The Nitro Deck is for people who find themselves sick of shopping for extra Pleasure-Cons

At $79.99 per set, Nintendo’s Pleasure-Cons for the Swap aren’t low cost to exchange. And in the event you, like many Swap homeowners, have bought extra Pleasure-Cons than you thought you’d as a result of analog sticks appearing up, you could be on this gizmo known as the Nitro Deck by CRKD, a brand new {hardware} firm inside Embracer Group.

Consider the $59.99 Nitro Deck as an exoskeleton for the Swap, becoming both the usual or the OLED model, that serves to reinforce the console in some welcome methods. The foremost function of the Nitro Deck is its Corridor impact analog sticks, that are made to final and likewise greater than these tiny ones on the Pleasure-Cons. These analog sticks are housed inside a tricky plastic shell that makes the Swap extra ergonomic to carry and use. Plus, it has a really robust kickstand.

Photograph: Cameron Faulkner/Polygon

For some, these traits alone could make the Nitro Deck value it, nevertheless it has much more options and few compromises (sorry to amiibo followers, although — it lacks an NFC touchpoint). It provides each button discovered on the Pleasure-Cons, plus some extras, together with 4 configurable again paddles à la Valve’s Steam Deck (these could be disabled, in the event you’d choose a less complicated expertise). Like most good third-party controllers, every button on the Nitro Deck could be set to Turbo mode, letting you spam a button as shortly as you wish to make video games simpler. It additionally helps rumble and movement controls, in case you want to make use of gyro aiming in video games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom or Fortnite.

The Nitro Deck doesn’t comprise a battery, so it may’t lengthen the lifetime of your Swap. That stated, I didn’t discover this accent draining my Swap’s battery any quicker than ordinary. Regardless of snugly fastening into the Swap’s USB-C port, the Nitro Deck doesn’t get in the best way of charging, both, because it has a USB-C enter on its again — two, really. The second port allows you to use this gadget as a wired controller when you might have the Swap console docked to your TV. I don’t see myself ever choosing the Nitro Deck over the wi-fi Swap Professional controller for this explicit use case, nevertheless it’s good that it serves some objective when it’s not cradling a Swap.

Photograph: Cameron Faulkner/Polygon

One thing you quit with the Nitro Deck is the Swap’s portability. For most individuals who personal a Swap and another handheld, just like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally, the Swap’s smaller measurement and comparably massive recreation library makes it the one probably to be introduced alongside on holidays. However the Nitro Deck turns the Swap into one thing simply as thick and hefty as a kind of pricier, extra highly effective opponents.

The mannequin pictured all through this put up is a limited-edition model of the Nitro Deck that, past its GameCube-esque shade scheme, features a arduous zip-up case, two pop-on thumbstick replacements, and a USB-C to USB-A cable to plug it into your Swap’s dock. These extras add as much as $89.99, but when these additions don’t imply a lot to you, I counsel choosing the less complicated (but nonetheless fairly fetching) shade schemes that price $59.99.

Photograph: Cameron Faulkner/Polygon

Should you principally play your Swap in handheld mode and wish one thing that turns it right into a extra ergonomically pleasant system, there are some stable choices on the market, just like the Hori Split Pad Compact. However if you’d like extra consolation, plus rumble, movement controls, and vastly higher analog sticks, there really aren’t many choices for you outdoors of the Nitro Deck. It’s each an important, comparatively inexpensive various to changing your Pleasure-Cons, and a fun-looking, if chunky, Swap accent that doesn’t skimp on must-have options.

The Nitro Deck is now accessible. The accent was offered by Crkd. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media could earn commissions for merchandise bought through affiliate hyperlinks. Yow will discover extra details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.