Editors Note: Previously, Hori announced a problem with the D-Pad Controller – if left connected to the Switch in sleep mode, the Joy-Con may drain the Switch battery fast. In September 2018, the company claimed the issue was resolved by the latest Nintendo firmware.

Released July 26 in Japan and eventually slated for a Western release, Hori’s new D-Pad Controller (L) for Nintendo Switch

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Hori’s controller is designed for use in place of your left Joy-Jon in handheld mode. It features a D-pad in place of the official lefthand Joy-Con’s arrow buttons, along with an analogue stick, the Minus button, capture button, and L and ZL buttons, just as on the regular controller.

On the downside, to make the controller affordable (about $24 in Japan), Hori has left out several key features that limit the ways you can use it. No Bluetooth, gyro sensor or SL/SR buttons mean it can only be used in handheld mode and not in TV or tabletop modes. There is also no rumble feature, which is not a critical issue but not ideal either.

The result is a controller designed for a very particular job: It is intended to make certain types of games more comfortable to play – 2D fighting games, scrolling shooters, 2D platform games and so on.

And put simply, the D-pad is wonderful. Rather than the tiny, unconnected, clicky arrow buttons on the official controller, here you have a fluid plus-shaped button that rocks in place, making it easier to hit diagonals or to change direction quickly, and rendering long player sessions far, far more comfortable.

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The Switch Pro Controller does include a D-pad, of course, but it’s not really suitable for play on the go, so Hori’s pad fills that niche competently.

Make no mistake: The gamers who will most appreciate this controller are retro gamers. Traditional side-scrolling or platform games such as Sonic Mania Plus, Metal Slug 3, Flashback and Donkey Kong gain more precise movement that feels much more natural and unquestionably improves player performance.

“ The gamers who will most appreciate this controller are retro gamers.

Fighting games such as Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle also control much better, with special moves easier to pull off – BlazBlue in particular features a training mode that visually displays your controller inputs, and you can quickly see that quarter-circle-type inputs are improved by the D-pad compared with the official Joy-Con’s arrow buttons. (Of course, the Joy-Con analog stick works as a good alternative for those types of moves.) Also dash-type commands work much better, as does guarding in both standing and crouched positions.

It also works great for traditional shooting games. A D-pad is much more reliable than an analog stick or arrow buttons for the precise up, down, left and right patterns required for a game like Ikaruga. With an analog stick, when making the very the subtle left-to-right movements required to dodge bullets, the stick sometimes moves slightly up or down as well, pushing you off course; since precise movement is essential to bullet-hell games, Hori’s D-Pad Controller lends a great advantage for this type of game.

And even a puzzle game like Puyo Puyo Tetris works better, allowing you to more fluidly achieve hard drops, spins and even basic horizontal movement. Super Bomberman R also benefits massively from more accurate movement. Runbow matches are easier to win. In every single 2D-based game we tried, the Hori D-Pad Controller is an improvement over the official lefthand Joy-Con.

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That is, until you remove it. We’ve always loved how Switch’s left and right controllers can be used as miniature pads in their own right, meaning you always have two controllers and can spontaneously play with a friend wherever you are. Since Hori’s controller does not work when detached from the main unit (and indeed since its D-pad means it has no face buttons), it cannot be used in this way, and so I found myself carrying an extra controller around in my Switch pouch – not a terrible burden, but also not ideal for a handheld console.

At the very least, it would have been nice to be able to attach it to a grip and play in TV mode, but this is also impossible: The D-Pad Controller does not work with a standard Joy-Con Grip or Charging Grip. Sure, the Pro Controller already allows us to play on a TV with a D-pad, but it means an extra expense.

Also, while the controller is ideal for shooters as mentioned above, since it cannot be used while detached from the Switch, it doesn’t work with shooters that use the console’s screen in a vertical configuration. A Bluetooth connection would have been better for shooter fans.

Finally, this is a very minor thing to praise, but the capture button is raised slightly higher than on the official controller, making it easier to press without looking down at the controller – a welcome adjustment.

At the end of the day, Hori’s D-Pad Controller is designed to do a single job, and it does that job exceedingly well. It also comes at a budget price that makes it an easy purchase to justify – roughly $24 compared with the $79.99 list price of a pair of official Joy-Cons.

However, if it also included all the features of a regular Joy-Con and could be used in TV and tabletop modes, I (Daniel) personally would have been happy to pay more for that flexibility – not least because, after using Hori’s D-pad for a few weeks, the arrow buttons on the regular controller feel as unpleasant to me as they did when I first tried a Switch.

As it is, the comfort and precision of Hori’s D-pad far outweigh its shortcomings. I never want to go back, and that for me confirms Hori’s new controller as an essential accessory for Switch.

For more Switch accessories, check out our picks for the best Nintendo Switch carry cases, as well as some of the fanciest Switch cases you can currently get.



Daniel Robson is Chief Editor at IGN Japan; he could live quite happily without the third dimension.

Shmup and fighting-game nut Shin Imai is IGN Japan’s Deputy Chief Editor.