Snakebyte: MULTI:PLAYCON Review – Cuter Joy-Cons

The Nintendo Switch is known for being a pretty expensive console. Games, accessories, and even the console itself rarely come down in price, and if they do it’s by a minimal amount. It’s no different for the Switch’s official controllers, too. Whether that be a pair of Joy-Con or an official Pro Controller, it’s going to set you back at least £49.99.

That’s why sometimes getting yourself an unofficial controller is the way to go. You can get a decent controller for a fraction of the price of an official one. That’s where the Snakebyte: MULTI:PLAYCON comes in. These controllers are more designed to mimic that of the Joy-Con. So, how did they do? Let’s find out!

Snakebyte’s MULTI:PLAYCON controller comes as a set of two for 39.99 Euros, converting roughly to 35.82 in Pounds Sterling and comes in a choice of two colour schemes: Black and Grey or Orange and Baby Blue. Snakebyte was kind enough to send us over the Orange and Baby Blue set, which I preferred.

The MULTI:PLAYCON are completely wireless and they connect to the console via Bluetooth which, thankfully, was super easy to link up. Just a simple press of the ‘Mode’ button and click on ‘Change Grip/Order’ and voilá! Connected.

The first thing I noticed when I was using the MULTI:PLAYCON controllers were just how light there are. They have virtually no weight to them which can make it feel fairly cheap. I usually like my controllers to have a little weight to them, but you have to take into consideration that these controllers are most definitely aimed at children. But we will talk more about that shortly.

The controllers themselves are comfortable to hold – even in adult hands. None of the buttons feel out of place. They are all easily reached and pressed, but the stand out ones are the SL and SR buttons. Now, on the Joy-Cons, these are incredibly awkward to press, with pretty much no button to feel. This isn’t the case with the MULTI:PLAYCON as they actually have proper bumper buttons. They are a little ‘clicky’ – as in they make a lot of sounds when pressed – but none of the other buttons has this problem. It’s also nice to say that no matter what MULTI:PLAYCON you use, the button layout is the same, unlike that of the JOY-CON.

The only annoyance I found with these controllers was the fact that the orange one has the Home button and the Blue one has the screenshot button. Meaning that if I was solely using the blue controller, I would have to pick up a separate controller in order to press the Home button. A number of times when I was using the blue controller, I pressed the screenshot button actually meaning to go back to the home screen.

The MULTI-PLAYCON has around roughly 10 hours of playtime in them before they need to be charged again – using a micro-USB cable that is provided. This is a decent amount of playtime and plenty enough for children. The Joy-Con have around 20 hours of playtime in them for comparison.

As I stated earlier, these controllers are designed for children. You can see that straight out of the box with their design. They almost look like carved pumpkins, especially the orange one. The button layout resembles a creepy, smiling face – fit for a child. That and their weight tells me these aren’t supposed to be primary controllers. These are the controllers I would give my niece and nephew to play with, as opposed to the expensive Joy-Cons of Pro Controller.

Snakebyte’s: MULTI:PLAYCON won’t be compatible with all Nintendo Switch games, unfortunately, but the majority of them will be okay. All Nintendo Switch games that are playable with a single Joy-Con will be playable with the MULTI:PLAYCON. The only games that won’t work are games that require giro support or even Amiibo support – not that any game needs that.

The MULTI:PLAYCON controllers are certainly a good investment for anyone with young children (or children that like to break controllers) or even for people who often have a few friends over. If you have neither of these, I can’t really recommend them over the Joy-Con, but if you have a Nintendo Switch Lite and you’re looking for some extra controllers, Snakebyte’s: MULTI:PLAYCON are your guy.

Snakebyte: MULTI:PLAYCON for Nintendo Switch provided by James at Bope on behalf of SnakeByte.
Maker: Snakebyte
Release Date: January 2020
Price: €39.99