Manufacturing third-party controllers must be a tough gig. It’s one of those things that the major console manufacturers – Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – are hyper-competitive about because controllers impact heavily on how enjoyable their consoles are to use. Consequently, all three make excellent controllers, put them at reasonable prices for the technology that goes into them, and now that wireless technology means they can be used on PC and mobile devices, independent manufacturers really are up against it. It would be a pity if you overlooked the CRKD NEO S gamepad though, because this offers a comfortable, colourful, classic gameplay experience.
Most third-party controllers try to find their niche in one of two ways – either they aim to offer an expensive premium experience for those few who want more than what the major controller manufacturers produce, or they aim to provide an experience that feels retro and reminds players of those days of holding a SNES controller.
The NEO S is the latter. It’s modestly priced at under $100 Australian, and has a simple, rectangular design. No prongs, no big touch pads in the middle of the device. The back of it is slightly curved to improve grip, and the analogue sticks and face buttons loosely follow the Switch layout. It is very, very comfortable in the hand and all the buttons on it are easy to reach and the right size. If I was being really critical I’d say the analogue sticks are perhaps just a touch long and I prefer it when they’re closer to the surface of the controller, but that’s really splitting hairs as they are only millimetres too tall for my own, personal preference. I would be very surprised if anyone has a major issue with this.
The tactility of the device is very nice. The analogue sticks have a nice balance of resistance and slide, and the buttons feel soft on the fingers, but have a satisfying click to pressing them. The D-Pad is perfectly adequate (though fighting game fans, as always, will want a more specialised controller for their combos), and the programable back buttons are both easy to press when you want to, but placed and designed expertly so that you won’t ever accidentally click them while playing. Again, to offer the tiniest piece of criticism, the larger shoulder buttons have a very long pressing curve and there’s not quite enough of a sensation to let you know when you’ve finished pressing down on them, but it’s a tiny issue.
If you’re not happy with the settings out of the box you can drop into the software, which allows you to program those back buttons, mess with the vibration, and tweak the trigger actuation points and address any dead zones from the analogue sticks. These are all features you’d expect in modern gaming controllers, but what’s great about the NEO S is that it allows you to deal with all this with a minimum of fuss, so you can get stuck into the gaming quickly.
With some controllers, it can be a pain to, firstly, pair them and then mess around in settings to actually get them to work right. I had none of these issues with the NEO S, testing it across my ROG Ally, Nintendo Switch, and several emulation consoles with Android operating systems. With the exception of the Android devices, where you need to set the controller up by emulator, in all cases the controller simply worked as soon as it paired.
And then, as the final cherry on top, the controller is nice to look at too. You’ve got two choices – either the ever-popular transparent controllers in a range of colours, or a range of designs from well-known controller artist, POPeART. I recommend the art controllers since most of us have transparent gear in some format or other by now, and the art really does come up nice and bold on the controller’s plastic.
It’s lightweight (almost too lightweight – CRKD would have been well served using a somewhat thicker plastic because the buttons and control sticks are more premium than you’d guess from a first “feel”), reasonably priced, and comfortable to use. CRKD NEO S might not break any ground with controller hardware, but it’s also a console that you’ll find yourself reaching for on the shelf more often than not, because it’s just that uncomplicated yet enjoyable to use.
My 8bitdo retro controller broke a whole back, this looks like it may be a good replacement.