8BitDo SN30 Pro+: An in-depth look at its customization and features
This will be a fairly long post, so here is here is a list for those of you who don't feel like skimming through the whole thing:
1. An overview of the controller and its features 2. What can the Ultimate Software do? 3. What it does differently compared to the Pro Controller 4. Is it worth it over the Pro Controller? (**TL;DR?**)
# 1. An overview of the controller and its features
* The SN30 Pro+ has most of the features found on the Pro Controller with the exception of HD rumble and an NFC reader. It has traditional rumble motors, which may or may not be fine depending on the game. * It is fully customizable with 8BitDo's "Ultimate Software." * It ships with a rechargeable 1000mAh battery and can use AA batteries as an alternative. Both are supposed to provide 20 hours of battery life. * The controller supports Windows, MacOS, and Android. (X-input is supported) * The ZL and ZR triggers are analog, but it outputs as digital triggers for the Switch. The analog triggers work fine in x-input mode on a PC. * It can be used as a wired USB controller on the Switch or PC. No batteries are required.
# 2. What can the Ultimate Software do?
The SN30 Pro+ has a surprising amount of customization capabilities. I will go through all of the features of the Ultimate Software in this section. This software is currently only available on Windows. There currently isn't any mention of it coming to MacOS/Linux.
1. Profiles: You can save your settings to profiles, which makes it relatively easy to change profiles when changing games. You can plug the controller into your PC, change profiles, sync to the controller, then unplug and it will still be paired to your Switch. 2. Every button on the controller can be configured to input as a different button. You can also set a button as "Null" if you do not want it to be active. 3. The capture button can be configured to be a turbo button. Turbo will allow you to hold a button to continuously input that button. The "Hold" option will allow you to set a turbo that does not require continuously holding the button. To use the turbo function you hold a button then push Star. Multiple buttons can be set to turbo at a time. 4. Button configurations are saved separately for when the controller is connected to your Switch or your PC
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1. Both the inner and outer deadzones can be adjusted. \**Even when the outer deadzone is set to the smallest as possible it will still register 100% when only pushing the stick \~80% of the way. Because of this the sticks will be more sensitive than what you might be used to with the Pro Controller*\* 2. The X and Y axes can be inverted for the control sticks. This is feature that is most useful to those of you who prefer aiming with an inverted Y axis.
The next tab is quite useless for users who will only use the controller for their Switch. It allows you to adjust the sensitivity and deadzone of the analog triggers, but this has no affect on how the triggers function on the Switch. You can't even adjust how far you need to press before it registers as a press, which I found very disappointing.
The "Vibration" tab allows you to adjust the intensity of the vibration motors or completely disable them.
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You can set up macros with the Ultimate Software, which allows you to set a button to do multiple buttons at once. Here are a couple of examples where that can be useful:
* In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate you can do a short hop by pushing 'X' and 'Y' at the same time, so I set a macro to do allow 'Y' to do a short hop. * In Mortal Komat 11 I set a macro for L3 and R3 to execute Scorpion's Fatalities.
# 3. What it does differently compared to the Pro Controller
1. The d-pad is miles ahead of the Pro Controller. There are no accidental diagonal inputs. I dunno why, but it feels similar to the SNES's d-pad. Weird, huh? 2. The traditional rumble motors don't feel very nice, especially for Switch games that are designed with HD rumble in mind. 3. The ergonomics of the grips are better for me, but that is something that'll depend on your hands and how you hold the controller. 4. The ABXY buttons are more tactile. 5. The analog sticks have slightly more tension than both the Pro Controller and the PS4 controller. 6. The battery life (20 hours) is half of what you can get out of the Pro Controller 7. It will not wake up the Switch from sleep mode.
# 4. Is it worth it over the Pro Controller? (TL;DR)
The controller actually holds up well when compared it to the Pro Controller. The most notable loss is HD rumble and the most noticeable gains are a decent d-pad and the user customizability. The quality of the shell and buttons are very good and I can confidently recommend it for the price. If you don't care about the software customizability and don't play a lot of games that require an accurate d-pad, then I recommend going for the Pro Controller.