Review: Gulikit Elves 2 Controller For Switch & Switch 2 -Up Support Can’t Make Up For The Downgrades
By Following the release of the Elves 2 Pro, accessory manufacturer Gulikit is back with the, uh, Elves 2. Yes, this is a cheaper model ($29.99 / £29.99) of the Saturn-inspired wireless pad for the Switch and Switch 2; one that shirks some of the more advanced customisation options of its slightly elder sibling while adding in one rather enticing new feature.
If you happen to own a Switch 2 and are eagerly awaiting a third-party controller that includes wake-up support for Nintendo’s new hardware, the wait is over. The Elves 2 is officially the first to include the feature, and I’m happy to confirm that it works exactly as you’d expect.
After pairing the pad by holding down the sync button in the ‘Change Grip/Order’ settings menu, you can then simply hold down the ‘Home’ button on the Elves 2 to wake up the Switch 2 from sleep mode. It’s a small thing, but it’s something that immediately makes Gulikit’s new product instantly more appealing than most options on the market.
So that’s all well and good, but what’s been stripped out to make the pad cheaper than the Elves 2 Pro? Well, perhaps the most notable exclusion for me was the distinct rumble modes found on the Pro. Here, you’ve just got three levels of standard rumble intensity within dual-rotor vibration motors, so you’re missing out on the ‘HD Rumble’ and ‘Super Haptic’ modes featured in the Pro. It still feels pretty good, mind you, but moving directly from the Pro to the Elves 2 yields a noticeable downgrade.
Elsewhere, while you can remap buttons, adjust thumbstick sensitivity, toggle between 4-way and 8-way d-pad directional modes, and utilise APG macro recording on the Pro, none of these are available on the Elves 2. Okay, the latter might not be particularly relevant for many users, but remapping the button layout can prove exceedingly useful, so to see it missing here is a bit of a downer.
But enough about what’s not included. What you do get with the Elves 2 is the all-important Hall Effect analogue sticks with replaceable caps. It seems almost quaint to highlight this as a specific feature these days, but hey, Nintendo itself still hasn’t got this covered just yet. You’ve also got a Turbo mode, a capture button, gyro, and 20 hours of playtime on a single 2-hour charge. Not too shabby.
Sadly, NFC and GameChat support are not included, as with the Pro, with the latter being particularly noteworthy given the addition of wake-up support. Indeed, it feels like the Elves 2 took one baby-step toward being a must-buy Switch 2 pad, but forgot to take a few more steps in the process.
Still, for day-to-day use, you could do a lot worse. Design-wise, it’s identical to the Pro, taking inspiration from the Sega Saturn, but opting for a more traditional 4-button layout – sorry, 6-button fans. Despite being the same size, mind you, the loss of certain features means the pad is also slightly lighter than the Pro, weighing in at 170g versus 190g. It still feels nice in the hands, but there’s definitely a sense that it’s not quite as ‘solid’ as the Pro, if that makes sense. Almost like the majority of the interior is hollow.
As for the colour options, you’ve got Translucent Black, which looks absolutely lovely (though picks up dust like a bugger, hence the lack of photos here). You could almost mistake it as a solid black, but you can just about see the innards through the grips, and this is especially noticeable when held up against the light. Subtle, elegant… nice.
The other option is Coral Red, and let’s be honest, Gulikit could have just called it Pink and be done with it. It’s pink. There are lots of pink accessories that I’m rather fond of, but this isn’t one of them. It might be the combination of the pink casing and the white buttons/sticks, but it looks a little bit cheap when compared to the black model. And it’s got nothing on the ‘Retro’ Pro variant, either – that one is an absolute banger.
A decent controller, then, but unless you’re absolutely dead-set on having the wake-up support for the Switch 2, I’d probably recommend spending that little bit more for the more feature-rich (and attractive) Elves 2 Pro.
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The sample used in this review was supplied by Gulikit.