If there’s one thing modern gamers can’t complain about it’s the sheer quantity and quality of third party peripherals on the market.
When I was growing up with the PlayStation 2 -the last good PlayStation- the GameCube and original Xbox, third party controllers were exclusively built out of plastic that felt as if it was formulated in a man’s shed in Durham and they were only ‘decent’ in the same way that off-the-shelf white bread is definitely baked by real people or that your Deliveroo driver definitely has the right to reside in the UK. What I’m trying to say is the situation has improved and we’ve come to a point where I’ve actually used third party controllers more cost-effective and enjoyable than the real thing.
The original Nintendo Switch was never that ergonomic or comfortable to use handheld but it was small enough and light enough that I could overlook the issue; 90% of my Switch gaming was done in the docked mode anyway so I never bothered to improve the situation, however, the Switch 2 is significantly larger and heavier so in the year and a bit since launch, I’ve tried a few times to use it undocked and failed. Let’s be honest here, we in the English-speaking world are among the unhealthiest countries on Earth and most people seem to be nursing some kind of long-term health condition and I’m no different, I have a recurring RSI in the tissue between my thumb and index finger in my right hand that gets inflamed when I have to pinch or press in certain ways with my thumb, so the Switch 2 always causes me genuine pain to use undocked.
I went looking for a solution and here is what I found.
I’d show you the box but they stuck my address right on the front and I don’t fancy doxing myself.
The Savage Raven -which I’m sure was the name of a soldier I had in Peace Walker- is a dockable grip for the Switch 2 with a set of detachable handles: the Snap Grips, which are the smallest and most flush with the Joy-Con 2’s rectangular design, the Trigger Grips, which are medium-sized and concave akin to the DualSense and there is also the Plus Grip which is the largest and feels convex similar to the original Xbox Duke or S gamepad. You can get the handles in black, classic neon blue and red, neon blue and purple or in some special edition colours like Tetris, which is full of little blocks but I went for the neon blue and red because in my eyes, that’s the Nintendo Switch colour scheme as God intended; I’m still a bit miffed that the console is all black so I seized the chance to reintroduce some colour.
You attach the Savage Raven by slotting your console into the grip and then snapping on this arm, which has its own locking switch that tightens everything up.
I’ve read some reviews that people couldn’t work this locking clasp or couldn’t pull it off to mount the console in the first place but I read the instructions and managed it easily so I suspect this might be a case of RTFM.
On the other hand, swapping the handles is genuinely quite fiddly. Instead of a button or a lock to keep them in place they rely on a directional rail: pull the handles down to detach and push them up into the rail to mount them on the grip.
Because there isn’t anything going on here mechanically it relies on brute force to work, this can be fiddly and dangerous to the health of the console; I had images of my Switch 2 flying through the air and suddenly finding myself a few hundred pounds poorer. Definitely do this over a soft chair or assist your child with it if the console is theirs, if you have a screen protector -and you really should for any device of this nature- then it is a bit easier if you stabilise your grip by touching the screen. Be sure to curse the design of the handle mechanism afterwards and to give the protector a good spritz with a screen cleaner now that your grubby fingertips have been all over it.
The material of the handles feels pleasant to hold: a light, slightly textured plastic akin to the DualSense; the fact that this £25, third party grip mechanism replicates the feel of Sony’s gamepad should tell you everything there is to know about that corporation’s attitude towards the physical experience of playing video games, if recent news hadn’t already.
I tested all three grips on a mixture of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Splatoon Raiders and there was a clear loser.
The large Plus Grip feels pleasingly substantial to hold and fit my hands best; I am an Xbox refugee after all. However, the size is a double-edged sword, it shifts your grip further outwards while simultaneously adding weight to the console so while you’re using the Plus you feel the Switch 2’s weight more acutely on the wrists and forearms after a while it will strain them. I’ll keep using this grip but mainly for text-heavy, less reflex-based games like Fire Emblem or slower-paced platformers: games where I can put down the console from time to time to watch cutscenes or don’t need to access the triggers as readily.
The medium-sized Trigger Grip was my all-round favourite of the trio. While I preferred the convex shape of the Plus, the Trigger -funnily enough- allows you to access the shoulder and trigger buttons more easily, which is important for me as a serial reviewer of retro shooters; the improved weight distribution over the Plus resulted in zero strain on my forearms or wrists and these handles look less silly when the console is docked too.
The Snap Grips are the worst of the bunch by far and besides children or those who are especially petite, I don’t see anyone getting much use out of these. They are the lowest profile of the grips and apparently fit nicely into the brand’s hard case offerings but I’m not brave enough to take the £400 Switch 2 out into the world with me so it’s a moot point. These add nothing more than a bit of extra bulk onto the standard Joy-Cons. I’ve heard that Savage Raven by Skull & Co. have had quality control issues before and it seems that hasn’t changed because to top it off, one of my Snaps is wobbly on the rail straight out of the box. I won’t be using these again.
Overall? I’d have to say I’m quite satisfied with my purchase. I recommend the Neo Grip.
There’s no fixing the fact that the Switch 2 strains the boundaries of what I would call a handheld console; it is certainly portable and you absolutely can use it in your hands but like a laptop or a tablet, this isn’t a device I ever see myself using at a bus stop or at a busy train station. All that aside, the Neo Grip significantly increases my comfort. Before I could only manage 30-40 minutes playing the Switch 2 in handheld mode but just testing these grips, I was able to play a pair of 90-minute gaming sessions pain-free.
The Snap Grips feel like a sneaky ploy to get you to pay the extra tenner to get the hard case with the Neo Grip and £25 for a load of plastic is a little bit dubious but at the end of the day, the results speak for themselves.
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