigger is slightly stiffer than the right for some reason, but it’s not a huge deal. The face buttons are neither overly stiff nor mushy, providing a good amount of tactile feedback without making my fingers hurt after awhile. Also, unlike official Xbox controllers, these face buttons actually work 100% of the time. The d-pad feels basically the same (sorry, clicky d-pad enjoyers) and I am happy to report that it does a pretty good job of not triggering diagonals when I don’t want it to. This was a big problem on their earlier controllers, but any that I have gotten more recently, including this one, have been much better. Not perfect, but close enough that it hasn’t been a problem.

The dock is a nice accessory. I just leave it plugged into my PC with the 2.4G dongle plugged into the bottom and that’s that. There’s a light on the bottom to indicate when it’s charging; thankfully, it turns off when it is done. I haven’t had any connectivity issues with the 2.5G mode, but I haven’t messed around with bluetooth to see how that fares.

There are a few small things I don’t like, though. First, although it reads as an x-input controller in 2.4G mode, whether it is plugged in or wireless, it is not detected by Gamepad Tester. I’m not sure if that’s an issue with the web site or with the controller, but it makes it harder to properly verify that it is working correctly. It still works fine with Steam, the Xbox PC app, and random fan games I’ve tested, though, so whatever. Second, I wish they would put some sort of anti-friction rings around the thumbsticks. The plastic is a bit rough there and while it may break in over time, it will never feel as premium as other controllers. Even the standard DualSense has those these days. Third, there doesn’t seem to be any way to get it to work on Xbox. It isn’t advertised as working with Xbox and I didn’t really expect it to, but I’ve had some luck getting other controllers to work using my Brook 360-XB1 adapter, so I was hoping I might luck out. Nope. I can’t dock them any points for that, but it’s still a bummer. And finally, the cable it comes with is too short, IMO, for a PC setup. An extra couple feet would’ve been nice.

All in all, a really excellent controller that I highly recommend. It works well and should continue to do so for a long time.