Price at time of review: $30 to $70 / £30 to £70.
If I had to pick one area where the Nintendo Switch could use a revamp, it’s the joy-con controllers. Sure, when you’re potato-ing it up on the couch, they’re great. But the moment you switch into handheld mode, the joy-con feel thin and lack the depth of a traditional controller. Those thumbsticks, even before we get onto the widespread drift problems, are also some of the worst-designed out there thanks to their convex nature and lack of accuracy.
The Nitro Deck, from CRKD, comes with one simple-but-lofty goal: To turn the Nintendo Switch into something more akin to a Steam Deck while attempting to improve the overall user experience.
How close does the Nitro Deck get to achieving its goal? Pretty darn close, I’d say.
A Masterclass in Redesign
There’s no getting around the Steam Deck comparison. While the Nitro Deck doesn’t change any of the internals of the Switch it connects into it via a handy USB-C port built into the deck, it changes the shape up massively into something more user-friendly and contemporary.
Whereas using the Switch with the joy-con attached results in a fairly thin handheld, the chonky Nitro Deck makes the device feel much thicker, although that isn’t a bad thing.
The problem with thin devices is while they look great, they’re not fun to hold due to the lack of finger grips. It’s the same problem found in the Switch-inspired Pimax Portal. By having a thicker device, the Nitro Deck introduces more space around the side of the device to fill out your palms, while the back offers a more substantial grip to wrap fingers around. The end result here is a handheld that feels much more comfortable to hold because of that extra thickness.
The layout of the Nitro Deck’s button placements mirror that of the Switch with the exception of the four back buttons. Personally, I didn’t find myself needing to use them as much as I was expecting, but they’re good to have, especially when you want to keep your fingers on the triggers as much as possible (think shooters).
The d-pad is solid, and offers up a nice amount of side-to-side rocking of each individual direction. Likewise, the face buttons offer up a luscious amount of bounce and are large enough to hit comfortably, but not so large that they take up too much space. That last bit may seem like an odd thing to mention, but as someone who found the AYN Odin 2‘s face buttons to be far too small, good face buttons aren’t always a given.
The real stars of the show here, though, are the thumbsticks. The Switch’s thumbsticks are notorious for suffering drift. I’ve lost three pairs and one pro controller to drift, so I understand just how annoying it is when you spend money on premium products only to have them break a year later. CRKD also seemingly felt the same, and that’s why the company chose to go with hall effect sticks.
For those who don’t know, hall effect sticks use magnetic technology, which essentially keeps the chance of stick drift down to a minimum. I’ve been using hall effect sticks in handhelds like the AYANEO Pocket Air for multiple years now and I’ve never suffered any problems. If you hate drift as much as I, you’re going to love how much money hall effect sticks save you.
It’s not just the hall effect sticks that make the Nitro Deck’s sticks so great. Regular joy-con use a convex topper, which are only good for racing games and real-time strategy (RTS) games. For platformers, shooters, RPGs, and pretty much every other genre going, you’re going to want concave sticks.
How many racing games and RTS titles do you play on Switch? Enough to warrant using convex sticks? I’m going to assume not.
What CRKD has gone with is a happy middle ground. The sticks aren’t concave, so your fingers don’t rest in them, but they’re not purely convex either. They are flatter, with a ring jutting up so your thumb has something to rest inside. This adds more control to the stick than a standard convex option, and while I would have preferred full concave sticks, it works well.
On a quick side note, it’s good to see companies thinking about this stuff rather than just regurgitating what’s popular. The handheld space — especially when it comes to retro handhelds — has a habit of leeching popular ideas and never pushing things forward. CRKD has taken risks with the Nitro Deck, and while not all of them work, the ones that do set this device apart from the plethora of options out there.
Change These Settings Immediately
The Nitro Deck features built-in rumble functionality and it’s, well, not great. I found it to be too overwhelming for what was happening in-game, and to be honest, I’d rather have the extra battery life.
The Nitro Deck doesn’t house its own battery, so leaving the rumble sensors on drains the Switch’s battery faster. It’s not an insurmountable amount, but given how little the rumble adds to the experience, I recommend turning it off entirely.
You can adjust the strength of the internal motors by holding L and Plus (+) for the left motor, or R and Plus for the right motor, for three seconds each. The Home button should then flash red and that means you’re good to change things up.
From here, press Plus or Minus (-) to adjust the power of the motors. There are three settings to choose from, each varying in power, but I suggest hitting Minus three times to turn the feature off entirely.
If you really want to save as much juice as possible, you can also turn the Home button light off by hitting the Prog button (the small button on the back of the Nitro Deck) until the light goes off. I didn’t find that the light drained enough battery to be a problem, but the option’s there is you need it.
I also need to point out, my Nitro Deck shipped with the latest firmware that enables motor controls and other features. If you’ve got an older model, you can update the firmware by following this official guide here.
Verdict
There are few must-have accessories for the Switch, but the Nitro Deck is definitely one of them. The size isn’t going to be for everyone, but as someone who games on the Steam Deck, its size and design, is much more comfortable than playing the Switch with the joy-con attached. The fact it’s only 272 grams also means it’s not heavy, which is perfect for those longer gaming sessions. No one wants arm pain when they’re trying to relax!
Although the motor function is a minor misfire, everything else sings. The buttons react well, the sticks are solid, and the curved grips feel comfortable. And for those who like to customize their experience, the programmable back buttons offer up the chance to avoid unnatural finger movements.
Whether it’s playing Pokémon in bed or Mario outdoors, the Nitro Deck fixes the flaws of the Switch with some clever, thoughtful engineering, making this accessory very easy to recommend for die-hard Switch owners and casual players alike.
How I Tested
Over the course of a week, I used the Nitro Deck daily as my main way to play Switch games, including Pokémon Violet, Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8, Spelunky, and a host of others to get an idea for the feel of it across different genres.
As the Nitro Deck doesn’t house a battery, the main tests involved how faster having the device hooked up would drain the internal Switch battery. As mentioned in the review, you can save some extra juice by turning the vibration function and the light off, although I ended up leaving the light on and didn’t notice enough of a difference to warrant turning it out.
Overall, there is a higher battery drain, but it’s not enough of a problem to be worth digging into if you turn the motors off.
I also charged the Switch several times using the Input port and found no errors, and I used the Output port that lets users use the Nitro Deck as a controller. No issues were detected when either charging or using the device as a controller. Good stuff.
Lastly, the release button on the back to unlock the Switch so I can yank it out never failed, nor did I run into any problems when inserting and removing the Switch from the dock.
Disclosure: Review unit provided by PR. | To learn more about my review policy click here. | Alternatively, click here to find out why you can trust me.
