I found my controller for life. Exlene’s Bluetooth GameCube controller. I like this controller so much that I’d like to give a review of this brand’s controller. In this I will also compare and contrast the Power A and Exlene options and only these two, because if you were to get a wireless GameCube controller for your PC and or Switch these would really be the only options I’d look at.
Exlene vs. Power A
I found this controller by accident and I was very happy that I did now. Originally when I was in the market for a new controller I was set that the Power A brand’s one was the best I could get. It had gyroscopic aim or motion controls, everybody was saying how authentic it felt to an original GameCube controller, and added functionality such as buttons when pushing in the thumbsticks and shoulder buttons. However looking back I think this is the worst option for a wireless GameCube controller!
Issues about Power A’s Take
First of all it uses AA batteries to power, there is no rechargeable battery. This could be a nonissue to most people, it’s not hard to just get a pack of batteries and swap them when they get low. Overall not a concern for most people unless you absolutely hate having to get batteries.
What is more important to know is that there isn’t any rumble! For some reason Power A didn’t want to include rumble. This is a rule breaker for a lot of people as rumble provides some great feedback and user experience for games and to mention when’s the last time you played a game with a controller without experiencing rumble? Nowadays it seems every single developer is putting rumble in their games. For me and my concerns though I was planning on using a controller for both my PC and Nintendo Switch games and some games need to have rumble. In Mario Odyssey for example you find some moons by feeling the vibrations in your controller so if I didn’t have rumble then I’d have to switch to the Joycons so what would be the point? Also I would just miss feeling the rumble in general.
Exlene’s Controller
When I plan on getting an equipment upgrade such as a new keyboard or a controller I have a sort of obsession researching. I’ll look up videos on the product, look at some other alternatives on the Amazon page, I would even just keep visiting the products page just to look at it. I’m pretty lucky in this instance to have such a habit, because in one of my adventures in visiting the Amazon page again I scrolled down to see a similar controller by Exlene. I was curious and explored some more and found a better alternative
What Makes Exlene Better
The first thing I saw was the price difference. Exlene asked for a cheaper price of $50 and Power A asked for $60. What made it more appalling was that Exlene’s was cheaper but offered so much more! It really fixed everything that Power A didn’t, it had a rechargeable battery via USB C, gyroscopic aim, rumble, a slightly larger C-Stick, and Turbo. So everything that Power A could offer plus the improvement of a larger C-Stick and an addition of a turbo function, turbo being the ability to change a button’s behavior to repeatedly send inputs rather than having to manually press the button each single time. To be honest I never really use the Turbo function but it is nice to have the option. In regards to the D-Pad, I don’t know how different they are but it appears that they are more the less the same.
My Experience and Review
Size and Shell
In my experience playing with it, I’ve had an amazing time. The controller’s size fits perfectly in my hands (I have slightly smaller hands so keep that in mind).
The plastic shell they use for the outside feels nice to use. It has a smooth feel, but not slick so I have a good grip on it. It also has that PBT plastic feel like keycaps so the oil on my hands don’t seem like they are dirtying my controller.
A, B, X, and Y Buttons
The A, B, X, Y buttons seem to be made from a different type of plastic because they feel slick unlike the rest of the controller almost like the buttons you would see in an arcade cabinet. I don’t find it to be a negative though.
Joysticks
The joysticks have the same feel as the shell. The little fingerprint-like grooves in the left-stick improves grip, but I like to use silicon joystick caps so know that they are the right size for them! However even though Exlene has made the c-stick or right-stick slightly larger it will not fit a joystick cap so it will have to remain as is, but luckily it feels great. Everyone likes to talk about stick drift, but I haven’t had any issues so far but also I only have been using it for a couple months so I’d have to update you guys in a year.
Triggers
The Triggers have an analog feel to them even though they are digital so know that if you want analog triggers they aren’t so they have the same behavior of an analog trigger but are digital so they only actuate upon fully pressed. I don’t really care too much for analog triggers so it ain’t a big deal to me, also most games don’t even have analog functions. I like having the analog feel to a controller even if it doesn’t have the capabilities, because I’m heavy handed with pressing the triggers.
Gyroscopic Aim
The gyro works as expected, no issues in getting it to work or anything like that, it feels identical to the ones that the Joycons have so that is all I’ll say.
Rumble
The rumble is great, same as any controller, but you can customize the intensity of the rumble and you can even turn it off. With other controllers you’ll have to do it by in-game settings, that is if they have the option. But with this controller you can press some buttons to either increase or decrease the intensity.
Battery Life
About battery life, Exlene says that it can last around 20+ hours. This is pretty accurate as I can play for around 2 days before having to worry about recharging. Another thing that is great is that the controller automatically sleeps after some minutes so I never have to worry about putting down the controller forgetting to turn it off and coming back to it being dead. This might be a little inconvenient for story games with longer cutscenes as the controller will turn off and you’ll have to turn it back on. This happened to me when I played Uncharted 4 and I would have to turn it back on after watching a cutscene; not a problem at all as it only takes pressing the home button once to get it running again.
Turbo Button
Like I said before, I don’t use this, but when I experimented it works as they said. Setting turbo once will send inputs while holding, and setting it twice will cause it to send inputs continuously. Seems to only work with the face buttons (A, B, X, Y).
Bluetooth Connection and Wired Connection
Connectivity, the controller uses Bluetooth. I was first under the impression that some sort of dongle would be included, but I figured out that this was purely Bluetooth. Wireless works just as expected, I don’t experience any problems such as input lag or connecting in the first place. Wired works too, but now I’ll get into an issue. For Switch Wirelessly the controller is recognized as a Pro Controller this is true for wired play as well. For PC Wirelessly the controller is recognized as a Pro Controller, but wired it is recognized as an Xbox Controller and thus button mapping is changed. This can be fixed through steam by changing button layout.
Button Swap Function is a Lie!
Exlene advertises that the controller comes with a button swap functionality where holding down A, B, X, Y will swap it from a Nintendo layout to a Xbox layout. This function would be a great thing to have, but we just don’t have it so don’t expect it. I felt a little cheated about this, but it doesn’t hurt the product overall; Exlene should stop saying that it has this capability!
Conclusion
That is really all I can say about my experience with the controller. I don’t have anything to complain about except for weird wired behavior and the button swap lie. In regards to a GameCube style controller I’d say it’s pretty much what you’ll get. I never had an original GameCube controller so keep that in mind, I’m saying this based on a lot of other reviews. What I can attest to is what a lot of reviews on YouTube say about this controller. This isn’t a GameCube controller, it’s really a Switch Pro-controller in a GameCube style. So some modern hardware in a retro home!